Paypal & Credit Card payments in php

[Jezternz]

Hey,
I would like to use credit card payments or/and paypal payments, to activate something on my website.
ie. A user is sent to a page and pays (via cc or pp) and once the money is accepted the website will activate a feature or change something in a db, (or do whatever I want via php).

I was wondering what kind of scripts I should be looking for? any links would be great. Idealy I would like to code it all myself (so links to tutorials would be even better) but I can use third-party scripts if thats my only choice. I have looked on google, didn't see that much.

I also want to be very careful about security, nothing dodgy, and only top security if possible (I have notice that some sites have some kind of security protocal - makes a padlock in the urlbar, is this a good idea? and where would I go about paying for this?). On a side note, I would like to know, when a user submits data via the post or get method, is it very secure? and is it possible / likely to be intercepted.

Thanks heaps in advance, Josh

[dlite922]

Hi Josh,

It looks like your a new coder. I would advice you not to attempt to create a site handling sensitive information like credit card numbers. You can save yourself the law suit by:

1. Hiring somebody to do it for you.
2. Learning how to code by hand (not from scripts) first.

That being said, There's no global script that will work for you. You need to code for your specific application. Each of the merchants (like PayPal and Authorize.net) have an API (Application Program Interface), usually through an XML medium. (Hint: Learn PHP and XML parsing)

They usually give you sample code to start you off. Check the merchant's website for manuals of their respective API's.

As far as security, You need to have an SSL certificate installed on your server and registered to your domain. All pages that require transmission of retrieve senstive data should use "https" in front of the url, instead of "http".

Do not use GET, use POST. You do not want a credit card number in the URL. That would be very bad to say the least.

We're here to helping with coding. So if you get stuck at a problem:

1. Google it. if issue not solved, see step 2.
2. Post your code and tell us what you're trying to do, what the code should do, what it is actually doing, and provide any info or error messages that you get.

Good luck!



Dan

[Jezternz]

cool, thanks heaps, um yeh I have done alot of php for different sites, I just have never gone near paypal/credit card/financial type problems before. Yeh I figured get wasnt secure enough, and i wasnt sure about post either. But how else does someone buy things online if not through post?

Anyway I will look into paypal, ect, come back here if need be.

Cheers, Josh

[dlite922]

@Jezternz
Your welcome. Come back anytime,




Dan