i'll disagree with #2 as well. i setup a merchant account with braintree and they handled the establishment of amex, discover, visa, and mastercard accounts al

i'll disagree with #2 as well. i setup a merchant account with braintree and they handled the establishment of amex, discover, visa, and mastercard accounts all for me. the only thing i would add is that once you have your american express merchant account, login to their website and immediately switch to electronic statements. otherwise they charge you a $5 fee every month for paper statements.