what components are needed?

[gymshoe]

okay ....i'm confused....
how many things do i need to get an e-commerce site working..

so ...orders are put into a shopping cart...
when a customer checks out ...the order is processed and payment is then done. the site will take payment information and then submit it to a payment gateway....then somehow a merchant account fits into this equation (not sure how)...then money is deposited into my bank account....

can someone help clarify what all the pieces are responsible for?
which part charges the % of the sales price? ...the merchant account or the payment gateway? ...or ..eek..both? ..

[Matt]

Hmmm. How about a diagram:

User -> Web site -> Shopping Cart -> Gateway -> Merchant Account -> Bank Account

I'm sure that Rich will be able to explain the details, but the basic idea is that your bank account isn't set up to handle real-time credit card transactions, i.e. integrate with payment gateways. Merchant accounts are. Your merchant account holds your funds temporarily and deposits them into your bank account at regular intervals.

Hope this helps a little- Matt

[gymshoe]

can you tell me who you're using for gateway and merchant account?
and i think you gave me the high level explanation i needed...thanks!!

i was struggling with the difference between merchant account and regular bank account....part of me thought they were the same...