credit card advice

I do the website for a non-profit based in Ireland and we're thinking of adding some sort of very low-key e-commerce system to the site so people can join up or order books online.
I don't think we'd even need a shopping cart system as we don't expect to get many complicated orders. I was wondering if there's anything out there that can handle credit card transactions for us and seems fairly reliable, and preferably works on commission rather than a monthly fee. I looked into Paypal but I've heard so many nightmarish stories about it that I'm hesitant to use it. Any other ideas? Many thanks!

The reason you hear so many - is that they are big. The bigger they are - the more customers - the more problems. I would suggest starting with Paypal first. They are easy to implement. Once it gets going - check into a third party processor. Their discount rates are a bit higher but most do not have a monthly service charge. A true merchant account will cost a couple of hundred dollars to set up & cost abut $40 a month to maintain.