Authorize.Net Reseller Program: Your Options for Reselling the Gateway

"Authorize.Net partner program" covers four separate programs. Each one is for a different kind of business. Here's how Authorize.Net describes them on its partners page (checked September 30, 2026):

Notice the Reseller Program's own wording: it's meant to complement merchant account offerings you already have. That tells you who it's written for. It assumes you already have a merchant account source.

If you're a web developer, agency or hosting company, you probably don't. That's the gap our merchant services reseller program fills: one partner for the merchant account and the Authorize.Net gateway.

A business that takes cards online needs two accounts that work together:

• The payment gateway (Authorize.Net) sends each payment from the checkout to the processor and returns approved or declined.
• The merchant account is an account with an acquiring bank (the bank that accepts card payments for the business). It approves the business to take cards, deposits the money and handles chargebacks.

A payment gateway reseller program sells only the first one. Authorize.Net's reseller page is clear about this: "The reseller program offers the gateway solution and does not offer merchant accounts." Its reseller directory describes its preferred resellers as providers that "combine a merchant account along with Authorize.net" (checked September 30, 2026).

For your clients, the merchant account is the part that matters most. It's where approval happens and where most processing fees come from. Our guide to the Authorize.Net merchant account explains how the two parts fit, from the merchant's side.

When you refer a client to START, both parts come from one place. We set up the merchant account, then connect the Authorize.Net gateway to it.

If you're weighing whether to become an Authorize.Net reseller directly, these are the terms on Authorize.Net's reseller page and application, as of September 30, 2026:

• A binding agreement. The application says you "agree to be bound by the Reseller Program Agreement."
• A merchant service provider. "You will need to work with a merchant service provider." Authorize.Net names two ways: sign up as an agent for an ISO (independent sales organization, a company that signs merchants for a sponsor bank), or work directly with a merchant service provider.
• A processing network. The application asks which networks you work with. The list is Chase Paymentech, Elavon, FDC Nashville, FDC Omaha, Global Payments, Heartland, TSYS (Vital) and Worldpay.
• A buy rate and monthly residuals. Authorize.Net gives you a buy rate (your wholesale cost for the gateway), and you set your clients' gateway price. It pays residuals (ongoing monthly earnings) on the difference, "following the month when fees are collected."
• No fee subsidies in year one. "New reseller partners are not able to subsidize merchant fees." After at least a year, you "may receive consideration" to do so.
• The Partner Interface. You set up your merchants, manage your account and view portfolio reports there.
• No cost to join. Authorize.Net says, "There is no cost to become a partner."

Put together, reselling the gateway directly means managing two relationships: Authorize.Net for the gateway, and an ISO or merchant service provider for every client's merchant account. You'd also need a separate agreement with that provider, with its own pay terms. Our guide to ISO vs agent vs referral partner explains what each role involves.

Partnering with START is one relationship. We set up both accounts for your clients, and we'll walk you through the partner agreement before you sign.

Software companies and developers usually meet Authorize.Net through the Technology Partner program and the Solution ID.

What a Solution ID is

Authorize.Net's developer docs say a Solution ID "enables software vendors to uniquely track the transactions submitted from their application." Here's how it works (checked September 30, 2026):

• You generate it in the Partner Interface under Account > Partner Account > Solution ID.
• Your integration passes it with each transaction: x_solution_id in name/value requests, or a <solution><id> element in XML.
• Production and sandbox IDs are separate. An invalid ID is rejected with response code 265.
• The docs don't say every integration must send one. It is a requirement for Technology Partner revenue share.

What Technology Partner revenue share requires

The Technology Partner page offers a revenue share "based on basis points and payments volume." To earn it, Authorize.Net lists four requirements:

• a multi-year contract term
• at least $5M in referred payment volume
• the Solution ID passed in your embedded integration
• a validated integration with Authorize.Net

That structure is built for platforms that already process a lot of volume. If you build sites or checkouts for a handful of clients each year, $5M in referred volume may be a long way off.

You don't have to wait for it. Refer those clients to START instead. We set up each client's merchant account and Authorize.Net gateway, and you keep building. Our Authorize.Net integration guide covers the connection methods your clients' sites can use.

START has partnered with Authorize.Net for more than 20 years and has set up over 60,000 Authorize.Net accounts. Authorize.Net refers merchants to START to set up the merchant account behind the Authorize.Net payment gateway. Partners reach the same setup when they refer clients to us.

Here's how a referral works:

1. You refer the client. Partners get a co-branded application with their name and logo. It's fully digital, with a digital signature, so there's nothing to print or fax.
2. We find the right merchant account. START shops the acquiring bank that fits the client's business and underwrites the account. Most merchants are approved in 1–5 business days.
3. We connect Authorize.Net. We send the merchant account details to Authorize.Net so the gateway is connected, usually within 24 business hours of approval. In Authorize.Net's settings, that connection shows as the processor, Merchant ID and Terminal ID. Our guide to what a VAR sheet is explains these setup details.
4. You're paid by partner type. Referral partners earn a referral fee for each approved merchant. Resellers and agents earn ongoing residuals, a share of the merchant's processing revenue. Our guide to merchant services residuals and commissions explains how each model works.

What your clients get:

• Interchange-plus pricing: the card networks' cost plus a set markup
• No termination fees, annual fees or AVS (address verification) fees
• Real people in Salt Lake City, Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 Mountain Time
• Options for high-risk, Canadian and Australian businesses

What you get: a referral fee per approved merchant or ongoing residuals, depending on your partner type, plus co-branded applications, downloadable co-branding and marketing resources, and a relationship manager. START is a registered MSP/ISO of Elavon, Inc., and more than 90% of our merchants come to us through business partners like web developers, hosting companies and shopping cart providers.

New to referring? Start with how to become a merchant service provider.

Cybersource, Authorize.Net's sister company (both are owned by Visa), runs its own partner programs: Reseller, Referral and Enablement (checked September 30, 2026).

START's role there is narrower. We provide the merchant account behind the Cybersource payment gateway. We aren't a Cybersource reseller, and partnering with START doesn't make you one. If a client uses Cybersource, you can still refer them to us for the merchant account; the gateway stays under the client's own contract with Cybersource.