2Checkout.com » direct return

Why Are the Images/Links on my Approved URL Broken?

knowledgebase — Fri, 04 May 2007 14:34:57 +0000

When the Return Method is set to “Direct Return”, your Approved URL page will be fetched and displayed to the customer while they remain on 2Checkout’s server. Because of this, images and links that use relative paths will not resolve correctly, resulting in broken images and incorrect link destinations.

To fix this, you will need to specify a base URI for your Approved URL. This can be accomplished by inserting the following line between the tag of your page:

The URL specified after ‘href=’ should be changed to your Approved URL.

How Does The Return Process Work?

knowledgebase — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 07:00:00 +0000

After the successful completion of a sale 2Checkout.com can return the customer and sale parameters to a script or page on your site. This URL can be entered on the Site Management page by clicking the Account tab followed by the Site Management sub-category.

Specifying an approved URL at the account level will direct all customers to the same URL after a successful checkout. An approved URL can also be set at the product level by providing an approved URL when creating the product, or by clicking the blue Edit icon under the Actions column for the product on the Products page in your account. Product level approved URLs override the account level approved URL and can direct the customer to a specific location for that product, such as a download page. If multiple products are ordered the customer is provided with multiple approved URLs allowing them to access each product in the sale.

You may also choose to pass the approved URL on the fly by using the x_receipt_link_url parameter. This parameter will override both product and account level approved URLs. The value passed must match the domain registered to the account.

If you are returning the customer to a script on your end it is important to note that parameter information will typically be returned by POST. Parameters however will be returned by GET if either the Header Redirect method is selected or the Plug-and-Play parameter set is used and multiple products are purchased at the same time. Thus if you are using a product level approved URL your return script should be able to handle both methods without breaking. Please Note: You must also have a script set up as the return URL if you wish to receive the pass back information. If you would like this information returned to you, make sure that your return URL ends in the extension of a script. If your return URL ends in any of the following extensions, then pass back will NOT occur, but the customer will still be returned there : .htm, .html, .com, .zip, .pdf, .rar, .doc

Finally, you will determine the method in which your customer is returned to the approved URL. 2Checkout.com provides three methods. You may send the customer to our order processed page which will display a Click here to finalize your order button to redirect the customer, you may bypass the order processed page using a header redirect or you can immediately display your approved URL to the customer while they remain on our server. Your return method can be selected on the Site Management page.

With the Return Method set to Given links back to my website, the customer will be taken to our Order Processed page after completing a successful purchase. This page will feature a Click Here to Finalize Your Order button. When clicked the customer and collected sale parameters will be directed to the provided approved URL.

With the Return Method set to Direct Return, sale parameters will be posted automatically to the approved URL while fetched by our server and displayed to the customer. When using this Direct Return function the URL will be masked to the customer, appearing to still be on the 2Checkout.com domain. This method can be used with redirects as long as each page outputs content more than 255 characters to the browser. If Direct Return encounters a page that redirects without outputting content the process will fail and the customer will be sent to our standard Order Processed page. This occurs usually with a header redirect, specifically content less then 255 characters. This is a common issue as many developers will set their approved URL to a script that processes the return sales parameters then silently forwards the customer to another page. This is usually a thank you or download page for intangible products. The best solution is to handle all post-order processing on the page set as your approved URL, including the thank you message. If no redirects are used, meaning the URL is masked by our servers, then relative links will not point to the correct location. This can be corrected with the use of absolute paths on the approved URL page or by simply using a base tag in the head of the document to provide a reference for the relative paths.

With the Return Method set to Header Redirect the customer will be immediately returned to your approved URL. Using this method, the sale parameters will be returned along with the customer using the GET method.

If you have problems with the return process you’re welcome to contact us at techsupport@2co.com to assist with troubleshooting the issue. Please Note: If you do not specify an approved URL at the account level, product level, or with the x_receipt_link_url parameter the customer will remain on the 2Checkout Order Processed page upon completion of the order.

How does a direct return work?

knowledgebase — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 07:00:00 +0000

The direct return works through a spider on 2Checkout.com that does an HTML GET from our server with all the variables to the seller’s server. The spider prints to the screen whatever the seller’s server returns for the buyer to see.

How do single and multiple product downloads work with Direct Return?

knowledgebase — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 07:00:00 +0000

ORDERING A SINGLE PRODUCT VS. ORDERING MULTIPLE PRODUCTS WITH DIRECT RETURN:

The order process works in the following manner when the Return Method is set to “Given links back to my website“.

If no approved URL has been specified in your account, the customer’s order will end at the 2Checkout order confirmation page. You are then responsible for supplying the customer with the product.
If a single product is ordered, the return method will return the customer to your specified approved URL. This is only true if you have specified an approved URL at the product section or the Site Management page in your account. The approved URL’s at the product level will always override the URL’s set up on the Site Management page in your account. 2A. If multiple products are ordered, the return method will work exactly the same as if a customer orders a single product. This is only true if you have specified the approved URL only on Site Management page in your account.
If the customer orders a single product and you have specified the approved URL at the product level, the customer will be returned to the URL indicated at the product level. 3A. If multiple products are ordered and you have set up approved URLs at the product level, the order process ends at the 2Checkout order confirmation page. At this page, there will be a “Click here to access your product” link for each product that will direct the customer to the approved URL for that product. Since the customer ordered multiple products, this page will not close until it is manually closed by the customer. This way the customer will receive all the downloads or will be forwarded to all the correct URLs to receive their downloads.

**Useful Info

To add an approved URL to the Site Management page in your account, you can click on Account tab and then select the Site Management subtab.

To add a approved URL to each of your products, you will need to click the Products tab. You will then need to click on the “edit” link for the product you need to add the approved URL to. There will be a field to input your approved URL. Simply add your approved URL and click on the Save Changes button.

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