SMF v2 and Testing With PayPal and Introducing a Vocuher/Discount System

[kevinhannan]

Hi Everybody 

I have a current and active personal PayPal account and SMF v2 installed correctly, but at this time I do not know how to test the integration of the two.

Does anyone know if there is a way to test the integration of SMF v2 and PayPal without it actually costing me, please?

Also I want to introduce a voucher/discount system where for special periods of time I can issue a voucher number
and then the person who uses it can sign-up to my SMF forum free
(preferably without going through PayPal if the voucher is used). Is this possible, please?

Thanks are easy to come by, but it is the hard work of the hardcore regulars here that make this place what it is.
Whether you can help or not "Many thanks, Guys!".

Regards
Kevin Hannan

[Gary]

2.0 has Paid Subscription options for PayPal built in if thats what you mean. You can turn it on in the Core Features section of the Features and Options link.

You'll then be able to configure it in the Paid Subscriptions area of the Admin Center. Some settings in paypal will need to be changed, but SMF will tell you what to do.

[kevinhannan]

Hi Gaz,

Thanks for that 

I should have said I am aware that SMF v2 has this built in; however, I would still like to test this if possible, including the 'return after PayPal links'.

Would you know if this can be done, please, and also what do I do to bypass PayPal if I issue a free membership voucher because I don't want to have to register members manually but automatically?

Many thanks for your time!

Regards
Kevin Hannan

[SleePy]

You could manually add a subscription to give a free membership.

The default subscriptions is just a basic system, anything can be done but would require some programing be done. The developers didn't want to take it to far and made it so Subsciprtions is an API.
You can just plug in new APIs for subscriptions and use them though

[kevinhannan]

Hi Guys,

I had a bit of good news - after quite some delay PayPal wrote back and told me they have what they call a "sandbox" for testing website payment integration without it costing anyone. You could say that's Mint!

The link you need, if anyone is interested, is:
https://www.paypal.com/en_US/pdf/PP_Sandbox_UserGuide.pdf

Cheers, Sleepy and Gazmanafc, for your help!

Kind regards
Kevin Hannan

[dmorris68]

Yes, I have a developer sandbox account, it's a must for developing PayPal integration.  You can create as many dummy buyer and seller accounts as you need.  It lets you send/receive all types of dummy transactions (CC, bank, e-check), setup transaction failures (CC declines, frozen acounts, etc.) for exception testing, and more.  I have one and plan to write our own integration for our SMF forum once we get migrated over from phpBB2, as we will have a "catalog" of items in addition to the usual donations and premium memberships that users can purchase or subscribe to. 

I picked up hxxp:www.amazon.com/Professional-Web-APIs-PHP-Google/dp/0764589547 [nonactive] on web API integration using PHP, which includes a chapter on PayPal.  As you would expect for financial transactions, their protocol is a pretty robust (i.e. complex) one that uses server callbacks (the PayPal server contacts your server as part of the protocol), but that book does a good job of demystifying it. 

[Grand Duke]

paypal is not good system for international paid. because many countries have limited accounts in this money system, there are can't receiving money from any members and can't gathering some donations.

i think that best solution for paided subscription is google checkout. this system have good documented api and feedback of developer. maybe sandbox too.

wait for development ...

[Elegant John]

Agreed with Grand Duke

Google Checkout is the new standard. I've been using them for over a year with ZERO problems.