As soon as a client/merchant signs up for an Authorize.net payment gateway account, Authorize.net starts charging the merchant a monthly fee.
It often takes multiple months before a new ecommerce site is ready to be launched. If the merchant wishes to temporarily stop the monthly Authorize.net fees until their site is ready to launch, then follow the instructions in this article.
How It Works
Authorize.net Supports says that they do not have temporary pause or suspend capabilities for their accounts. However, to temporarily stop the monthly fee, Authorize.net Support suggests closing the account until the site is ready to launch. As long as the closed account is reactivated within 12 months of the closure, then the merchant does not need to start over again; the account status is just changed back to "Open".
How to Close an Authorize.net Account
An account closure can be requested by anyone who has a login for the Authorize.net account at level Owner or Administrator.
The closure can be requested by online support chat, by a support case, or by phone. The support chat and support case methods are the easiest. If requesting by phone, the person calling will need to answer some verification questions.
How to Reactivate a Closed Authorize.net Account
An account reactivation can be requested by anyone who has a login for the Authorize.net account at level Owner or Administrator.
It must be reactivated within 12 months of the date the account was closed.
It should be reactivated approximately two weeks before the planned launch date to allow time for testing the Authorize.net integration with the ecommerce system and the associated testing of order payment processing.
The reactivation can be requested by online support chat, by a support case, or by phone. The support chat and support case methods are the easiest. If requesting by phone, the person calling will need to answer some verification questions.