[NTLUG:Discuss] OT: Credit Card Processing ( using linux )

[David Camm]

to clarify a bit, if you want to process credit card transactions from customers 
via a website, here's what you'll need to do:

1. through a bank, set up a card not present merchant account with a processor. 
processors are the companies that act as the intermediary between the card 
holder and your bank.

2. choose an online clearing service. the bank may only do business with one 
service, so you may not have a choice.

3. get a secure cert so that the form a customer fills out sends to your server 
via ssl.

4. write the code to process the transaction, connect to the clearing house and 
receive their response.

just about all clearing houses - i've worked with four different ones - provide 
extensive documentation and code to help with #4 above. every one is different 
and some are simpler to use than others. the general scenario is that you do a 
post to their server (or send a transaction via a module that they supply) and 
then they do a post with the transaction's results back to a program you supply.

not knowing exactly WHAT you want to do - is this for yourself charging your 
customers, or is this for a customer who wants to do e-commerce, it's difficult 
to say what the best solution is.

david camm
advanced web systems
keller, tx
www.advwebsys.com