ecommerce - Internet gateways

An Internet gateway is a service which sits between your merchant account (the bank) and your store front software. The company that sets up your merchant account is usually the ones to also setup your Internet gateway.

Most Internet gateways have a "virtual terminal", which is a secure web page you can use to enter new sales to validate the credit card and to make the actual charge.

In addition, most Internet gateways also have some type of Software Development Kit (SDK) so that programmers (on your staff, or working for store front companies) can integrate your merchant account with your store front.

Expect to pay $99 or more to setup your Internet gateway, and then about $15/month plus 5 to 10 cents per transaction.

Here are some popular Internet gateways:

• Authorize.net is the big guy in this space, and they have a good reputation.
• eProcessingNetwork is a newer player, also with good reviews
• USAePay is another new player with good reviews.