OK, I've been reading through these forums and the faqs and I think I've confused myself more than I was when I started.

I have been tasked with setting up a website for a 2,000 member non-profit organization. I can do all that with enough bells and whistles to keep even this bunch happy. I am looking at setting up a joomla site so that the organization staff can update the site easily.

Where I am hesitant is that four times a year (quarterly), the group hosts a seminar for its members with between 300 and 400 people attending. We want to set up a way for these members to use their credit cards to pay the seminar fee, rather than sending a check the way we do now.

We are not selling multiple items--just once every four months, one item.

Nonetheless, I think I still need a shopping cart, I think. This seems like overkill to me, but I don't see any other way to process things.

I also think I need both a dedicated IP and a dedicated SSL Certificate. Looking at the offerings, I am trying to keep this simple, so I think I would need the Business Plan (comes with dedicated ip) and then add the Basic SSL certificate (since no seminar costs more than $150, I don't think I need the Pro Certificate, do I?)

Finally, I believe I need a Merchant Account with someone like E-OnlineData or Eprocessing network....or someone.

Am I missing anything, or have I run myself in so many circles I am adding junk we don't need?

Take a look at PayPal's "buy it now" purchase code that you just drop into your page. No shopping cart, no SSL, no extra costs (PayPal will skim a little bit off the payment). That may be enough for what you want to do.