Apache Server for Windows Little Black Book:Electronic Commerce Schemes
function GetCookie (name) { var arg = name + "="; var alen = arg.length; var clen = document.cookie.length; var i = 0; while (i < clen) { var j = i + alen; if (document.cookie.substring(i, j) == arg) { var end = document.cookie.indexOf (";", j); if (end == -1) end = document.cookie.length; return unescape(document.cookie.substring(j, end)); } i = document.cookie.indexOf(" ", i) + 1; if (i == 0) break; } return null; } var m1=''; var gifstr=GetCookie("UsrType"); if((gifstr!=0 ) && (gifstr!=null)) { m2=gifstr; } document.write(m1+m2+m3);            Keyword Title Author ISBN Publisher Imprint Brief Full  Advanced      Search  Search Tips Please Select ----------- Components Content Mgt Certification Databases Enterprise Mgt Fun/Games Groupware Hardware IBM Redbooks Intranet Dev Middleware Multimedia Networks OS Prod Apps Programming Security UI Web Services Webmaster Y2K ----------- New Titles ----------- Free Archive To access the contents, click the chapter and section titles. Apache Server for Windows Little Black Book (Publisher: The Coriolis Group) Author(s): Greg Holden with Matthew Keller ISBN: 1576103919 Publication Date: 01/01/99 function isIE4() { return( navigator.appName.indexOf("Microsoft") != -1 && (navigator.appVersion.charAt(0)=='4') ); } function bookMarkit() { var url="http://www.itknowledge.com/PSUser/EWBookMarks.html?url="+window.location+"&isbn=0"; parent.location.href=url; //var win = window.open(url,"myitk"); //if(!isIE4()) // win.focus(); } Search this book:  















Previous
Table of Contents
Next




Chapter 14Electronic Commerce Schemes


If you need an immediate solution to:
Becoming A CyberCash Merchant
Testing The Merchant Connection Kit
Setting Up A DigiCash Site
Understanding DigiCash And Ecash
Configuring The Ecash Client
Receiving Micropayments With MilliCent

In Brief
Apache And E-Commerce
An increasingly important aspect of running a Web site—or of providing virtual Web sites for one or more clients—is providing secure payment arrangements. Yet Webmasters who are well versed in regular expressions, CGI programming, or other technical subjects are unfamiliar with current payment options that make electronic commerce feasible.

In Chapters 9 (which focused on basic authentication) and 12 (which was about Secure Sockets Layer [SSL] and other security strategies), we discussed ways in which an Apache-served Web site can be made secure against mistaken or willfully improper entry. Once the site has been made secure, you need to accept payments. This chapter briefly describes how to set up some practical options for accepting cash or credit card payments over the Web with Apache.
The Credit Card Model
When items are purchased with a credit card in a “real” (that is, offline) retail store, the customer’s identity is verified. The vendor performs the verification by matching the signature on the sales slip against the signature on the credit card or by looking to a driver’s license or another form of identification.

When a user provides credit card information over the phone or over the Web, verification (if it is done at all) has to be performed differently. Usually, it is done by comparing the shipping address supplied by the purchaser with the billing address that corresponds to the card number.

TIP:  A program called Authorizer, by Atomic Software, Inc. (www.atomic-software.com), automates the verification of credit card addresses and transmits data to the bank for you.

But a number of alternatives or enhancements to SSL encryption of credit card data are available, and the components needed to set up such alternatives are described in the following sections.

Online Payment Options
It can be difficult to set up credit card payments because they require verification to cut down on credit card fraud. The following sections describe requirements and options with which you should be familiar in case you or any of your clients wants to sell goods and services from your ApacheWeb site.


WARNING!  It’s a good idea for merchants to establish a verification system to check names and addresses of individuals who submit credit card numbers. This helps to prevent criminals from trying to use stolen credit card data to make purchases. CyberCash (www.cybercash.com), described later in this chapter, provides one alternative. Another verification system, IntegriCharge, is provided by the Octagon Group (www.otginc.com).

Merchant Accounts
To accept credit card numbers over the Internet, an online business needs to have a merchant account with a bank that will process the transactions. The customer is required to apply for a merchant account and to wait for approval. This process can take several days, and some banks charge merchants a slightly higher discount rate for purchases made online. Some traditional financial institutions are reluctant to give approval to companies that sell strictly online; however, plenty of organizations exist online that are eager to grant credit card status to small businesses.

As an alternative to going through the merchant account application process, you can apply to one of the institutions that specialize in providing merchant status to online businesses. You can also pay a company to help you with the application process.

TIP:  You’ll find an extensive list of companies that provide merchant accounts for online businesses at one of Yahoo!’s index pages (dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Financial_Services/Transaction_Clearing/Credit_Card_Merchant_Services/). However, it’s difficult to know which one to choose. Visit Wells Fargo Bank (www.wellsfargo.com), which has been operating online for several years and is well established. The Wells Fargo Web site provides you with a good overview of what’s required to obtain a merchant account.

Be aware that most institutions charge an application fee for a merchant account. They also commonly levy a “discount rate” of about 2 to 3 percent on every credit card transaction. If you or your clients want to process credit card information from your customers and you do not choose the CyberCash system, you’ll also need to obtain hardware or software that enables you to process the data and transmit it to your financial institution.

Online Shopping Carts
If you or your clients want to sell goods or services over the Internet, you need to make it easy for your customers to select items and pay for them. One way to do this is to set up shopping cart software.

A shopping cart program enables customers to keep track of items selected for purchase while they continue to shop at a Web site. When a customer clicks on a button labeled Add Item To My Shopping Cart, the selected item is stored in the “shopping cart.” At “checkout” time, the shopping cart software presents a list of the selected items and the total cost. In some cases, the programs can even calculate sales tax and shipping charges.



Previous
Table of Contents
Next






Products |  Contact Us |  About Us |  Privacy  |  Ad Info  |  Home Use of this site is subject to certain Terms & Conditions, Copyright © 1996-2000 EarthWeb Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of EarthWeb is prohibited.