Adding Credit Card Payment Support to my website

Question

I've puzzled by this question for quite a while, but never had the need for it. Now I do.

What I currently need is a Credit Card payment option for my website that does not rely on services such as Paypal. I want something like Name.com or Hostmonster.com have. You simply enter you credit card number, expiration date and the three little numbers at the back of the card. How can I achieve the same effect on my website?

I'll be programming the website in PHP.

Answers would be appreciated.

Answer 1

You need to signup to a payment gateway. It's a service that allows you to process credit card payments. I know you don't want to use PayPAL to accept payments, but PayPAL offer two solutions:

1. PayPAL Payments - That is the button and people pay through PayPAL

2. PayPAL Payments Pro (Payment Gateway). That is when you use PHP or anything else to connect to PayPAL with the credit card information. The customer never knows you used PayPAL, and they never leave your site.

When choosing a payment gateway these are the four most important things you should consider:

1. How easy is it to implement (PayPAL has a lot of documentation)

2. How much is the monthly fee.

3. How much do they charge per transaction.

4. How much do they charge to setup an account.

There are other options, and one of the most common is Authorize.net, but the is more setting up and a larger deposit to open an account.

Most accounts will require a background and credit check.

Answer 2

Well, you'll still need to rely on a Merchant Services company for card processing. There are many companies that boast an API that can then be accessed with PHP. One that I have recently learned of is Stripe. However, there are many competitors and you can research other companies further, but companies like Stripe will allow you to generate payments programmatically without having to leave your site to visit the black-box that is PayPal.