Study Guide
Table Of Contents
- PayPal Certified Developer Program Study Guide
- Contents
- List of Tables
- Online Payment Processing
- Internet Security and Fraud Prevention
- Why Every Business Should Be Concerned About Internet Fraud
- Liability for Internet Fraud
- Internet Fraud: What It Is and How It Happens
- Who Is at Risk for Online Fraud
- Reducing Exposure to Fraud
- What Banks and Card Associations Are Doing to Prevent Online Credit Card Fraud
- What PayPal Is Doing to Protect Your Business Against Fraud
- Disclosure and Compliance
- PayPal Fraud Protection Services
- Review Questions
- Getting Started With Account Setup
- API Credentials
- Name-Value Pair (NVP) API
- Express Checkout
- Direct Payment API
- Transactions
- Sandbox Testing
- Answers to Review Questions
- General Reference Information
- Glossary
- Index
PayPal Certified Developer Program Study Guide March 2008 79
7
Direct Payment API
In this chapter, you will learn:
z How Direct Payment works
z How to use the Direct Payment API
How Direct Payment Works
The Direct Payment API allows a merchant to accept credit-card transactions directly on the
merchant’s website. Even though the website uses PayPal to process the credit-card
transaction, this process is invisible to customers. This means customers are not taken away
from the website; the website provides a single, unified look and feel.
IMPORTANT: Payments made through the Direct Payment API are not covered by the
PayPal Seller Protection Policy.
The Direct Payments API is part of the Website Payments Pro solution.
The PayPal Direct Payment API calls work as follows:
1. On the website, the customer chooses to pay with a credit card and enters the credit-card
number and other details.
2. The customer reviews the order.
3. When the customer clicks Pay to place the order, the application sends a
DoDirectPayment request to the PayPal server, and the payment transaction is initiated.
The DoDirectPayment request includes required information that was collected from the
customer, such as the amount of the transaction and the customer’s credit-card number and
expiration date, as well as the browser IP address and an element that specifies whether this
transaction is a final sale (complete transaction amount including shipping, handling, and
tax) or an authorization for a final amount that must be captured later with Authorization &
Capture. The DoDirectPayment response includes a transaction identification number
and other information.
N OTE: The customer does not see this step; PayPal is completely invisible to customers
before, during, and after the purchase. PayPal does not send an email receipt to the
customer, nor will the customer’s credit-card statement indicate that PayPal
processed the payment.
4. The application transfers the customer to the order-confirmation page.