Overview

Enable the 2Checkout test ordering system to place test orders via the 2Checkout Control Panel or through the 2Checkout API.

We strongly advise you to prepare your system to integrate with the new testing platform. This is especially important for

• IPN (Instant Payment Notifications)
• LCN (License Change Notifications)
• ISE (Instant Search Orders Export)
• Electronic delivery

Availability

The test order system is available to all 2Checkout accounts.

Requirements

The new 2Checkout order testing system is enabled by default. However, if switched off for your account, follow these instructions to enable it:

1. Go to Setup -> Ordering options.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and check the checkbox for the Enable the test order system option.
3. Save the settings.

What happens if I disable the test system?

• You will no longer be able to place new test orders via the Control Panel or through the 2Checkout API.
• The 2Checkout system will continue auto-renew any recurring test subscriptions per their billing cycle setting and also convert test trials placed while the order testing system was active.
• You will be able to continue managing test orders and subscriptions generated while the testing system was active, including operations such as manual renewals and upgrades.

How do I place a test order using the Control Panel?

You can place 5 types of test orders:

1. New acquisition
2. Trial
3. Automatic renewal/trial conversion
4. Manual renewal
5. Upgrade

To kick start the testing process, you first need to generate a test Buy-Link. Using test Buy Links you can replicate the new acquisitions and trial purchase scenarios. Automatic renewals, trial conversions, manual renewals, and upgrades require that you placed an initial test order and that the 2Checkout system generated a subscription for the test purchase.

How do I generate a test Buy-Link?

1. Log in to your Merchant Control Panel and navigate to Setup -> Generate links -> Checkout Links.
2. Choose a purchase flow from the available list.
3. Select one or more products.
4. Optional: you can control a collection of advanced options, but none are required to place test orders.
5. Click on Generate link.
6. Click on Place a test order. Alternatively, you can also copy the link generated and paste it in your browser's address bar.

Add the DOTEST parameter manually to Buy-Links

You can add the DOTEST parameter manually to Buy Links and use the result to place test orders. For example,

Buy link: https://secure.2checkout.com/order/checkout.php?PRODS=4551041&QTY=1

Test buy link: https://secure.2checkout.com/order/checkout.php?PRODS=4551041&QTY=1&DOTEST=1

DOTEST in Buy Links works only if the you enabled the testing system for your account. Otherwise, it has no impact whatsoever.

Cross-selling and Network cross-selling

1. You can test cross-selling campaigns as long as you enabled the test system.
2. For network cross-selling test orders to function:
   
   • You are required to enable the test system.
   • Vendors whose products are part of the network cross-selling campaign also need to have the new testing system enabled.

Lead management

Lead management campaigns are not supported for test orders at this point in time.

Imported subscriptions

The 2Checkout testing system does not support imported subscriptions at this point in time.

myOrder JS object

Test orders are marked accordingly in the myOrder JavaScript object included in the last stage of the purchase process.

omniture_vars

Test orders are marked accordingly in the omniture_vars object available for the desktop and mobile versions of the shopping cart.

Upselling

You can test upselling campaigns as long as you enabled the test system.

Promotions

You can use all the promotional capabilities of the 2Checkout platform with test orders.

Retry logic

This functionality is not supported.

Account updater

This functionality is not supported.

Refund a test order

Test orders support total and partial refunds.

Order search

To include or exclude test order data from the order search reports:

1. Go to Orders & customers -> Order search.
2. Use the Test orders filter.
   
   • Include test orders
   • Do not include test orders
   • Show only test orders

Note: Test orders are included in this report by default, but you have the option of excluding these items from the order search results and the export reports or to search test orders exclusively.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions generated for test orders are accompanied by the Test label. To include or exclude test subscription data from subscription search:

1. Go to Orders & customers -> Subscription management.
2. Optional: Click on More search filters.
3. Use the Test subscription filter.
   
   • Include test orders
   • Do not include test orders
   • Show only test orders

Customers

Customer accounts generated for test orders behave just like those created for real orders. The 2Checkout system can associate both real and test orders/subscriptions with customer accounts.

Invoices

The 2Checkout system does not generate invoices for test orders.

Channel Manager (Partner) test orders

This functionality is not supported at this point in time.

Affiliate test orders

2Checkout affiliates that have joined your program can place test orders using your products only if you enable the test system.

• Test cards. Affiliates can use the same dummy credit/debit cards on the established list.
• Affiliate reports. Affiliates can see test orders only in their Orders report. 2Checkout does not include test orders in all other affiliate reports.
• Affiliate JS myOrder object. The Affiliate JavaScript myOrder object includes test orders.

FAQ

1. What happens if I disable the test system?
   • You will no longer be able to place new test orders via the 2Checkout Control Panel or through the 2Checkout API.
   • The 2Checkout system will continue auto-renew any recurring test subscriptions per their billing cycle setting and also convert test trials placed while the order testing system was active.
   • You will be able to continue managing test orders and subscriptions generated while the testing system was active, including operations such as manual renewals and upgrades.
2. Can I renew/convert a trial manually?
   
   • 2Checkout converts trials automatically, unless automatic billing (auto-renewal) is disabled either in the order details page or in myAccount. To convert a trial on-demand to a paid subscription, use the 2Checkout API. Note: You cannot convert trials by placing manual renewal orders using the shopping cart.
3. Can I request a refund for a test order?
   
   • Yes. You can use either the order details page in the 2Checkout Control Panel, IRN (Instant Refund Notification), or myAccount to request refunds for one or multiple orders.
4. What payment methods are supported by the test ordering system?
   
   • We're working to add support for additional payment methods, but currently, the test order system supports only credit cards.
5. Are test orders synchronized in Salesforce?
   
   • This functionality is not supported at this point in time.
6. Is backup media delivered for test orders?
   
   • No. The 2Checkout system does not deliver backup media for test orders.
7. Subscription billing charges alignment via myAccount
   
   • 2Checkout myAccount offers billing charges alignment (or co-termination) capabilities to customers owning two or more active subscriptions for different products acquired from you, with unsynchronized expiration/renewal dates. The co-termination process enables the proration of subscriptions, setting a single renewal date for multiple items. The 2Checkout system will renew subscriptions with aligned billing cycles (sharing the same co-termination date) as part of a single order. As a direct result, following the renewal process, 2Checkout issues a single invoice to customers. You cannot align a test subscription with a real subscription using 2Checkout myAccount billing charges alignment capabilities. However, you can align the billing charges of 2 test subscriptions that meet the necessary requirements. 
8. What happens if I use a real card for a test order?
   
   • The 2Checkout system will only accept dummy cards for test orders. The dummy payment gateway which processes authorizations for test orders will reject any cards that are not on the established list.
9. What happens when I try to update the card associated with a test subscription in the 2Checkout Control Panel or in myAccount using a real card?
   
   • The 2Checkout system will only accept dummy cards for test orders. The dummy payment gateway which processes authorizations for test orders will reject any cards that are not on the established list.
10. Can I place a test manual renewal or a test upgrade order for a 'real' subscription?
    
    • No. Test manual renewals and test upgrades can be performed exclusively on test subscriptions.
11. Are test customer accounts created for test orders/subscriptions?
    
    • No. All customer accounts generated by the 2Checkout system are 'real' accounts.
12. Do tokenized payment links work for test orders?
    
    • Yes. This functionality is supported. 

Overview

The 2Checkout Partner Control Panel offers you multiple tools to manage the relationship with your resellers. Processes that you can easily manage from the Partner Control Panel include:

• Distribution channel management;
• Real-time access to order and sales information;
• Boosting partner relationships through automated order processing, real-time product delivery, and consistent commercial policy enforcement;
• 24/7 order requests & product delivery;
• Gaining visibility and control over your sales channels;
• Manage sold subscriptions, end-users, and resellers.

We provide two business models that you can adopt:

• Merchant of record model - your partners pay through 2Checkout as a reseller;
• Service Provider model - your partners pay directly to your bank accounts.

Legacy API versions include older API documentation that can be decommissioned at any time. We highly recommend that you upgrade or implement our latest API version, which is currently API 6.0 for all three protocols - SOAP, JSON-RPC, REST.

Related links

Overview

Email Editor helps you customize HTML and plain text emails that 2Checkout sends to shoppers and resellers.

Use HTML and CSS customizations and adjust your emails to:

• Reflect your brand identity
• Grow your conversion, retention, click-through/open rates
• Be transparent in your communication with shoppers

Availability

Contact the 2Checkout Sales team to have Email Editor enabled on your account.

Content translation limitations

2Checkout does not provide localized versions for custom templates you create. Should you need localized versions for your own templates, add them manually to the Email Editor, for each language.

Email Editor does not currently support batch email importing.

Simple vs. Advanced customization

Email Editor is available in two versions, each with its own specific set of functionalities.

Depending on the type of access to the Email Editor, you will be able to perform specific actions on any of the above emails, as follows:

On the Standard Email Editor:

• View HTML/text content for your emails, preview them, and send test emails
• Create custom themes and apply them to your emails
• Use available variables to place dynamic content in your themes (such as images, support information, etc.). Please check this section to retrieve information on available variables, their description, and default preview values.

On the Advanced Email Editor:

• View HTML/text content for your emails, preview them, and send test emails
• Create custom themes (master layouts) and apply them to your emails
• Create custom content for your emails (both styling and content customization are available). Build multiple drafts of your emails and activate one of them when ready.

Use available variables to place dynamic content in your emails (such as first name, last name, order reference number, etc.). Please check this section to retrieve information on available variables, their description, and default preview values.

Themes

Themes govern common elements to multiple emails, such as the header and footer. Define themes to reflect these common parts of your emails – and later, apply them to part/all of your emails (without having to rewrite the same part of the HTML code multiple times).

Content is specific to each individual type of email and varies depending on the event that triggers the message.

[% $EMAIL_CONTENT %] variable

The [% $EMAIL_CONTENT %] variable holds the content of each email. This variable is mandatory when saving changes to a theme.

Master themes

By default, all emails use one of the two versions of 2Checkout Master Themes:

• Streamlined – for those emails redesigned during 2016
• Standard – for the rest of the emails

2Checkout applies the theme of your choice to the content specific to each email.

Create custom themes

Custom themes are available to all accounts and both the Standard and Advanced versions of the Email Editor. You can:

• Create themes using content from the default ones (as a starting point)
• Create themes from scratch

How to include content in emails

Include the mandatory [% $EMAIL_CONTENT %] variable when creating your theme to show the content of your emails. [% $EMAIL_CONTENT %] contains information specific to each standalone email, essentially everything between the header and footer, such as details related to shoppers, payment, billing, delivery/fulfillment, activation, subscription, etc.

The content that is specific to each individual email will be included inside your theme, as per your choice.

The following customization tools are available in the theme editor:

• HTML and text support: 2Checkout sends the relevant version of the theme automatically, depending on whether a shopper’s email server accepts HTML messages or just plain text.
• Language support: Create localized versions of your themes that 2Checkout uses automatically depending on the language of the email we send out.
• Preview: Preview your changes at any time (note that the static body content in the preview window is replaced by individual email content, depending on the email to which you applied the theme).
• Send test emails: Send test emails from the preview window and verify how the theme is rendered on various email clients, devices, etc.

As soon as your theme is ready, apply it to your emails. Themes are optional, but you can use them to simplify email customization tasks by managing shared content in a single place rather than for each standalone email.

Recommended email theme structure

Header

Use this section to customize template elements such as:

• Company logo
• Company name
• Template header color

Body

This section should contain the largest chunk of information in the template. This is also where you must place the [% $EMAIL_CONTENT %] variable.

Footer

Use this section of the template to include specific information about your company and/or services that might prove useful to your shoppers, such as:

• Contact email address
• Company address
• Phone number
• ZIP code

HTML vs. Text

Email Editor supports both HTML and plain text email templates. Using HTML email templates requires that your shoppers’ email servers support the HTML format.

Best practice

To avoid email delivery errors, we recommend that you always set a plain text version of your emails as a backup. This way, if a shopper’s email server does not support HTML, they can still receive the plain text version.

Emails

2Checkout sends out emails on your behalf with content that is specific to the event triggering the email. By using the Email Editor (no matter the type of access Standard/Advanced), you can view the content and the theme applied, preview and send test emails (basically stay up to date with the emails that your shoppers and partners receive).

Editor use cases

Create new themes

To build a new theme from the ground up, click New theme and use the editor to add theme elements:

1. Select the theme language.
2. Add your HTML and CSS code to the editor.
3. Check out the documentation area to find out what variables you can include in your theme.
4. Click Copy to language to copy the new theme content to multiple languages. 
   
   • 2Checkout does not provide localized versions for custom templates you create. Should you need localized versions for your own templates, add the localized versions manually to the Email Editor, for each language.
5. Click Save when you are done. Alternatively, click Create new theme to save a copy of the theme.

Customize themes

Alternatively, click Customize on a default theme and then click Create theme copy to build a theme based on the existing structure. You cannot modify default themes.

Preview themes

Once you are done editing a theme, click the Preview button to see what the template will look like to your shoppers and/or resellers with the theme you just edited. For preview only, we will be using static email content – acting as a placeholder for the specific email content automatically included (depending on the email the theme is assigned to).

Customize emails

To customize an email, select the desired email category and email type and click Customize on the draft you want to edit. If the only one available is the 2Checkout default one, you will need to click on Create draft copy to generate a custom draft. On this custom draft, you can:

1. Change the draft name.
2. Choose a theme to apply to your draft (this step is optional, as you can choose not to apply themes at all).
3. Click Save to apply the theme.
4. Select the draft language you would like to customize.
   
   • 2Checkout does not provide localized versions for custom drafts you create. Should you need localized versions for your own drafts, add the localized versions manually to Email Editor, for each language.
5. Edit the subject line if you want to change it. Add/edit the HTML and CSS code in the editor. Check out the documentation to find out what variables you can include in your email (there is one distinct set of variables available for each of the emails). Preview your email even before saving the changes you performed (upon clicking Preview, you will also be asked to choose the theme you would like to preview the email with).
6. Click Save when you are done and Activate the draft (for that specific email) when you feel that version is ready to be sent to your real shoppers.

What is PCI DSS?

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of global security standards designed to ensure that ALL companies that accept, process, store or transmit credit/debit card information and/or sensitive authentication data maintain a secure environment and customers and their data are protected no matter where they shop and what channel they use.

Most small merchants can use a self-validation tool to assess their level of cardholder data security.

The PCI DSS is administered and managed by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) (www.pcisecuritystandards.org), an independent body created by the major payment card brands (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and JCB). The payment brands and acquirers are responsible for enforcing compliance, not the PCI council.

To whom does the PCI DSS apply?

The PCI DSS applies only to merchants that want to place orders via credit cards. All other payment methods available via API do not fall under PCI DSS compliance.

The PCI DSS applies to ANY organization, regardless of size or number of transactions, that accepts, processes, transmits or stores any cardholder data. Using a third-party payment processor does not exclude a company from PCI DSS compliance. However, it does lower their risk exposure and consequently reduces the effort to validate compliance. There are four merchant levels (SAQ-A, SAQ-B, SAQ-C, SAQ-D) based on the number of transactions/card schemes (VISA, MasterCard)/most recent 12-month period.

Are there any penalties for non-compliance?

Yes, there are. The payment card brands may, at their discretion, fine an acquiring bank up to $500,000 per month for PCI compliance violations. The banks will most likely pass this fine along until it eventually hits the merchant. But more devastating than fines, credit card companies can also revoke the right of a merchant to process credit card transactions, providing a “virtual death sentence” for many companies.

What do 2Checkout merchants need to do to be compliant?

To be PCI compliant, merchants need to submit self-assessment questionnaires (SAQs) based on their business environment and implementation type.

The PCI DSS Self-Assessment Questionnaires (SAQs) are validation tools for merchants and service providers that are eligible to evaluate and report their PCI DSS compliance via self-assessment. There are a number of different SAQs available that are intended to meet the needs of particular types of environments. 

In which category do 2Checkout merchants fall in?

Based on the type of integration and the overall number of transactions forecasted for a 12-month period, 2Checkout merchants need the following PCI compliance level:

SAQ A is recommended for merchants with less than 20,000 transactions per year (Level 4) and mandatory for those that transact over this threshold.

Specific questions about compliance validation levels and what you must do to validate your SAQ should be addressed to the acquiring financial institution or payment card brand. Below are the major credit card brand compliance programs:

• American Express: www.americanexpress.com/datasecurity
• Discover: www.discovernetwork.com/fraudsecurity/disc.html
• JCB International: http://partner.jcbcard.com/security/jcbprogram
• MasterCard: www.mastercard.com/sdp
• Visa Inc: www.visa.com/cisp
• Visa Europe: www.visaeurope.com/ais

VISA and Mastercard compliance validation levels for merchants

Cart type/merchant level 

*ASV = approved scanning vendor

Overview

Control the subscriptions that you're selling and provide deeper insight and granularity into their post-sale evolution from the Subscriptions page. 
This section allows you to:

• Streamline subscription management by focusing all actions on a single, standalone page.
• Centralize relevant subscription info and statistics, as well as end-user details.
• Keep a close eye on subscription evolution.
• See historical subscription data.
• Update credit card information.
• Configure custom billing amounts for a number of upcoming billing cycles.
• Display the total value of subscriptions in the default transfer currency.

Availability

The Subscriptions section is available to all 2Checkout accounts. Read here how you can grant access to the Subscriptions section to the users of your account.

As part of the new API version released in December 2019, the REST API 6.0 protocol documentation has been migrated to Swagger Hub.

The documentation contains:

• All resources and calls are split by used HTTP method
• Examples of inputs and outputs, with errors
• Full schema documentation for all objects used across the 2Checkout REST API 6.0