Secure sending of credit card info on my site ?

[Parangles]

Corporate customers of our travel agency want to be able to fill out a form
with their credit card info and authorise us to make continuous/ongoing charges.
I can deal with creating an active form letter in OO etc but how do I
ensure that this info will be protected when they send it via email?
I don't want it to be complicated for the customer. We are now sending
and receiving this info via Fax. Some reference websites would be great.
Thanks!

[perkster]

basically i wouldnt sent it via email at any stage of the process, simply because email is by nature not secure unless you encrypt it heavily.

your best best it to have the info go directly from the form on your website into a DB where you can then retrieve it from a admin page on the same site, you need to research email encryption or if using web site idea look into getting an SSL so you can do it all in a secure environment.

maybe theres a 3rd party application which will allow you to manage regular payments to save you the hassel

[mairving]

I would forget about email. You would have to encrypt on both ends. This would require them to install something like PGP on their computer which is an added hassle. Plenty of ways you could do it online. You will need a SSL (https) for a secure site. You can either buy a SSL certificate which is about $150/yr for your domain or most hosts will install one on the server that you are hosted on. With that you will need a script or a CMS for managing the CC info. Remember that you don't just need a place where you can administer as setup the recurring payment options.

You can also use online services that will charge you a small percentage to do this. Here are some ideas for that.

[Parangles]

Yes, it seems like its not worth the hassle. Also what the
credit card authorization form is for is just to say that every time they
phone we are authorized to charge that trip to their card.
So we will put the form online where they can fill it out, print it,
sign and fax it to us so we can keep it on file in case there is a dispute.
Thanks for your help.