What are all these different PayPal services?

[VisHorizons]

I'm searching for a new payment processing option, and I see a ton of PayPal options:

PayPal Payments Pro
PayPal Payments Advanced
PayPal Payments Standard
PayPal Payflow Pro
PayPal Payflow Link
PayPal Website Payments Pro

Thanks for any help with this.

[ILoveHostasaurus]

From a security/liability perspective, PayPal Payments Advanced would be the preferable option. That one supports implementation in a manner where your shoppers' credit card data flows directly from their computer to PayPal, bypassing your store so that you never touch it or store it. This occurs transparently to the shopper, so the checkout is still on your site. The store receives a token from PayPal to allow for normal activities (delayed capture, partial, refund, etc.).

You can also use MivaPay for accomplishing the same thing (not touching credit card numbers), with the added benefits of allowing customers to store cards for future purchases, subscriptions, placing orders on their behalf against a stored card, etc. MivaPay works with several gateways, and supports switching gateways, and is included in our service pricing but does still require a compatible payment gateway.