ecommerce method

[JohanR]

Hi,

I am currently playing around with some ecommerce ideas and have had a look at the
clarionshop and cstime sites.

Are there any articles explaining the basic theory of creating an ecommerce site?

I realise the cart is just an item file, with an unique ID for the current client,
possibly using the session ID, or a cookie for a returning non logged in client.
But I am sure when you start lots of small details pop up.

Any ideas or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

regards

Johan

[Flint G]

Johan,

One detail that was brought to our attention way late in our development was the need for PCI/PA-DSS Validation for accepting credit cards into our own application.  We found it was going to be easier for us to outsource our credit card processing to another company such as PayPal or ChargeItPro.  We chose to implement ChargeItPro.

By outsourcing the actual credit card acceptance process to ChargeItPro, we get around the need for expensive and time-consuming PCI/PA-DSS compliance testing - which must be done by a certified third party.  Furthermore, anytime the source code is changed, your code must be resubmitted for PCI/PA-DSS Validation ... and as we all know, our code can be in a constant state of change, so this gets expensive real fast.  Using ChargeItPro or PayPal, you can design your app in such a way as you never actually touch the credit card data.

Information on PCI/PA-DSS: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/index.shtml

ChargeItPro Website: http://www.chargeitpro.com/

PayPal Website: https://www.x.com/index.jspa

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Flint