X-Cart:Checkout by Amazon

Overview

Checkout by Amazon is a complete checkout and payments service for e-commerce retailers. X-Cart provides a module that allows Amazon customers to use shipping addresses and payment information stored in their Amazon.com accounts to buy at your X-Cart based store. Customers complete purchases quickly and conveniently, without ever leaving your website.

When the Checkout by Amazon module is enabled and configured, a special button appears on the cart page:

Customers review all order details, including promotions, shipping costs and tax, in a single co-branded pop-up and complete the order in a single click.

When customers click the Checkout with Amazon button, they are redirected to Amazon, where all the required information is stored and used. When the order has been successfully placed, a customer is offered to return to your store and continue shopping.

Setting up Checkout by Amazon

To use Checkout by Amazon at your store, you will need to complete the following steps:

1. Enable X-Cart's 'Checkout by Amazon' module:
   1. In your store's Admin area, go to the Modules page (Settings menu->Modules).
   2. In the list of modules, find the name of the module - Checkout by Amazon - and select the check box next to it.
   3. Click Apply changes.
      The module is enabled. A link to the module's configuration page ('Configure') appears next to the module's description. You can use this Configure link to access the Checkout by Amazon configuration page.
2. If you haven't yet done so, sign up for Checkout by Amazon. For your convenience, we provided a Sign up for Checkout by Amazon button on the module configuration page.
3. After you’ve completed the signup process, log in to the Seller Central website at https://sellercentral.amazon.com/ and obtain some information that you will need to enter in X-Cart:

   • Your Checkout by Amazon Merchant ID (a 14-digit string such as "AEIOU1234AEIOU"). This can be obtained on the Settings->Checkout Pipeline Settings page.
   • An Access key ID and a Secret key that are associated with your Checkout by Amazon account. These can be obtained on the Integration->Access Key page.
     Note that the said credentials are different for the Live and Test modes, so, before going to the above said pages to obtain your credentials, you might need to switch to either the Production or Sandbox version by clicking the Website drop-down box and selecting either Your Checkout Website [for production mode] or Your Checkout Website (Sandbox) [for test mode].

4. In your store's Admin area, go to the Checkout by Amazon configuration page (General settings/Modules ->Checkout by Amazon) and adjust the module's configuration settings:
   

   • Merchant ID: Enter your Merchant ID.
   • Access Key ID: Enter your Access Key ID.
   • Secret Access Key: Enter your Secret Access Key.
   • Test/Live mode: Select whether you are going to use your Sandbox account (Test mode) or your production account (Live mode).
     
     Important: The Merchant ID, Access Key ID and Secret Access Key that need to be entered for Test and Live modes are different!
   • Seller account currency: Specify the type of currency supported by your seller account. Your X-Cart store will send prices to Amazon Checkout in this currency (There is no currency converter, so it is expected that your store uses the same currency). At present, Amazon Checkout supports only two types of currency - Pound Sterling (GBP) and United States Dollar (USD).
   • Display the "Checkout with Amazon" button at the top of catalog pages: Enable this option if you want to enable the "Checkout with Amazon" button at the top of catalog pages. Note that this option can slow down your shop pages in some cases. Please test your pages before leaving this option enabled in the production mode.
   • URL to Amazon mark: Specify the image URL for the Amazon Payment mark you would like to use to communicate to your customers that you are now accepting Amazon payments. You can access the resources page providing some Amazon Payment marks and graphics using the Amazon Payment Marks link in the help tooltip for the 'URL to Amazon mark' setting. Leave this field empty if you do not wish to use a mark.
     Be sure to save the changes.

5. Make sure you have the correct "callback URL" specified in your Seller Center account:
   1. On the Settings->Checkout Pipeline Settings page of Seller Central, click the Edit button to edit your Checkout Pipeline Settings.
   2. On the Checkout by Amazon configuration page of your store's Admin area, locate the lines saying: "This URL should be used as 'Merchant URL' in your Checkout by Amazon account: https://[your_store's_secure_URL]/payment/ps_amazon.php", copy the URL and paste it it the 'Merchant URL' field in Seller Central. Please do not use this URL in the 'Integrator URL' field!
   3. Click Update to save the changes.

Please note that in Live mode Checkout by Amazon only communicates with servers that have SSL certificates installed. Make sure your server has a valid SSL certificate, otherwise the module will not be able to function correctly, as your store will not be able to receive any messages or notifications from Checkout by Amazon. In Test mode an HTTP connection can be used.