Quote:
Originally Posted by grobluv
The only way to have them available for immediate download, I've found, is with e-commerce software, along with a virtual terminal, a merchant account and ssl certificate.
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Essentially, this is correct.
To offer anything immediately, you will need to have instant authorization. That would require a merchant account and gateway to retreive an authorization against the network the customer/card carrier is on so that you know you will get funded and can therefore release information.
You will also want to have the pages that gather payment information secured via SSL. This can be handled in a number of ways.
So, all the "ecommerce software" you really need isn't complex at all; all you need at the basic level is authorization, and then provide your information ( protecting your information is another topic this perhaps spawn ).
You don't neccessarily need a merchant account, as you could use PayPal's Web Site Payments Pro API (the PP IPN is pretty old school, IMHO), but if you are really serious about your business, you'd probably do better with a solid merchant account.
As for the "virtual terminal", every gateway worth anything has one -- a VT is just a web-based interface where one can administrate payments and options on payments. Anyone saying "you need a virtual terminal" is probably just a salesperson, honestly -- just trying to do their job, ill-informed and inexperienced as they are. |
