
Best Credit Card Processing? (recurring payments) - tx

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tx
There was an _excellent_ discussion on the subject two months ago and I
bookmarked it. Unfortunately it reports "Invalid Operator" error when I try to
use that bookmark now.

We're looking to hook up a credit card processing to our app. As cheaply and
secure as possible :) We're running a subscription-based service therefore a
solid recurring billing is a must-have.

Suggestions? Feedback on whoever you're using? Thanks!

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jey
Try substituting "item" for the operator name. I think "comment" got renamed
to "item" or something, and broke URLs in the process.

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pg
comments -> item

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jmclain
I am using PayPal's PayFlowPro. They were acquired by PayPal from Verisign, I
believe. It has an XML API and a url string type of API. The API contains a
very convenient methodology for handling subscription payments, which is why
we use them. I was not really into storing credit card information, so the
recurring payment is very handy. Very good reporting API as well.

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gbanuel
Was the API clear and easy to use? Did you have any trouble with
documentation. I have used PayPal but in a more traditional sense, processing
single payments. They provide a url where you can verify the buyer. Sometimes
their service calls your cgi/script over and over with "complete" status but
in fact it isn't. Are there any such quirks with PayFlowPro?

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jmclain
Yes, you can't really think of PayFloPro as PayPal. It is an actual merchant
account. You obtain full credit card authorizations and can run reports to
reconcile things through the API. The only thing to be mindful of is that the
libraries they provide for using the APIs are pretty much either C or Java (I
want to say PHP also, but I am not 100%). If you do not use the libraries I am
pretty sure you can use URL strings to pass data back and forth.

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epi0Bauqu
Cybersource. They have a small business section:
[http://www.cybersource.com/products_and_services/small_busin...](http://www.cybersource.com/products_and_services/small_business_edition/referral/1138/)

I have used them very successfully in the past. They have an API in various
languages that is really easy to implement. For recurring billing, store the
card encrypted and bill whenever.

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carefreeliving
We use CyberSource too. It's pretty good (on a relative basis).

The big gotcha for us is that the reporting API (to get data on existing
subscriptions/transactions) leaves a lot to be desired.

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henryw
I've used cybersource in past, but not for subscription. Do you guys save the
credit card info on your servers for subscription, or does cybersource save it
for you?

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epi0Bauqu
I haven't used it, but they seem to have a Recurring Billing service:
[http://www.cybersource.com/resources/collateral/Resource_Cen...](http://www.cybersource.com/resources/collateral/Resource_Center/product_briefs/Recurring_Billing_Datasheet_101403v2.pdf)

I always figured that you want to maintain your own transaction records anyway
for internal accounting and metrics. If you do that then you really have 90%
of the work already done for a basic recurring billing system.

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iamyoohoo
I've used Authorize.net in the past - worked great.

