Can I use PayPal to charge a Credit Card automatically?

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+3 Q:

Can I use PayPal to charge a Credit Card automatically?

If I have a Visa card number saved in my database, is there a way I can charge that Visa automatically through the PayPal API without the user having to enter anything? We want to keep this site as easy and hassle-free to use as possible. It would be a variable amount, based on how they use the site.

(Don't worry, proper disclaimers will be in place, and the user will be notified)

What about these "recurring payments"? That way I don't have to store the CC info on my website, but do they allow variable amounts that I could periodically send to PayPal?

+4 A:

Yes, you can.

Look at Direct Payments:

1 On your website, the customer chooses to pay with a credit card and enters the credit card number and other details.

2 The customer reviews the order.

3 When your customer clicks “Pay” to place the order, you call a PayPal API to request payment, and the payment transaction is initiated. Note: The customer does not see this step. PayPal does not send your customer a recipt for the payment.

4 You transfer your customer to your order confirmation page.

The payment is performed without redirecting the customer to PP site, so it's up to you to request CC data from the customer and submit them to PP API.

Developer Art 2010-03-07 23:23:37

Uhh... no, the idea is we *don't* want them to have to do this on a per-transaction basis. Just enter their VISA card number, name, expiration data ONCE, and that's it. Then we can charge them weekly based on their usage.

Mark 2010-03-07 23:25:42

it's not what he meant. He wanted to charge customer without entering anything

fazo 2010-03-07 23:27:00

Read behind the lines. You're just required to call the API with CC data. No requirement for this data to be entered a minute ago. The API is obviously not interested in how and when you came to the CC data. Today, a month ago, doesn't matter.

Developer Art 2010-03-07 23:28:07

all I'm saying is that even if you have all informations about who you want to charge, you will land at confirmation page

fazo 2010-03-07 23:34:37

Nevermind, I apologize. I didn't read your answer closely enough. I'll look into this some more.

Mark 2010-03-07 23:59:09

@fazo: No, you won't. You call an API function silently without any confirmation dialogues and that's it.

Developer Art 2010-03-07 23:59:36

Looks like this should work after all. Thank you.

Mark 2010-03-08 00:25:16

ansaurus

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Can I use PayPal to charge a Credit Card automatically?

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