This can take from as little as a week to up to a month. If a merchant collects all the necessary financial information for the Internet merchant account and submits it to the bank up front, this will speed the process along. Some sites might want to integrate it themselves with a simple CGI or Perl script that links the order form and clearing service. Some shopping cart programs already have this integration built in, so be sure to check with the software manufacturer for availability. In addition to just transferring the transaction information between your site and your bank, some clearing services might offer additional features, such as batch settlement, a password-protected management feature that enables you to review all transactions and import the information into a spreadsheet.
People expect everything to be free, and that's just unrealistic.
In addition to setup costs, some companies charge a flat fee for the service plus an additional per-transaction fee. Make sure you are not locked into a contract or service that penalizes you for exceeding a transaction limit. A service that makes it easy for you to scale up is preferable. Performance is determined by the time it takes to complete transactions. Reliability refers to the number of transactions that go through compared with those that fail.