Easiest solution to setup payments for a conference registration page?

Question

I've got a fair amount of website development experience, but I've been asked to setup a conference registration page in short order. However, I have absolutely zero experience with shopping carts, payment processing, etc. What is the absolutely quickest and easiest way to get this thing up and running?

Here are my criteria:

1. Site is currently hosted on Godaddy.com and someone has suggested using their QuickCart
2. We cannot use any option that visits the paypal.com domain because it has been blocked my a large segment of the potential audience (on a military base).
3. Need a $0 option for speakers
4. Cancellations can be accepted, so maybe something that could handle that would be a bonus
5. There is no "product" other than a confirmation that they have registered for the conference.

Answer 1

There are other solutions outside of PayPal. Some of these services are Google Chekcout, AlertPay, and the Amazon solution. I found a short list on a yahoo answers. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080426201334AAk532G.

As for development GoDaddy services usually support PHP and their are code samples on the service providers site. There are also hundreds of opensource checkout (that use providers like PayPal) you can look into. The Apache Open For Business is a nice one, haven't used it through it has pulled my attention.

In the since for the conference confirmation, you might be better off using the "Click to Pay" buttons on the Google Checkout site.

Answer 2

Have you considered Regonline? I've used it before, and it's definitely the quickest and easiest, and although it's not on your domain name, you can customise to your look and feel. I'm not sure how easy it is to create a $0 option for speakers.

Answer 3

For events, you should check Eventbrite. It has everything you need, and much more! It's FREE for free events, and works for small commission in case you are charging for your event.

I have been using it for a while now and it really awesome.

Answer 4

I manage websites for two non-profits using Weebly. The big non-profit has dozens of events with thousands of registrants, and we use Eventbrite. It's amazing - customer relationship management, database management, bells, whistles. But it costs about $3.33 per $35 registration or 9% (once you include the credit card payment fee from Google Checkout.)

A cheaper option is to use Google Checkout and make each payment option a separate "product" like I did on this page -

Not exactly elegant, but it works. And our $100 registration only costs $3.50 in fees.