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Ecommerce Templates > PHP Version Help > Payment Processors > Google Checkout
Retiring Google Checkout
On November 20th, 2013, Google will shut down its Checkout product.
Google Checkout and Ecommerce Templates
- Setting up an account with Google Checkout
- Default shipping value
- Google Checkout and online shipping rate calculations
- More troubleshooting
- Tweaking the button display
- AVS / CVV checking
- Changing order status
Release 5.2.0 saw support for the new payment service Google Checkout in the Ecommerce Plus templates PHP Version.
Please note, Google requires you to have an SSL certificate for the API callback URL. We have some help here for setting up on a secure server.
You will need to set the path to the SSL in your vsadmin/includes.php file
To integrate your Ecommerce Plus template with Google Checkout all you need to do is the following.
Firstly, go to the following URL and sign in to your Google account.
https://checkout.google.com/sell
The first thing you need to set there is your API callback
URL. To do that click on the Settings tab and then in the menu
on the left click "integration".
Where it says...
API callback URL
...enter the following URL...
https://www.yourdomain.com/vsadmin/gcallback.php
...changing of course yourdomain.com for whatever your domain is.
Check the box labeled Callback Method XML
Check the box for Shopping cart post security
On that same page you should see your merchant id and merchant key.
You need to enter those values for Google Checkout in the Ecommerce Plus payment provider admin page.
If you put Google Checkout into demo mode on the admin payment
providers page it will use the Google Sandbox. You can set up a
Sandbox account to test your integration here...
https://sandbox.google.com/checkout/ -
You will need to create two test accounts in the Sandbox. One of
these accounts functions as a customer account and the other as
your merchant account. Google Checkout does not allow a single
account to function as both the customer and the merchant for the
same transaction...more
information
Please note that our digital download plug-in is currently incompatible with Google Checkout. U.K. merchants cannot yet use coupons or gift certificates and we are awaiting Google to implement this as they have for US merchants.
Important Note: The Google Checkout system requires that a callback be sent to your site on an HTTPS connection using Basic Authentication. Some server configurations can interfere with this so if in doubt please ask your host.
Sometimes when PHP is running in CGI mode it can cause problems with the Basic Authentication information. If this is the case then you can try creating a file called ".htaccess" with this in it...
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization},L]
</IfModule>
...and upload that to your site root.
We have created a script to test that the Basic Authentication sent by Google can get through on your server here. All you need to do is unzip it, upload it to your server and open in your browser. If the script indicates possible problems please contact our support here.
Default Shipping Value
When a purchase is made through Google Checkout
the Google server sends a callback to query shipping and tax settings.
If for some reason Google can’t complete this callback they will
use whatever is set as the default shipping value. By default
this is set to $999 but you can override this by setting the
parameter googledefaultshipping in your vsadmin/includes.php
file. For example
$googledefaultshipping=25.0;
Please note, don’t set this value until you are sure your integration is setup properly and your callbacks are working. If you always receive a $999 value for shipping then firstly make sure you have the latest updater installed and if that doesn’t correct the situation, post a support request on our forum.
Google Checkout and online shipping rate calculations
When using online shipping rates calculators such as UPS, USPS, FedEx and Canada Post we are obliged to query the shipping rates server for every address your customer has in their Google Checkout profile. This can lead to the Google Checkout callback going over the 3 second limit imposed by Google in some rare cases where the customer has more than 2 or 3 addresses defined. If this is an issue for you, you would be recommended to use weight based shipping or set the googledefaultshipping value to an acceptable default shipping rate.
Please note: It's not possible to calculate all shipping carriers before sending the information to Google as they have a strict time limit on transactions and there isn't a way to get Google Checkout to create a dropdown menu of shipping carriers and to inform us in some way when it is changed. So what is done is send the rates for the primary shipping carrier.
More troubleshooting
You can check any callback errors by logging on to your Google Checkout account, and going to Tools > Integration Console.
If you see the following:
We encountered an error trying to access your server at https://www.yoursite.com/vsadmin/gcallback.php -- the error we got is: Sending failed with HTTP response code: 401. Response body was: <html><head><title>401 Unauthorized</title></head><body>I'm sorry, you are not authorized to view this page.<br></body></html>
You should get on to your server administrator to find out why the Basic Authentication security information is not being passed through, or switch to a Google Checkout friendly host like Servelink but if neither of these is possible then get the very latest updater here and apply that.
Then make a copy of your vsadmin/gcallback.php
script and give it a name of your choice, but still within the
vsadmin directory. For instance...
vsadmin/gc933akwe.php (Don't use our example!!)
Now set the following in your vsadmin/includes.php file...
$googlecallbackscript="vsadmin/gc933akwe.php";
This will have the effect of disabling your original vsadmin/gcallback.php script and removing the check for the basic authentication on your secret copy. It's not a first choice solution so just do this if you can't get the Basic Authentication through any other way.
Also, remember to change the location of your callback script in your Google Checkout Integration area.
If you receive the following error
the error we got is: org.apache.commons.httpclient.NoHttpResponseException:
... it probably means your server is running 5.0.x of PHP. As this is a very old version, the best thing to do is to ask your host if they can update as there will have been many bug and security releases made available since.
Tweaking the button display
The buy button itself comes from Google so it is not possible to modify that other than in the ways outlined below with this addition to includes.php
$googlebuttonparams="&w=160&h=43&style=white&variant=text&loc=en_US";
You can change the style from white to trans for those using
the button on a colored background. You can set the button size
by changing the w and h params and this can be one of...
large: 180 by 46
medium: 168 by 44
small: 160 by 43
AVS / CVV checking
When orders start coming though you will see the AVS and CVV codes like this in your orders admin page
This is what the codes refer to, and shipping decisions should be taken accordingly
- AVS
- Y - Full AVS match (address and postal code)
- P - Partial AVS match (postal code only)
- A - Partial AVS match (address only)
- N - no AVS match
- U - AVS not supported by issuer
- Yes - eligible for buyer protection
- No - not eligible for buyer protection
- CVV
- M - CVN match
- N - No CVN match
- U - CVS not available
- E - CVN error
- 134 - the age in days of the buyer's account.
Changing order status
The Charge, Cancel, Refund, Ship buttons associated with a Google Checkout order on the Ecommerce Template order details page will actually change the order status not only on your ECT admin page but on the Google Checkout system also.
This will keep orders in sync between the two systems. Clicking the button won't immediately update the ECT status. It will update the Google Checkout system and Google Checkout will send a message back updating the ECT status thus ensuring the 2 systems are in sync.
You can change the order status that is set for the Google status change using these parameters...
$googleneworderstate=3;
$googlechargedstate=4;
$googledeliveredstate=5;
The number should match the status id number in your order status admin page.
Please do read our guide here on credit card fraud.
For more information, rates and support, please visit the Google website.