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I have built payment systems before, but I have never used PayPal.

Previously with Barclays and SagePay, you bring your data together (price, item lines etc), encrypt the data using their services, then post the data back to their payment processing service.

I want to do this with PayPal, however I cannot find anything that seems remotely flexible enough to do the above.

I don't wish to use 'Buy now', 'Add to cart', 'Subscribe' buttons, I need to have the flexibility to manage that within the existing system. Any clues as to what I need?

halfer
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Simon Hughes
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  • I've struggled with this one a bit, and for experienced devs new to Paypal, their help system sure doesn't make it easy! Good luck. – halfer Feb 19 '13 at 21:14
  • This is horrendous, how can Paypal expect dev's to be able to follower there documentation. It's like 60 pages long, per payment type. Are they trying to put people off using the API? I've also looked at Google Checkout and it's exactly the same, it's almost like they don't want you to use anything other than 'Buy now' buttons... (groan) I think I will go back to the client and deal directly with the bank, it'll cost a little more but it's far easier and flexible. Thank you :) – Simon Hughes Feb 20 '13 at 12:03
  • I'm not a fan of them either, but clients will ask for Paypal, so it is probably worth spending time reading through the docs when you have some free time. Set up a sandbox account, and have a play with stuff using test credit card numbers. – halfer Feb 20 '13 at 12:54
  • Although Google Checkout dashboard is a pain to log into. The API is so easy to use and makes integration really straight forward. Plus there is no monthly fees to use their payment gateway. Exactly what I wanted :-D – Simon Hughes Feb 25 '13 at 14:31
  • I did some Paypal stuff yesterday (Buy Now buttons with callbacks enabled) and I have to say it was a solid pain. Logging into sandbox test accounts frequently denied access (since it isn't clear that you have to jump off from the developer account page and log in with test details) and some error messages are just nonsensical ("PimpAbort with return code 4011" with a stacktrace was my favourite). Paypal is sluggish to click through, and as you say the reams of info is off-putting. Paypal peeps: see Mailchimp for a much better dev-user experience! – halfer Feb 25 '13 at 15:02

1 Answers1

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You have stated not to use buttons such as Buy Now, so let forget about Website Payments Standard.

If you are comfortable accessing API, use Website Payments Pro or Payflow Gateway. Adaptive Payments is a new one; it provides some extra features.

If no API, use PayPal Express Checkout.

Here is some explanations about payment types.

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