How Would You Go About Accepting Payments...

Let's say, hypothetically, you are starting a new business.

The idea of the business is to sell something via phone (by telemarketers or other means), and recurring payments will be a part of the equation.

Each of the agents will have a login ID for your website, where they can enter in customer information, including credit card info, to get payments and the ball rolling.

There's also the potential to have face-to-face meetings and the need to gather payment info from that, as well.

How would you go about setting these things up?

I see some people speak about such things and they just say "get a merchant account..." Ok... great But from where? How? hehe


Let's hear what you've got to say about things, good and bad experiences you've had with companies and providers, and just do what we can to help folks out that have these kinds of questions. (I know I am not the only one, am I?)


So. For a start... I've heard PayPal is lousy to use, because of their reputation for freezing accounts at a whim. Yet, they are also, seemingly, the easiest to use.

For me, I'd think setting up an account with them to start, and then switching to a different provider once you get more established could be an option.

So, folks... your thoughts on all of this?