e-commerce in java(My Baptism of fire)

I am working on a JEE6 project for some client, he asked me to create a very simple e-commerce shop. I am not very familiar with money transfers online, I want to allow the customers to be able to transfer funds to my bank account (direct bankwire) before I mail to them the product they purchased (Classic e-shop). I don't understand much about how payment gateways or checkout systems work. I was wondering if someone could give me some tips of what woul开发者_StackOverflow中文版d I need to know to get started in the world of e-commerce? Also I will be very happy if I could clear some of the doubts I have on my mind:

• I do my programming in JEE6, do I need any API for to be able to do bank transfers?

• Do I need third party software and if so could you recommend me one of those softwares?

• How do third party software for e-payments often works?

• Is the process of integration of thirt party payment software in a JEE6 application complicated?

• I use glassfish V3.0 app server. Are there any limitations in it in what e-payments concerns.

I apology if some of the doubts sound kind of weird or not related to the topic, but as I said I am unexperienced in the e-commerce topic and I feel kind of lost.

I'll appreciate some help.

To get started, why not have a look at Paypal, Realex, and HSBC. Although there are many, many more...

I've used all three of the above, and they were all fine. I preferred Realex (good documentation and service) but it will depend on your location and circumstances.

Answers to those questions:

• I do my programming in JEE6, do I need any API to do bank transfers?

The payment gateways will provide a web service that you will call.

• Do I need third party software and if so could you recommend me one of those softwares?

No, just reference the web service. I'd recommend any of the three I listed above.

• How do third party software for e-payments often works?

It depends on the provider. Typically, you send the order and card details over https and the provider will take care of processing the payment. The payment web service will return a status response. Some payment providers also validate card numbers and addresses.

• Is the process of integration of thirt party payment software in a JEE6 application complicated?

Not if you have any web service experience. Integration should be straight-forward. Good documentation from the provider will help. Check out the documentation they supply before choosing your provider.

• I use glassfish V3.0 app server. Are there any limitations in it in what e-payments concerns.

No, I don't think so.

It has been a while since I have done any e-commerce stuff, but I'll give this a shot.

You can (and should) use a 3rd party system for your payments. Something like paypal does the trick. You can also do something like yahoo stores, depending on what your needs are.

With paypal, you basically sign up to their site and create "buttons". I put that in quotations because there are many options that you can do while creating these buttons. You can set specific amounts, etc etc. When a user on your site wants to buy something, they will click on the button and that will take them to your paypal page and allow them to enter in a visa or mc or use their pay pal account.

Paypal and yahoo allow you to skin their site to make it look more like yours. As in all good web design, the user needs to be re-assured that they are visiting the same site (but that is a discussion for another question).

To answer your questions specifically, if you go this route, it really doesn't matter what your server side technology is.

Hope that helps.

I would normally just recommend people NOT to build yet another commerce site when there are popular ones that you can leverage such as Amazon or eBay etc. That way your customer's don't need yet another account etc. Your client would just be able to focus on their business of selling their stuff rather than maintaining yet another e-commerce site which has a lot of maintenance to deal with not to mention having to ensure availability.

That being said though, you should still have a web site that does showcase your products, but as far as managing the commerce and shopping portion, it's best to leave it to the pros rather than dealing with the APIs themselves.

Mind you, your product line can grow to the point that you'd want to take over the shopping and commerce portion, by then you could use PayPal or Google Checkout to do your commerce portion. There are many catalog applications out there as well.