Thanks once again Corey,

I believe the mystery about https is cleared up for the most part now but the mystery about merchant accounts deepens.

If I have a merchant account, how and where does it integrated with the payment processing - I have this testing API from Authorize.net - but do I need a merchant account to be able to go any further. Is there such a thing as a test merchant account? Where does this merchant account go?

I have found a Canadian site Merchant-Accounts.ca that seems to offer the things that I may need including a testing API -

Perhaps in a decade or so I will get to where I want to be.

Thanks

-Barb