Announcement

The new cart purchase parameter descriptions have been integrated into the parameter set articles they are required for. Please review the “Product Identification parameters” section of the 3rd party cart parameter article or the Authorize.net parameter article to find information on these parameters. The information below is provided for historical reference only.

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It has become necessary for 2CO to know the specific product that is being sold at the time of sale and for that product’s description to be stored in our database for reference. This change is required both by 2CO and by our banking partners to better mitigate risk and to monitor items being sold. Because of this requirement, we are asking cart makers and/or users to make changes to their cart or programs so that additional information about the items being sold is passed to 2CO.It is very important to note that:

1. All previous parameters remain supported and should continue to be passed in (2CO, Authorize.net),
2. The parameter total (or the authorize.net parameter : x_amount) passed in for the order will continue to be the amount billed for the sale,
3. The paramaters cart_order_id and sid (or the authorize.net parameters: x_invoice_num and x_login) are still manditory with this parameter set.

REQUIRED PARAMETERS
These parameters are required to identify cart products being purchased and should be supplied ASAP.

For some clients it may make sense to create 1 or multiple generic products in the 2CO db, like “Premium Hosting”, “Super Saver Hosting” and pass in a total for the sale as generated on their site. If this option works for you please make the product name reasonably descriptive, (i.e. “website design services” would be a good description, “web services” a poor one for the same item ).

• c_prod or c_prod_[:digit] : This parameter will contain either the assigned_product_id given to the product upon creation in the 2CO system or a vendor specified id. It may, optionally, also contain the id followed by a ‘,’ (ASCII comma) followed by an integer which will represent the quantity. This parameter should not be autogenerated with each individual sale but should be tied to a specific product. The c_prod value should match whatever external vendor id is recorded in the 2CO system. The external vendor id may be a cart assigned product id or the vendors own internal product id as long as the value matches the value stored in the 2Co system. Examples of valid values:
  • 1
  • my_product_17
  • product_5,3
• id_type This parameter will contain an integer value representing the type
  or classification of the ids used in the c_prod parameter(s). This value will
  apply universally per transaction. That is to say c_prod parameters must contain
  only assigned_product_id values or only vendor_product_id values. Current
  valid values for this parameter are defined as follows.
  • 1 is defined as vendor_product_id
  • 2 is defined as assigned_product_id
  • 3 - 0 are reserved for future use.

OPTIONAL PARAMETERS
These parameters are intended for carts that retain no product database or as a transition method of populating the 2CO database. Although it is desirable to receive as many parameters as possible with the purchase the option of creating products on the fly should only be used when no other options exist.

• sh_cost (optional) : This parameter will contain shipping and handling cost, if any. The sh_cost parameter is completely optional. This parameter has the same format rules as the parameter containing the total (total or x_amount) that you are currently using. This value received is assumed to be in the selected currency of your 2CO account.
  Examples of valid values: 0.50, 5.00, 10
• c_name or c_name_[:digit] : This parameter is required for product information to be displayed at checkout. The value of this parameter should contain the name of the product to be created. It is limited to 128 characters including spaces and punctuation. If the value is too long it will be cut off at 128 characters.
• c_description or c_description_[:digit] : This parameter is required for product information to be displayed at checkout. The value of this parameter should contain a short description of the product to be sold. It is limited to 255 characters including spaces and punctuation. If the value is too long this value will be stored as the long description instead. The long description will not show on the checkout pages but it will be saved in the 2Co product database.
• c_price or c_price_[:digit] : This parameter is required for product information to be displayed at checkout. This value should reflect the price of the product in your 2CO account selected currency. This parameter has the follow format restrictions
  • Numbers and decimal point only.
  • Max value: 999999.99
• c_tangible or c_tangible_[:digit] (optional) : This parameter is optional. If you do not provide a value for it a default value of Y will be used. This field indicates if the product is a physical product or an e-good/service.
  This parameter has the following format restrictions: Valid values: y Y n N

NEW PARAMETERS IN PRACTICE
Below you will find an example form that shows how these new parameters might be implemented:

<form action="https://www.2checkout.com/checkout/purchase” method=”post”>

	<input type=”hidden” name=”id_type” value=”1″>
	<input type=”hidden” name=”c_prod_1″ value=”QAWSZX0678,3″>
	<input type=”hidden” name=”c_name_1″ value=”Sample 	Product”>
	<input type=”hidden” name=”c_description_1″ value=”Sample Product Description”>
	<input type=”hidden” name=”c_price_1″ value=”5.00″>
	<input type=”hidden” name=”c_tangible_1″ value=”N”>

	<input type=”hidden” name=”c_prod_2″ value=”CABLE0029,1″>
	<input type=”hidden” name=”c_name_2″ value=”A Second Sample Product”>
	<input type=”hidden” name=”c_description_2″ value=”This Products Description”>
	<input type=”hidden” name=”c_price_2″ value=”10.00″>
	<input type=”hidden” name=”c_tangible_2″ value=”N”>

	<input type=”hidden” name=”sid” value=”XXXXXX”>
	<input type=”hidden” name=”cart_order_id” value=”050304-102658-3874″>
	<input type=”hidden” name=”total” value=”25.00″>

	<input type=”submit”>
</form>

Please note that you will need to replace the sample values with your own.

You are able to upload a CSV file with your product information to our Version 2 database. Your CSV file must be in a specific format and all lines must be correct in order for the upload to be successful. If there is an error with the upload, our system will give you an error message stating which lines do not follow the proper format.

To upload a CSV file with your products, you will need to click on option 4 (set up products) from your account homepage. Next you will want to select the “Upload New Products” link located in the upper right corner of your computer screen. Simply browse your computer for the correct CSV file and select the upload button.

If you have any troubles with the upload, please use the following links to troubleshoot and set up your CSV file.

Here is a template:
https://www.2checkout.com/downloads/product_upload_template.csv

Here are instructions that explain the format:
https://www.2checkout.com/2co/admin/product_upload?instruct=1

To mark your orders as shipped, please follow these steps:

1. Log into your 2CO Account Homepage.
2. Under “Helpful Links” click on the “Mark” link by “Mark Shipping”.
3. Choose the format you would like to search by and click the “submit” button.
4. On the Shipping Page you will need to enter a tracking number (or other text, if this does not apply).
5. Confirm that the Shipping Method is correct
6. Choose to notify the customer or not.
7. Add comments, if you like.
8. Click the “Mark shipped” button.

Please note that if your products are not defined as tangible (many custom/third party carts do not define products as tangible), you are not currently required to mark orders as shipped.

Q & A: New Legal Documents

• When do I need to confirm my acceptance? The deadline for document review and agreement is MAY 1st, 2006. If you do not review and agree to these new terms and documents by MAY 1, 2006, 2CO will, unfortunately, discontinue your product sales until you are able to read the documents, review them and accept.
• How can you find the documents? Log into your account homepage and click on the link text. Please read and click on the AGREE button. — What if I need hard copies of these documents? If for some reason you need a hard copy that has been signed by 2Checkout.com, use the Ticketing system to make a request. Documents will be mailed to you.
• What if I don’t agree to the new documents? If the new terms and documents are not accepted BY JULY 1st, 2006, then 2CO will assume that you do not find these terms acceptable and will temporarily disable your account.
• Can I reinstate service if I miss the deadline? 2CO hopes to avoid any of loss of sales during this period, and recommends that acceptance by May 1 will prevent this. However, if you miss the July 1 deadline and find your account has been disabled, you can re-enable your account and reinstate your payments by logging into your account and agreeing to the new Terms of Service.
• What are some of the new benefits? Two examples of the changes under the new contracts include changes to the Dispute Policy and to “Mark Orders Shipped.” Dispute Policy Changes and Benefits In the new version of the Operating Regulations, you’ll find that the dispute policy is different. This is great news for vendors and provides a measure of protection for shoppers. In 2006 2CO will not convey, and the vendor has no liability for, extra charges if a dispute reason is “fraud.” For more information on how the new Dispute Policy will work, read the entire article.

  Mark Orders Shipped Changes and Benefits

  To keep online shoppers coming back, accurate order information is crucial. We want our customer care department to be able to answer customer calls for order shipping status– It’s a service benefits vendors and that customers expect. To better meet your needs and the needs of the customers, we will begin to require that all tangible orders be marked “shipped” and to have updated tracking and shipping information. This allows our customer care department to answer shipping questions for the customer immediately, at any time day or night, and ensures increased customer satisfaction. It also means you will not need to be contacted for routine inquiries.

  If you are not sure how to use the Marked as Shipped section of the Administration panel, please go to How Do I Mark Orders As Shipped for more information– and remember, you’ll want to do this before May 1st, 2006.

Seminar/Conference/Event Guidelines:

The terms outlined in our Supplier Agreement and Operating Regulations are geared towards the standard purchase of goods and services, and are not readily serviceable for conferences, events and seminars. It is a requirement of the card association that goods/services be rendered at the time when the credit card is actually charged for a sale. In the case of a seminar/conference/event, the product is not supplied until well after the time in which the credit card is charged.

The Risk Management department of 2CO is prepared to allow for your conferences/seminars/events to be accepted per the “Restricted Product” guidelines of our Allowed Products list, based on the following conditions:

1. 2CO will hold-back 25% of each sale in a “reserve fund” pending verified completion of the event. The 25% hold-back will be released in 2 installments. The first installment will be released no earlier than 1 week following the event. This is required to allow the 2CO verification department ample time to verify that the event took place, and that there are no initial customer complaints. At this point 80% of the hold-back (approximately 20% of your total sales) will be released to you. The remaining funds will be released on the pay period 90 days after the completion of the verification process.For example:
   If your event is scheduled to take place on January 1st, the hold-back payout would be as follows:
   • approximately January 10th — 20% of total sales
   • approximately April 10th — remaining 5% of total sales (less refundsand chargebacks)

   Please note: Verification will NOT take place until after you inform 2CO that the event has taken place.*

2. Purchasers/attendees must be provided with some tangible evidence of purchase, such as a ticket, a certificate of registration, etc., at the point when the sale is made.
3. 2CO will require a guarantee that will protect us from the possibility of the event not taking place, or other circumstances that may result in large numbers of cancellations or refunds of funds that we would have paid out to you before the conference/event takes place. This should be a written statement, signed by the account holder, specifically stating 2Checkout bears no responsibility for reimbursement of ticket costs for which the vendor has already been paid in the case of canceled events.
4. 2CO will also require a completed copy of the Risk Form, a record of your business history, as well as documentation of a previous event (you may submit a newspaper posting, copy of a brochure, etc.) faxed to 614-921-2451 ATTN: Risk.

If you agree to these conditions, please respond with the requested paperwork and completed Risk Form.