Paid Content Site

[MarcieZoob]

We're looking to develop a site similar to Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com) where articles can be read only by registered members who paid for a subscription to the website. Once paid, they can read all content upon login. The payment gateway w/b Authorize.net.

Is anyone aware of any open source PHP scripts that will do what we need with Authorize.net integrated as the payment gateway option? (2Checkout is also an option we'll consider.)

All I can find are PayPal options... :(

[ebiztutors]

We have used the processing services at http://www.ccbill.com in the past for paid content areas and are currently using them for e-book/tutorial sales online as well. Excellent customer service, they take care of everything - and it's very easy to use.

[MarcieZoob]

Thanks for the reply. We're looking for the content management script that hides the content more than a payment gateway. It seems all open source scripts for paid-content management use PayPal. I'd like a script with something else built in.

[ebiztutors]

Sorry I missed that part. They kind of set that all up for us as well - kind of good for newbies to this kind of thing. I see what you mean though, when I checked the resources I use most of those scripts are PayPal focused... hopefully someone will come in and post something they've used. Would be good to know of a Plan B - we all need that. Good luck. :)

[kgun]

Originally Posted by MarcieZoob

Thanks for the reply. We're looking for the content management script that hides the content more than a payment gateway. It seems all open source scripts for paid-content management use PayPal. I'd like a script with something else built in.

Buy (not completely free since you may pay for the book)

Harry Fuecks: The PHP Anthology: Object Oriented PHP Solutions

Volume II chapter 1 is about Access Control and authentication 80 pages.

There is an alternative not so elegant and may be not so secure solution (encapsulation etc.) in Kevin Yansk's book: Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL

The code follows with the books.

Have you browsed the best known PHP class libraries like PEAR? That is a free solution and low hanging fruit.

Payment should always be done encrypted on a secure server. That is a link to a payment gateway.

[drummin]

Have you checked out http://www.cgiexpo.com/Scripts/42_PHP_Scripts/?
I didn't go through what they have but something might work for you.

[mysticalmaze]

Hey,

I'm not sure myself, but one time I was looking for a recommendation to certain type of Open Source script, so I contacted the webmaster here: http://opensourcecms.com/

He replied within 24hrs with a few choice things to look at, and added some comments. Worth a try!

Another Resource: http://www.cmsmatrix.org/matrix
Never tried contacting this webmaster...

Also, I have a feeling you may already know of these sites, but I did'nt know if you tried actually contacting the webmasters.

Regards,

Robert Palmer

[drummin]

Hey Marcie,
You might checkout http://adpass.ascadnetworks.com/.
They use 2Checkout credit card processing and it looks like you can setup memberships w/login for access to secure content. May need some mods but looks close to what you need.

[DrTandem1]

Why not just get a PHP script that produces random passwords and when they buy a subscription they get the password emailed back to them?

Anyway, I think CCBill is the ticket as previously mentioned. Is it that you don't want to pay for their service? Just pass that on to the subscriber.

By the way, your "content" will need to be extremely riveting for anyone to pay for it. Most everything can be found for free.

[wpriley]

I recently faced this same issue and couldn't find an open source solution that met my needs.

I first tried a commercial product called phpGuardDog which read well in their promo material but was full of bugs and ultimately proved unworkable (the Web site subsequently shut down).

After much diligent research, I then purchased a product called aMember Professional (http://www.amember.com/). It costs $140 but is extremely feature rich, has no bugs that I found, has reachable tech support and works with either of your payment gateway choices. There's almost no combination of subscription plans, access alternatives and fee structures that this package can't handle. Try their free trial and see if you feel it's worth the money.

On the downside, the application is written in PHP but some of the routines are encrypted. I normally won't use encrypted software but couldn't find a better alternative.