Giving of Authorize.net password to web designer

[chelseaandco]

Hello,
I need some help. I have a company designing and setting up my ecommerce site. I have a merchant account thru Authorize.net for another website that I own.

This web design company said they need my authorize.net password to put in the "scripts" to make the credit card processing go through. Is this safe and/or ethical?
Thanks,
Michele
http://www.chelseacompanygifts.com

[flood6]

Assuming you trust the company designing your site, you will HAVE to give them that information. The only alternative I can think of is doing it yourself when they get finished with their work; maybe have them use "xxxxxx" as the number, then you plug in your number when they are done and your site is secure, but this will require you to troubleshoot it yourself.

If they are a reputable company, they will be professional with the information.

[cyanide]

Yes they do need this information in order to set you up with your payment processor.

You are right, though, to be wary.
If you are still skeptical, you could always have them sign some sort of non-disclosure agreement.

[chelseaandco]

Thanks so much for replying. This really helps me out.
Michele

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by chelseaandco

Hello,
I need some help. I have a company designing and setting up my ecommerce site. I have a merchant account thru Authorize.net for another website that I own.

I've developed several stores with authorize.net gateways and virtually none of them use the account password. The only time a password ever needs to be used is for refunds/ cancelations. There are security modes which require it for sending transactions but you should not need to do this. Avoid giving out the password if at all possible and ask the developer what function specifically needs a password at all.

[flood6]

I think Ted is right. I guess I was thinking about the transaction key. I use a 16 character "transaction key" and my user name to process Authorize.net transactions. The bottom line is that you are going to have to give them some kind of sensitive information so they can set you up to process CC transactions automatically.

Good catch, Ted.

[brandblast]

Although they don't need your password to setup your scripts, they do need it in order to configure certain gateway settings like your return url and so forth.

It makes it possible for the designer to login to ensure that your order has indeed passed to the gateway, and to easily make the modifications necessary if it diddn't.

You can always change the password once the project has been completed.