Background- I have created a website using "Virtual Mechanic's Site
Spinner".  I have an account with Apollo Hosting.  I have an e-booklet
which  I want to market and sell as a download from my domain.  I have
not uploaded the web pages yet.  I want to use Verisign and Miva to
handle credit cards and for a shopping cart.
  ApolloHosting says they cannot help with details on creating a
secure order page, since it is mostly a design/programming related
issue. They did say I can use the shared security certificate they
provide and gave me the location it could be accessed.

Can some provide me the HTML CODE I would need to insert into my order
page for this to work?  I want the customer to pay via credit card
before being allowed access to the download page.  Apollo also
suggested I put the file in a password protected directory on their
server and generate a password for each buyer. I am a bit confused how
all this would work.  What would you reccomend?  I would appreciate
feedback.  I can happily provide any additional information you need. 
And to think I thought creating the website would be the
hard part!  geesssh!  Thanks!

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Request for Question Clarification by larre-ga on 12 Nov 2003 04:01 PST

Hi wheelman, 

Actually, the solution may even be more complicated. Which Verisign
payment gateway are you anticipating? Do you have your merchant
account ready to go? There's actually a fair amount of specialized
programming, script installation and customization involved, in
addition to several pages custom HTML coding. The  price of the
question does not cover the amount of time and programming that would
be required.

Have you considered a third-party processor solution? There are
third-party transaction processors that can handle all the technical
details for you. Such processors are already configured to deal with
intangible merchandise (eBooks), from collecting the customer
information, to credit approval, and referral via secure one-time link
to your download page, all with the ease of cut-n-paste snippets (Buy
Buttons) of HTML.

Third-party processors typically charge 3-4 percentage points higher
than a straight merchant credit card account, but it'd take a *lot* of
transactions at only three or four more cents on the dollar to justify
the up front cost of installing your own Miva cart and programming to
connect to the payment gateway.

Would you like more information about this simplified way of handling
payments and delivery as a business starter? A list of appropriate
third-party processors? You can always hire a full-blown custom
programmed solution once your eBook is earning its way.

---l

An easier way to go is to deal with a third party payment processor
who handles the transactions of their site. You go there with your
order information (after saving most of the information in a database
or similar on your site), then go to the payment processor who will
handle the transaction and give the customer a success or failure
page.
This would distance you from the need for a VeriSign certificate and
all that goes with it. An example of an online payment processor is
www.beanstream.com They have different packages available from those
with low per-transaction fees to low per-month fees.