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Tech Ed 2007

Thanks for visiting us at Tech Ed 2007, and thanks for giving Paystation a go.

We have some sample code and modules for a few carts, all of which are abailable here for you to download and try.  The .net sample we have is in C# - we wrote it just for you lot, so please let us know if it's rubbish and we'll change it.

The steps to getting your application working with Paystation are simple.  First, get your application sending payment requests to us, then get your application accepting responses from us.  That's pretty much it.  Your customers will have to get a merchant account with their bank, and we have some paperwork to do to get that working, but you don't need to worry about that bit to get your application working with Paystation.

Who's who

A few definitions before we all get confused about who's who.

Paystation: that's us.
Developer: that's you.
Merchant: the shop owner - the one who holds the merchant acocunt at the bank.  Ususally they are your customer, and our customer, but they're not the end customer.
Customer / Card Holder: the end customer - the one who is buying goods or service.

This is how we refer to the different roles in documentation, over email, and when talking over the phone.

3-Party (hosted) and 2-Party payments

Most payments will be 3-party (or hosted payment pages), which have three advantages:

• the card holder puts card numbers into bank branded screens;
• the merchant never sees card numbers;
• and things like PCI compliance and 3DS authentication are our problem and not yours or your merchants.

Here's our 3-Party API document: paystation-interface-[online].pdf (PDF / 140kb)

For 3-Party payments we need to know where to send the responce to.  We call this the 'Return URL', and we need you to tell us what the return URL will be for each merchant you integrate, including your development account.

Sometimes you need more control, and 2-party might be the thing for you - this is where you gather the card number your application sends it to us as an HTTPS POST and we come directly back to your application with an XML responce.  Call centres use 2-Party, as do some really big online merchants.

Here's our 2-Party API document: paystation-interface-[direct].pdf (PDF / 119kb)

Every account is technically able to transact via 2-Party and 3-Party at the same time, and turning the interfaces on and off is a matter of policy (if the bank says yes then we turn everything on).

Sample code

Download the appropriate sample code below.  This code shows how to initiate a payment with Paystation, and how to interpret our responce.  We assume that you have sufficient clue to store orders and customer details in a database before initiating the payment request, and are able to tie our responce back to that request.

One last thing - be sure to generate a unique MS (Merchant Session) value for each payment attempt.  The usual situation where this catches people out is when a payment attempt returns with an error and another attempt is made to pay for the same order - in our view this is a new and different payment and required a new MS value.

* The PHP 2-Party code uses CURL, and so CURL is required this to be installed on your system.  If you are of the inclination to run PHP on your Windows server we would suggest you download the PHP and ASP samples, and use the native Microsoft.XMLHTTPstuff from the ASP sample in place of the CURL bit for the payment itself.

Paystation Administration

Once you have payments going through Paystation, you'll want to see them.  Log into the Paystation Administration system here: Paystation Admin - use the same username and password as you used to see this page.

Contact

If you have any question or want a hand with something, please get hold of us.  Either use the contact form on this site, or call us on 04 917 8097 or 0800 PAYSTATION (0800 729 782). 

Thanks again for coming to visit us at Tech Ed 2007!