Activate Upon Scanning?

views:

answers:

Activate Upon Scanning?

I'm not sure if this is where I need to be asking this question, but here it is. My company is preparing to release a software program in the format of PIN cards (similar to phone cards). Each card will have a PIN on it under a scratch panel. The PIN can then be used to download the software program from our website.

I need to figure out what to do about theft prevention. I know with the phone cards, the PIN doesn't work until it is scanned at the register. How would I get this setup? Do I need to setup a "special" database or something?

How will I know if the card has been scanned at the register? Will the POS submit it to a database?

+1 A:

AFAIK the codes are submitted online to the phone company. The exact setup depends on the POS system; probably the POS terminals just submit it to their local POS Server, which then has to be configured to act accordingly (e.g. add new Entry to a license database, that has to be queried by your software to check the activation). There also needs to be a way to handle refunds (scratch panel intact).

smilingthax 2010-10-22 20:45:04

Ok, but how does it get from the store to me? I need to be able to mark the PIN as activated in the database.

Zachary Brown 2010-10-22 20:53:23

There is some infrastructure involved. You basically have to tell the store what to do on activation (e.g. send message via a VPN you'll have to set up). Maybe there are providers that handle the details, but I don't know of any.

smilingthax 2010-10-22 20:57:47

Cool. Would I be able to have them send a secure POST to a PHP script on my server?

Zachary Brown 2010-10-22 21:29:52

Depends on the POS software. For stores that have a small POS solution it might even be impossible. Others have their POS network administered by some specialized firm, who can tell you what interfaces they can provide (e.g. XML). Or they even need to write a custom module for the specific POS server. YMMV, but I guess most stores would rather want to avoid the trouble.

smilingthax 2010-10-22 22:03:24

Yeah, it does seem like kind of a pain in the butt. The software will start being sold in smaller "local" based shops for a while before we approach retail stores and national chains. What do you think about the PIN being embedded on a magnetic stripe, then when the local shop sells it, they go to our "Sellers Activation page", swipe the card with their reader and it enters the PIN into the text field. (of course the site would do the rest) This way the smaller shops can sell it, and the seller still has to activate it.

Zachary Brown 2010-10-22 22:07:01

If they can run a Webbrowser on their POS, they can also use their barcode scanner to input a PIN into any form field. But you'll probably have to provide different activation methods, as different stores have different hardware/resources.

smilingthax 2010-10-22 22:15:12

Yeah. I like the barcode thing. My question is though, do I need to purchase a UPC code or can I just embed the data into any barcode and prin it?

Zachary Brown 2010-10-22 22:24:12

If they never use the code with their POS app, it does not need to be UPC, you might even want it to be not UPC, although there are private (store-local) ranges you might be able to use. Only requirement is that the barcode reader can decode it; you can even encode the whole URL into Code128...

smilingthax 2010-10-22 22:33:50

I like that. I think I'll go with barcode then. Do oyu know the names of the POS firms I would need to contact to see what they offer as far as stuff like this goes?

Zachary Brown 2010-10-23 15:38:49

I think you'll have to approach your local specialist firms and/or local sales representatives of the POS firms (like NEC, IBM, Wincor Nixdorf...).

smilingthax 2010-10-24 05:11:00

ansaurus

tags:

views:

answers:

Activate Upon Scanning?

related questions