Paypal - Which of their offerings is best for me?

They've got me confused

[vordmeister]

I've been promising a client that I'll add Paypal as an alternative payment processor but haven't got around to it.

But which Paypal system? I've spent days going around the Paypal site and to me it's completely baffling. I'm looking at adding either Website Payments Standard or Express Checkout.

Could anyone who uses paypal save me several more days - it's a normal shop with normal checkout so it ought to be simple.

I need a call back to set the order status to paid, and I'm keen to ensure the order isn't messed around with so things can be processed in the shop without the need to go into paypal every time to check the price hasn't been fiddled.

ANY tips would be most appreciated.

[vordmeister]

Apologies for the vague post. I really was very confused. This is only the 4th payment gateway I've integrated, and while integrating payment providers is always a pain I didn't find the others anywhere near this confusing.

I've decided that express checkout is probably the option for me as it seems to allow more validation, and can pass the shipping address backwards and forwards.

Today I discovered the integration wizard on paypal's dev subdomain which provides some example code. Much easier starting with a working example showing what they mean than figuring it all out from scratch.

[Digmen1]

Yes I found Paypals website very confusing.

I did set up a Paypal cart on my website. But it was more luck than anything else.

Their website is just too big and overwhelming.
They really need to tidy it up and make more user friendly.

[jwolthuis]

If you want to add the cabability to take PayPal payments, then use Express Checkout. The customer leaves your website to enter their payment details, then returns to your site to finalize the payment.

If you also want to accept credit cards, then PayPal bundles Express Checkout with their credit card API, and calls the bundle "Website Payments Pro". Credit card payments can be made without leaving your website. PayPal payments (via Express Checkout) remain as described above.

"Website Payments Standard" is their very old system of accepting PayPal payments, using a form-post. It's been largely replaced by Express Checkout, but does retain the advantage of also accepting credit card payments. With this system, the customer is always redirected to PayPal to complete the payment details, then (optionally, sometimes) re-directed back to your site. Note that the "re-direct" is not mandated; the person made the payment and can close their browser, so this system is usually combined with PayPal IPN to actually complete the ordering process.

[vordmeister]

Thanks guys, I've baffled my way through Express Checkout integration - it works on my test server but still needs work before it goes live. I struggled a lot with the documentation - seemed to be all over the place and made up of snippets rather than any big picture.

The express checkout works quite well and allows me to check things on my server before confirming the order.

I've not worked out where I stand for seller protection. Where the buyer checks out directly from the cart the shipping address is returned from Paypal. Where the buyer chooses PayPal after checkout I send the shipping address to Paypal. I'm not sure if that makes a difference to how Paypal handle chargebacks.

I've never had a chargeback from my credit card gateway, but am a bit nervous of people taking advantage of PayPal and having stuff for free.

[vordmeister]

2 weeks on... if anyone else is going to try this be prepared for poor documentation and it taking a week longer than planned. There's the version number lottery for a start - some things work with some versions of the system and not others, and I've yet to find a list of which to use for what.

Can anyone help with requiring a confirmed shipping address in the UK? REQCONFIRMSHIPPING=1 doesn't work with version 61.0 and the internet back in 2006 said it's only a US thing.

This would surely leave anyone outside the US very open to chargebacks through paypal. Have I just wasted 2 weeks?

[jwolthuis]

If you don't specify REQCONFIRMSHIPPING in the request, PayPal will use the setting in your Profile (see Profile > Payment Receiving Preferences).

[vordmeister]

I did include REQCONFIRMSHIPPING=1 in the request. Payment Receiving Preferences in the account doesn't show any useful options for me.

I'm guessing payment protection applies only to US sellers so in the UK we are on our own and also without any sensible feeedback - it would be good to know what the confirmed address is and have a phone number to go with it.

I just changed from my confirmed address to Number 1 Silly Street and it went through just fine.