[lug] Letting folks pay from the web.

[Rob Nagler]

On 2/1/10, Jonathan Corbet <corbet-bldrlug at lwn.net> wrote:
> PayPal is pretty easy to set up and deal with, for the most part.

Agreed.  We use it for freiker.org.  I agree it is hard to get money out
of people when you use it, then again, it's hard to get money out of
people to donate to freiker.org. :)  You can see the code here:

http://www.freiker.org/tech/wiki/Software

>  of history.  We're using Wells Fargo; they seem expensive but it all
>  just works, which we value.

We use Wells Fargo and have used Vectra and our customers use a
couple of others, which I don't know.  AFAIK, they don't have any problems.

One thing is that you need to be careful when setting up the merchant
account that they hook it up to the right processor.  The banks don't understand
this Internat-thang, and think that everybody uses a swipe machine.  They
will send you decals, which I give to my kids, but I guess you could put them
on your computers. :)   I didn't manage the process once and they did this
whole training with my bookkeeper and before I knew it she had spent hours
going through stuff she didn't need to know.  We just generate the QuickBooks
files for her, and she imports them once a month.  They had also hooked us
up to the wrong processor, because that's the one they "prefer" (i.e. get the
most money for).

> On the gateway side I recommend
>  TrustCommerce;

We have used authorize.net for about 10 years.  We have had no problems.
Our code dealing with authorize.net is here:

http://www.bivio.biz/f/bOP/lib/Bivio/Biz/Action/ECCreditCardProcessor.pm

We almost never have to talk with them.

Another tip: don't store CVV or even ask for it.  You get a "discount" on your
"discount rate" if you do, but we've never had a fraud situation, and even if
we did, it would be for, say, $100.  It's unlikely for your
application that you
need anything more than a zip code and email.  We don't ask for a phone
either.  The less you have in your db the better.

Rob