How do I go about setting up a payment gateway on my website? -

I would like to set up credit card payments on my website. I know I can do paypal, authorize.net etc., but how do I go about setting up a straight credit card payment system, I guess its called a merchant acct. Does it cost alot?

If you want a merchant account with a payment gateway you need to contact a merchant account provider and sign up for an account. Shop around because rates and fees will vary from provider to provider. If you want to use a shared account from a third party processor like Paypal you need to sign up directly with them.