script for processing donations

[Fulio Open]

I maintain my own web site for academic discussion on language, and
would like to set up a device in the home page for my visitors to make
donations to support my research. I made donations online many times.
The steps usually are that visitors click a button to go to a page
where they can pay an amount of money with their credit cards. The
funds will go to a bank account of the solicitor. Ordering
merchandise online with credit cards is of the same nature.

I wonder if there is a script that I can copy and paste to my web
site, or some tutorials teaching me to accomplish this task. I guess
one needs to provide information of a bank account for the funds to go
to.

Thanks for your help and expertise.

fulio pen

 

[Adrian]

I maintain my own web site for academic discussion on language, and
would like to set up a device in the home page for my visitors to make
donations to support my research. I made donations online many times.
The steps usually are that visitors click a button to go to a page
where they can pay an amount of money with their credit cards. The
funds will go to a bank account of the solicitor. Ordering
merchandise online with credit cards is of the same nature.

I wonder if there is a script that I can copy and paste to my web
site, or some tutorials teaching me to accomplish this task. I guess
one needs to provide information of a bank account for the funds to go
to.

Thanks for your help and expertise.

fulio pen

PayPall has such an option. You only need to go to their site, sign up and
download the script. Signing up is free. You pay a little for the
transactions. But that is quite doable.

Zach

 

[Adrian]

I maintain my own web site for academic discussion on language, and
would like to set up a device in the home page for my visitors to make
donations to support my research. I made donations online many times.
The steps usually are that visitors click a button to go to a page
where they can pay an amount of money with their credit cards. The
funds will go to a bank account of the solicitor. Ordering
merchandise online with credit cards is of the same nature.

I wonder if there is a script that I can copy and paste to my web
site, or some tutorials teaching me to accomplish this task. I guess
one needs to provide information of a bank account for the funds to go
to.

Thanks for your help and expertise.

fulio pen

PayPall has such an option. You only need to go to their site, sign up and
download the script. Signing up is free. You pay a little for the
transactions. But that is quite doable.

Zach

 

[Fulio Open]

PayPall has such an option. You only need to go to their site, sign up and
download the script. Signing up is free. You pay a little for the
transactions. But that is quite doable.

Zach

Thanks a lot for the information.

fulio

 

[Neredbojias]

..

PayPall has such an option. You only need to go to their site, sign
up and download the script. Signing up is free. You pay a little for
the transactions. But that is quite doable.

Zach

Did you know that when you sign up for a Paypal account for e.g. Ebay,
you sign-away your right to fraud protection via your bank? It's
embedded in their TOS, so I wouldn't go around recommending Paypal too
freely.

 

[Tim Greer]

I maintain my own web site for academic discussion on language, and
would like to set up a device in the home page for my visitors to make
donations to support my research. I made donations online many times.
The steps usually are that visitors click a button to go to a page
where they can pay an amount of money with their credit cards. The
funds will go to a bank account of the solicitor. Ordering
merchandise online with credit cards is of the same nature.

I wonder if there is a script that I can copy and paste to my web
site, or some tutorials teaching me to accomplish this task. I guess
one needs to provide information of a bank account for the funds to go
to.

Thanks for your help and expertise.

fulio pen

Most sites I know of that ask for donations, have a mailing address to
send checks, maybe bank wire transfer info as well, but usually just
link to the paypal address of their paypal account (or the account of
the organization in question). If you want to accept credit cards, it
will depend if the organization has that set up and if they allow some
access or have some code you can insert into your web page document, or
if you just want to direct site visitors there, if they wish to make a
donation. This depends on several variables to give you the most
appropriate answer.

 

[Tim Greer]

Did you know that when you sign up for a Paypal account for e.g. Ebay,
you sign-away your right to fraud protection via your bank? It's
embedded in their TOS, so I wouldn't go around recommending Paypal too
freely.

That really depends on what you mean by fraud protection. If anyone
does an electronic transfer from your account or uses a debit card, the
protection is reduced or even non existent, depending. If you use a CC
with paypal, you have your CC protection if paypal fails to protect
you. Any site you enter your bank account information where someone
could use that service to withdraw money electronically, always
increases the risks and reduces the protections.

I've not read paypal's TOS in a while though, so perhaps you mean
something else? Don't get me wrong, I don't use paypal anytime I can
help it, I think they and ebay are not worth anywhere near what they
charge and I believe their policies are poor. Unfortunately, we have
to use them as an option, since that's what some people want. Luckily,
we've never had any complaints to have to deal with, but we run no risk
on our end, as only we'd initiate a transfer/payment.

 

[Adrian]

Most sites I know of that ask for donations, have a mailing address to
send checks, maybe bank wire transfer info as well, but usually just
link to the paypal address of their paypal account (or the account of
the organization in question). If you want to accept credit cards, it
will depend if the organization has that set up and if they allow some
access or have some code you can insert into your web page document, or
if you just want to direct site visitors there, if they wish to make a
donation. This depends on several variables to give you the most
appropriate answer.
--
Tim Greer, CEO/Founder/CTO, BurlyHost.com, Inc.
Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting, Dedicated & Semi-Dedicated servers
and Custom Hosting. 24/7 support, 30 day guarantee, secure servers.
Industry's most experienced staff! -- Web Hosting With Muscle!

Supposing you use PayPall as a means for customers to pay for goods sold to
them by you. Supposing from time to time you transfer money from PayPall to
your own bank, say in the UK. Surely there is no risk associated with the UK
bank? Could someone please explain which risk is incurred, and where, in
the previous example?

Adrian.

 

[Tim Greer]

Supposing you use PayPall as a means for customers to pay for goods
sold to them by you. Supposing from time to time you transfer money
from PayPall to your own bank, say in the UK. Surely there is no risk
associated with the UK
bank? Could someone please explain which risk is incurred, and where,
in the previous example?

Adrian.

The risk with paypal, is that people can claim they didn't get the
product you ship them, or that it wasn't in the condition described on
the site, and so on. However, if they are donating money, I really
don't see how someone could complain or that you'd run a risk.

At first, I thought the OP's post made it sound like they just wanted to
link to the merchant interface that a charity used. However, I see it's
just the site owner saying "if you like this site, please make a
donation to help me", and no product or service is expressed or
implied. So, I don't know what risks there could possibly be
associated with that. UK bank or not, it shouldn't matter.

 

[Adrian]

The risk with paypal, is that people can claim they didn't get the
product you ship them, or that it wasn't in the condition described on
the site, and so on. However, if they are donating money, I really
don't see how someone could complain or that you'd run a risk.

At first, I thought the OP's post made it sound like they just wanted to
link to the merchant interface that a charity used. However, I see it's
just the site owner saying "if you like this site, please make a
donation to help me", and no product or service is expressed or
implied. So, I don't know what risks there could possibly be
associated with that. UK bank or not, it shouldn't matter.
--
Tim Greer, CEO/Founder/CTO, BurlyHost.com, Inc.
Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting, Dedicated & Semi-Dedicated servers
and Custom Hosting. 24/7 support, 30 day guarantee, secure servers.
Industry's most experienced staff! -- Web Hosting With Muscle!

Thank you for the above. But what about if you sell, say software, it is
paid for via PayPall, the buyer doesn't like the software, and wants his or
her money back. Then ("option 1") Possibly PayPall refunds the money or
("option 2") PayPall does nothing. Which risk enters into the picture in
either case? In case of option 1 you would loose the payment, but if there
is no balance with PayPall, because you have withdrawn it all, do things go
wrong then?

Adrian.

 

[Neredbojias]

That really depends on what you mean by fraud protection. If anyone
does an electronic transfer from your account or uses a debit card,
the protection is reduced or even non existent, depending. If you
use a CC with paypal, you have your CC protection if paypal fails to
protect you. Any site you enter your bank account information where
someone could use that service to withdraw money electronically,
always increases the risks and reduces the protections.

I've not read paypal's TOS in a while though, so perhaps you mean
something else? Don't get me wrong, I don't use paypal anytime I can
help it, I think they and ebay are not worth anywhere near what they
charge and I believe their policies are poor. Unfortunately, we have
to use them as an option, since that's what some people want.
Luckily, we've never had any complaints to have to deal with, but we
run no risk on our end, as only we'd initiate a transfer/payment.

The TOS includes (a) waiver statement(s) dictating your agreement to
forego certain cc protective benefits. Full interpretation probably
requires an attorney, but I guarentee it's a dangerous contract to
endorse.

 

[Tim Greer]

The TOS includes (a) waiver statement(s) dictating your agreement to
forego certain cc protective benefits. Full interpretation probably
requires an attorney, but I guarentee it's a dangerous contract to
endorse.

Forgoing protections regarding paypal or paypal's CC, or your own CC
that you decide to use to buy items with over paypal? In other words,
I've not read anything in their TOS that would affect your own CC,
unless maybe the CC companies don't like paypal because it allows a
popular place online to affectively store your CC for use by anyone
with your account login.

 

[Tim Greer]

<please don't quote signatures>

Thank you for the above. But what about if you sell, say software, it
is paid for via PayPall, the buyer doesn't like the software, and
wants his or her money back.

If you sell something, yes, then the risks change. Paypal does view
certain things, such as electronic data and services (especially online
services) differently, because people could complain just to get a
refund after they've received a (downloaded) file or service.

Then ("option 1") Possibly PayPall
refunds the money or ("option 2") PayPall does nothing. Which risk
enters into the picture in either case? In case of option 1 you would
loose the payment, but if there is no balance with PayPall, because
you have withdrawn it all, do things go wrong then?

If you don't have the money for paypal to withdraw, they will freeze the
paypal account until you resolve it, or can dispute it and prove you
don't owe the customer (but you'd need to do that before they froze the
account). I believe if someone complains and wants a refund, and you
don't give it, that paypal could lock the account where you can't
withdraw the funds until the issue is resolved (either in your favor or
not). Some cases can be difficult to prove. Sometimes paypal makes it
difficult for someone to get honesty and justice. I've only ever made
a complaint about buying something before, where the guy never sent the
item I paid for. PP didn't do anything to help me. Beyond that, I
know of stories where people have had customers get a product and then
say they didn't and PP will rule in their favor and the business it out
the product and the money, which is why a lot of people are too
paranoid to use PP, if they can help it.

 

[Adrian]

If you sell something, yes, then the risks change. Paypal does view
certain things, such as electronic data and services (especially online
services) differently, because people could complain just to get a
refund after they've received a (downloaded) file or service.


If you don't have the money for paypal to withdraw, they will freeze the
paypal account until you resolve it, or can dispute it and prove you
don't owe the customer (but you'd need to do that before they froze the
account). I believe if someone complains and wants a refund, and you
don't give it, that paypal could lock the account where you can't
withdraw the funds until the issue is resolved (either in your favor or
not). Some cases can be difficult to prove. Sometimes paypal makes it
difficult for someone to get honesty and justice. I've only ever made
a complaint about buying something before, where the guy never sent the
item I paid for. PP didn't do anything to help me. Beyond that, I
know of stories where people have had customers get a product and then
say they didn't and PP will rule in their favor and the business it out
the product and the money, which is why a lot of people are too
paranoid to use PP, if they can help it.
--
Tim Greer, CEO/Founder/CTO, BurlyHost.com, Inc.
Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting, Dedicated & Semi-Dedicated servers
and Custom Hosting. 24/7 support, 30 day guarantee, secure servers.
Industry's most experienced staff! -- Web Hosting With Muscle!

***************************************************
So you make sure your balance with PayPall doesn't get too high. And if a
customer srews you, you just accept it. (Littigation would cost more.) Any
business has dubious debtors. The tax authorities might allow setting aside
part of your profits on the balance sheet as a provision for bad debts . If
the unit price of your peoducts is extremely high you wouldn't need PP. So
personally I don't see much of a problem. Risk cannot be avoided, you simply
have to do some risk management (commercial risk, financial risk, legal
risk, etc.).

Adrian.

 

[Tim Greer]

So you make sure your balance with PayPall doesn't get too high. And
if a customer srews you, you just accept it. (Littigation would cost
more.) Any business has dubious debtors. The tax authorities might
allow setting aside part of your profits on the balance sheet as a
provision for bad debts . If the unit price of your peoducts is
extremely high you wouldn't  need PP. So personally I don't see much
of a problem. Risk cannot be avoided, you simply have to do some risk
management (commercial risk, financial risk, legal risk, etc.).

I'm unsure why you are replying to my reply, as if I asked the question,
I only offered my view about the previous scenario. Ultimately, you
shouldn't have to worry, provided you offer the product and service you
promote. Any downloads, services or product the customer receives is
proof of that service or sale, so you shouldn't need to worry about it
anyway. Also, depending on what you offer for sale, sometimes people
don't like using a check or credit card or wire transfer and actually
want to use PP, so it's probably a good idea to offer for a payment
option, at least if the demand is there from enough potential clients
wanting to use PP.

 

[Fulio Open]

I'm unsure why you are replying to my reply, as if I asked the question,
I only offered my view about the previous scenario.  Ultimately, you
shouldn't have to worry, provided you offer the product and service you
promote.  Any downloads, services or product the customer receives is
proof of that service or sale, so you shouldn't need to worry about it
anyway.  Also, depending on what you offer for sale, sometimes people
don't like using a check or credit card or wire transfer and actually
want to use PP, so it's probably a good idea to offer for a payment
option, at least if the demand is there from enough potential clients
wanting to use PP.
--
Tim Greer, CEO/Founder/CTO, BurlyHost.com, Inc.
Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting, Dedicated & Semi-Dedicated servers
and Custom Hosting.  24/7 support, 30 day guarantee, secure servers.
Industry's most experienced staff! -- Web Hosting With Muscle!

I want to thank all of you again for your help.

fulio pen

 

[Neredbojias]

Forgoing protections regarding paypal or paypal's CC, or your own CC
that you decide to use to buy items with over paypal? In other
words, I've not read anything in their TOS that would affect your own
CC, unless maybe the CC companies don't like paypal because it allows
a popular place online to affectively store your CC for use by anyone
with your account login.

I haven't read their TOS (fully) per se but received the information I
related from a compliant which I corroborated with several other
complaints of a similar nature. Google is your friend.

The following link also is quite illuminating regarding the subject at
hand:

http://www.aboutpaypal.org/

 

[Tim Greer]

I haven't read their TOS (fully) per se but received the information I
related from a compliant which I corroborated with several other
complaints of a similar nature. Google is your friend.

Right, I just didn't feel like searching around, hoping to know what
terms to use, just to verify something I heard vaguely mentioned on
usenet, you understand.

The following link also is quite illuminating regarding the subject at
hand:

http://www.aboutpaypal.org/

I've read that before, I might have to take a look again some day, but
for now, it's only an option I use for either personal transactions
with people I trust to buy from or sell to, or for a payment option for
the business, which we haven't had a problem with either. The service
itself isn't worth the money, but we wanted to cater to people that
only use it (and there seems to be a lot of them). Ultimately, I hope
ebay and paypal just go away and there are better options that replace
them both.