Hi,

I have been asked to make a ecommerce website as cheap as poss.
The website will contain clothes etc but also will have adult material.
The iseal cart to use would be oscommerce but due to the nature of some of the product, I can't use paypal. Does anyone know a similar payment system to Paypal the doesn't require a merchant account but does allow adult material?

Many thanks.

Why would you not want to get a merchant account?

Are they not more expensive?
Does it cost to get one from their bank and SSL certificate etc.
To be honest, I really don't know much about ecommerce.
What excatly do you need for a full ecommerce website?

Thanks

This is all dependent on your business model (what do you sell, and how do you charge for it), your monthly volumes, the average ticket (size of transaction), etc.....

Depending on those answers you might want to look at a direct merchant account, a thrid party processor, or an e-wallet, etc....

A third party processor would be something like Paypal I assume?
Would this method be the shortest short term solution?

Well, yes, and no. Paypal is more of an e-wallet system. A Third Party processor, (also known as an IPSP), utilizes a mastermerchant account, that you would have a sub account with. They provide all of the features that you need to run your site, but are more expensive that direct merchant accounts.

Examples of that include ccbill EU, verotel, etc...

If you would like, you can contact me for more advice regarding your particular business model. Paypal has certain restrictions, as do third party processors, and there are some people that are adverse to dealing with a merchant that only uses paypal....

I would be happy to help you out with this, and try to steer you in the right direction.

All in all though, if you are just starting out, going with a third party processor of some type is probably your best bet.