need your ecommerce advice!!!

[tippytarka]

i'm posting this in the php forum coz i'm a php man.

i was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on the the easiest way to impliment Visa, Mastercard and Switch credit card transactions through my site. i've completed my site to the point where the customer has the final price and can hit the button to purchase.

i've approached my bank which can redirect transactions through to their payment process, but integrating their programming with mine is a pain in the ass, especially since i'm using a webhost and not my own dedicated server. it would be easy if i could talk to someone face to face that is technical but their tech dept is located way out in leciester and i'm based in london. plus the only support they give is by email, and i don't think that i would be satisfied by playing a slow and painful email ping pong with some tech support wanker who can't give you the full picture and really couldn't give a toss.

so if i'm gonna do this on my own i would like the forums advice on a easy efficient way on how to do things ...i don't have a problem with the programming, its mainly the backend processing of the card. i mean which bank would you recommend that is flexible with ecommerce, what is an easy process/ package for a small business person like myself. somehow i feel like i'm not even asking the right questions on this forum. being pretty new to it i just needed some advice.

by the way, paypal and such others are not an option. my business is ...business to business and not business to consumer. so its credit card transactions all the way.

cheers!

 

[ingresman]

Tippy,

Paypal will let you do credit cards.
worldpay is a good option.
and
please mind your language !

 

[cLFlaVA]

tippy- take a look at VeriSign. I've personally never used them, but have heard good things.

*cLFlaVA
----------------------------
A pirate walks into a bar with a huge ship's steering wheel down his pants.
The bartender asks, "Are you aware that you have a steering wheel down your pants?"
The pirate replies, "Arrrrr! It's driving me nuts!

 

[sleipnir214]

I can only speak for credit-card clearinghouses in the U.S., but whoever is going to do your processing should have a web service API which you can use from your appliation.

That documentation is likely on your clearinghouse's web site, but you may have to dig for it.

Then you can use something like cURL with PHP to interact more directly with the clearinghouse's computers.


Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[tippytarka]

excuse my french, just got a little heated up thinking about those guys in tech support.

so, do you think paypal or verisign are proffessional methods of payment for business to business transactions? i'm trying to give the perception that i'm an established company with a good number of employees ....but what i really am is someone with a laptop in his living room : )

anyway, if you were working for a company ...like in a marketing or purchasing role or something, would you be somewhat suspicious of buying from another company whose method of payment is paypal or verisign??

 

[cLFlaVA]

Verisign is definitely professional. Paypal, while known for its gaudy buttons and images, is getting much better and up-to-par in the "we look professional" category.

By the way - the more you're willing to pay, the more 'professional' you'll look.

*cLFlaVA
----------------------------
A pirate walks into a bar with a huge ship's steering wheel down his pants.
The bartender asks, "Are you aware that you have a steering wheel down your pants?"
The pirate replies, "Arrrrr! It's driving me nuts!

 

[sleipnir214]

There is more than one way to handle credit-card processing on the web. One is to redirect your client's browser to the clearinghouse's server, which processes the transaction and sends the browser back to your site.

The other way is to use a web service API to allow PHP to interact directly with the clearinghouse's computers and process the transaction. The client never leaves your site and never has to know through whom you are processing credit cards. It takes more programming, though.


Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[tippytarka]

can anyone advise the first step to approaching a clearinghouse within the UK?

sleipnir, what exactly is a web service API? can you provide links?

i'll also take a look into verisign

 

[sleipnir214]

A web service API is the Advanced Programming Interfact to a web service. The API provides you with methods for interacting with the web service.

Any API your clearinghouse provides will be unique to that company's system. But examples of one company's API documentation can be found at Authorize.net's support page. Authorize.net provides several methods of interation with their systems, the ones most interesting to this discussion are WebLink (with which your customer's browser is directed to their system and back) and Advanced Integration Method (with which your server will communicate directly, exchange information with Authorize.net, and present the results of the credit-card charge attempt to your customer)

I have used Authorize.net's AIM with a client's site. The PHP scripts on the server accepted credit-card and purchase data from the customer, sent that data to and received a reply back from Authorize.net's system using PHP's cURL functions, and presented the results of the charge attempt to the customer. At no time was the customer ever sent to a site outside of my client's system, so the customers had no idea which processing vendor was processing the cards.



Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[tippytarka]

Thanks for your advice guys!

 

[tippytarka]

for anyone in the uk who's stuck like i was...

check this useful department of trade and industry link...

http://www.electronic-payments.co.uk/product_data.jsp

 

[Westbury]

Thats useful to know! Many people have asked me about setting up and eCommerce site.

Thanks

If it aint broke, redesign it!

 

[Shiva75]

You ask about UK banks. I'm using HSBC. I have not needed used thier support services as the intergration documentation they sent was pretty detailed. I hope you as as lucky.

Avoid Barclays...they were little to no help when I was researching.

 

[dongbamage]

http://www.nochex.com

is a uk based Small Electronic Money Issuer and accepts credit card payments, and has APC (automatic payment confirmation so that u can check/decline payments, etc)

I am still attempting to set up Paypals API refunds etc, its a pain!