PayPal Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools

by Shannon Sofield, Dave Nielsen, Dave Burchell

Overview

If you've bought or sold items through eBay, or through hundreds of other online sites, then you're familiar with PayPal, the online payment service. With PayPal, a valid email address, and a credit card or bank account, you can easily send and receive payments online. Not a bank or financial institution itself, PayPal describes its service as one that builds on the financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards, and using advanced propriety fraud prevention systems, creates a safe, global, real-time payment solution. Put simply, PayPal provides the means for people to conduct financial transactions online, instantly and securely. But there's more to PayPal than meets the eye. PayPal Hacks shows you how to make the most of PayPal to get the most out of your online business or transactions. Authors Shannon Sofield of Payloadz.com and PayPal evangelist David Nielsen guide you through the rigors of using and developing with PayPal. Whether you're building an ecommerce site using PayPal as a transaction provider, or simply trying to pay for an eBay auction without getting burned, PayPal Hacks will give you the skinny on this leading global online payment service. The collection of tips and tricks in PayPal Hacks shows you how to find or even build the right tools for using PayPal to buy and sell on eBay or as a transaction provider for ecommerce on your own site. Written for all PayPal users, from those just starting out to those developing sophisticated ecommerce sites, this book begins with the basics such as setting up your account, then moves quickly into specific tips and tools for buyers, sellers, and developers. With PayPal Hacks, you can:

• Learn extra steps to help protect yourself while buying or selling on eBay
• Save time and money with advanced tips and undocumented features
• Learn dozens of easy-to-follow procedures to help you request and receive payments and fill orders
• Use PayPal to handle subscriptions, affiliate systems, and donations
• Create and customize your customers' checkout process
• Effortlessly integrate PayPal's shopping cart system into your own website
• Implement digital fulfillment with Instant Payment Notification (IPN) and Payment Data Transfer (PDT)
• Develop and distribute ecommerce applications with the PayPal API

Each hack consists of a task to be accomplished or a creative solution to a problem, presented in a clear, logical, and task-oriented format. PayPal Hacks provides the tools and details necessary to make PayPal more profitable, more flexible, and more convenient.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596007515
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/28/2004
Series:	Hacks
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Shannon Sofield is the personification of a hack, he takes anything that is supposed to do one thing, and manipulates it to serve his own purposes, both in his life as a developer and his life in general. If it was supposed to do one thing originally, he probably has it doing something entirely different instead.

Shannon began creating PayPal solutions more than 3 years ago using his original database driven PayPal purchase system that integrated with Macromedia Dreamweaver UltraDev. Since then, he has gone on to work on implementing unique fixes for common eCommerce problems using PayPal. He has written several tutorials and articles, as well as spoken on the topic of using PayPal in new ways. One of the first members of the PayPal Developer Network, he was added to the PayPal Developer Network Advisory Boards on its inception. He also served several terms as a member of Team Macromedia for their web development program Dreamweaver which he uses in his daily PayPal development. His technical background extends back to the initial Internet boom when he began picking up simple web design that evolved into web planning and programming using a variety of technologies, languages, and databases.

Currently, he manages the PayLoadz Digital Goods eCommerce system that allows merchants to sell digital goods securely with PayPal. One of the first and most successful 3rd party solutions for PayPal, this system made headlines when it launched Madonna's American Life single higher on the Billboard music charts than any previous digital single (and he did it before selling digital music was cool). In addition, he continually contributes to the PayPal Developer Network Message Boards (www.paypaldev.org) which his company, Superfreaker Studios, hosts and maintains.

While not slogging through code at his computer in a caffeinated, sleep-deprived state, Shannon enjoys outdoor activities that fit the time of year. In the Summer he surfs and volunteers for the surfboard manufacturer Wave Riding Vehicles, while in Winter, he can be found on the slopes working on his kicker spins. Year round, he can be found reliving his BMX days on his 24 GT cruiser. Shannon's undergraduate studies majored in Finance and Accounting, while his Maters in Business Administration includes a concentration in Finance. Ctrl+C is his best friend

Dave Nielsen is a Technical Evangelist within the PayPal Developer Network, a member of SDForum's Executive Council and the founder of the Web Services SIG of Silicon Valley. Dave has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Cal Poly: San Luis Obispo. Armed with an education in engineering and marketing, as well as many technical certifications and real world experience, Dave has both the technical skills and business savvy to give him insight into emerging technologies and trends.

As a technical trainer in the early 90's Dave taught classes in languages such as Visual Basic and SQL. Dave was an early Internet programming enthusiast and found himself hounding Microsoft for data-driven web developer tools. After discarding Microsoft's first two efforts (dbWeb and IDC) and taking a chance on early beta versions of IIS and Active Server Pages, Dave became one of the first technical trainers certified to teach the now popular ASP technology.

At PayPal Dave focuses his efforts on creating tools that help developers create ecommerce websites. Some of these projects include the Payment Request Wizard, the JavaScript Button Factory and the PayPal Commerce Starter Kit. Dave is cursed with more than one new product idea every day, but is always available to debate the latest technologies and how well they will be adopted.

Dave can be found online at www.paypalhacks.com, at conferences and "competing" in an occasional triathlon. At home, his girlfriend tries to stop him from selling everything he owns on eBay.

Dave Burchell got his start with computers by programming the Radio Shack TRS-80 in BASIC and the Commodore 64 in 6510 assembly. Currently, Dave's favorite programming languages are Perl and XSLT. A fervent proponent of XML, Dave enjoys solving content-management problems with markup and open source software. His other interests include American history and Hellenistic philosophy. Dave lives with his wife, Renee, and children, Max, Gus, and Samantha Grace, in Lincoln, Nebraska. His web site is http://incolor.inebraska.com/burchell/

Table of Contents

Credits; About the Authors; Contributors; Acknowledgments; Preface; Why PayPal Hacks?; Getting Started with the Code in This Book; Database Coding and Platform Choices; Further Study; How to Use This Book; How This Book Is Organized; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; How to Contact Us; Got a Hack?; Chapter 1: Account Management; 1.1 Introduction: Hacks #1-9; 1 Create a PayPal Account; 2 Verify Your PayPal Account; 3 Confirm Your Mailing Address; 4 Pay When You've Forgotten Your Password; 5 Restore Your Account if It Has Been Limited; 6 Create a Separate Login for Each Employee; 7 Access Member Information; 8 Manage PayPal Email; 9 Get Help from PayPal; Chapter 2: Making Payments; 2.1 Introduction: Hacks #10-16; 10 Send Money to Anyone; 11 Choose How to Fund Payments; 12 Use Your PayPal Funds Anywhere; 13 Pay from a Cell Phone; 14 Pay Seller Fees when Buying; 15 Send Money Without Creating a PayPal Account; 16 Dispute Merchandise Payments; Chapter 3: Selling with PayPal; 3.1 Introduction: Hacks #17-27; 3.2 Upgrade to Business Class; 3.3 Set Your Payment Receiving Preferences; 3.4 Identify Yourself to Your Customers; 17 Request Money the PayPal Way; 18 Ask for Money in Your Own Way; 19 Request Money Without an Account; 20 Get Your Money; 21 Refund a Payment; 22 Quick-Link to Transaction Details; 23 Lower Your Seller Fees; 24 Protect Yourself from Buyer Fraud; 25 Protect Yourself from Chargebacks; 26 Avoid Chargebacks on Digital Goods; 27 Handle Merchandise Disputes Effectively; Chapter 4: Payment Buttons; 4.1 Introduction: Hacks #28-44; 28 Create a Buy Now Button; 29 Use a Custom Button Image; 30 Create a Purchase Button for Services; 31 Create an Auction Payment Button; 32 Provide Purchase Options with Drop-Down Listboxes; 33 Include More Than Two Option Fields; 34 Override Shipping and Handling Preferences; 35 Build Notification Tracking; 36 Hack-Proof Your Payment; 37 Hack-Proof Your Buttons with Encryption; 38 Include Payment Buttons in Email Messages; 39 Hide Your Email Address from Spammers; 40 Accept Donations; 41 PayPal-Enable Your Flash; 42 Get More Out of Dreamweaver and PayPal; 43 Provide Options with ASP.NET Web Controls; 44 Try Accepting Payments in a Bogus Currency; Chapter 5: Storefronts and Shopping Carts; 5.1 Introduction: Hacks #45-50; 45 Hack Shopping Cart Buttons; 46 Create Shopping Cart Links; 47 Specify the Size of the Shopping Cart Window; 48 Deal with Design and Layout Issues; 49 Put Both Cart Buttons in One Form; 50 Integrate a Third-Party Shopping Cart with PayPal; 51 Customize Checkout Pages; 52 Display the Merchant Transaction ID on Your Return Page; 53 Remember Your Customers; 54 Create a Dynamic Storefront; 55 Add Dynamic Storefront Details; 56 Insert Dynamic Images; 57 Build an Order-Tracking Page; 58 Offer Discount Coupons; 59 Increase Search Engine Exposure; 60 Sell Digital Goods with PayLoadz; Chapter 6: Managing Subscriptions; 6.1 Introduction: Hacks #61-64; 61 Sell Subscriptions to Your Online Content; 62 Offer Tiered Subscriptions; 63 Time Your Subscriptions to End on Specific Dates; 64 Manage Subscription Passwords the Easy Way; Chapter 7: IPN and PDT; 7.1 Introduction: Hacks #65-86; 7.2 What IPN and PDT Are; 7.3 How IPN Works; 7.4 Advantages of PDT; 65 Receive Instant Payment Notifications; 66 Troubleshoot Instant Payment Notifications; 67 Send a Purchase Confirmation Email with IPN; 68 Process Shopping Carts with IPN; 69 Use IPN with eBay Listings; 70 Track Your eBay Products with IPN; 71 Deliver Digital Goods with IPN; 72 Deliver Digital Goods with a Return Page; 73 Implement Price Checking with IPN; 74 Provide an Order Summary with IPN; 75 Upsell Your Customers; 76 Enable Multiple IPN Pages; 77 Use Mass Pay to Create an Affiliate System; 78 Manage Your Inventory with IPN; 79 Display Donation Goals on Your Web Site; 80 Display a Recent Donor List; 81 Capture Customer Information with IPN; 82 Insert Payment Details into a Database with IPN; 83 Insert Cart Details into a Database; 84 Track Google Referrals; 85 Process Payments like a Credit Card with PDT; 86 Synchronizing PDT and IPN; Chapter 8: The PayPal Web Services API; 8.1 Introduction: Hacks #87-100; 8.2 Create a Developer Account; 87 Set up the Sandbox; 88 Make Your First API Call; 89 Create a Wrapper Class for Your API Calls; 90 Use the PayPal API Wrapper Class; 91 Refund Payments with the API; 92 Handle Transaction Errors within the API Wrapper; 93 Retrieve Transaction Details with the API; 94 Search for PayPal Transactions; 95 Hack the API Wrapper; 96 Issue Payments en Masse with the Mass Pay API; 97 Pay Affiliates and Suppliers on a Schedule; 98 Search eBay for Listings that Accept PayPal; 99 Test IPN and PDT in the Sandbox; 100 Go Live; Colophon;