How-to guide
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To accept credit card payments online as a small business, you need a checkout, a payment gateway, and an approved processor and merchant account, and you should choose your pricing model before you choose a provider.
Online payment processing for small business comes down to six decisions, from where your checkout lives to how your price is set. Getting the pricing model right at the start matters most, because it is the hardest thing to change later. Avendo lets you start with processors competing on every transaction.
You need a website checkout, a gateway to transmit card data securely, and a processor that approves your merchant account. Processors will ask for a tax ID, bank account proof, recent statements, business details, and a government ID. Avendo estimates its single application takes about 10 minutes with those ready.
A custom cart on your own site gives you the most payment options. Hosted store builders often push you toward their built-in processor. Avendo currently supports custom-cart integrations.
A gateway carries card details securely from checkout, a processor moves the payment through the card networks, and a merchant account holds approved funds before payout to your bank.
Flat-rate is simplest, interchange-plus often costs less above $10,000 a month, and Avendo routing lets several processors compete on every transaction.
Processors need a tax ID (SSN, EIN, or ITIN), a voided check or bank letter, recent processing or bank statements, business contact details, and a government ID.
Use PCI DSS compliant processors and gateways. Your own obligations depend on how your checkout touches card data.
With Avendo you apply once. Eligible processors review your business, and once approved they compete on price for each sale.
Avendo routes each transaction to the best available rate, so your markup is tested on every sale. It never bills merchants, it integrates with checkout pages you may already use, and its dashboard shows how each transaction was priced. It currently serves e-commerce businesses only, and cannot onboard Shopify, Wix, Square, or GoDaddy stores today.
Learn more about card security standards at the PCI Security Standards Council. Then compare options in our guide to the best credit card processing for small business online or estimate fees on the processing costs page.
Short answers here. The full credit card processing FAQ covers 47 questions.
Contact Avendo with your monthly card volume and average ticket. Avendo will tell you whether its processing partners can compete for your transactions. Avendo never bills merchants, and there is no obligation to switch.
Merchant Rate Guide