Press releases

"PayPal Hacks": Secrets to Making Online Buying and Selling Smoother, Swifter, Safer, and Smarter

Press release: September 23, 2004

Sebastopol, CA--"PayPal wasn't the first company to build an online payment system, but it might as well be the last," say Shannon Sofield, Dave Nielsen, and Dave Burchell, authors of the new PayPal Hacks (O'Reilly, US $24.95). With PayPal, individuals can do business over the Internet with ease, while developers can tap all the power of the eCommerce giant with only a few lines of code. "It's not surprising that PayPal is being touted as the payment platform of the future. But for those who learn what it can already do, it may mean making profits today," the book explains.

In PayPal Hacks, PayPal insiders and experienced solution providers Sofield, Nielsen, and Burchell take readers through the joys and rigors of using and developing with PayPal. Whether they're building an eCommerce site using PayPal as a payment platform or simply trying to pay for an item purchased through eBay, readers will find all the tricks, tips, and tools they need to buy and sell smarter and safer, make more money, and have fun doing it.

Written for all PayPal users--from those creating their first PayPal accounts to those developing sophisticated eCommerce sites--Paypal Hacks shows readers how to:

  • Save time and money with advanced tips and undocumented features to help them lower their PayPal fees, request and receive payments, customize their customers' checkout process, and more
  • Take the extra steps necessary to protect themselves while buying or selling on eBay
  • Effortlessly integrate PayPal's shopping cart system into their own web sites, or plug their existing shopping carts into PayPal
  • Handle subscriptions, build affiliate systems, and accept donations
  • Implement digital fulfillment with Instant Payment Notification (IPN) and Payment Data Transfer (PDT)
  • Develop and distribute eCommerce applications using the PayPal Web Services API platform
  • A must-have for anyone who has (or is contemplating) a PayPal account, this book includes hacks for paying from a cell phone, disputing merchandise payments, lowering seller fees, using button encryption, building an order-tracking page, offering discount coupons and tiered subscriptions, tracking Google referrals, and plenty more.

    PayPal Hacks delivers dozens of easy-to-follow procedures and countless timesaving tools and clever tips for customizing the Web's favorite payment system to make online financial transactions even smoother, more convenient, and more flexible--as well as a whole lot more profitable.

    Additional Resources:

    PayPal Hacks
    Shannon Sofield, Dave Nielsen, and Dave Burchell
    ISBN 0-596-00751-5, 343 pages, $24.95 US, $36.95 CA
    order@oreilly.com
    1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000

    About O’Reilly

    O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

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