2Checkout.com Risk Representatives regularly review accounts and associated websites for compliance to the Terms of Service every vendor agrees to upon opening a 2Checkout.com account. A TOS violation, if discovered, may result in the disabling of an account’s selling ability account pending resolution of the issue. In order to prevent any inconvenience or loss of business due to sales interruption I encourage all vendors to take the time to ask themselves these 10 questions to determine their Terms of Service compliance and ensure a long and profitable business relationship with 2Checkout.com!

1. Am I selling a prohibited product?

This may seem like an obvious question but often it comes as a surprise to many when they are informed that the product they are selling via 2Checkout is actually prohibited. As an Authorized Retailer, 2checkout.com is actually reselling and accepting a degree of liability for the products you are supplying and therefore certain products, for various reasons, are not supportable.

To ensure the compliance of your services and/or products please take the time to review our Prohibited Product List.

Also please note that our Terms of Service has undergone many changes since the company’s formation in 1999. In many cases vendors whose accounts predate a given addition to the prohibited product list are considered “grandfathered” and permitted to continue sales provided that account does not attract an excessive amount of negative activity. Grandfathered status, however, does not apply to products or services that were prohibited due to issues of legality. If you have any questions concerning the acceptability of the products or services you sell please email risk@2co.com for evaluation by a risk analyst or investigator.

2. Is my website up and fully functional?

2Checkout.com Risk representatives must, at any given time, be able to review a vendor’s website and the services or products for sale. As such we require that websites be online, functional and available for review. If your website is not currently up and fully functional, your account could be subject to sales interruption at any moment. If you are experiencing downtime due to technical problems, scheduled maintenance or any other reason, please notify the 2Checkout.com Risk department at risk@2co.com.

3. Is my website meeting all 2Checkout.com requirements?

In order for a website to be considered a complete website by 2Checkout.com standards your site must contain a detailed description of the services that you offer along with their pricing structure and transaction process. It must also contain valid customer service information, a refund policy as well as a universally accepted privacy policy. If your website is not meeting any of the above requirements please make the appropriate updates to avoid sales interruption.

4. Do I have a “No Refund” policy?

2Checkout.com vendors are not permitted to have a “no refund” policy because, as 2Checkout.com is your authorized reseller, your refund policy must not conflict with our own. Please be advised that while we will make every effort to refer refund requests to the vendor, 2Checkout.com reserves the right to issue a refund at any time deemed appropriate by 2Checkout. It is understandable that, in the case of digital products this may pose some concern to vendors but please be advised that you may add additional terms to your policy for your protection. Also, there are many programs and cart systems available on the Internet which are able to track digital downloads and installations to prevent customer fraud.

5. Do I enter my customers’ orders, use my 2Checkout.com account for phone orders or allow customers to place orders on my computer at a trade show or at my store?

2Checkout.com vendors are not permitted to enter orders on their own accounts. This applies to orders taken from customers over the phone and use of a 2Checkout.com account as an in-store Point Of Sale terminal or public use at a trade show or convention. The reason for this is that, as an Internet reseller 2Checkout.com must ensure that buyers are placing orders from their own computers via the vendor’s website or emailed invoice. The origin of any order you place on your own account is impossible to determine and therefore not permitted. In addition, accepting customers’ credit card information directly is in violation of Credit Card Association regulations. Please see Question 7 for a detailed explanation of this regulation.

6. Are all of my products in stock at the time they are ordered?

2Checkout.com requires all products be in stock at the time of order. As 2Checkout.com’s terms state that vendors should not receive payment for undelivered items, purchases for pre-orders or out of stock items are not permitted. Also, unless in the very specific cases of web or software design or development, the use of a 2Checkout.com account to receive “deposits” or “down payments” on work yet to be completed is also prohibited. The reason for this is that, as an Authorized Retailer, every transaction must be for a product or service that has been supplied by the vendor before they are paid. The vendor receiving payment for items or services that have not been delivered increases the risk of the refund of funds already paid out to the vendor, which could result in a negative balance in your 2Checkout.com account.

7. Are my buyers being prompted for credit card info BEFORE being directed to 2Checkout.com?

Credit Card Association regulations state that only authorized merchant account holders are to directly accept credit card information from customers. Because your 2Checkout.com account is an Authorized Reseller account and not a merchant account, directly accepting a buyer’s credit card information is prohibited. This includes but is not limited to using your 2Checkout.com account as an in-store point of sale, accepting 2Checkout.com orders via phone or placing orders on behalf of your customers.

Many 3rd party cart systems are configured by default to prompt buyers for their credit card information before they are directed to 2Checkout.com. Because of this, some new suppliers/vendors may violate this important regulation without their knowledge. Due to the seriousness of this issue, this can often lead to the immediate disabling of sales ability on an account, until credit card information is no longer collected.

If your 3rd party cart is accepting credit cards and you need assistance removing this input you will want to contact that 3rd party cart’s support team. One of the most popular on line cart systems is osCommerce. By default, this cart will often prompt buyers for credit card information. If you wish to use osCommerce with your 2Checkout.com account, you will need to download and install the “pm2checkout” module that was created for OSC. More information about setting up osCommerce to work with your 2CO account can be found in the Knowledge Base article How can we set up the osCommerce Shopping Cart?

8. Have I provided complete and valid contact, identity and security information for myself and my business?

Please verify that you have supplied a valid phone number, address and email address for both the Business Contact Information and Username sections of your 2Checkout.com account. For the security of your account and any earned funds, also please ensure that you have specified an “Identity Number” for all usernames. In addition, please make sure that the “Payee” field of your Banking Details reflects the name of the person or business payments are being issued to. The name of your bank, for example, is not compliant, and could result in suspension of payment until the field is corrected.

9. Am I using my 2Checkout.com account to sell from multiple websites?

The 2Checkout.com license is for one URL only. Accounts are monitored and maintained on a per domain basis. Regardless of the products sold or ownership of alternate domains, if you sell from multiple URLs, you are required to open multiple accounts. For the opening of each additional account a $19 rebate is issued. To receive your rebate, please contact 2Checkout.com with the new account number and any previous accounts you may have. The $19 rebate will be applied to the oldest account.

10. Is 2Checkout.com properly represented on my website?

One of the most common misconceptions about 2Checkout.com is that 2Checkout.com is a Payment Gateway, Merchant Account Provider or Payment Processor. In actuality, 2Checkout.com is an Authorized Reseller and should be referenced as such on your website. This pertains to the verbiage used to describe 2Checkout.com, any credit card logos you may have on your site and the verbiage on your purchase links or buy buttons. Information on Acceptable Language compliance can be found in the Knowledge Base article What type of compliance disclaimer must I put on my site?.

As our business depends on your ability to sell, it is never desirable to disable a vendor’s sales ability due to compliance issues. Hopefully, this article will provide you with the information needed to address any issues before they result in an interruption of sales. Please reply to this blog with any questions or concerns that you may have regarding the policies referenced in this article. Please address any account or site-specific inquiries or compliance questions to risk@2co.com where your issue will be addressed by a risk analyst or investigator.