PayPal Hacks

Rating:
Summary: Could have been useful
Review: Don't waste your money unless you are one of the minority of webmasters that work exclusively in a Windows environment.

This book could have been useful if the authors had not insisted on showing all examples in asp, VBscript and .net which are used by only about 20% of all web servers and shown them in perl or php which are available for virtually every web server platform.

Rating:
Summary: Useful for all kinds of PayPal developers
Review: I create websites as a volunteer for a few small groups. Enhancing a website by adding a PayPal button, can save time in collecting dues and event payments. You can add a simple button using PayPal's online tools, but if you want to do more this book can tell you how to do it. Code samples are supplied in HTML, VBScript, ActionScript, C#, JavaScript and more. It covers security using OpenSSL.

Like the other O'Reilly Hacks books, pushpins and screws mark tips and warnings, respectively. These marks enhance the clarity of the writing, which is already lucid and concise.

Thermometer icons indicate the difficulty of a Hack. Easy Hacks include (a) Quick-Link to Transaction Details (b) Custom Designed Buttons (c) Sending money to someone with an account without setting up one for the sender. Moderate Hacks include (a) Tracking website visitors (b) Receive Instant Payment Notification (IPN) (c) Insert Payment Details into A Database.
Advanced Hacks cover (a) Refunding a Payment without Logging Into the PayPal site (b) Issue Payments En Masse Using the PayPal API (c) Pay Affiliates and Suppliers on a Schedule.

These and 91 other little tricks can make PayPal a really productive environment for collecting and processing payments. The book helps you navigate PayPal's website, telling you where to find scripts and code.

Some of the Hacks are for PayPal users. It shows how to create an account and verify it. I have met many online shoppers who have found the PayPal user experience frustrating and this book can help them. The book goes beyond a mere programmer's guide, it offers solid business advice. For example, it explains how the PayPal Mastercard debit card can be used.

Advanced programmers won't need the easy tricks. They can find .NET Hacks that add PayPal functionality to Windows DLLs, not just websites. There is even a Hack for Dreamweaver, Adobe's web development tool.

I like the book because even a novice PayPal Hacker can find value in this thorough and comprehensive reference book.

Rating:
Summary: Good information but too Microsoft-centric
Review: I really like the content in this book, especially the basics that it covers. I've never really understood some of the intricacies of PayPal, and I do need to know about it, so that's good. Unlike most O'Reilly books which have the opportunity to be somewhat language-neutral, however, this one fails at that important aspect. Many similar books from O'Reilly attempt to give examples in several languages, for instance, Perl, PHP, Python, Visual Basic, Java, etc. But this book only offers its wealth of examples in ASP.NET. Which is such a shame. Shame on you O'Reilly! It could have been so useful!!!

Rating:
Summary: For small merchant operations
Review: Paypal has been one of the few successful ideas on the Web. Ranking with Amazon, eBay and Yahoo. So much so that eBay bought Paypal in its entirety a few years ago.

Since then, as the authors show in several hacks, Paypal is now deeply embedded into eBay as a very convenient payment scheme. A few hacks show how to use Paypal from the standpoint of a single user.

But a broader lesson of this book is that the integration of Paypal into eBay is by no means exclusive. If you maintain your own website and want to sell items on it, that have absolutely nothing to do with auctions, then many hacks discuss how to use Paypal to facilitate this. Including integrating third party shopping carts with it. Indeed, there is an entire chapter devoted to these tasks.

Also, the authors describe how even if you are competing in the online auction space with eBay, you can still use Paypal. It appears that eBay is going to careful lengths to have Paypal treat its merchants equally. Certainly, the authors point out that Paypal is used with eBay's main competitors' auctions, like uBid, Yahoo and Amazon. Reassuring if you have a small operation and are contemplating Paypal.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource for sellers
Review: This is a fantastic resource who want to sell products using PayPal. O'Reilly has had an excellent run with the Hacks series and this is no exception. The book contains one hundred relevant recipes for common problems facing PayPal sellers (and to some extent buyers using PayPal.) Examples include fraud protection, hacking forms, customizing forms and pages, and setting up notifications.

I recommend this book for anyone who is serious about selling products over PayPal.

Rating:
Summary: Will Repay It's Cover Price Quickly
Review: This is a really easy book to provide feedback on. How quickly will it pay for its cover price? If you are a seller with any kind of volume, the answer is quickly (if you aren't already following the suggestions). The tip on the debit card is great, as are the tips for reducing fees.

There are also great suggestions for subscriptions, donations and even setting up a simple affiliate scheme. As an aside, this book is a "must have" if your setting up a not for profit web site.

There are also some great marketing tips and advice on minimizing chargebacks.

This isn't a windows specific book - it uses PERL, C++, ASP and has plenty of HTML only tips. Very unfair to describe this book as Windows centric (the maximum lenth of the code provided is only a few sides - longest source listings are for PayPal API chapter; if your running a UNIX box then use the listing as Pseudo Code and port to your platform - not hard for a half decent programmer. The code provided is well documented. Microsoft has a vey sizeable slice of the e-commerce server market and shouldn't be ignored.

Excellent book for sellers using PayPal.

Rating:
Summary: Everything you need to know to work with PayPal
Review: This is basically a book on how to get the most out of PayPal. Whether you are trying to make a purchase, sell and item, or setup a complete e-Commerce solution based on PayPal you will find the information on how to do it here. Some of the information in the book includes how to create an account, what to do when you forget your password, how to get things fixed if your account has been limited, how to pay from a cell phone, dispute a payment, receive money, upgrade your account, lower seller fees, hack-proof your payment buttons, and even encryption. It even has information on the PayPal webservices API and putting a PayPal payment button in an email.

This is an excellent and detailed course on how to use the intricacies of PayPal. PayPal Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools is highly recommended to everyone who shops or sells on the Internet as well as anyone who programs sites to use PayPal.