Internet Transactions

How secure transactions work!

Question: We are an ISP that hosts merchants on our own web server. When we receive a purchase request from a consumer (including a credit card number, exp date, amount, etc.), how do we actually forward that request to you? Is this an https secure message?

Answer: When a customer submits a purchase request from an html form you are hosting, your computer must run some form of back-end software that actually does two things. First, it gathers the previously-entered order information and extracts the information described--amount, credit card number, exp date, etc.--and sends the financial transaction via http (you are correct--it is an https command) to our Web server over the Internet using the field names and commands defined in our interface. Some ISPs have chosen to do this with a PERL script.

The second thing your back-end software must do is to forward the order information to the merchant or the merchant's fulfillment house in order to allow the merchant to actually ship the product.

The most difficult part for some ISPs has been integrating the SSL encryption into their CGI scripts. Vector Development provides a copy of their PERL script that they use with their Secure Web Server to transmit encrypted transactions to theWeb Server. Other vendors have developed similar MS COM components for the Microsoft IIS Web Server.

Links to these and other sites can be found on by following these links:

Development Tools

Note: ECHO can serve U.S.-based businesses only.

Online Account Management with MerchantAmerica