PHP Accounting and Transaction System (Buy/Open Source or Build?) - php

I'm trying to integrate an accounting solution into a web app I am developing. I need to be able to post recurring transactions, one time transactions, invoice people, etc.
Do most sites do this custom in-house or integrate with some type of accounting system API. I know basically everyone needs to use a merchant account to process credit cards, but what about storing the accounting data to know when and how much to bill?

Buy the accounting package (or use an open source one, if available), then integrate with it. That's what I do. It would be nigh impossible for a one man show to build an accounting package that gives the finance and book-keeping folks everything they need and maintains compliance with GAAP and applicable laws and does it more cheaply than purchasing an off-the-shelf accounting system with an API or import/export functionality.

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Ecommerce Payment Gateway that allows commission to be taken

I am currently writing a PHP application. Unfortunately due to budget, we cannot be PCI compliant.
The application is basically just a marketplace where we take money from a user, take a small commission, and when the action is completed and confirmed, we give the money to the user who completed this action.
I have tried using Braintree, WePay, Stripe, etc. but nothing seems to fit what I am trying to do. The workflow is theoretically simple, however doesn't seem to be easy to implement.
With Braintree it seemed to be possible, but the main blocker was that the business models didn't match, so we weren't able to get a live license. With WePay, we require being PCI compliant, which is not feasible for us.
Was just looking for some guidance if possible.
Note: The language we are programming in is PHP, so the API of the payment gateway must be compatible with PHP.
WePay doesn't require you to be PCI compliant. If you use their embedded checkout you take on none of the PCI compliance, but you sacrifice access to any of the card details, but that's only problematic if you want to offer recurring transactions. For most situations, their iframe should work just fine.
WePay's tokenization solution also doesn't require a lot of PCI compliance. I believe they ask that their partners complete SAQ-A-EP. Which is a simple self-assessment questionnaire that you only have to do once a year.

Laravel subscription implementation without Stripe

I have a Laravel project that users must subscribe to one of our plans and each plan has its own specific features, like http://busy.io subscription system.
As far as billing services like Stripe and Braintree do not support IRR (ريال) currency, and also, PayPal and Visa are not available in Iran (that does not mean we don't have online billing service, we have our local banking system), I have to implement users subscription system by myself.
Obviously, Laravel Cashier cannot be helpful, so I need some guides to follow. I don't have any idea about how it should be implemented.
For more detail, I'm gonna build a social-media scheduling service and my pricing is much like http://busy.io/pricing, but a little bit different.
Any advice or suggestion would be appreciated.
Thanks.
https://github.com/bpuig/laravel-subby
I'm sharing an updated repo since the one mentioned by Fernando is abandoned.
This one is also a fork from the abandoned one
I think that you have to make a system on which you can transfer money into your account before you run out of money.
We in the Netherlands have also a system that is widely used voor internet banking (iDeal). You can only transfor money once with it. Not for a subcription-like monthly payment.
I guess that there will be something similar available for you.
One downside: when you are storing other people's balance in your own database, security is a VERY IMPORTANT thing to consider.
I had the same problem has you.
Sorry to be 4 years and 8 months later, but next time try this https://github.com/rinvex/laravel-subscriptions.
Is a package to manage subscriptions and you can use your loved payment gateway. This will solve your problem for sure.

Multi-supplier online shopping platform

I have been tasked by a client to rebuild an E-Commerce platform. The goal is an online shop on which vehicles are sold. The specialty is that it's supposed to be multi-supplier capable, i.e. external suppliers will have their own login back-end where they can manage their listings, add new ones, view their sales, etc.
The shop shows all the suppliers' products in one big catalogue that should ideally support some options like sorting and filtering, but they are not a requirement. Orders are transmitted to each relevant supplier, and the administrator, by E-Mail.
The ordering process is very simple - it's essentially just taking the ordered item out of the catalogue, and informing the supplier (and the administrator) that the item has been ordered. No online check-out / payments are required, although they are nice to have as an option.
All the on-line shopping systems I know are targeted at one single administrator.
Are there shop systems out there that can handle what I need?
Requirements:
Top priority: Quality code. Preferably PHP 5 and object oriented. I don't care about the exact feature set of the product as long as the existing code is nice and neat to work with.
Access control: Suppliers can log in and add and manage own products; have no access to the rest of the system. Administrators can manage listings and configure the shop. Administrators create supplier accounts
Must be multi-language or localized to German
The sales process is very simple: An E-Mail to the supplier and to the administrator, containing the buyer's data, is enough.
No need for on-line payment/checkout, although it is a welcome extension
Open Source is preferred, but a commercial solution is not out of the question if the product is really, really good and well documented
As long as the basic product is fine and supports the basic catalogue and user management necessary for this, all further features are negotiable (i.e. I'll add them myself if necessary.)
If no payment methods and checkout is involved, it is surely better to write from scratch. With any of the existing systems, you will just have the overhead of code that is not actually used. Also, not so many systems support searching and filtering by parameters and this seems to be a core feature for such a large project.
Magento ! You have to use it, its the best thing since sliced bread.
I've created a multi agent e-commerce system that had reps login and add sales, credit notes and so on. The system had a standard catalogue setup. It could even be customised so that supplier A could have their own shop, supplier B have their own. They could both skin them and so on.
We have different languages. It has a massive developer community so anything we didn't have I just bought and integrated (My time is expensive, this gave the customers real return). There is an open source version, which is what I used, there is also a pay version. I really cannot recommend it enough.
I'm currently working on a similar project.
I'm trying things out with magento to begin with. There's an add-on module for advanced permissions aitoc_magentomods_advanced_permissions which might help you.
The first problem you're going to have in getting a multi-supplier type system is that it will never meet your needs.
If you really wish to have the right system then you should create your own from a decent framework.
if you still wish to use a pre designed system that meets the needs you specified i would go with Magento
Magento is one of the most advanced E-Commerce system I have ever worked with.
The code itself is not so much easy to work with at the start but you get used to it after a few days/weeks.
In regards to the "Access control", im not 100% weather this is supported but the Magento system is very abstract and im 80% positive that this can be done.
"Must be multi-language or localized to German", Every language you need.
"The sales process is very simple: An E-Mail to the supplier and to the administrator, containing the buyer's data, is enough."
instead of me going on about the features i advise you to check it out.
http://www.magentocommerce.com/
But I still would prefer to develop my own framework and build from that.
Regards.
If you're going to build from scratch, do it in Seaside. You're likely to find available solutions don't meet enough of your needs. The quality of code is going to be much better in Seaside. Real reuse, no templates.
Talk to Norbert Hartl

what's a good general purpose billing / recurring membership system?

something open source, or inexpensive. Preferably in php, other languages will be considered.
I'm looking mostly for clean code, a nice place to build out from. I don't need any CMS features.
Unless you have the resources to be certified PCI compliant, I don't recommend hosting your own billing system, if it requires charging credit cards. You can find yourself liable for very large fees if any mischief takes place.
Instead, it is best to use a hosted solution. We recently had great success using Chargify for recurring billing for a subscription service.
Check out spreedly.com. Super simple with a great API.

Steps to setting up my first eCommerce site

I'm about set up my first eCommerce site. I was hoping you could recommend some shopping cart software. What are the perks of using pre-built software rather than developing some simple solution catered to my needs. Also, are there pre-written Terms and conditions for sites? Or templates that outline what aspects need to be addressed? What other things should I look out for when building this website?
Also, I develop in PHP server side, so software in that language would be best.
I use osCommerce a lot, but this software is a bit outdated. Magento is a good alternative for setting up a commerce website.
Google Checkout is probably a good starting point for a clean base to start from: http://checkout.google.com/sell/.
The hands down easiest all in one ecommerce platform IMO is the Yahoo Small Business platform - you have a number of options there, including using hosting and php. It's not free, but you get EVERYTHING you need to run an eCommerce store all in one painless spot - your cart, ssl, content management, integration for merchant gateway, shipping rules, integration with ups realtime rates... Order processing, the whole nine.
There are two ways to develop on this platform - using their proprietary RTML language, or use the hosting that you get with it and access the items in your catalog through what they call store tags.
So I wound up writing my own shopping cart software because the site is not based in the U.S. and services like PayPal and Google Checkout do not cover it. I coupled my cart with an API from a national bank to charge credit cards. This required SSL which was easy enough to set up.
I found a Terms and Conditions generator online and used that to lay out the basics of the document. Then I added site specifics myself and tried to sound as much like a lawyer as possible.
I second Yahoo! Small Business (although I would get a developer, their default template looks horrible). If you are looking for something that looks nice and is out of the box good to go, Bigcommerce would be my second choice. After that, I would go with 3dcart (it's a little more flexible, but the default themes are not as good as what Bigcommerce offers). Although, if you are a hardcore programmer, going with Drupal Commerce would probably be your best bet, but you will really need to know some programming to customize it. On the plus side, it is the only cart that I have mentioned that is free (minus hosting costs of course).

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