How to start selling online - merchant accounts etc?

[EnVogue]

Hey

I want to start selling online, but I'm confused by the whole payment gateway, merchant account thing. Can anyone talk me through step by step what I need?

I'm based the UK btw, and will be using a wordpress membership system to handle the kind of front end bit of the website. What else do I need? How do I get it working with my bank account?

Thanks,
Sophie

[rogercbryan]

It's a little tricky so let me see if I can help

On your site you'll need a shopping cart (I use eShop) you will then need a processor (I use powerpay.biz) you will also need a gateway (I use authorize.net). It's a pain in the a$$ to set-up and it cost me nearly $50 a month to keep going. Also, the application process for powerpay.biz is a pain. I have a multi-million dollar company and yet I was turned down by other processors because I could not show sufficient online sales.

My advice to you if you are just starting out is to use paypal. They integrate very easily with a WordPress Site... there is no applications to deal with and their rates aren't all that terrible. Use them for a little while until you start to develop real sales and then consider a processor.

[EnVogue]

Oh OK, I'll definitely look into that.

Will I still be able to accept credit cards? I've also heard things about PayPal randomly shutting accounts etc, will this effect me?