Installtion

is a database program written in PHP. It requires PHP and mySQL on your webserver. Don't worry, most webservers do. If you run WordPress or any other kind of blog or content management system on your server, you have what it takes to run . Please have the database connection details handy so that you can complete setup.

Wordpress Versions

The standard plugin version can be downloaded and installed from within the admin interface of your blog. Search for Easy PayPal and hit "Install Now."

You can use your blog admin interface to install the Pro version of the plugin as well. Use the Upload page to locate and install the downloaded zip archive.

Congratulations! Your installation is now complete.

Standalone Versions

Unlike the WordPress version, the standalone version needs to know your database connection details. It also needs you to set up an admin user name and password for security. In the WordPress version, these entities are already defined in your blog, and reusese them.

  1. Unzip and upload the downloaded package (ezpapal.zip or ezpaypal-pro.zip) to your sever.
  2. Browse to the location using your web browser.
  3. Choose a admin user name and a strong password, and enter your database connection details. The setup page will generate the configuration file. Your is now fully set up. You will get the following message indicating the successful installation.
  4. If there are errors in creating the configuration file, you will get detailed instructions as to how to correct the issue. Just follow the instructions to complete the installation.
  5. If you have misconfigured , you will have to remove the configuration file (rm ezppCfg.php) and recreate it following the instructions in the previous step. intentionally makes it difficult to recover from errors because error recovery interfaces are also security holes.

Here are the descriptions of the various fields on the installation screen. In keeping with the philosophy of providing help where it most matters, these descriptions are available to you on the installation screen itself, by hovering over the (?) icon next to the field.

Important: Be careful about the admin username and password. Since takes security very seriously, it wouldn't let you retrieve a lost password. Resetting the password will require database operations.

Optional Addon Modules

is designed to be extensible. You can enhance the functionality of the Pro Standalone version by purchasing and installing optional modules. Their installation is even easier than the simple installation of described above. The array of modules available and under development are listed below, and described in greater detail in subsequent chapters.

  1. ezAffiliates: Create your own affiliate network and go viral by turing your satisfied customers into your advertising affiliatees. This package, built on the pubicly available Affiliates-for-All, integrates perfectly with to automate affiliate sales tracking and commission computation and more.
  2. ezReports: Maximize your sales by analyzing your sales. This reporting package makes slicing and dicing your sales and affiliate data a snap, so that you can spot opportunities.
  3. ezTextLinks: Do you have a high page-rank site? Do you get a lot of requests for text links? They can be significantly more lucrative (by a factor of 100, in my case) than contextual ads such as AdSense. The returns can be even greater if you can deal with your advertisers directly, rather than via providers like Text Link Ads that take 50% of your revenue. ezTextLinks will handle payment, activate and expire links, send reminder emails and handle renewals etc.
  4. ezSupport: Every complex software project, once deployed, generates significant support load. Most of the support questions are frivilous, where the end-user presents silly issues that are easily resolved by a cursory look at the documentation. How do we ask the end-user to RTFM without antagonizing them? I found that it could be done by switching to a paid support model. I started charging 95 cents per support questions, and my support load went down by two orders o magnitude. This ezSupport package is built on the excellent osTicket program. It works hand in hand with and provides you with a configurable support system.