Liberty Reserve – XML API with SSL error fix
Back to few days ago, Liberty Reserve (LR) XML API is not working in my PHP script, when I try to retrieve the transaction history. If you do not know what is LR, it is one of the largest E-currency payment gateway.
I have been using CURL to retrieve the information for since few months ago. By using curl_error function, PHP output the following error:
SSL read: error:00000000:lib(0):func(0):reason(0), errno 104
It seem like is the SSL is causing the problem. Ignoring the CURL, I use file_get_contents to fetch the URL information without luck. However, the information can be retrieved if I paste the long XML encoded URL directly into the browser. By doing some research on Google on SSL with CURL, finally I fixed the problem with my own.
The solution is just to add another line of code curl_setopt if you have not done so:
// $ch - initialized CURL resource curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.01; Windows NT 5.0)"
Normally user agent is set if the site allow legit browser only. Not sure why LR is changing this all of sudden, but at least the fix is working for me.
LikeTransferring money abroad: Malaysia to China
To transfer money from Malaysia local bank to one of the China Bank, there are several ways that I found on how to do it:
- Through the bank Foreign Telegraph Transfer (FTT)
- Online services such as Paypal
- 3rd party agent, such as Western Union, Xoom
- Of course there are other ways that I am not really looking into it, such as through ikobo, moneygram, etc
Most people would recommend Paypal to transfer the money. Paypal the most popular way to make online payment. However, the charges on the receiving side in China to withdraw money to their local bank is USD35.00 per transaction! That is unbelievable, as if compare to Malaysia, it costs only RM3.00 to withdraw the money.
How about FTT? I personally owned a Maybank & CIMB accounts. Maybank charges RM10.00, while CIMB charges RM30.00. It seem like an good option. There are some netizen comments that there will be intermediary charges and also charges from China local bank, which will normally cost around USD10 to USD25. There is no problem for me, as this could be the safest way. However, the FORM in the bank do not allow special characters to be filled in. Meaning, Chinese characters are totally disallowed as they are not A-Z letters. As you know, China main language is Mandarin and they use Chinese characters for their full name, home address, etc for any official purpose. Consequencely I gave up FTT method as I am unhappy with how the Form was designed. Furthermore, after each transaction you would leave trail behind in National Bank. I do not want to myself into any trouble which might come in the future.
Western Union, indeed is the fastest way to send the money in just a few minutes - few hours. They have built their reputation since long time ago. However I wish to do the transaction Online without going out to find WU agent located in somewhere else. Furthermore, the transaction fee is expensive.
Xoom is yet another way to transfer the money abroad. If you are transferring from US Bank, the fee would be USD4.99 and capped at maximum of USD9.99 for any amount of transaction. If you use credit card, debit card or paypal, the fees rise corresponding to your transaction amount. The form design of XOOM also do not allow Chinese characters to be filled.
My own experience
I decided to do the transaction using Snapgold + Liberty Reserve + Gold2Ex. Liberty Reserve (LR) is the largest digital currency service company due to some legal trouble that strikes E-gold. If you haven't heard of LR, LR works like Paypal and you can fund your LR account through the Agents in local country. Gold2ex is the exchanger service located in China. I used it to convert LR to RMB funded into China local bank.
Here is the exact steps on how I do it: (Providing I have an account in Maybank2u, Liberty Reserve, Gold2Ex)
- Funds LR via Snapgold (I was funded in3 hours time)
- Transfer my LR funds to Gold2ex LR account (Register the transaction details first on gold2ex website)
- Gold2ex transferred the funds to Recipient's China local bank ( in 1+ hour time)
Overall, I completed the transferring process in 4+ hours. By comparing the money I paid and the funds recipient received in China, I get the Forex RATE of 1USD = 1.84556 RMB.