I have sell "high risk" items online... only 2 categories are considered "high risk" and accounts for about half of my products.

the problem is I only have 1 CC processor that allows me to process CCs for the products I sell. that 1 processor (payment alliance) will doesn't put the money in my account for 3-5 days. That means I have to float the cash for that long. considering the fast growth of my store and the fact that I did this with ZERO loans, cash-flow is becoming an issue.

The processor from my bank (PNC) will put money in my account next day! This would be HUGE for me. problem is they wont allow me to process the "high risk" items. but they will allow me to process the other 16,000 items (which account for 85% of all orders).

so, I need to use 2 different payment processors based on what the customer is purchasing.

here are my 2 ideas to overcome this:

1) create 2 completely separate sites that share a database (each site using a different table prefix) then edit the code so the customer and order tables are shared between the 2 sites (remove table prefix reference in the code). this way user accounts and orders will all be maintained in one location. customers can see all their orders no matter which site they are in and they have 1 login for both sites.

2) edit the checkout pages to use a 1 payment module if it has a "high risk" item in the cart and use the other if it doesn't.

as a developer I am very familiar with zen carts template system and have done an extensive amount of editing in the code... so I am not a noob getting in over his head! but I will admit that I haven't messed with the payment modules to much extent yet. but I am confident in being able to complete either option with enough time and research.


so... zen developers... which route would you go? option 1 or option 2? or maybe a 3rd I havent thought of?