NYCPHP Meetup

[Michael B Allen]

On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 8:16 PM, Peter Sawczynec <ps at sun-code.com> wrote:
> I know that with PHP (and, of course, without PHP) it is a snap to
> create something like an online Contribute button on a web site that
> hooks to PayPal for credit card contribution/payment processing.
>
> But, client doesn't want to use PayPal.
>
> So is anyone aware of any other similar or alternate service provider(s)
> that can very similarly allow users to contribute online to something
> like a medical center construction fund. So that the client can likely
> set up an account with the provider and then users can uncomplicatedly
> contribute online to the fund via a major credit card(s).

Authorize.Net is popular. You can find PHP classes that interface with
their payment gateways (although I never used them myself).

But regardless of what payment gateway provider you use, you'll first
need a merchant account that supports that provider. The merchant
account is acting as a bank in this case. The payment gateway just
handles the transaction details, auditing numbers, refunds, etc.

Note that by default MasterCard and VISA is all you get by default.
For AMEX, Discover and others you'll need to take additional steps and
pay additional fees.

Also, note that CC processing is actually a little expensive. It's
about $40 a month if you have no sales whatsoever and then an
additional 2-4% of each purchase depending on the customer's bank
location.

Finally, just a thought, but if you're taking donations you might have
additional tax responsibilities. Not sure, but if I donated $1000 to
building a medical center I would probably want something to prove my
deduction to The Man if necessary.

Mike