allendehl,

I'm not entirely sure why Roban is saying Authorize.net is your merchant account (maybe just an oversight?) but Auth.net is ONLY a gateway provider. They do not provide merchant account services. See this page on their site for more details: http://www.fuzeqna.com/authorize.net...il.asp?kbid=46

You can only get a merchant account through a financial institution. Auth.net provides a merchant interface but this is not the same as a merchant account.

Basically, you need to find a reseller for the Auth.net service. That reseller may also provide merchant account services, or you may be required to find your own solution.

I use First National Bank of Omaha as my merchant account/bank account and they have a partnership with Auth.net so I use Auth.net as my gateway. You need both a gateway and a merchant account to accept credit cards online - unless you are using something like paypal or google checkout - in that case you are using THEIR gateway and merchant account to process cards.

Hope that clears things up for people.

PS: I forgot to mention... you can also buy directly from Auth.net for your gateway and then use your own merchant account with your bank instead of using a reseller.