The Credit Card Verification System (CCVS) uses
your computer and modem to simulate a credit card swipe box, also known as
a Point of Sale (POS)
terminal. A stand-alone product, CCVS includes
several Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that facilitate
customization and integration with third party software applications or
database products.
CCVS is safe, secure, and easy to use. Written
in ANSI C and conforming to POSIX standards,
CCVS is portable and easily integrated with
modern operating systems, programming languages, and the
Internet. Designed for easy scripting and programming,
CCVS can be used to automate batch processing
or enhance any application that requires credit card processing.
CCVS can be used in countries other than the US
if your bank or merchant services representative uses one of the
protocols supported by CCVS. If you are in
Canada, CCVS supports the NDC protocol, which
can be used by any bank in Canada to configure your merchant account. If
you're in a country other than the US or Canada, you will need to check with
your merchant services representative. The protocol supported by
CCVS that has the best chance of being
supported by a financial institution outside the US is the the Visa 2nd
Generation ``K Format'' protocol (VITAL).
A demonstration version of CCVS is included
with Red Hat Linux. The demo version is fully functional and can be used for
testing CCVS on your system. In demo mode, it
will do everything except connect to your financial institution and
transmit the payment request. If you choose to use
CCVS in a production environment to process
credit cards, contact Red Hat to purchase a license key. See http://www.redhat.com/products/software/ecommerce/ccvs
for more information on how to activate CCVS.
CCVS excels at making the connection between
an e-commerce application and a credit card payment gateway. While the
ways in which you can use CCVS depend upon
the protocol your payment gateway uses, in many
cases, CCVS can be used with very few changes
to an existing system. See http://www.redhat.com/products/software/ecommerce/ccvs/support/docs/protocol-specific.html
for specific information on the different protocols supported by
CCVS.
Consider the following examples of how CCVS can
be used:
CCVS can support a system for telephone
operators taking catalog orders over the phone.
The CCVS Tcl extensions can be used to create
a Tcl/Tk Graphical User Interface (GUI) that presents a simple
interface for telephone operators. The operators can then use simple
X terminals, and all of the software will run on the central server.
CCVS only needs to be installed on one
computer, and the operators don't have to wait for an available phone
line — all of their transactions will go out over the same phone
call.
CCVS can be used to help automate billing.
For example, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) might have a customer
database on a database server. The ISP's database administrator could
write a Perl script, combining the CCVS
Perl module with a module for the ISP's database system. The script
would then be run every month. The script will read the customer
data, process monthly billing, and update the records in the database
to indicate payment has taken place.
CCVS can be used to help process payments
for a web storefront which also uses a call center to handle
telephone orders. In this way, orders processed over the web using a
standard CGI application or by a sales agent using a custom Java
program running over the LAN can go through the same connection for
processing and payment. In addition, CCVS
Address Verification System (AVS) features can be used to prevent
fraud in both order methods without having to worry about
implementing this feature separately in each of the applications,
therefore saving development time.
These are only a few examples of the capabilities of
CCVS. It can be used to enhance any aspect of
your operations that require credit card processing. The many features of
CCVS include the following:
A C library with a documented API empowers users to integrate
CCVS seamlessly with existing applications.
A Tcl extension enables use of CCVS with
server-side Tcl such as NeoWebScript.
A Perl 5.0 module allows CCVS to work with
the most popular CGI programming language in use today.
The ability to quickly construct custom GUIs using Tcl/Tk —
typical development time is less than a day.
Python, PHP3 and Java modules allow CCVS to
work with other common programming languages.
Command Line Interface (CLI) programs for interactive use — call
programs from any UNIX shell and program in the UNIX language you like
best.
AVS fraud protection, which allows merchants to check for stolen
credit cards. Many clearinghouses offer a better rate to merchants who
use AVS, even on orders taken over the phone.
Support for multiple merchant accounts, allowing users to open their
own virtual malls with unlimited store fronts. A merchant
account is a special type of bank account which allows a business to
accept credit card payments from customers. The merchant account holds
the proceeds from credit card transactions.
The ability to conduct multiple transactions in a single session,
approaching leased line performance (two seconds per transaction!)
with no extra cost or complexity.
The reassurance of being able to test and do development programming on
the product without charging real credit cards.
