X-Cart:Google Checkout

What Google Checkout module does

Google Checkout is a module that integrates Google Checkout flow with your store website. The integration does not remove the standard X-Cart's checkout method, it just provides an alternative allowing your customers to choose, which of the two checkout methods they wish to use. The store administrator processes the orders created through Google Checkout using X-Cart's 'Google Checkout: Order processing' interface.

Roles in Google Checkout module management

If you are an X-Cart GOLD administrator/provider or an X-Cart PRO administrator:

• You can enable/disable the module Google Checkout (See the section #Enabling Google Checkout Module).
• You can configure the module Google Checkout (See the section #Configuring Google Checkout Module).
• You can control which of the products in the store should be available through Google Checkout (See the section #Disabling Google Checkout for Certain Types of Products).
• You can process orders created through Google Checkout and update their statuses as necessary (See the chapter #Processing Google Checkout Orders).

If you are an X-Cart PRO provider:

• You can control which of your products should be available through Google Checkout (See the section #Disabling Google Checkout for Certain Types of Products).

How 'Google Checkout' Module Works

Google Checkout is a service that offers Internet users the ability to conveniently and securely buy products from multiple online stores using a single buyer profile. Online merchants that provide their customers the ability to use Google Checkout at their stores use special Google Checkout merchant accounts to accept and process Google Checkout orders.

X-Cart's Google Checkout module integrates Google Checkout service with X-Cart system in such a way that the merchant can process Google Checkout orders directly from the store's Admin area.

To provide Google Checkout service at an X-Cart based store, the merchant needs to set up an account with Google Checkout. The merchant will be able to use this account in two ways. On the one hand, he or she will be able to use this account to log in to the Google Checkout Merchant Center and process orders from there. On the other hand, the merchant will be able to specify his or her Google Checkout account information on the Google Checkout module configuration page in the store's Admin area and thus to enable the store to function in close connection with Google's Merchant Center. In the latter case, the merchant will not have to go the Merchant Center every time he or she needs to check Google Checkout orders, because all the essential information will be available to him or her in X-Cart's Orders Management section.

Google Checkout orders will appear in the Orders list along with orders placed in the traditional X-Cart checkout way. The merchant will instantly be able to identify them as placed through Google Checkout by the look of the drop-down boxes showing their X-Cart statuses: the Status boxes of Google Checkout orders look inactive (grayed out). That is perfectly normal, because, due to the way Google Checkout module functions, the X-Cart statuses of orders created using Google Checkout do not need to be updated manually the way you do it for orders placed using the standard checkout method.

On the whole, processing of Google Checkout orders differs from processing of orders created using X-Cart's standard checkout.

The first thing that needs to be understood is that, although both Google Checkout and X-Cart treat order processing as updating of an order's status, they are entirely different systems and use different terms to describe the process. X-Cart's Google Checkout module combines the two systems in one, so the merchant has to deal with order statuses both in terms of Google Checkout and in terms of X-Cart.

Plainly speaking, every Google Checkout order in an X-Cart based store is characterized by two statuses: its Google Checkout status and its X-Cart status. The Google Checkout status of an order is a reflection of the order's financial and fulfillment state in Google Checkout system. The order's X-Cart status is a reflection of the order's progress in X-Cart. As Google Checkout system plays a primary role in processing of orders created through Google Checkout, an order's X-Cart status is fully dependent on the order's status in Google Checkout system.

The Orders Management section of X-Cart's Admin area provides an interface that allows the merchant to interact with Google Checkout system - a section titled 'Google Checkout: Order processing'. The section is displayed on every Order details page (below the 'Order details' dialog box) and allows the merchant to process the order opened for viewing/modification in terms of Google Checkout. The merchant uses the controls of this section to issue commands to Google Checkout telling Google Checkout what to do with the order (update the order's financial or fulfillment state, add information to the order, etc). When Google Checkout performs a command issued to it by the merchant, it sends X-Cart a notification as to whether the requested action has been performed successfully. X-Cart receives the notification and updates the order's X-Cart status accordingly.

Registered X-Cart customers can track the progress of orders placed through Google Checkout both in X-Cart and in their personal Google Checkout buyer accounts. Anonymous customers can place orders using Google Checkout, but, as they do not have access to the orders history in X-Cart, can track orders only using the Purchase history page in Google Checkout.

For more information on Google Checkout module, study the following chapters.