If you've bought or sold items through eBay, or through hundreds of other online sites, then you're familiar with PayPal, the online payment service. With PayPal, a valid email address, and a credit card or bank account, you can easily send and receive payments online. Not a bank or financial institution itself, PayPal describes its service as one that builds on the financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards, and using advanced propriety fraud prevention systems, creates a safe, global, real-time payment solution. Put simply, PayPal provides the means for people to conduct financial transactions online, instantly and securely. But there's more to PayPal than meets the eye. PayPal Hacks shows you how to make the most of PayPal to get the most out of your online business or transactions. Authors Shannon Sofield of Payloadz.com and PayPal evangelist David Nielsen guide you through the rigors of using and developing with PayPal. Whether you're building an ecommerce site using PayPal as a transaction provider, or simply trying to pay for an eBay auction without getting burned, PayPal Hacks will give you the skinny on this leading global online payment service. The collection of tips and tricks in PayPal Hacks shows you how to find or even build the right tools for using PayPal to buy and sell on eBay or as a transaction provider for ecommerce on your own site. Written for all PayPal users, from those just starting out to those developing sophisticated ecommerce sites, this book begins with the basics such as setting up your account, then moves quickly into specific tips and tools for buyers, sellers, and developers. With PayPal Hacks, you can:

• Learn extra steps to help protect yourself while buying or selling on eBay

• Save time and money with advanced tips and undocumented features

• Learn dozens of easy-to-follow procedures to help you request and receive payments and fill orders

• Use PayPal to handle subscriptions, affiliate systems, and donations

• Create and customize your customers' checkout process

• Effortlessly integrate PayPal's shopping cart system into your own website

• Implement digital fulfillment with Instant Payment Notification (IPN) and Payment Data Transfer (PDT)

• Develop and distribute ecommerce applications with the PayPal API

Each hack consists of a task to be accomplished or a creative solution to a problem, presented in a clear, logical, and task-oriented format. PayPal Hacks provides the tools and details necessary to make PayPal more profitable, more flexible, and more convenient.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 11 Ratings

Everything you need to know to work with PayPal - 2004-12-27
Reviewer Rating:
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.

PayPal Hacks - an Excellent Resource! - 2005-08-26
Reviewer Rating:
This is an excellent resource for anyone who would like to sell
their wares or services using PayPal.O'Reilly has done an
excellent job with the Hacks series in general and this book is
no exception.The book contains many useful tips & tricks for
anyone wishing to use Paypal as their main e-commerce
solution. I really recommend this book for anyone who is
serious about selling their wares over PayPal.

Very helpful - 2005-07-03
Reviewer Rating:
Like all the "Hacks" books from O'Reilly, this one is quite solid. There's plenty of info about the things you know about but don't quite understand, as well as things you didn't know anything about.

Of course, it runs into the problem that any book of this nature runs into - which coding language to use for the examples. Personally, I'd like to see a bit less code and a bit more high level discussion about the concept of what the code should be doing (and thus be able to easily translate into any programming language).

But overall, this is a solid buy.

PAYPAL IS GREAT!!! - 2008-01-24
Reviewer Rating:
no this review is not about this book its about how ironic it is that amazon sells books ABOUT paypal but for some reason doesn't use it, i don't like to pay with a credit cart i want to use paypal.

and if you ask amazon about it they just sent you a standard letter about credit carts and some un-clear buying opsions, un-clear because if you ask about the opsions you just get the standerd mail again

amazon -if you are reading- please use paypal, or explane why you don't use it, also drop the standerd mail it din't answer my questions the first time.

thank you.

A key tool in Internet selling - 2008-01-12
Reviewer Rating:
PayPal, like Amazon and eBay, has become a utility for technological civilization. You can buy, sell, or contribute to a worthy cause. Safer and easier than using a credit card, PayPal is changing the way we transact.

That's why "PayPal Hacks" is great. Not only is PayPal the most known and convenient way to deal with money on-line but there are some significant business processes that need to be thought through for brick and mortar retail. Not every hack will apply but many will inspire new ideas and bring some increased awareness. Using "PayPal Hacks" will let you take things at your pace and the bite-sized nuggets let you get started immediately.

You will need some decent computer skills to get past the first few hacks, and unless you do business on IIS you'll need to rework the code examples. The good news is that once you get going you'll probably be glad you took the journey.

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