Collecting Payment Information
In the “Getting Started” section, you collected payment information from your users with Spreedly Express. This is currently the simplest method of getting payment information into Spreedly while providing the least amount of PCI scope. If you wish to have a more customized UI with the least amount of PCI scope, use the iFrame payment form approach to collecting payment information.
There are situations where you need to send your users’ payment information to Spreedly using a more direct method or from a non-web source. If the iFrame payment form and Spreedly Express do not work for you, and you are willing to accept greater PCI scope, you can consider other options.
The following describes the various methods of submitting payment information to Spreedly:
| If you want to… | then use… | which… | while incurring… |
|---|---|---|---|
| Have the customer enter their payment information into an HTML web form | the iFrame payment form | lets you create a custom UI | a minimal amount of PCI scope |
| Spreedly Express | is extremely simple to implement with minimal customization/configuration | a minimal amount of PCI scope | |
| the direct post/transparent redirect form | is simple to implement and customize | an increased amount of PCI scope | |
| Submit the customer’s payment information from the browser using Javascript | the Javascript API to collect and submit the request to Spreedly | lets you asynchronously submit payment information directly to Spreedly | an increased amount of PCI scope |
| Submit payment information from a non-browser environment | the direct API | lets you use the programming language of your choice, or submit cards you already have on file | the greatest amount of PCI scope |
| Submit the customer’s payment information within a mobile application | the Android or iOS native SDKs | let you capture payment information on a mobile application | a minimal amount of PCI scope |
Please note that when a payment method is added, no transaction or validation is executed. A payment method token will be returned if using any method other than express—if using Express, purchase amounts and other transactional information will display. However, it is up to you to invoke a purchase or authorization from your secure, server-side environment.