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Mobile Credit Card Payments
I am launching a mobile platform in the next 6-8 weeks that will require users to pay recurring monthly subscription fees and also will have non-recurring charges that will need to be processed against a stored preferred payment method. The problem I am running into is finding a CC processor with an API available that can be integrated into the mobile app AND will allow the user to authorize recurring monthly payments to their CC.
PayPal is the first solution I looked at. They do offer this feature but at the moment they only allow recurring payments to be charged thru the customer's PayPal account, not to their CC. I have found dozens of services that claim to offer this functionality but when you dig through the layers of information it turns out their mobile solution is nothing more than a payment swipe device that can be used with an employees mobile device. This doesn't do me any good. I need a service that will provide the following:
1. API to accept CC information through a Mobile APP and the ability to authorize recurring charges to that CC for a set amount.
2. API to accept CC information through web UI and the ability to authorize recurring charges to that CC for a set amount.
3. Virtual Gateway to allow employees to process one time payments against the stored preferred CC payment method for a customer.
Numbers 2 & 3 seem to be widely available and fairly standard. Number 1 is the one that I am having trouble finding. Can anyone point me to a service that provides these three features or at least to a resource where I can do more research and hopefully find something on my own?
PayPal is the first solution I looked at. They do offer this feature but at the moment they only allow recurring payments to be charged thru the customer's PayPal account, not to their CC. I have found dozens of services that claim to offer this functionality but when you dig through the layers of information it turns out their mobile solution is nothing more than a payment swipe device that can be used with an employees mobile device. This doesn't do me any good. I need a service that will provide the following:
1. API to accept CC information through a Mobile APP and the ability to authorize recurring charges to that CC for a set amount.
2. API to accept CC information through web UI and the ability to authorize recurring charges to that CC for a set amount.
3. Virtual Gateway to allow employees to process one time payments against the stored preferred CC payment method for a customer.
Numbers 2 & 3 seem to be widely available and fairly standard. Number 1 is the one that I am having trouble finding. Can anyone point me to a service that provides these three features or at least to a resource where I can do more research and hopefully find something on my own?
ASKER
Andrew,
Thanks for the response. The comment I made that PayPal will not support recurring payments with CC refers to their Mobile API. I pulled this information directly from their developer sandbox. The link is: https://developer.paypal.com/docs/integration/mobile/make-future-payment/
This states specifically that recurring payments can only work through a users PayPal account, not with CC, while using the Mobile API. I could force my users to create their account on a mobile device and then sign in through a traditional PC site to authorize recurring payments on a CC, but that defeats the purpose of having the functionality through the Mobile App.
I have looked into PayPal Pro because I need the ability to access a virtual terminal, and Pro gives me that. But I have not found that the addition of PayPal Pro changes the restriction that PayPal has placed on the Mobile API. If you can point me to something specific in PayPal that specifies otherwise I would appreciate that information. I have spoken with several PayPal representatives and so far I have gotten a different response from each of them. So it appears that there is some confusion internally with PayPal as to what is and is not available.
Thanks for the response. The comment I made that PayPal will not support recurring payments with CC refers to their Mobile API. I pulled this information directly from their developer sandbox. The link is: https://developer.paypal.com/docs/integration/mobile/make-future-payment/
This states specifically that recurring payments can only work through a users PayPal account, not with CC, while using the Mobile API. I could force my users to create their account on a mobile device and then sign in through a traditional PC site to authorize recurring payments on a CC, but that defeats the purpose of having the functionality through the Mobile App.
I have looked into PayPal Pro because I need the ability to access a virtual terminal, and Pro gives me that. But I have not found that the addition of PayPal Pro changes the restriction that PayPal has placed on the Mobile API. If you can point me to something specific in PayPal that specifies otherwise I would appreciate that information. I have spoken with several PayPal representatives and so far I have gotten a different response from each of them. So it appears that there is some confusion internally with PayPal as to what is and is not available.
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ASKER
Thanks for the quick response. I had not considered bypassing the mobile app that PayPal has created and doing a direct HTTP POST. We will also be integrating this same logic and technology into a traditional web UI so the coding for that function will have to be done anyway.
I think this will work should we decide to use PayPal for the processing.
I think this will work should we decide to use PayPal for the processing.
PayPal also offers their Here app, which is the mobile swipe that you are referring to. Again, though, Payments Pro itself is a set of APIs that allow you to build anything you want into whatever type of platform you're working with.
When you sign up for Payments Pro with PayPal they charge you $30/mo for direct credit card processing itself, and then you'll have to pay another $20 or $30/mo to add recurring billing. Once you have that, though, you can simply generate NVP or XML API requests from within your mobile app and hit their API with it to setup recurring payments profiles using the credit card directly.