Hey all,

So I am working with a fellow user here to help me create a script for processing orders for Plug Computers, but was wondering what to do about handling credit card orders. (credit card numbers, names, ect.) I know customers like to see a secure connection on the page where they are entering information about their card and address, how does this work with Trap17? Is there a feature built in to support secure pages or do I need to purchase a SSL certificate? If so, how do I set it up and suggestions where to get one?

Thanks for the help.

-Jon
Plug Computers

Well, I kinda wanted to do this too;

I know you need to pay for a ssl certificate from a (big company is better) such as visa or verisign etc.
Then get the page to use encryption.

You get the encryption to work yourself, but you need a certificate that costs a tiny bit f money!!!

I think trap DOES support SSl for you, but there's not a simple, automated setup...

Well im working with credit cards as part of a site too, my solution, and my advice, is to use paypal. You setup the list of products and use some HTML to adjust prices etc... then when they click the link it goes to paypal secure website where they can check out and pay for their items using a credit card or paypal and your paypal account gets credited. I think its the best and safest way, once the transaction is complete you can use some more HTML code to tell paypal where to send the customer, IE back to your website to a thank you page.

Learn more at the paypal website, google that! You want a merchant account. It will explain better than i can!

Its got two big bonuses, customers feel safer and you dont have to worry about all the security of storing and handling their details.

I just wanted to avoid the large percentages that PayPal does. On a $2000 computer, you can save a good amount of money by doing the transaction yourself rather than through PayPal.

Most major banks provide services to process credit and debit cards via the Internet. SecPay and RBOS WorldPay are just a couple of examples. You normally have to pay a set fee per month, or pay per transcation you make (something like 15p). You will also need an SSL certicifcate from a CA. CAcert are the only free, trusted CA I know of, so your best bet is to use them if you are on a budget. Once you have these two, the processing company you are with will provide you with instructions on how to integrate your shopping system with the cred card processing.

Alternatively, if you actually have a shop somewhere too, you can have the details of the orders sent to you and carry out a CNP (cardholder not present) transaction in your shop. This saves paying for Internet processing and getting it all set up and working.

I think all credit card processors have a percentage commission and should you want to integrate it onto a server, it going to cost you the commission + time + money for the certs. Paypal does it all for you and I believe there is a ready made shopping cart too.

Take a look at http://www.instantssl.com/
They offer a free 90-day one.
That's 3 months that you can see how hard it would be so set up / decide if you want your own or if you should use paypal!

i was thinking the same about using a bank..

Id ask the bank that you use and see if they offer anything for youa t a low rate..