What is the best merchant processing solution?

If you want to take credit card orders (or pre-orders), what is the best merchant processing solution?
I’ve heard the PayPal and Google Checkout will freeze your funds if even a single person complains about your service to them.

no …PayPal will freeze your account but
they all will.

I like Authorizenet for a primary merchant account
and then use PayPal as a secondary payment
option.

Some carts will allow for 2 options on the
order page.

Hi I am new here and I am starting with your answerer. If you don’t care about the customer leaving your site:
Amazon Payments (underrated in my opinion)

PayPal
Google Checkout

If you need to seamlessly integrate a payment form in your site:
-PayPal Payments Pro ($30/month for a virtual terminal and API integration, no contracts, 2.9% transaction, it’s really hard to find a merchant company that can beat this unless you’re talking in volumes).

-Authorize-net coupled with the merchant company of your choice.
When evaluating a merchant company, beware of contract stipulations, transaction fees, and monthly fees. My first provider was Card-service International (one of the largest) and I used Link Point for the online gateway. I was paying $60-80/month just for the service! (transaction fees excluded) AND I was locked in a 2-year contract with an insanely high cancellation fee. One of their fees was a mandatory $20 “customer service fee” for access to their 24/7 customer service team. (W T F?)
Just be careful when evaluating merchant companies. Try starting at your bank (as long as it’s not Chase, B o A, or Wells Fargo). Generally, local community banks or credit unions will have fair pricing and good customer service for merchants.

With any of these solutions you consider, carefully read the merchant agreements. Not all of them permit you to take payments for pre-orders. You’ll be in a bit of a jam if you take thousands of dollars of pre-orders, they look into your account and see that they’re preorders, then close your account and freeze all the funds for 6 months.

A serious merchant provider will not ask for a long-term commitment and should provide you with a clear cost-plus schedule A that lists all prices. The main advantage is that a good service provider will help you with the setup of the shopping cart and provide value support. Generally you’d look at around $25 a month for the service plus the processing in terms of costs.