PayPal Hacks [Paperback]

Shannon Sofield (Author), Dave Nielsen (Author), Dave Burchell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hacks | Publication Date: September 14, 2004

If you've bought or sold items through eBay, or through hundreds of other online sites, then you're familiar with PayPal, the online payment service. With PayPal, a valid email address, and a credit card or bank account, you can easily send and receive payments online. Not a bank or financial institution itself, PayPal describes its service as one that builds on the financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards, and using advanced propriety fraud prevention systems, creates a safe, global, real-time payment solution. Put simply, PayPal provides the means for people to conduct financial transactions online, instantly and securely.

But there's more to PayPal than meets the eye. PayPal Hacks shows you how to make the most of PayPal to get the most out of your online business or transactions. Authors Shannon Sofield of Payloadz.com and PayPal evangelist David Nielsen guide you through the rigors of using and developing with PayPal. Whether you're building an ecommerce site using PayPal as a transaction provider, or simply trying to pay for an eBay auction without getting burned, PayPal Hacks will give you the skinny on this leading global online payment service.

The collection of tips and tricks in PayPal Hacks shows you how to find or even build the right tools for using PayPal to buy and sell on eBay or as a transaction provider for ecommerce on your own site. Written for all PayPal users, from those just starting out to those developing sophisticated ecommerce sites, this book begins with the basics such as setting up your account, then moves quickly into specific tips and tools for buyers, sellers, and developers.

With PayPal Hacks, you can:

• Learn extra steps to help protect yourself while buying or selling on eBay
• Save time and money with advanced tips and undocumented features
• Learn dozens of easy-to-follow procedures to help you request and receive payments and fill orders
• Use PayPal to handle subscriptions, affiliate systems, and donations
• Create and customize your customers' checkout process
• Effortlessly integrate PayPal's shopping cart system into your own website
• Implement digital fulfillment with Instant Payment Notification (IPN) and Payment Data Transfer (PDT)
• Develop and distribute ecommerce applications with the PayPal API

Each hack consists of a task to be accomplished or a creative solution to a problem, presented in a clear, logical, and task-oriented format. PayPal Hacks provides the tools and details necessary to make PayPal more profitable, more flexible, and more convenient.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Shannon Sofield is the personification of a hack, he takes anything that is supposed to do one thing, and manipulates it to serve his own purposes, both in his life as a developer and his life in general. If it was supposed to do one thing originally, he probably has it doing something entirely different instead.

Shannon began creating PayPal solutions more than 3 years ago using his original database driven PayPal purchase system that integrated with Macromedia Dreamweaver UltraDev. Since then, he has gone on to work on implementing unique fixes for common eCommerce problems using PayPal. He has written several tutorials and articles, as well as spoken on the topic of using PayPal in new ways. One of the first members of the PayPal Developer Network, he was added to the PayPal Developer Network Advisory Boards on its inception. He also served several terms as a member of Team Macromedia for their web development program Dreamweaver which he uses in his daily PayPal development. His technical background extends back to the initial Internet boom when he began picking up simple web design that evolved into web planning and programming using a variety of technologies, languages, and databases.

Currently, he manages the PayLoadz Digital Goods eCommerce system that allows merchants to sell digital goods securely with PayPal. One of the first and most successful 3rd party solutions for PayPal, this system made headlines when it launched Madonna's American Life single higher on the Billboard music charts than any previous digital single (and he did it before selling digital music was cool). In addition, he continually contributes to the PayPal Developer Network Message Boards (www.paypaldev.org) which his company, Superfreaker Studios, hosts and maintains.

While not slogging through code at his computer in a caffeinated, sleep-deprived state, Shannon enjoys outdoor activities that fit the time of year. In the Summer he surfs and volunteers for the surfboard manufacturer Wave Riding Vehicles, while in Winter, he can be found on the slopes working on his kicker spins. Year round, he can be found reliving his BMX days on his 24 GT cruiser. Shannon's undergraduate studies majored in Finance and Accounting, while his Maters in Business Administration includes a concentration in Finance. Ctrl+C is his best friend

Dave Nielsen is a Technical Evangelist within the PayPal Developer Network, a member of SDForum's Executive Council and the founder of the Web Services SIG of Silicon Valley. Dave has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Cal Poly: San Luis Obispo. Armed with an education in engineering and marketing, as well as many technical certifications and real world experience, Dave has both the technical skills and business savvy to give him insight into emerging technologies and trends.

As a technical trainer in the early 90's Dave taught classes in languages such as Visual Basic and SQL. Dave was an early Internet programming enthusiast and found himself hounding Microsoft for data-driven web developer tools. After discarding Microsoft's first two efforts (dbWeb and IDC) and taking a chance on early beta versions of IIS and Active Server Pages, Dave became one of the first technical trainers certified to teach the now popular ASP technology.

At PayPal Dave focuses his efforts on creating tools that help developers create ecommerce websites. Some of these projects include the Payment Request Wizard, the JavaScript Button Factory and the PayPal Commerce Starter Kit. Dave is cursed with more than one new product idea every day, but is always available to debate the latest technologies and how well they will be adopted.

Dave can be found online at www.paypalhacks.com, at conferences and "competing" in an occasional triathlon. At home, his girlfriend tries to stop him from selling everything he owns on eBay.

Dave Burchell got his start with computers by programming the Radio Shack TRS-80 in BASIC and the Commodore 64 in 6510 assembly. Currently, Dave's favorite programming languages are Perl and XSLT. A fervent proponent of XML, Dave enjoys solving content-management problems with markup and open source software. His other interests include American history and Hellenistic philosophy. Dave lives with his wife, Renee, and children, Max, Gus, and Samantha Grace, in Lincoln, Nebraska. His web site is http://incolor.inebraska.com/burchell/

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (September 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596007515
• ISBN-13: 978-0596007515
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,138,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you need to know to work with PayPal, December 27, 2004

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PayPal Hacks (Paperback)

This is basically a book on how to get the most out of PayPal. Whether you are trying to make a purchase, sell and item, or setup a complete e-Commerce solution based on PayPal you will find the information on how to do it here. Some of the information in the book includes how to create an account, what to do when you forget your password, how to get things fixed if your account has been limited, how to pay from a cell phone, dispute a payment, receive money, upgrade your account, lower seller fees, hack-proof your payment buttons, and even encryption. It even has information on the PayPal webservices API and putting a PayPal payment button in an email.

This is an excellent and detailed course on how to use the intricacies of PayPal. PayPal Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools is highly recommended to everyone who shops or sells on the Internet as well as anyone who programs sites to use PayPal.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For small merchant operations, September 16, 2004

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PayPal Hacks (Paperback)

Paypal has been one of the few successful ideas on the Web. Ranking with Amazon, eBay and Yahoo. So much so that eBay bought Paypal in its entirety a few years ago.

Since then, as the authors show in several hacks, Paypal is now deeply embedded into eBay as a very convenient payment scheme. A few hacks show how to use Paypal from the standpoint of a single user.

But a broader lesson of this book is that the integration of Paypal into eBay is by no means exclusive. If you maintain your own website and want to sell items on it, that have absolutely nothing to do with auctions, then many hacks discuss how to use Paypal to facilitate this. Including integrating third party shopping carts with it. Indeed, there is an entire chapter devoted to these tasks.

Also, the authors describe how even if you are competing in the online auction space with eBay, you can still use Paypal. It appears that eBay is going to careful lengths to have Paypal treat its merchants equally. Certainly, the authors point out that Paypal is used with eBay's main competitors' auctions, like uBid, Yahoo and Amazon. Reassuring if you have a small operation and are contemplating Paypal.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful for all kinds of PayPal developers, September 23, 2004

By 

Angela M. Hey (Portola Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: PayPal Hacks (Paperback)

I create websites as a volunteer for a few small groups. Enhancing a website by adding a PayPal button, can save time in collecting dues and event payments. You can add a simple button using PayPal's online tools, but if you want to do more this book can tell you how to do it. Code samples are supplied in HTML, VBScript, ActionScript, C#, JavaScript and more. It covers security using OpenSSL.

Like the other O'Reilly Hacks books, pushpins and screws mark tips and warnings, respectively. These marks enhance the clarity of the writing, which is already lucid and concise.

Thermometer icons indicate the difficulty of a Hack. Easy Hacks include (a) Quick-Link to Transaction Details (b) Custom Designed Buttons (c) Sending money to someone with an account without setting up one for the sender. Moderate Hacks include (a) Tracking website visitors (b) Receive Instant Payment Notification (IPN) (c) Insert Payment Details into A Database.
Advanced Hacks cover (a) Refunding a Payment without Logging Into the PayPal site (b) Issue Payments En Masse Using the PayPal API (c) Pay Affiliates and Suppliers on a Schedule.

These and 91 other little tricks can make PayPal a really productive environment for collecting and processing payments. The book helps you navigate PayPal's website, telling you where to find scripts and code.

Some of the Hacks are for PayPal users. It shows how to create an account and verify it. I have met many online shoppers who have found the PayPal user experience frustrating and this book can help them. The book goes beyond a mere programmer's guide, it offers solid business advice. For example, it explains how the PayPal Mastercard debit card can be used.

Advanced programmers won't need the easy tricks. They can find .NET Hacks that add PayPal functionality to Windows DLLs, not just websites. There is even a Hack for Dreamweaver, Adobe's web development tool.

I like the book because even a novice PayPal Hacker can find value in this thorough and comprehensive reference book.