Choosing A Payment Processor

Hey everyone,

I am in kind of a bind because I'm not sure what payment processor to choose for my new community site (drupal based). I want this to be easy for both me and my members!

I was originally going to go with Google checkout, but they have a requirement stating that it's necessary to put their "Buy It Now" buttons before any login. Only certain members of my community will want to pay for the one thing I am selling, so I would only be showing the buttons "behind" a login.

I was looking at PayPal, but it seems their "Buy It Now" buttons only notify you of a payment through email, unless the user clicks the "Continue to site" link (which I'm not comfortable assuming they will). This seems like it is easily spoofed: I could create an email message that looks like it's from Paypal and send it to the email address I'm supposed to be paying, and they will think I paid them!

My users are going to want to pay for this intangible item and then have it available to them immediately, so I need the payment processor to notify me when they receive payment.

What I'm considering doing now (keeping in mind that it's late and I should have gone to bed hours ago) is using Paypal, getting the email, programmatically logging in to my account to make sure the payment is there, and then crediting the user with the item(s) they bought. This seems hokey too, because I'm not sure if Paypal is going to give me any user identifiable information besides their name. I would need their user id (from my site) or something...

I also looked into the other options Checkout and PayPal offer, but it seems like they need SSL. I don't know the first thing about this...how much does it cost?

Well, I'm off to bed but I'm hoping someone has jumped this hurdle in the past and has some advice!

 

Well, with Paypal, what I will do when I receive payment notification is to log in directly into Paypal website to confirm if there is such an order.

With Paypal and 2Checkout, basically you are using them as payment processors so you don't need SSL on your site because you be using theirs.

What is this 'intangible item' which you are referring to, is that a subscription or a downloadable ? If it is closer to a software, you can look into using Plimus.com but otherwise 2Checkout.com may not be a bad option for subscription.

 

You might want to start by reading this article: Solve the Payment Processing Problem.

 

Thanks, that is a good article. I threw some green at you.

One thing that still isn't clear to me is whether or not I will need to buy a separate SSL license with a merchant account.

 

You will if you want to have a transparent checkout. Otherwise, you can use the free secure order page provided by the gateway provider. The only downside is that your customers will have to leave your website to checkout.

 

If you use an API method of integrating into your website, you need the SSL. If you use one of the simple redirect methods, you dont need the SSL.

Personally I recommend using authorize.net AIM method. There is the extra cost of the ssl, but it makes the checkout process smoother for your visitors, and you can track your customer's complete path through your website.

 

And don't be intimidated by their API. It is easy to use. I promise.