I'm still fairly confused by the world of payment gateways and merchant accounts. I would like to find out if there is a way to become a reseller for an online payment solution where you would receive a percentage of the discount rate, or ideally you could set that up yourself, say 2% per every transaction on top of whatever the provider charges.

Is this possible, do you know any companies that provide a simple solution?

There's a cost for each transaction and it is the same for every processor in the country. You can find the costs on VISA and MC websites under "Interchange Rates" what each processor simply does is to determine how much more they need to add to the base rate to accomplish the profit they desire ...

Ye, a typical reseller would get a buy rate from the processor, so say you have a highrisk merchant you would get like a 4-5% buy rate from the processor and you can resell it to your merchant for say 6% then you would get 2% per transaction. If you want to email me at justin.conway@premierpaymentsonline.com with more details I can talk to you about our reseller policy etc.

This industry is very competitive and difficult to come in to as a reseller and make any kind of profit. I'd recommend that you study the merchant service industry and instead of becoming a reseller work for a local ISO (Independent Sales Organization) or MSP (Merchant Service Provider) as an account executive or an agent. Lot's of ISO's and MSP's are looking for new talent just look in the newspaper or go on job websites like CareerBuilder.com. I say local, because the training is so much easier and you won't be so overwhelmed with reading material.

You are able to usually bargain your rate based upon the volume that you can present to the bank.