Merchant Accounts and Online Payment Processing

A Fitness Professional's e-Guide To
Getting Paid Online

By Allen Hill
President, Fitness Website Design
CEO, Fitness Web Hosting

When it comes to getting a merchant account or setting up some form of online payment processing for your fitness website, things can get pretty confusing.

With all the technical talk about payment gateways, virtual terminals, and security encryption, making the right choice for your website's payment processing can be a daunting task.

But getting set up to accept credit cards online doesn't have to be a time-consuming, headache-inducing hassle.

The Most Professional Option

If keeping a professional and business-like image is important to you (and it should be), your best option is to get your own online merchant account.

The payment processor we use here at Fitness Web Hosting, and the one we arrange for our Fitness Website Design clients, is a company called E-Online Data.  

They're an Authorize.net merchant account provider that works with small businesses who need to accept payments online, in person, or over the phone.

Their customer support has always been top-notch and they're really helpful during the entire setup process.  There is a small application fee to get started, but you're usually set up and able to accept credit cards online in a matter of 2-4 days.

Once you're all set up and taking orders, they process the payments for you in real time and deposit the funds to your business bank account.  I usually have access to the money from my processed transactions in 3 or 4 business days.

The processing fees are very reasonable and I've never seen a problem with getting an application approved.

Get your own merchant account from E-Online Data...
 

Don't Want an Online Merchant Account?  Another Option

If applications and processing agreements sounds like a bit of a hassle to you, you do have another option...

Pay Pal.  

I use Pay Pal Website Payments Pro to accept credit card payments over the phone, and I even use it to process payments for a few of my products.

It's easy to integrate with shopping cart software, it's easy to use, and it's even easier to get paid.

When I bill a client using Pay Pal Website Payment Pro, the transaction is processed instantly, the money goes into my Pay Pal account instantly, and I can even withdraw the money from the nearest ATM with my free Pay Pal debit card!

It really couldn't be more convenient.  And the fees are only $20 a month plus a fee per transaction.

I use it myself and I've recommended it to dozens of my clients.  You can learn all the details about Pay Pal Website Payment Pro here.