TCH-Bruce, on Nov 12 2007, 04:43 PM, said:
Welcome to the forums Pete
To add a paypal transaction processor to your site you should check out the
PayPal site. They have lots of information there for adding buttons to your site and will provide you with the links to add to your website in order to take payments.
To accept credit card transactions you will need a merchant account and some shopping cart software. And if you go the credit card route you will also want to get a
dedicated SSL certificate for your site.
I agree with bruce that a ssl would be a good idea but you do not have to have one.
Many payment gateway providers eg Worldpay, redirect the customer in the final stages of checkout to their own site. This means that they are doing the card processing not you and thus as such you do not need the ssl.
In this situation the advantage of the ssl is that when the customer opens their account with you the user info (name address etc) is sent securely.
Be carefull when ordering your ssl. They are not all created equal!!!! If you plan to use one of the higher level google checkout api then go to the google checkout forum and ask for advice re acceptable ssl.
the basic google checkout and paypal do not require ssl but you will not be able to add bells and whistles such as variable shipping.
there are many free ecommerce solutions, my fav is Zencart. For more advice read through their forums.
Our site uses zencart (without ssl- i have paid for a ssl but haven't had the time to install it).
The site is not pretty- still need to play with the layout and features but it will give you an indication of a basic zen cart set up
http://www.bichonhotel.co.uk/shop
if ever you do opt for ssl then be aware that your site will need to be moved to a new ip address so there will some down time. In that respect you are better off doing it from the off.
good luck
peteny77 
Posted 12 November 2007 - 11:20 AM
TCH-Bruce 
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