# Help with a confusing scenario

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-a-confusing-scenario/127888>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [February 2, 2008, 6:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-a-confusing-scenario/127888 "2008-02-02T06:18:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CPerry](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@CPerry](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/CPerry)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 6:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-a-confusing-scenario/127888/1 "2008-02-02T06:18:34Z")

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Hey all, I need some help planning out a scenario and was hoping that  
you guys could briefly explain how you would tackle the following  
situation…

In my app., I want people to buy “credits”, very similar to  
iStockPhoto. I then want them to “claim” an item on the site, that  
would take the necessary credits from their account. I plan to use  
PayPal to process the user actually buying the credits (and this part  
I pretty much understand). What I need help with is managing and  
properly deducting the credits from each user as they claim items.

Can anyone provide a brief outline of how I should be thinking about  
tackling this scenario? Thanks for any advice, input, or suggestions  
you can recommend!

–Cory