If your needs are simple, keep it simple

If you accept payment on your Web site through PayPal, your customers can use credit cards and debit cards, even if they don't have a PayPal account. PayPal has several plans including ones with no annual commitment, monthly, startup or cancellation fees. Transactions fees start as low at 1.9 percent + $0.30 USD.

I recommend: Compare Paypal's various plans to traditional merchant accounts and gateways.

Get yourself a shopping cart

Shopping-cart software converts an existing Web site into an e-commerce store capable of handling multiple purchases and processing credit-card transactions.

I recommend: Go Earlyimpact.com for helpful information on choosing the best shopping cart for your business.

Starting from scratch?

Online store-builder software creates e-commerce stores with features such as Web space, shopping carts and credit-card processing, so if you don't have a Web site and don't want to develop your own, consider a software package with lots of bells and whistles.

I recommend: Yahoo, GoEcart, and Fortune3 provide several store-builder packages.

Merchant accounts and gateways

A merchant account is an account you establish with a bank to accept credit cards. Unless you use PayPal, you'll need a merchant account to accept credit cards through your Web site.

I recommend: Check out companies like Charge.com and Discountcreditcardmachine.com for Internet-based credit-card merchant accounts.

Cut risk and minimize loss from fraud

Cutting-edge security, fraud prevention and chargeback protection are a must in online commerce.

I recommend: Use Clearcommerce.com for real-time screening of transactions without slowing the purchase process for your customer.