Payments for saas web application

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Payments for saas web application

Hi All,

I know there is lots of discussion about this on SO but I cant find any question quite like this.

I'm feeling lazy. I don't want to spend my time developing a paypal IPN handler unless I have to. I'm developing a web app and want to spend time on functions not billing.

Ideally I'd like to find a solution where I can add a by now button, someone else takes care of the payment, validating it's real etc, and all I need to do is write a simple update to the database to confirm a user has paid. I'm thinking one off payments only, and I'm talking only a few pounds a throw.

Can people suggest what the simplest way to tackle this is? Am I just being too lazy and do I need to get on with paypal.

FYI I'm in the uk so something like braintree is not usable.

EDIT - Paypal IPN is made very easy using this set of scripts. Basically gets all the salient information into your database, then lets you do whatever you need to with it. Pretty amazing stuff, defineitlyt worth checking out if you're new to IPN

https://www.x.com/thread/30664?start=0&tstart=0

+1 A:

Paypal IPN is probably your best bet, unless you want to build something hacky that parses notification emails.

Honestly, I'd suggest that you look for an IPN library written in your language of choice. There's gotta be something that is mostly plug and play.

You could even find a library in ANY language and have it update the database then have your application read the database.

Paul McMillan 2010-10-25 23:51:41

+1 for using any language. I could make this into an interesting project by learning a new language at the same time. Like it.

Rob Y 2010-10-26 00:15:03

Okay, I'm trying to understand where the problem is.

You have made something you want to earn from. Some sort of "product/online service" (Saas). You probarbly also have some users by now (customers). So you need to have some sort of "basket/ordering" system too.

Paypal is the easiest way to go, if you ask me, and without going into long bad examples, I did this quick search for you:

http://www.google.com/search?q=paypal+integration

Basically, you just create an account at Paypal, get it verified and then use Paypal to produce "HTML buttons/widgets" and then you just copy/paste that code into your "checkout" part of they buying page on your website.

Thats the easist model, if you ask me.

BerggreenDK 2010-10-25 23:54:04

notice one thing though, Paypal is a bit expensive on the "none subscribtion" version as their fee % is quite higher than other payment methods. On the other hand you have a lot less trouble implementing it.

BerggreenDK 2010-10-25 23:56:05

hi there, thanks for the answer. I've done lots of similar stuff to this with the sending to paypal and it's great. It's just the IPN notifications is a whole new thing to do, and I wondered if there was something already available to process these.

Rob Y 2010-10-26 00:14:21

@berggreenDK Paypal's fees are inline with the rest of the industry. The enterprise payment stuff is slightly better priced, but not by a huge margin. Processing payments is expensive.

Paul McMillan 2010-10-26 07:28:21

ansaurus

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Payments for saas web application

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