Authorize.net, the leading payment provider for ecommerce and online payments, removed their setup fee ($49) on April 19.  This is great news, since the fee was much higher than competitors, and was a barrier for entry level ventures, or hobby websites.

Without the setup fee, merchants can start taking online payments with a minimum committment of $25 / month.  Each transaction is then subject to a 2.9% + $0.30 charge, which is in line with the industry standard.  For someone looking to enter the ecommerce world, authorize.net is now a more affordable option to consider.  Merchants looking to change payment providers will also benefit from this change.  They can now effectively trial another payment provider without a setup penalty, as it were.