Forum Moderators: buckworks
Problem: I need to sell services (subscriptions) and products from my website. I need a product/service that allows me to maintain my site look and feel throughout the process --(forget 3rd party services). LinkPoint has an API version (which I think may be too complicated for what I need) and they have a "LinkPoint Basic" ... which is an html interface. But I can't get anyone to tell me what the "Basic" limitation are (eg: doc says no data is store on the gateway if you bypass their payment form ..... so what? what does that mean to me? is this data that is stored on their gateway temporarily anyway?, etc).
Should I just cut bait and find another merchant acct/gateway provider? If so, who?
I just finished working on one of my clients website shopping cart integrated with Linkpoint basic... I also learnt a lot about using Linkpoint basic in the porcess... First about how I integrated Linkpoint basic for my client...
My clients website sells memory modules, my client had signed up with linkpoint and wanted me to integrate a payment gateway with the site I developed for him(Was using paypal before)... first I tried the different payment modes in Linkpoint Basic...
There are 3 payment modes(I tried all)
1) Fullpay 2)Payplus 3)Payonly
1) Fullpay : Here what is required for u to do is pass 3 values from ur page(html, asp etc)
1. Storename (the storenumber u get when u signup with linkpoint)
2. Chargetotal : the total amount to be charged by linkpoint to the customers cc, this should be calculated by ur cart which is the sum of the tax + shipping.
3. Mode : fullpay
eg code:
<form method="post" action="https://www.linkpointcentral.com/lpc/servlet/lppay">
<input type="hidden" name="storename" value="yourstore#">
<input type="hidden" name="chargetotal" value="50">(50 is the amount to charge ur customer)
<input type="hidden" name="mode" value="fullpay">
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit">
</form>
When u click on the submit button from the page that has the above form... it goes to the linkpoint payment page where ur customer is asked for the billing information, shipping information and the credit card info.
Before u can test this above page u have to login to linkpointcentral... click on customize on the top nav... check the bottom where it says
"Customize LinkPoint Basic" -> click on "Configure your LinkPoint Basic" ... in there u have to login again... Scroll down to where it says "Order Submission Form URL" specify the url of the above page (this is done so that its secure so no one can send detalis from any other page to linkpoint other that this url u specify).
When u have specified the above url ur ready to test the same page... just click submit and ur taken to the linkpoint form where it asks for the billing info, shipping info and cc info... once the cc is processed successfully U can check the order details that are stored in linkpoint central management area (linkpoint central : Reports : Orders) which is provied to u when u register...now this was FULLPAY
2) PayPlus mode: its a bit different from fullpay, in payplus u have to setup the form on ur website where u ask ur customers for the billing and shipping info (shipping is optional) ... make sure u have the names of the data fields according to linkpoint names they have provied in the docs. example :
<input type="text" name="bcompany" size="35">
<input type="text" name="bname" size="35">
etc
When u pass the billing info and all the other values as I showed for fullpay above.. linkpoint only asks for the credit card info to the customer and processes it. If the process was successful, all the billing info and the cc proccessed info is viewable when u login to linkpoint central.... Now this was payplus
3)Payonly mode: in both the methods used (fullpay and payplus) u could login to linkpoint and see the transaction details (billing info, cc amount processed etc), but in payonly mode u will not be able to see the details in linkpoint central(so its payonly)... in this mode u ask ur customers the billing info and linkpoint asks the cc info and does the cc processing but nothing is seen when u login.
Now there is another method other than all these 3 modes, something called "Buypassing the payment form" , where all the info -> the billing info, shipping info(optional) and the credit card info is asked at ur website(this requires that u have a secure server that has SSL enabled)... u can buypass the linkpoint credit card form by this technique...
I'll paste the whole code from the beginning...
<form method="post" action="https://www.linkpointcentral.com/lpc/servlet/lppay">
<input type="hidden" name="cardnumber" value="">
<input type="hidden" name="expmonth" value="">
<input type="hidden" name="expyear" value="">
<input type="hidden" name="storename" value="your_store#">
<input type="hidden" name="chargetotal" value="">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="baddr1" value="">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="bcity" value="">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="bstate" value="">
<INPUT type="hidden" name="bzip" value="">
<INPUT type="submit" value="Continue to secure Payment Form">
<input type="hidden" name="2000" value="Submit">
</Form>
You bypass the linkpoint payment form by including the 2000 data field in your order form (see above code). When you use the 2000 data field, you do not have to select a payment mode or use the mode data field.
Using this method u can bypass the linkpoint form and send the credit card info for processing... and if the card is processed successfully it is directed to the thankyou page or if the card processing fails the customer is directed to the sorry page
(the Thankyou page and Sorry page has to be specified in "customization -> Configure your LinkPoint Basic"....if the card was processed successfully u can view all the transcation details by login in to linkpoint central : Reports : Orders.
Now when u do all these test order u need not use a real credit card u can login to linkpoint central and make all the transaction to Test mode...and change back to Live mode when done with testing.
I have successfully integrated linkpoint basic and feel it has it all that u need.
sorry if I made u more confused... but if u need any help, just send me a sticky mail.
Good Luck!
Also, I think both joshmachine and I are assuming that you built your own shopping cart. If you are using an out of the box cart, most of them have LinkPoint already integrated with them (yes, using the API themselves). If you are using such a cart check documentation to see about LinkPoint, and then just tell your sales rep that LinkPoint is already integrated. So in either case you'll end up with LinkPoint Basic with Virtual LinkPoint included.
Really the only folks that use the API are those integrating credit card processing in another application a la an off-the-shelf shopping cart or company billing system.
Kevin
