Merchant Account
 

For non-adult sites, if you've got a merchant account, is there a need to go with a gateway billing service like ibill or Netbilling? What are the benefits of doing so, and is it necessary?

how are you going to process credit cards without a gateway? it's like buying gas but not having a car to use it in

Yeah you need a gateway to go with your merchant account,there is no way around that for internet purchases.

Authnet is a good solution and you integrate it with most everything really easily. authnetscripts.com has some GREAT easy integration scripts that really kick ass and the owner is an incredible guy, does support like no other

You need a gateway to have your transactions authorized.

The pieces are a merchant account
store software of some type
a merchant account
a Bank account

If you are doing hardgoods not subscriptions and have good credit you should have no problem getting a nomal merchant account at a minimum cost. There are multiple gateways you can select, some companies like CSI will allow free use of their gateway if your account is through them. CSI will NOT allow adult but they are massive for mainstream.

If you want some contacts for accounts or gateways drop me a note