Its been a while since I've done an E-Commerce site, so I'm a bit rusty, but if I recall correctly, fully integrating a merchant account into a site is some big $$$. You have security to think about (which mean top-notch coding, ssls, etc), fees to pay to the credit card companies per-transaction, and a host (no pun indented) of things to worry about.

Paypal is beautiful because it handles all of this for you, quite efficiently at that.. and all it asks for is a small, IMHO very fair percent off the top. Not to mention, once the transaction is completed on paypal's end, the send you right back where you came from.

Somebody who maybe does more with this might say something different, but I would tell your client unless he is willing to shell out some large numbers to accommodate this, paypal really is a good way to go.

Thanks Paul,

That's kind of what I was thinking, but wasn't sure if there is a cheaper alternative.

There's no free one out there. But wait a minute: PayPal Payments Pro is one of the ones you are looking for. Take cc details on site and pass them to the paypal without the user seeing. There are loads though, for a sample list see the lower half of http://www.ekmpowershop.com/overview_takin...redit_cards.asp. Most others require a merchant account with the bank, which is an additional cost.

I am also working full time on an e-commerce project at the moment by the way. Good luck!

I have used this one before, which isn't a bad price, and they do keep up on security updates:
http://www.x-cart.com/.
The only thing that scares me is that it's a Russian company. Considering the political overtone nowadays, it might not be a wise choice. Especially that a lot of the hacking attempts originate from Russia. At anytime now, the old USSR could re-evolve, and possibly start taking over any and all businesses within their borders. Who knows what they could do with the information. You're better off with the PayPal coding as described above.

I wish I could use PayPal Payments Pro, unfortunately it is not available in Canada yet. Very frustrating...