By using Softvision Explorer you can offer the customers the possibility of re-charging their pre-paid account from a PayPal account or using a credit card. The whole procedure takes place automatically, without requiring the intervention of the administrator.
To be able to accept PayPal payments the first thing to do is to register on www.paypal.com requesting a Business account which can be opened free of charge and allows you to start receiving payments immediately.
Once registration is complete we can enter the PayPal control panel by using the account�s email with its password. At this point you must first enable the Instant Payment Notification (Receive IPN) by entering the address of the server. Following you have to enter the �Profile� section to customise some aspects of the account. After clicking on �Web site payment preferences� you must enable the �Automatic Return� option and enter any URL in the return URL section (e.g. https://cybercafesoftware.swrvision.com/paypalOK.asp).  The option "Payment Data Transfer" must be also enabled. These operations are absolutely essential because at the end of the transaction the customer will be re-directed automatically to a page confirming that the procedure has been executed correctly. The credit of the requested sum to the customer�s pre-paid account takes place automatically exactly at the moment the customer sees this page. Please note that users who do not have a PayPal account and decide to pay using a credit card without creating an account will not be re-directed automatically to this page at the end of the transaction, but will have to click on the �return to vendor�s site� link. The transaction amount will be credited only after this operation has been carried out.

Note that to receive payment notifications from paypal is essential to turn the port 80 to the IP address (local) server.

Now you can go on to the configuration of the programme�s PayPal facilities using the relevant section in the Preferences option.

Now we can see how the customer re-charges using PayPal. The procedure varies slightly according to whether the user is connected via Hotspot or a wired workstation running Explorer Client.

In the first case the customer, once connected, goes to the page http://server-address/paypal.htm and enters the required amount then proceeds to payment on the PayPal site. The re-charge page can also be accessed by clicking on the �Re-charge� button, to be found in the window containing details on the connection (time, remaining credit etc.). At the end of the payment operation, the customer will be redirected to the page https://cybercafesoftware.swrvision.com/paypalOK.asp and exactly at that moment the requested amount will be credited to the pre-paid account.

Customers without enough credit to login will be asked to do so using the page http://server-address/paypal.htm by entering their username, password and the re-charge amount. In this case the customer will be logged on to the system but can only access the PayPal site page and at the end of the operation will be automatically disconnected.

For customers who connect using wired workstations running Explorer Client, the procedure is very similar : customers who are connected can re-charge their pre-paid account using the �Re-charge with PayPal� option, found on the workstation�s Programmes menu, while users without sufficient credit to enter will be logged on in a way that only allows them access to the PayPal site pages.

Clients without a PayPal account can use this re-charge method by using a credit card. In fact, when they are asked to enter their PayPal account details, they will be given the choice of entering their credit card details on the PayPal site without being obliged to create a PayPal account (although this will also be possible). The operation will be identical to the previous one, except that at then end the customer will not be re-directed automatically to the confirmation page but will have to do this manually, by clicking on the �return to vendor�s site� link. Only by doing this will the pre-paid account be credited with the requested amount.