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integrating Paypal into a website – is this possible?

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Jun 21.2011

I’m a bit of a newb and have never integrated paypal into a website before so I apologise for my lack of knowledge.

I’m trying to build a website which allows users to sign up and, assuming they get themselves paypal premier accounts (so they can receive payments by credit card) they will be able to receive payments from other users of my site.

So someone will sign up using their Paypal email address, and other users will then be able to send them money through my site. If they use one of my special services then I also want to be able to take a 1% fee of the money sent.

I’m using cakephp and I’ve searched and found a few cakephp related paypal components but to me it seems that these are aimed at people who want to just use their own paypal account to receive money. Like having a paypal checkout button. Whereas I want to be able to direct money into many different paypal accounts. Is this possible? And if so can any kind soul direct me to where I should be reading (pref something not too difficult – I’m a learner!).

Also as a side note, are there any special security issues I need to take care of when dealing with paypal, especially considering the particular nature of what I want to achieve? How easy would it be for a bad person to alter someones paypal email to direct funds to themselves?

many thanks in advance

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4 Comments(s) ↴

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@chrisecclesJun 21.2011 — 

PayPal integration couldn't be easier.
-


PayPal explain it in great detail (not that you [I]need[/I] much of the

detail) in their publications, downloadable from their site.
-


Basically, you build a PayPal button into your site (which PayPal obligingly

supply the code for), and customers can then instantly pay you !
-


If you want back-end interaction with a confirmation of their payment

(eg: to process their order automatically), things get only slightly more

hairy but it's still do-able in a half-hour of coding. Download the "Website

Payment Standard Integration Guide" from PayPal's "Merchant Tools" tab.
-


Any problems, post back and I'll help.

Chris
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@aj_nscJun 21.2011 — I wouldn't pay much attention to chriseccles....it sounds like that individual hasn't done the type of complex integration that you wish to achieve.

I'm not saying PayPal is difficult to use, but to go into your task completely green....well, there's a bit of learning that you'll need to do. However, it's not nearly as daunting as you might think it is.

Ok, you'll need to sign up for a PayPal Website Payments Pro account (monthly fee, all transactions are performed through your site, the user doesn't leave to go to PayPal's website) because Website Payment Standard doesn't support "Adaptive Payments". You'll be using the Adaptive Payments API to split the payment up (e.g. for your 1% commission) when a user sends money to another user.

I've done a lot of integration work with PayPal Website Payments Pro using their NVP API and it's pretty easy to use, once you have a good base code to use to make all of your PayPal requests.

The only security issues you need to concern yourself with are 1) buy an SSL certificate and get your host to install it (GoDaddy is by far the cheapest) to make all your requests encrypted and 2) don't store anything related to a credit card in your database. You're allowed to store everything except for the CVV2, however, I'd avoid storing anything (less liability).

If you need any further assistance, PM me, I'm sure I'll be able to help you out.
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@chrisecclesJun 21.2011 — Not a very helpful or polite condemnation of my experience, considering

you don't know me, aj_nsc !
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I have, FYI, built extensively using PayPal's IPN and PDT systems on

very many sites.

The thrust of my post was to direct the OP to PayPal's specific help

facilities, which are excellent.

Chris
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@barricadesauthorJun 21.2011 — Hi Chris and AJ, thanks for the responses. Chris, AJ's right that what I require is a bit more involved than what you explained, but I appreciate your input anyway.

AJ, thanks for the reply, it's the kind of info I was hoping for. I'd seen the Website Payments Pro on Paypals website but was kind of hoping, since I'd be potentially sending lots of commissions their way in the first place, that I wouldn't have to pay a monthly fee. Buggers.

Anyway, thanks for the input and the offer of more help - I might have to take you up on that :o in the future. In the meantime I'm off to read the Paypal site (at least what to read about now). I'm not completely green so hopefully won't be too bad, and there looks like there might be some base code from the nice people at cakephp which I can use to make things easier.
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