Currently we accept credit cards and manually run them through our credit card machine. As business increases, this has become time consuming. We are looking at Authorize.net for a more automated system, but wanted to get some feedback from current users.
Can you use 1 authorize.net account/gateway for multiple websites? We would need it on at least 3 of our sites. If so, Do you pay a gateway fee/setup fee for each website?
How quickly do the funds transfer to your bank account once you batch? Currently, we recieve funds next day with manual key in procedure.
Have you had any problems/concners with Authorize.net gateway?
Anyone get a authorize.net gateway setup through bank of america? When I spoke to them about a year ago, they said they mainly deal with First data. Does cs-cart support first data gateways?
Where did you get your Authorize.net gateway? Direct of from a reseller?
You should be able to use the single Payment Gateway ID on mutiple sites as long as they are on the same server and/or IP range. Specify your main web site on the application and just add the ID to each webstore. Only 1 virtual terminal for manual transactions is available per Auth.net account however.
Funds are deposited in to our BofA account within 2 business days.
Auth.net is known as one of the top gayeways. We have not had an issue in 6+ years. They also just released a cool [and free] app that turns my iPad into a portable CC machine.
Almost any reseller or Merchant Bank will have access to Auth.net. To clarify, Auth.net is the gateway and First Data is the Merchant Bank who actually handles the $$. BofA may be another option or contract with First Data to handle the mechanics. In the end, the Merchant Bank is never part of the web site side - only the gateway so that is the key factor.
Yes, we have Authorize.net as the gateway, First Data as the merchant bank, and BofA as our business bank. All works fine with CS-Cart.
We went through a reseller since Auth.net does not deal directly wiith the public. See if BofA will offer you a good deal.
I'm fairly certain it is against Visa/Mastercard regulations to have one merchant account for multiple webstores. They stipulate that you must have a dedicated merchant account per web address; regardless if they are on the same server or ip address.
In my opinion you will need to open up 3 merchant accounts.
I just ran into this issue, but found that many resellers will give you a deal if you open up all 3 with them.
Authorize.net is pretty much the gold standard when it comes to accepting online payments. Visit their website and you will find a laundrylist of certified resellers who can help get you setup. I would also suggest visiting www.merchantmaverick.com and do some research based on your industry and processing needs.
In regards to a having to have a different merchant account for each website, well, this is just incorrect information. The ONLY thing that makes this decision is the original bank you are using and YES, some of them want to take advantage of you and require multiple merchant accounts. It is a huge money maker for them.
The nice part about authorize.net is they allow you to set up as many sites as you want. Right now we have over 20 different sites using the same authorize.net account and the same merchant account which is under our corporation name.
I see what you’re saying. However, if you want batches deposited into separate accounts (based on whichever company made the sale) then wouldn’t you need separate merchant accounts? Or are you able to dictate deposits individually. Having 20 stores running through one merchant account sounds like an accounting nightmare. Just my opinion
All of our orders are done through one account, one accounting system, one merchant account and deposited in to one bank account. We used to have separate ones for each, but we did not do enough volume to justify it. If one grows more than another then we may branch it off, but right now it is much simpler. Out of the multiple sites only a couple of them do any type of daily sales, and the others just bring in an order here and there.
Please also understand that these are NOT different “companies”. They are all divisions of one company, with most of the sites belonging to one particular division.
If you are wanting each company to go in to a different bank account then I would think you would need to (and want to) set up different merchant accounts.
The original person was asking on a smaller scale and said were just trying to stop having to charge manually. So I would think it really depends on the volume and where you are at with a particular site. Bottom line, you can and are able to set up multiple sites using Authorize.net. How you do it and what you do is between you and your merchant account provider, all I was doing was showing that it could in fact be done and is being done…and there is nothing wrong with it.
Would love to open this discussion back up? So, let's assume that I have one Authorize.net login and I want to process sales through two sites. Now, setting it up is easy. You just activate the Authoirze.net module on both sites, enter in the same transaction key, user id, etc for both sites. If sales come in through both sites, will this create a flag or issues with the account? That is my concern.
One of my competitors has been doing this for years. He sells a high risk item, that would never get approved for a legit low risk processor. So, instead of paying an inside high risk percentage per each sale, he uses his active merchant account that was setup with his low risk business. He's been taking cards for five years now, no problems at all. Unless there is something else that I am unaware of, the process seems rather straightforward with little risk involved.
Been doing it for a few years now. No problems. Works like a charm and perfectly within authorize.net guidelines. Quite honestly, it is one of the things that has kept us using a.net even though we change credit card processors. We love the flexibility.
Been doing it for a few years now. No problems. Works like a charm and perfectly within authorize.net guidelines. Quite honestly, it is one of the things that has kept us using a.net even though we change credit card processors. We love the flexibility.
In regards to a having to have a different merchant account for each website, well, this is just incorrect information. The ONLY thing that makes this decision is the original bank you are using and YES, some of them want to take advantage of you and require multiple merchant accounts. It is a huge money maker for them.
The nice part about authorize.net is they allow you to set up as many sites as you want. Right now we have over 20 different sites using the same authorize.net account and the same merchant account which is under our corporation name.
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Clips, don't it make your customers confused when they see the billing statement?
We also use authorize.net. When opening our first ecommerce store, chase paymentech rep. convinsed us to use website name as account anme instead of company name. His reasoning was - less confusion, less chargebacks, etc.
Right now we are opening 2nd ecommerce store in different niche. And debating on opening separate merchant/auth.net account
or using the same but changing account name to compamy name.
Won't it result in customer confustion when they made order on 1 one sites and see Quality Shopping Inc. when checking their statements vs seeing the domain name they ordered from?
Sorry about not replying sooner. We just do not follow things in the forum too often any longer. We also removed ourselves from getting responses on pretty much all of the post we replied in.
The way we do it is our main corporation name is used with the credit card company and then we put that name in all email correspondence, we put it on the websites, we put in on packing slips, it is listed in LARGE FONT after they checkout, we answer the phone with it and we do everything we can to let our customers know. We do get chargebacks maybe once every few months, but we were getting the same amount when we a different credit card account for each division.
Sorry about not replying sooner. We just do not follow things in the forum too often any longer. We also removed ourselves from getting responses on pretty much all of the post we replied in.
The way we do it is our main corporation name is used with the credit card company and then we put that name in all email correspondence, we put it on the websites, we put in on packing slips, it is listed in LARGE FONT after they checkout, we answer the phone with it and we do everything we can to let our customers know. We do get chargebacks maybe once every few months, but we were getting the same amount when we a different credit card account for each division.
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Jim, thank you for your reply.
Right now understand better what should i do.
You've said you've changed merchant service providers. Which ones you've tried and which one you'd recommend best?
Currently we use ChasePaymentech and paying %.42 over interchange.
Today called FirstData and Flagship - and they both quoted %.20 over interchange.
Don't find to much bad reviews on Flagship, but First Data has lots of horror stories on the web.
All of the merchant processors who play with charging your a percentage over the “blah, blah, blah” end up getting you in some way. You can negotiate, but it is still confusing. They will nickle and dime you to death! Right now the bank we use has FirstData and then we pay for our own account with authorize.net. That way if we change processors we can keep our same gatekeeper or authorize.net account.
