RE: Best 3rd Party CC Account or Payment Gateway?

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I use Paypal and for a real merchant account, I have a Redwood Merchant Services account through 1st American, and request the Authorize.net terminal, although others are available. I pay 2.03%, but depending upon who you pricematch and how, you can go lower, at least down to 2.0%.

1st American themselves are OK. They only do the sales and setup, and sometimes they get slow when overloaded. What's really awesome is Redwood Merchant services, which you mostly call for support after you're setup. 24 hour a day support, and each time I've called, they've answered *instantly*. I couldn't be happier. If I have a problem with my terminal, I call Authorize.net, and they're more than okay, but not as responsive as Redwood themselves.

I'd recommend getting a quote from 1st American last. Take your best deal and fill out this form:

http://www.1stamericancardservice.com/BeatPrice.html

Also, I've been receiving a surprising # of orders through Paypal at times. Too many too ignore. Some people use it due to extra perceived purchase security, whether that security is real or not. Others use it since they trade on ebay, and have extra bucks in there. Getting a paypal account, too, is definitely worth it, but don't use them exclusively. 

I would blacklist:
echo-inc.com
and the old creditcards.com / ipayments. I think they're defunct now, though.