PayPal Website Payments Standard

I didn't know where to post this, but since this is a tool that can help me in selling my games, I posted it here. ^^

I want to know if anyone has used this, and if yes, then how to use it? I know how to enable the product using my PayPal account, I know how the buyer pays for a product (in this case, the game) etc., but what I couldn't find in the documentation, is how to allow the buyer to download the game immediately after paying, and so that it would be secure. I have a hunch it has something to do with Instant Payment Notification (IPN), but I'm not sure.
Any ideas?

think twice... if you allowe the user to download it automatically you'll have problems with fake paypal accounts and those who pay via their parents accounts. i've had this some times and the problem is that the jerk gets your game but you dont get the money.

i am handling it manually. i get an email from paypal.. check wether the money is there, or not and than i send an email to the customer with the download instruction. after the user downloaded it i disable the access.

I believe there was a secret variable of something included in the information PayPal sends to your website, so that you can check if a user really has paid and the money has reached your account. And the manual way is definitely not for me!
I know there is a possibility to do this automatically!!!

why not look into some open source shopping cart scripts?
zen cart for instance.

Hmm, what kind of payment options does zen-cart offer?? Couldn't find that information on their site.
But it looks promising, going to check it out later

Its been like 2 years since I've last used it but it definitely had a paypal payment module back then.

Just to toss this out to anyone looking for another alternative, we're using Plimus for our latest title, and had been using DigiBuy for seven years prior. Both are pretty good, and Plimus is popular among indie developers (I believe they even allow your customers to pay using PayPal).

I think you'll always get fraud orders, as Ello says, but if you're selling in any volume, then the time required to manually process orders would be more productively spent elsewhere (my opinion only :).

And that is why I need an automatic solution, because I don't know how much sales will I get. If they are a couple a day, then there wouldn't be any problems, but if I would have to look through 100 e-mails a day, that wouldn't make me a happy camper... ^^
Well, it seems that I have some good options here to look at, so I hope I will find what I need.

Thank you

I've used paypal for over a year and while my throughput is not great (a purchase or two a month), I've never had problem with payment or delivery.

Just make sure that the person that installs paypal on your site knows what they are doing (this is not DIY territory) and then do several test runs on your system: set up a 1 penny or 1 dollar item and buy and sell and deliver and go through the whole process a few times.

Also be sure to get the minimum you need. When you sign up to take payments by paypal, there is a whole bunch of options that can get expensive and we don't need (like telephone support).

go to this link
http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/ideas/sell-ebook.html
this will be help full for you.

About PayPal
Suppose that you buy some models for a comercial games
Is PayPal a legal valid evidence of payement ?

Well, the person to whom you are paying the money knows and sees when it is received, so I don t see any need for proof. Or did I miss something??

well leonardo
You suppose that all people are in good faith, most of people of course they are
but not all
Suppose that you buy some models for a few dollars then your game is a tremendous hit
It can happen, not so often but it happened
The owner of the models sue you asking for royalties
My question is
Should you ask also for a written contract or a PayPal payment with the wording " models for a commercial game " or something like that, is sufficient to protect your interest

@AlbertoT:
A real evidence? I don't know what would happen if Paypal was gone after some years. Anyways, from what I understand Paypal now operates as a real bank with the same rules applied as to other normal banks where you can step into the office.

Maybe if you buy models to be used inside commercial games. I would think about first setup a contract with the company before making the payment. Otherwise in the case of some legal problems you have Paypal in the middle. Also with Paypal if you buy something, then most of the time it's not really clear from the invoice what you have bought. In the case you need this as some sort of proof.

This is the point
On the other hand how can the owner of the models prove that he has not been paid ?
Unless the models ar freely available on the web, in case of custom made models it would be hard to claim that he has been robbed

I cannot imagine a situation like that, purely because you pay the money, and then receive the models, not the other way around! But if you don't get the models and need to prove that you have paid, then yes - PayPal can provide proof!

Usually an email confirmation stating that you paid is evidence enough.
And if not, it gives you a good place to start tracking down the problem.

But yeah, if you buy with paypal, there are plenty of ways of tracking down what did or did not happen so that is no worry to concern yourself with.

I've used PayPal for years both as seller and buyer. You get a legally valid receipt with each purchase, just as you do with credit card payments. So that part is not anything to worry about. You can just print it if you need a hard copy for tax purposes.

The use of a model or any other intellectual property in a game will fall under the EULA or any other user agreement you accept by purchasing and downloading the model etc. It's standard procedure. You can of course also set up a specific usage contract if you want with the owner of the model etc.

cheers,
tindust