Payment Gateways Options and Related Questions - e-commerce

We've built our Ecommerce site in Silverstripe, and now we need to implement a payment gateways. I'm just wondering what are the options are there for us? In another word what are the good gateways to use?
Also I did this tutorial about Ecommerce, the tutor said Paypal is a payment processor rather than payment gateways, is this true? As my understanding to use gateways is better than processor. Anyone can give me a bit more detailed info on this? Any suggestions and advice for choosing gateways for Ecommerce would be appreciated.

It dependes upon what is your location.there are number of service providers in this field few of them are
Authorizenet.com
LinkPoint
Verisign also has a payment gateway

Related

How to integrate GooglePay to Big Commerce store using Authorize.net as payment gateway?

I want to integrate GooglePay to my BigCommerce Store.
I'm using Authorize.net as a payment gateway.
I had a chance to research if it's possible, but from those links below I wonder if it's impossible.
https://community.developer.authorize.net/t5/Integration-and-Testing/Google-Pay-integration-with-Authorize-net/td-p/61667
https://developers.google.com/pay/api/#participating-processors
They say "Authorize.net is not supporting GooglePay"
I'm wondering because auth.net supports GooglePay and there's even a setting in auth.net to setup GooglePay.
So I'm wondering if I can customize BigCommerce to implement it.
Please let me know if it's possible or not, and if possible please help me to figure it out.
Authorize.Net is on the Google Pay's list of supported PSPs and contains a link to Authorize.Net's developer site.
BigCommerce has an article on Google Pay integration however, I don't know if this extends to also include Authorize.Net. You may have to reach out to Authorize.Net or BigCommerce for more information.

What types of integrations are offered by BlueSnap?

I hear a lot about BlueSnap as a potential Payment Gateway for merchants like me, does anyone know what kind of account integrations the offer?
You can see the integration options in this page, the main questions you should ask yourself are whether you'll need to work with a product catlog or not - and whether you have the resources to develop with the API solutions.
If you're already using shopping carts, you can integrate Magento, PrestaShop or WooCommerce with BlueSnap.

How Do E-Commerce Websites Calculate Postage/Shipping Costs?

I'm just wondering if anyone can provide me with some information into how e-commerce websites automatically calculate the postage and shipping costs for items ordered on-line?
Do these websites use plug-ins/web services to dynamically request this information from the postage/shipping provider? Or do developers manually retrieve the postage costs from the associated shipping provider and then develop their own approximate postage/shipping cost calculation algorithm (in agreement with the e-commerce business of course)? Or are there any alternative approaches used?
Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
EDIT: I have done some basic research on the topic. I've seen some plug-ins for WordPress but each plug-in was limited to specific postage/shipping companies only.
Do these websites use plug-ins/web services to dynamically request
this information from the postage/shipping provider?
Yes, this is certainly an option. In my experience, the APIs provided by UPS and FedEx are decent and work for the UK market.
Or do developers manually retrieve the postage costs from the
associated shipping provider and then develop their own approximate
postage/shipping cost calculation algorithm?
I would not recommend this - a maintenance headache for one reason - and have never seen it done.
Or are there any alternative approaches used?
Sometimes, fixed shipping-costs can be used - for example, when delivery is to a single country or products weights are relatively static. No API call is needed in these scenarios.
Based on my research, I've found that there doesn't seem to be a single standardised way of calculating shipping/postage costs on e-commerce websites. Some companies provide plugins for WordPress, etcetera, to assist in this process, while others companies provide API's.
Primarily, I'm interested in using a UK based shipping/postage provider.
The Royal Mail is the largest postal provider in the UK and it provides an API for a number of tasks; however no official API appears to be available for cost calculation. I did however manage to find an unofficial Royal Mail cost calculation API. It can be found at the following link.

SMS payment solution

I want to integrate a SMS payment solution for my website. I will be offering some premium content and as the prices are not high (1, 3, 5 or 10 Euros) and I would want to use a SMS payment solution.
Unfortunately, I didn't find any providers.
I want the service to provide an API so that the user never has to leave my website.
There are a few services out there that provide you with this type of feature. Although, as this involves money you'll most likely need to contact one of the services before you can get an idea of the APIs and pricing.
I did find a couple of services that seem to offer something similar to what you are looking for.
Some services I found
http://www.boku.com/merchants/features/
http://www.daopay.com/business/how-it-works.php
http://www.smsteknik.se/prodinfo/smspay_eng.asp
Keep in mind that these are not recommendations, and you should do your own research to determine which SMS provider is the most appropriate for you.

How can I do monthly subscription credit card billing?

I've written a subscription based web app that I want to charge (by credit card) a monthly fee. There are 3 different plans and once they sign up, they should be billed that amount, automatically, every month until they cancel. Is there an easy way to set this up (some sort of online service maybe?).
You can use Paypal's merchant service to provide reoccurring charges for a subscription.
Pretty easy to implement, they provide plenty of examples and even a sandbox to get you up and running.
There are now some service providers that take care of your billing and subscription needs. You use their API and they handle billing and subscriptions for you. Their services work with payment systems like PayPal and Authorize.Net.
Take a look at the following sites:
Chargify
Spreedly
Cheddargetter
I would suggest not using Paypal or Authorize's recurring payments directly. Their APIs are brutal, and the functionality is very rudimentary. It may work fine for when you're just starting out, but if you ever want to change anything down the line, you'll be in trouble.
I work for CheddarGetter, so I'm biased, but you should check us out.
Our competitors are not as robust or flexible, but they are definitely better than using Paypal or Authorize.net directly.