Rahabib
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« on: October 29, 2007, 03:06:01 PM » |
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The last few days I have been searching around the internet for a low cost, if not free solution that I can pass on to my customers knowing its secure. It seems most third party shopping carts are going to require SSL which is a bit pricey.
So I went back to the old PayPal/Google system but it really is a pain to use for a large constantly updating product lines. What I would like to do is, somehow integrate paypal with an mysql database. The issue I come across mainly is security. Now both PayPal and Google let you go and create HTML buttons dynamically (entering in all the info in the button forum using hidden fields). I realize this is easy to get around if you want to get an unlawful discount. Luckily, merchant can simply review each incoming sale and see which are valid and which aren't.
To ease this process, I was looking into PayPal's IPN system, but this is where I get confused. All the info I see is for pay download services which none of my customers will be using. In addition, I am not even sure this will increase security at all or make life easier.
So my question to you, is.. if I am using the standard, buy and ship methods on my websites - is it worth using IPN and if so, are there any scripts or tutorials around that explain what is going on so that I can customize it for my website needs?
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Rahabib
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« Reply #1 on: October 31, 2007, 09:34:53 AM » |
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no one uses IPN?  |
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MrPhil
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« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2007, 10:11:04 AM » |
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Your statements seem to indicate some confusion on your part. First of all, the shopping carts themselves don't require SSL. You need SSL only if you're going to be collecting credit card information yourself and processing it through a payment gateway and merchant account. If you use a self-contained payment system such as PayPal (or PayPal IPN? I'm not sure how it differs from plain PayPal) you don't need SSL. You just pass off the customer information and purchase information over a secure link (https:) and let them take care of the business of handling credit card numbers. It's much easier than trying to brew your own system with PayPal payment buttons on each page. Have you looked at the canned shopping carts like osCommerce, Zen Cart, Agora Cart, and others? They all have interfaces to various payment services. Of course, if your clients are high enough volume, it may be worth their while to have a merchant account and payment gateway, and then they will need SSL. From your initial posting, it didn't sound like that was the case.
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Rahabib
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Posts: 3
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« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2007, 11:24:06 AM » |
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I guess I should be more clear.
I realize that most shopping carts have integration with paypal and such, however if I use them just for that, its a bit overkill since I can create a quick DB of info to dynamically create paypal buttons unless those carts happen to create encrypted buttons like you can from paypal's website. If I use those carts to accept credit cards myself I need SSL which is what I was thinking was too expensive.
PayPal IPN is basically just setting up PayPal to send a notification to a URL (a php, asp, etc.) page that can take the info from paypal to see if the payment matches that of what you have set up (so people cant just create an HTML page, change a few variables and send that to paypal as if it was from your site).
My question is really, is setting up IPN worth it (is it any more secure), and where can I find more info on how to do this if it is?
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MrPhil
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« Reply #4 on: October 31, 2007, 03:22:01 PM » |
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As I recall, there are at least three varieties of PayPal payments:
1) immediate payment ("buy it now") button (HTML) to place on a page
2) PayPal shopping cart (HTML? PHP?) and payment
3) your own shopping cart with either basket total or individual items presented to PayPal
All process credit cards at their (PayPal's) site, so you aren't handling credit card numbers. Where PayPal IPN fits into this I don't know. Perhaps someone familiar with IPN can speak up?
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drrichs
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« Reply #5 on: October 31, 2007, 04:36:18 PM » |
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... adding on to MrPhil..
PayPal will utilize some of the style of your site to give similar appearance. But you can you use a variety of cart tools/options (not necessarily from PayPal). As MrPhil has itemized, there are a variety of options. In fact, if you only need the payment option and you want it to be simple, fast, and (relatively) safe, then simply use the PayPal buttons.
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... when in doubt... go find out...
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mattl
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« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2007, 04:43:02 AM » |
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Hi, I used this script generator from Paypal: http://www.paypal-tech.com/SG2/This also includes the SQL for setting up the mySQL tables which store all the transaction details and IPN data. Matt |
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ttremain
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« Reply #7 on: January 27, 2008, 03:01:18 AM » |
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PayPal IPN is a tool used WITH PayPal payments, that validates an order as being legit, and not a hack attempt against your website.
1) The customer places an order
2) The customer is pushed to PayPal to make Payment
3) PayPal then contacts your IPN script to report the payment
4) Your IPN script then contacts PayPal to validate the details in step 3
Without IPN, anything else can be faked and should be manually verified before you process the sale.
IPN is not a shopping cart, but it can be added to a shopping cart.
I've integrated IPN into several PHP scripts for clients.
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