[DianaR]

Getting a merchant avcount instead of using a processing portal like Paypal, can be an expensive proposition. There is often a huge set up fee and then there are monthly payments that may be required whether you make any sales or not.

At what point does getting a merchant account really become feasible?

Should you wait until you make a certain amount of profit each month?

[e-boadmin]

Diana,
My personal opinion is that you should do this as soon as your monthly volume is enough to justify the "minimum" fee by the merchant bank, which is usually around $25 in fees. So, at a 2.5% rate, that would need to be around $1,000/month in sales.

If you can integrate PayPal and make it flow into your site easily, without causing a lot of checkout hassle, it's a great option to start out with, though.