osCommerce and PayPal

[nunleyna]

Can someone explain to me, or show me where I can read, the relation between osCommerce and PayPal(or similar)? I want to start a business website, what exactly will programs do for me? Thanks in advance.

[Jack_mcs]

OSCommerce will allow you to display your products but it doesn't provide a means to accept payment. For that, you need something like PayPal. Your customer will see your product displayed by OSCommerce and order it. At this point, OSCommerce passes control over to PayPal so that payment can be made. Once that is done, control is returned to your shop (OSCommerce).

 

HTH,

Jack

[nunleyna]

Thank you Jack.

 

Could you, or anyone, please tell me where I can learn how to integrate osCommerce and PayPal? Is PayPal a good payment system or should I look into others? Again, thanks in advance.

[Jack_mcs]

PayPal is already setup with OSCommerce. Just go to admin->modules and click on PayPal and then on the install button. There is a contribution, called PayPall IPN I think, that has improvments over the stock one but you don't have to have it to get going. And, obviously, you will also need to have an account with PayPal. I think if you search the forums for PayPal you will find all the information you need. As for it being good or not, that's just a personal opinion. Some people like it, some don't. You are charged more than you would be for a regular credit card account but there is no upfront fee. For startup business, that is usually the defining factor.

 

Jack