Please Help: Paypal Integration

[userhaianxd]

Hi,

 

I have some basic questions about integrating paypal website payments standard service to my oscommerce store:

 

1. Can I test paypal from my local server, or I have to publish my store to a host first?

 

2. If I have to publish my store to a host first, how can I prevent customer from purchasing before it is ready?

 

3. Is there any instruction, such as step by step guide available?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Terra]

1) depends what you mean by local server - if you have your own test box at home which is connected to net and configured correctly to host sites (IP address etc), then yes. Otherwise you'd need a hosting contract and publish the site.

 

2) easiest way is to have only dummy products with minimal value. password protection is not an option as it will also stop PayPal to access the shop.

 

3) check out PayPal's developer area - there are forums, documentations etc.

 

and if you are using an osCom contribution, then check out the contribution documentation & support thread. Each contrib differs, so best to read up on the specific one you are intending to use.

 

Terra

[userhaianxd]

1) depends what you mean by local server - if you have your own test box at home which is connected to net and configured correctly to host sites (IP address etc), then yes. Otherwise you'd need a hosting contract and publish the site.

 

2) easiest way is to have only dummy products with minimal value. password protection is not an option as it will also stop PayPal to access the shop.

 

3) check out PayPal's developer area - there are forums, documentations etc.

 

and if you are using an osCom contribution, then check out the contribution documentation & support thread. Each contrib differs, so best to read up on the specific one you are intending to use.

 

Terra

 

 

Thank you Terra for the response.

 

What do you mean by my own test box at home? I have a local server set up for developing my website. If it is not what you meant, can you tell me how to creat my own test box?

 

Thanks a lot.

[Terra]

What do you mean by my own test box at home? I have a local server set up for developing my website. If it is not what you meant, can you tell me how to creat my own test box?

ah - a sense of humour! how to learn sever administration in one simple forum post. Best to get a hosting account - makes life easier & they're not that expensive these days. Terra

[GemRock]

... 2. If I have to publish my store to a host first, how can I prevent customer from purchasing before it is ready...

when you first publish your site, you are more likely than not uploading it to a 'jungle' where nobody knows about. Many people struggle for months to get their first customer to come to their sites let alone ordering anything, well, unless you are selling XBox or something that hot, or you spend alot on advertising your site. So if not, dont even worry about anyone places any order before you are ready!

OK, that says, if still not sure, then put your a site under a sub-folder with a hard-to-guess folder name- that will be a true jungle!

 

Ken

[nibl69]

when you first publish your site, you are more likely than not uploading it to a 'jungle' where nobody knows about. Many people struggle for months to get their first customer to come to their sites let alone ordering anything, well, unless you are selling XBox or something that hot, or you spend alot on advertising your site. So if not, dont even worry about anyone places any order before you are ready!

OK, that says, if still not sure, then put your a site under a sub-folder with a hard-to-guess folder name- that will be a true jungle!

 

Ken

 

Exactly. My store has been online and credit card functional (but not officially launched) for weeks, and not one unwanted purchase so far. I'd say you have little to worry about.

[Terra]

when you first publish your site, you are more likely than not uploading it to a 'jungle' where nobody knows about.

funny though that sometimes the weirdest pages get high rankings - we had one customer enquiring how quickly we could deliver the womenswear products ... but we are a design agency .. and it's a test store .. and all products are called "lorem ipsum" and the product description clearly states that it's a dummy site ...

 

But to stop accidents you have two easy tools:

 

One good trick is to put in a robots.txt file with a noindex, nofollow command right at the root of the site. Badly behaving bots won't obey, but the big ones like Google will leave your site alone.

 

Another good trick is to put an "under construction" index.html page into the root - that usually stops casual browsers and you can access the shop by typing in the index.php file pathway.

 

Terra