Manual Processing

To be able to manually process Credit Cards, you must first set up a merchant account with your bank. For example: when you set up a merchant account, they will send you out a credit card machine (like the one you see in garages and shops), this method will allow you to accept card numbers over the phone as well. The cost varies depending upon the bank you choose to use.

Secondly, you will need a hosting account with https (or a secure site) if you are going to store numbers on your server they must be encrypted and the account must be secure for the transaction itself.

To summarise you need a merchant account and a secure hosting account to manually process.

Pay Pal

Paypal is becoming increasingly popular.

You then can use the PayPal gateway to receive Credit Card payments. These payments are then paid into your PayPal account and a transaction fee is deducted from the amount. Then you can transfer the funds from your PayPal account to your bank account. The beauty of this method is you do not need a secure hosting account, customers are taken directly to the payment gateway. It's ideal for someone starting out or on a budget.

To summarise you need a credit card and any hosting account.

Payment Gateways

There are a number of payment gateways such as World Pay and Streamline These gateways would be considered more professional than PayPal, insofar as they will process the credit cards and then pay that money directly into your bank account.

The costs vary depending on the number of transactions, but involve a monthly fee and a % of each transaction.