I have a question for international hosts. I am planning on using the H-Sphere control panel with Authorize.net as my payment gateway, however being a UK company the only choice I have for my merchant account is a company called PlanetPayment. However I'm reluctant to use them as there website looks out of date and I am not getting a response to my email. Are they any good?

Is there an alternative? I do not wish to use a Worldpay type service as I want the payment page integrated with my billing system (i.e. the customer is not referred to the merchants site) and I need to be able to perform repeat billing for variable amounts and the off site solutions do not seem to be able to do this easily.

I would be grateful if other international hosts could explain how they have solved this problem.

I think your option right now is to look locally. I've heard Planet Payment is dropping international signups (we have a PP account but haven't heard this personally). Have you tried your local bank? I was going to suggest WorldPay as well though you've already looked into them. I do believe they have a gateway option as well as their third party service. Might be worth inquiring.

Paysystems has an IMA account that works as a full merchant gateway too, though it's not affiliated with authorize.net at all.

Credit card processors are going through the wringer at themoment due to Visa and Mastercard's decision to crack down on things (poorly in my opinion).

Greg Moore