I Need Help Setting Up Authorize.net
I know there must be many domainers out there who have done this for the first time before. Setting up a larger web site with a business taking payments behind it eventually calls for using a credit card authorization payment gateway and merchant.
We have decided to go with Authorize.net, the leading payment gateway. However, we are struggling to figure out who to go with in terms of setting this up. We currently have a third party developer that is an Authorize.net reseller. We also have our business bank account at Wells Fargo, which offers the merchant account as well as the ability to connect us to Authorize.net. We have also spoken with Authorize.net directly about how to get this set up.
Unfortunately, by us contacting all of them, we are now dealing with salesmen at each place, each giving us a hard sell. Each one says we should go with them and currently I am trying to sift through the differences of why each is better.
In the end, all I want is the most streamlined solution. I do not mind who ends up getting the commission on the sale, as long as it is done correctly. I need the technology side to be set up correctly. I also need the funds to flow smoothly into the right bank account at Wells Fargo.
Currently, I am leaning towards working with both Wells Fargo and our developers, and leaving the actual company itself, Authorize.net, who are probably the best experts, out of it. I am not sure if that is a good idea or not, but at least I know our technology guys and our banker. However, even then, I’m not sure where the bank side ends and the technology begins.
Does anyone have any experience with this process, and with these vendors specifically, that can provide any advice?
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I have never used them but I would stick with your bank!
They should be desperate to get your business and bend over backwards to help you!
If you get through and speak to the Sales Man again just be straight to the point with him.
Be Strong and tell him that “Look I know your doing your job but………………”
That way he should back off and hopefully help you.
Regards,
Robbie
RegFeeNames.com
Hi Conor!
It just so happens I have been dealing with the same thing over the last couple weeks for a new venture.
I do have experience with Authorize.net from a few years back and have also dealt with using Wells Fargo on the retail-end, in the past(for actual CC equipment).
I can tell you straight up that going with WFB is the best option. First off, you are basically setting up an Internet Merchant Account with Wells — which you can then use with whatever gateway / solutions provider you want. (I’d recommend you tell Wells Fargo you want their Authorize.net solution, for sure, btw.)
Your tech guys can then implement the Authorize.net API however you want, and they gateway stuff all works out to get the funds into your bank account within 24 hours or so, because you are a Wells Fargo customer. Unfortunately, I don’t have any recent experience with the new Wells Fargo “ClientLine” offering, which is what you use to track what’s going on. I used to receive paper statements and therefore haven’t used the new method as of yet.
Just as a caveat to all this, I do feel compelled to tell you that I hesitated signing the 3-year minimum contract with Wells Fargo this week… and I ended up telling my rep that we needed to wait — I got a nice message from my banker after that, with her wondering what the holdup was.
The reason being, I’m testing using PayPal’s Website Payments Pro with their new Virtual Terminal (VT3.0) and Recurring Billing component. So far it is working perfectly, right out the gate, without any paperwork for setting it up, no term contracts whatsoever and their API looks far more advanced than how I remember PayPal back in the late 90′s.
One of the reasons I told Wells Fargo I was holding off was due to their hard-sell approach (they really need to change that). I figure I will test-run with PayPal for another month or so and eventually switch to a WellsFargo resold Authorize.net solution. The other reason was, after discussing the “transaction flow” with an Authorize.net rep… their Virtual Terminal interface + Recurring Billing is not setup quite as well as PayPal’s newest offering.
But, though it was faster to get going with PayPal and the end-consumer doesn’t see any difference, our MOTO transactions do require a Virtual Terminal and Recurring billing solution — which makes the PayPal solution about $20 more per month, compared to the Wells Fargo package. Also, PayPal’s card rate hovers around 2.9% (decreases with higher volume, automatically), whereas Wells Fargo is a flat 2.4% (for non-AMEX)… but there are rumors of that increasing over the next year, as Wells is keeping it artificially low to remain competitive and eating the difference.
Now I’m just basically making another pros/cons argument for myself in this comment. Sorry for rambling. Early 2AM commenting FTW. =)
Wells needs to dump the long paper-trail style contract and stop hard-selling. We had transactions and a shopping cart up and running with PayPal within 48 hours and with no setup fees, including business application submit & merchant app approval, all in less time than it took for my banker to connect me with a Wells merchant services rep. And, interestingly enough, a decent percentage of transactions have been completed by users via their PayPal accounts… which makes me wonder just how many consumers prefer using PayPal to make purchases, when it is provided as an option alongside standard credit cards.
I would be signed with Wells Fargo right now if the rep didn’t tell me that my “application was expiring” and “had to act now” – pushing a potential client into a 3-year contract when they are testing with a competitor successfully, is not a great move. It made me second-guess my decision to pull the trigger with Wells/Authorize.net. In fact, I am dreading having to wait for her to ‘key’ yet another application (I went back and forth over the phone and e-mail with the rep to make 4 different revisions to the current application, because of so many mistakes and even mis-pricing.)
By the way, check what setup charge Wells is asking for… if your rep is saying $199 p/location, tell him/her that the Wells Fargo website shows $99 if you apply online and that you want the setup fee reduced to reflect the online price.
So, I’d advise you go directly with Wells Fargo, especially if you are already comfortable banking with them. In the end, I will most likely use both a Wells/Authorize solution as well as PayPal Business — to act as a redundancy for Virtual Terminal usage. Most shopping carts and API solutions can be setup to use either Authorize.net or PayPal’s Website Payments Pro.
Let me know how everything turns out!
Michael
HalfHourWorkWeek.com
Michael,
This is incredibly helpful. I might be back with more questions if you don’t mind, as it seems like you know exactly what we are going through.
Conor
Conor,
Glad to be of help.
Just let me know any other questions you have and I’ll answer as best I can.
By the way, I recalled one other reason that made me go for the PayPal alternative first. I told Wells that I needed to accept cards online across a number of websites (same concept/venture), but with different URL’s that are more locally geocentric. The rep said we would actually need to treat each URL as a different “location” and pay for an account for each — which is unacceptable.
Unless, of course, we did two of her proposed options: display the “parent company” in a logo or letters LARGER than the geotargeted web URL logo. Not going to happen. Or, have all customers get re-directed to the company website for pricing and payment processing. Yuck.
I think she just did not get the idea of using different URL’s with the same concept & even with the same design template. Different accounts for each would be cost prohibitive and total chaos for phone order transaction flow.
If you are going for a single-website transaction flow and not bothering with MOTO transactions, I’d still advise going with Wells Fargo. By the way, I’m somewhat opposed to accepting cards directly on a website — keeping your https certs going and remaining in PCI Compliance is quite a nuisance. Not sure how you are planning to implement your specific online payment process, but there is my two-cents.
Michael
P.S. *EDIT* My last comment I meant to say I was somewhat opposed to doing the entire “processing” of payment on your website & storing CC info. I didn’t mean to say I was against accepting credit cards, haha.
If you are using a sophisticated shopping cart suite that quickly and easily handles your SSL Certs and payment processing API interface… then you are probably going to have an easy time doing it all on your own website. I’d just be cautious when it comes to STORING your customers’ payment data, that’s when PCI compliance and liability comes into play. Having Authorize.net or PayPal do the final step in the payment process, on their secure servers, is a tiny inconvenience for customers when compared to possible infiltration and theft of their credit card info from YOUR database.