PayPal Adaptive Payments REST API or classic? - php

I developed a website that is currently using PayPal Adaptive Payments to manage transactions between different users. I saw that paypal is renewing apis from classic to rest apis. It is really complicated to understand all that stuff. My question is about Adaptive Payments classic api...is there already a rest api that substitutes adaptive payments classic or not? Is there any better system to allow dynamic payments between different users?
Thank you!

Short answer: if your website already uses Adaptive Payments and is meeting your needs there's no compelling reason to switch. The Adaptive Payments APIs will do most of the things PayPal's other, competing APIs do, and some things those APIs won't. Only change if you're redoing your site anyway, or you need specific functionality the current APIs don't offer. You havn't listed any specific gap or need in your question so I can't say more.
Background: broadly speaking, PayPal has developed three generations of APIs:
The original set, including products like Express Checkout, are
pretty squarly focused on web (and mobile) "checkout", the dominant
paradigm of a decade ago for the purchase of goods and services on a
merchant site.
The second set, which includes Adaptive Payments, was
intended to be more flexible (hence the "Adaptive" name) and address
payments that might not be "just" checkouts. For example
multi-merchant marketplaces.
The third set is PayPal's RESTful APIs,
which are designed primarily as a technology refresh to replace
earlier APIs. The RESTful APIs are still being developed and do not
yet offer all the functions of the previous APIs, but are likely to
get more investment and development going forward; as such -- and
because they use newer, more industry-current integration styles --
they may be a good choice for new integrations.
(I work for PayPal and wrote a chunk of the first API set but am not an official company spokesperson, so consider this informed but not authoritative.)

Related

Paypal Adaptive: Should it be used considering it is under limited release?

For setting up a transaction between Paypal account to another Paypal account without user intervention/permission, I was planning to integrate Paypal Adaptive but had second thoughts due to a note on the Paypal's web page for Adaptive payments. The screen shot and link of the note attached below:
https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/adaptive-payments/integration-guide/APIntro/
Screenshot:
This got me to wondering whether Adaptive is a good choice for new integrations considering the limited release note or whether I would be able to make requests in a live account currently? (It works in sandbox account currently)
If yes, then should I be worried there may be some future update that would render my integration to not work?
If its not a good choice then what other alternatives does Paypal offer that are best suitable for Paypal account to account transaction?
Initially, I was actually trying to integrate PreApprove coupled with Pay API for automated transactions without user intervention/permission but used "DoReference" instead due to this note from Paypal.

How to create flexible billing agreements using PHP Rest SDK?

We need to create flexible billing plans for our customers, in which the timing and amount of the billing is flexible and should be determined by us. Just like a "utility bill" but with flexible charge date. Also, there's no purchasing involved upon agreeing of the customer, just his approval for us to charge his PayPal account.
After researching it we decided to go with "referenced transactions". I've read its documentation and the flow seems to be clear.
However, when I attempt to implement using PayPal's PHP REST SDK, I can't seem to find the methods that implement that flow, or some other description on how to achieve our needs using this SDK. For example, I can't find SetExpressCheckout in the PHP REST SDK.
Can anyone point out how we should implement our business needs as described above (1st paragraph) using the PHP REST SDK? I'm very aware of the rather good PayPal REST API documentation.
Thanks!
Unfortunately Reference Transaction is only available with the Classic APIs.
The only similar REST API is called "Future Payments". Unfortunately this API has only been implemented for the PayPal Mobile SDK. You cannot use it outside a native mobile app...
I'm afraid your only solution is to implement the PayPal Classic API with Reference Transaction.

Developing shopping web app

What web software systems of frameworks are necessary to develop a web application that has catalog of products and allows them to be buyed, using shopping cart and payment methods like, paypal, debit cards, credit cards etc...
The technology I am asking is php.
For example If I am developing system like this, can I finish the job using only Drupal or Joomla? What other subsystems should be added? Can someone give me examples? Or maybe using some CRM system?
I prefer opensource soulutions.
You should consider osCommerce. It includes everything you are looking for, and it's open source.
For instance, take a look about the payment functionality:
Accept numerous offline payment processing (cheque, money orders, offline credit care processing, ..)
Accept numerous online payment processing (PayPal, 2CheckOut, Authorize.net, iPayment, ..)
Disable certain payment services based on a zone basis
You can use Opencart. It also supports multiple stores. And it is done in PHP so it covers all your intentions. You didn't say if you want to be open source. Opencart is opensource. Shopify could be a solution too, but it is not free.
http://www.opencart.com/
http://www.shopify.com/

Using Paypal Adaptive Payments API like Kickstarter uses Amazon Payments?

I'm wondering if it's possible to use Paypal Adaptive Payments in the way that Kickstarter.com are using Amazon Payments to collect/fundraise.
For example: A user sets up a project. People pledge $5 to that project, and if it meets a goal, the system then automatically extracts the money from everyone, and puts it into user who created the projects paypal account. Is this possible using Paypal?
Are there any good PHP libraries supporting Adaptive Payments, if this is possible?
I was also looking for the same answer since I am working on a similar crowdfunding platform as Kickstarter is, but I need to use PayPal.
After a lot of Googling and reading about PayPal's Adaptive Payments API I found out that it's possible by using the Preapproval API and then if the project is funded I can use Chained Payments to send the money to the project creator and to also retain a small fee (a percentage) for using the crowdfunding platform.
If you are looking for some PHP libraries you can found 2 versions at the links below.
One is a library for the CodeIgniter framework and the other one is a PHP API class that can be used anywhere. So, here are the links:
CodeIgniter Library - http://www.binpress.com/app/paypal-adaptive-payments-pro-codeigniter-library/140
PHP API Class - http://www.binpress.com/app/php-paypal-pro-adaptive-api-class/612
I see now that your question is 2 years old, I just hope this answer helps others looking for answers regarding PayPal's Adaptive Payments API.
Yes, it is possible using the Adaptive Payments Preapproval API. When someone 'pledges' would be when you set up the preapproval, and then you can run that preapproved transaction at some future time without any additional interaction required.
PayPal has developed a PHP SDK with libraries and examples to get you started.
If you're going to use PayPal, there's a good Ruby gem: adaptivepayments-sdk-ruby
This answer is a couple of years late but better late than never! The one downside to using the Adaptive Payments Preapproval API for a Kickstarter type of system is that you can't guarantee the "pledge" will be valid when you go to make the withdrawal, since it is possible for the user to cancel their pledge at any time.
I've been working on a crowdfunding project similar to kickstarter. I started out using paypal's adaptive payments for this kind of thing but I eventually switched to wepay's preapproval api. I'm glad I did. For one thing, their documentation is clearer and better organized with good examples in PHP, Ruby and Python.

Gift Aid Payments - Integrating a payments system API into a charity site

Ambiguous question, I know. But anyway, I'm developing a client's site that will enable users to donate to people doing charity work abroad. I need the users of the site who create their profiles to be able to input their PayPal email address (for example) and as such any users who click the big 'Donate' button on their profile can donate directly to them.
I'm sure this is possible, at least using the PayPal API. However since this is all for charity work, I'd like to implement 'Gift Aid' - read about it at the link.
My problem is finding a payment system that we can use that has Gift Aid either 'built in' or that can make a clear definition between which payments are gift-aided and which are not - sorry if this isn't making any sense!
So ideally I'm looking for a payments processor that can integrate as seamlessly as possible into the client's site which I'm developing in PHP, can support Gift Aid automatically - or if not, clearly specify which payments ticked the 'Gift Aid' option - and supports payments from credit and debit card sources, etc. I hope this is understandable now!
I know there's obviously the PayPal API but I'm sure there are others, I'm just not too sure where to start looking or if the whole Gift-Aid thingy is even possible with transactions like this. Would it be more convienient just to code our own system?
Jack
I would use PayPal, definately. Making the effort to learn their API is not hard. Coding your own solution would be a nightmare. Don't reinvent the wheel!
Have you tried looking at what CTT have to offer: http://www.ctt.org/products__services/cp_terminal/default.asp they have their own payment Gateway called CPterminal/CPWeb which is designed for charities.

Categories