Questions about Authorize.net

I am currrently setting up E-commerce web site and from what I see everywhere Authorize.net is definitely the place to go to for credit card payments but I have several questions for others who are using Authorize.net or other services:

1. If I choose authorize.net it seems it is offered through resellers. Are all resellers the same since they are using authorize.net or does the service vary? Is there a specific reseller I should go to?

2. There are times that we are remodeling our warehouse or even taking pre-orders for items so they may not ship as soon as an item is purchased. From what I see it appears that as soon as someone does the checkout it immediately charges their card. Is it possible to set up authorize.net or others to not charge a card until a certain timeframe after or whenever we select to have it processed?

3. Does authorize.net use a secure server?

4. Is it possible to somehow issue refunds through authorize.net such as if someone has to return an item?

5. Is it possible to do manual orders such as in-person, over the phone, or email and charge that to a credit card?

6. What are the total monthly fees?

7. What is the transaction fee or is that based on volume?

8. Chargebacks: What protections do I have for these? I currently use Paypal and it seems even if an item is shipped to the ordering address if there is a chargeback I always lose. I have considered if I will have to only ship items to the billing address to avoid this. How safe is authorize.net for this? What is the fee for any chargebacks I have and if I were to win a chargeback could I hold the customer liable for paying this?

I know this is a lot of questions and it seems authorize.net is the way to go but I just have some concerns about these issues. Thanks for any help.

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Originally Posted by markw10

1. If I choose authorize.net it seems it is offered through resellers. Are all resellers the same since they are using authorize.net or does the service vary? Is there a specific reseller I should go to?

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Resellers all offer the same exact service so you want to use price as your determining factor when choosing a reseller.

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Originally Posted by markw10

2. There are times that we are remodeling our warehouse or even taking pre-orders for items so they may not ship as soon as an item is purchased. From what I see it appears that as soon as someone does the checkout it immediately charges their card. Is it possible to set up authorize.net or others to not charge a card until a certain timeframe after or whenever we select to have it processed?

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You would need to use Authorize.Net's CIM service or make your website PCI compliant so you can store the credit card information to delay payment this way.

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Originally Posted by markw10

3. Does authorize.net use a secure server?

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Of course.

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Originally Posted by markw10

4. Is it possible to somehow issue refunds through authorize.net such as if someone has to return an item?

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Yes. It can be done either through your website if you choose to write the code or you can use their virtual terminal. Both work equally as well.

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Originally Posted by markw10

5. Is it possible to do manual orders such as in-person, over the phone, or email and charge that to a credit card?

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Yes. They offer a virtual terminal for free to do this.

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Originally Posted by markw10

6. What are the total monthly fees?

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That depends on your pricing and your sales volume.

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Originally Posted by markw10

7. What is the transaction fee or is that based on volume?

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That will depend on your reseller's pricing.

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Originally Posted by markw10

8. Chargebacks: What protections do I have for these? I currently use Paypal and it seems even if an item is shipped to the ordering address if there is a chargeback I always lose. I have considered if I will have to only ship items to the billing address to avoid this. How safe is authorize.net for this? What is the fee for any chargebacks I have and if I were to win a chargeback could I hold the customer liable for paying this?

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Chargebacks don't affect Authorize.Net. These are questions you need to ask your merchant account provider as they handle all chargebacks and charge whatever chargeback fee you are assessed.

I use Authorize.Net through eonlinedata. Once you are accepted you won't interface with the reseller but directly with Authorize.Net. I can't praise them highly enough. Normally you would authorize and capture a card which means it is processed but you have the option to only authorize it and capture at a later date. The cost depends upon your amount of activity and I think there is a $15.00 per month minimum fee.

Just for interest, which experiences have you made with the customer service of authorize.net so far ?

Yesterday I finished setting up our affiliate management solution for a client website that is using authorize.net - we had some technical inquiries regarding sales tracking implementation and not just that their technical documentation was horrible, their customer service was also quite unresponsive.

However I must confess that our client dealt with them directly, so I don't know the exact contents of his mails sent or of authorize.net's replies. Just wondered that we were directed to their documentation in every case.

My experiences to date have been very cursory. Basically my account is used for e commerce so it is mainly authorize and capture but I have had the odd occasion to contact them and have found them to be very friendly and helpful.

I am not too familiar with all of Authorize.net's ins and outs, but there is a company called PaySimple that makes it easy for merchants to bill and collect and gives customers flexible payment options.
Here is the article I found in the Wall Street Journal.