Google Checkout Merchant

As an alternative checkout flow to process sales of tangible and digital goods, services, and subscriptions, Google Checkout makes it easier for your business to:

Attract more leads

Shoppers can find your business easily and quickly when you display the Google Wallet acceptance logo on your website or badges on your Product Search listings.

Convert more sales

By giving customers the convenience of using a single login to make purchases across the web, Checkout streamlines the payment process and lowers the incidence of cart abandonment.

Fight fraud

With our advanced risk modeling and use of external, cross-industry resources such as worldwide blacklists, Google detects fraudulent transactions and helps protect your business from fraudulent users.

If you're a U.S. or U.K. merchant, you can get started by signing up for a Google Payments account at https://checkout.google.com/sell. You can also explore your options for integrating Checkout with your website once you've signed up for an account.

Still have questions about Checkout’s benefits for your business? Contact us.

Seller Availability

Merchants with a U.S. or U.K. business address and bank account can sign up to use Google Checkout. U.S. merchants must also have either of the following:

• A Social Security Number (optional) and valid credit card
• A Federal Tax ID/Employer Identification Number (EIN)

Providing this financial and tax information helps us verify your identify and ensure a positive user experience.

Buyer Availability

Checkout merchants can transact with buyers located across the world. To see where buyers can sign up for a Google Wallet account, please check the 'Location' drop-down menu on the buyer signup page. Countries that don't appear in this list aren't currently supported, though we look forward to making our services more widely available in the future.

Still have questions about Checkout’s availability? Contact us.

Because the safety of your personal information is our top priority, we've taken the steps below to ensure your privacy and security:

• All transactions are encrypted with industry-standard SSL (secure sockets layer) technology.
• Your bank account details and credit/debit card information are stored in a single location on our secure servers and are accessed only when needed to complete transactions.
• We won't share your personal information with anyone, except under the very limited circumstances described in our Privacy Policy.

Still have questions about our privacy and security measures? Contact us.

We've designed our program, content, and privacy policies to maintain Google Checkout’s overall quality and provide an exceptional user experience.

• Our program policies, covering areas such as buyer communications, order management, branding, and use of Google buttons and badges, help ensure that you have positive interactions with your customers.
• Our content policies describe the products and services that you can collect money for using Google Checkout. Google buttons must be disabled for products that aren't allowed under our content policies.
• Our privacy policy explains our commitment to ensuring the safety and privacy of your personal information.

Still have questions about Checkout’s policies? Contact us.

The rate of your transaction fee is determined by your sales volume, minus any refunds, during the previous calendar month and is reset at the beginning of each month. Transaction fees are calculated based on the order total, including any taxes and shipping that you may have charged your buyers. Orders from customers with billing addresses located outside the country associated with your Google Checkout account are assessed an additional 1% fee.

If you've already signed up for a Google Checkout account, you can check your monthly fee rate by signing in to your account and reviewing the Processing Fees box on your Payouts tab.

Still have questions about Checkout fees? Contact us.

An extension of our Chargeback Resolution Policy, Google’s Payment Guarantee Policy guarantees reimbursement to merchants for unwarranted chargebacks resulting from claims of unauthorized purchases and non-receipt of goods on eligible transactions. Though we can't disclose the exact reasons why a particular order may or may not be eligible for the Payment Guarantee, eligibility is based on several factors.

To check if an order is eligible for the Payment Guarantee Policy:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the appropriate order number.
3. Locate the Buyer credit verification section. Covered by Payment Guarantee will appear for eligible orders.

Please keep in mind that the Payment Guarantee doesn't cover intangible goods, including services and digital content, or chargebacks from claims of defective goods, items not as described, credit for cancelled or returned orders, or duplicate billing.

Still have questions about the Payment Guarantee Policy? Contact us.

Our acceptance logo lets your shoppers know that you accept Google Wallet as a fast, secure, and convenient payment option. Clicking the acceptance logo also brings up reviews from other Wallet users who have made purchases from your online store.

You can quickly and easily add our acceptance logo to your website:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Acceptance logo.
4. Copy the code snippet.
5. Paste the code snippet into your website's HTML.

Still have questions about the acceptance logo? Contact us.

Badges are icons that appear on your Product Search product pages to identify you as a merchant who accepts Google Wallet as a fast, convenient payment option. They help you attract more leads by reassuring new customers that your site is a secure place to shop and by making it easier for existing Google Wallet users to locate your business.

You're eligible to have your badges reviewed and activated after you've completely processed several orders while complying with our content policies and badge requirements. However, please keep in mind that badges aren't available for merchants who exclusively use email invoices, and badges can't be disabled once they've been activated.

Still have questions about badges? Contact us.

Merchants in the U.S. and U.K. can get started with a Checkout account in just a few steps:

1. Visit https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click Sign up now.
3. Complete the signup wizard.

The signup wizard will request details about your business such as your primary product type, public business website URL, and financial and tax information.

If you currently use any other free or paid Google services that require you to sign in, you already have a Google Account, so you can use the same login email and password to add the Checkout service to your existing account by visiting https://checkout.google.com/sell.

You're welcome to create multiple accounts if you have several storefronts or websites, but you'll need a different, valid login email address for each.

Still have questions about signing up? Contact us.

If you take orders by fax, phone, or other offline methods, you can use Checkout’s email invoicing feature to request payments from customers. Your invoices will contain your personalized message about the requested payment and a link for your buyers to make payments by signing in to their Google Wallet accounts.

Please keep in mind that email invoices can't exceed $10,000. Also, email invoices aren't intended to be used for cash advances or peer-to-peer payments.

To get started, you’ll simply need to sign up for a Google Checkout account, then follow these steps:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab, then click Send an invoice.
3. Enter the buyer's email address and name, your personalized message, the requested payment amount, and a description of the payment in the appropriate fields.
4. (Optional) Check the box next to Send me a copy of this email if you'd like to track your email invoices.
5. Click Send invoice email.

After you've sent an email invoice, that order will only appear in your account's orders inbox after your buyer has clicked the link in the invoice and authorized the payment.

Having issues with email invoices? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about email invoices? Contact us.

Buy Now buttons are an easy way to get started with Checkout if you're selling single items at a time and don't have shopping cart functionality on your website.

Creating Buy Now buttons

To add a Buy Now button to your site:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Buy Now buttons.
4. Follow our button creation wizard’s instructions.
5. Click Create button code.
6. Click any part of the code snippet to highlight the entire snippet.
7. Click Copy to clipboard.
8. Paste the code snippet into your website's HTML near each item on your site for which you’d like to accept Google Wallet as a payment option.

You can then test your button code by clicking a Buy Now button on your website to initiate the purchase, since you won't actually be charged unless you click Place your order now.

Changing Buy Now buttons

If you'd like to change an existing Buy Now button, you can either create a new button or edit your existing Buy Now button code directly on your website. (If you're using a website editing application, you'll need to use the Code view, not the Design view.)

Please keep in mind that our program policies don't allow merchants to change the appearance or functionality of Buy Now buttons in any way.

Having issues with Buy Now buttons? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about Buy Now buttons? Contact us.

With the Google Checkout store gadget, you can quickly and easily create an online store and manage your inventory from a Google Docs spreadsheet. Your store gadget can be embedded on Blogger, Google Sites, iGoogle, or your personal website.

Our store gadget wizard will help you get started in just a few minutes.

Still have questions about the store gadget? Contact us.

With the Google Checkout shopping cart, you can easily add shopping cart functionality to your site. When buyers click the Add to Cart button next to an item on your site, that item is added to the Google Checkout shopping cart. Your buyers can add multiple items at a time to the cart, then complete the payment process by signing in to their Google Wallet accounts.

To get started with the Checkout shopping cart:

1. Sign up for an account.
2. Edit your account settings to accept unsigned shopping carts.
3. Generate the shopping cart code from your Tools tab by clicking Checkout cart and following the instructions onscreen.
4. Click any part of the code snippet to highlight the entire snippet, then select Copy to clipboard.
5. Paste the code snippet in your website HTML.

You can then customize your shopping cart’s appearance, location and behavior.

Still have questions about the Checkout shopping cart? Contact us.

We've partnered with a variety of shopping cart providers to help merchants integrate with Checkout quickly and easily. Because all of the integration work has already been done for you, you can get started in just a few minutes without needing any programming or API skills.

Once you've chosen a pre-integrated cart, you'll simply need to sign up for a Google Checkout account and enter the Merchant ID and Key associated with your merchant account into your cart's management system.

If you'd like Google to notify your order management system when you receive new orders through Checkout, please ask your cart provider for the appropriate API callback URL, then enter it in your Google Payments Merchant Center.

Still have questions about pre-integrated carts? Contact us

We recommend that merchants who use custom shopping carts and who need access to more advanced features or would like to automate order processing activities implement Checkout via an API integration. Our APIs allow you to post shopping carts from your website to Google Checkout and process orders programmatically.

You can choose to integrate just your shopping cart or both your cart and order processing system via the Checkout API. Once you've determined the type of integration you'd like to complete, you can choose between the HTML or XML API implementation options.

• XML APIs give merchants access to all Google Checkout features and are recommended for merchants who need to digitally sign orders before sending them to Google, want to offer coupons or discounts, or plan to integrate Checkout with their internal order processing systems.
• HTML APIs allow merchants to send and receive information using name/value pairs in HTML forms instead of XML.

The following resources will help you get started with API integrations:

• Developers’ articles
• Sample code
• Merchant forum

Having issues with your API integration? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about custom-built shopping cart integrations? Contact us

By giving your donors a fast and convenient donation process, Checkout helps increase online giving to your cause. You're eligible to accept donations through Checkout if you represent a valid 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(6) tax-exempt organization, clearly display your organization's tax-exempt status on your website, and complete our verification process.

Signing up

Before you can accept donations, you'll need to:

1. Sign up for a Google Checkout account. Please be sure to use your 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization's address and the EIN that matches your organization's Tax ID number.
2. Select Non-Profit (IRS certified 501c3) as your Primary Product Type on the Settings tab of your account, then save your profile changes.
3. Complete the bank account verification process.

Creating Donate buttons

Next, you'll need to create Donate buttons for your donors to click. If you're selling physical goods for your non-profit organization, you can also use standard Buy Now buttons. However, please keep in mind that our program policies don't allow merchants to change the appearance and functionality of these buttons.

To add Donate buttons to your site:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Donation buttons.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions.
5. Click any part of the code snippet to highlight the entire snippet, then select Copy to clipboard.
6. Paste the code snippet in your website HTML.

Processing donations

Once you've added Donate buttons to your site, you can start accepting and processing donations immediately from your Google Payments Merchant Center. Google Grants recipients are eligible for free transaction processing until June 30, 2012, while all other non-profits can take advantage of our standard transaction fees.

Alternatively, you can collect and process donations systematically by using an API integration.

Still have questions about Checkout for non-profits? Contact us.

Approved Google Grants recipients are eligible for free transaction processing through June 30, 2012 once they’ve been validated by the Google Payments team.

Please keep in mind that transactions that don't conform to our eligibility guidelines or our content policies won't qualify for free processing. If you process donations before you've received confirmation from the Google Payments and Google Grants teams, your account won't be credited for any fees that those donations were assessed.

All other non-profits can take advantage of our standard transaction fees.

Still have questions about fees for non-profits? Contact us.

You can use Checkout to accept contributions if you're a federal candidate or political action committee (PAC) registered with the Federal Elections Commission based in the U.S.

Getting started

If you meet these eligibility requirements, you can get started by following these steps:

1. Sign up for a Google Checkout account. You should be prepared to provide basic information about your federal political campaign, including your name, contact information, and public website URL.
2. Select either Political Organizations (political action committee) or Political Organizations (federal candidate) as your Primary Product Type, then save your profile changes.
3. Verify your political organization by submitting required documentation.
4. Complete the bank account verification process.

Adding Contribute Now buttons

To start collecting contributions, you'll need to add Contribute Now buttons to your site:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Contribute Now buttons.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions.
5. Click Create button code.
6. Click any part of the code snippet to highlight the entire snippet, then select Copy to clipboard.
7. Paste the code snippet into your website's HTML.

Processing contributions

Once you've added Contribute Now buttons to your site, you can start accepting and processing contributions immediately from your Google Payments Merchant Center. Alternatively, you can collect and process donations systematically by using an API integration.

Still have questions about Checkout for political organizations? Contact us.

To process your orders from the Google Payments Merchant Center:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click an order number to review your order details.
3. Once you've determined that you can fulfill and ship the order, charge your buyer's credit card by clicking Charge next to the appropriate order in your inbox or Charge this order on the order details page. You'll need to charge the order within seven calendar days of receiving it to be guaranteed these funds. (If you’d like, you can change your account settings to have Google charge orders automatically.)
4. Ship the order according to the method and timeframe agreed on when the order was confirmed. Since charging the order automatically initiates the payout process, you shouldn't wait to receive your Google Checkout payout before you ship a charged order.
5. Notify the buyer that the order has shipped by clicking Ship next to the appropriate order in your inbox or Send shipping confirmation from the order details page.

If you're selling intangible goods and services, please be sure to mark completed orders as 'Shipped' in the Merchant Center. Orders of digital content or services, however, will automatically be marked as 'Shipped' when they're completed, since digital orders should be delivered immediately after the purchase is successful.

Alternatively, you can process orders systematically if you're using an API integration.

Still have questions about charging orders? Contact us.

Setting shipping methods

You can set flat shipping rates, customize shipping costs based on the number of items, total weight or cart price, or automatically calculate shipping charges based on carrier rate tables.

To set up shipping methods from the Google Payments Merchant Center:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Settings tab.
3. Click Shipping setup.
4. Select Add a shipping method to create a new shipping option, or select the name of an existing shipping option to update it.
5. Follow the onscreen instructions to add required information about your shipping method and click Save.
6. Repeat for each shipping method you’d like to add.

If you've integrated via the Checkout API, you can specify customized shipping rates (based on states, zip codes, municipalities, or other criteria) that are applied to your orders systematically in response to the shipping information your customers provide. Please check our Developer’s Guide for more information about the HTML API and the XML API.

Tips and guidelines

• Specify accurate shipping rates, since Google won’t apply shipping charges to your orders if you don’t provide this information. If you’ve set up shipping rates incorrectly, orders placed without your preferred rates will need to be cancelled or processed as is, since it’s not possible to charge buyers more than the original order amount.
• Ship orders with tracking information whenever possible to help reduce the likelihood of chargebacks and claims against your business.
• Mark completed orders of intangible goods or services as 'Shipped' to trigger automatic confirmation orders to your customers. (Orders of digital content, however, will automatically be marked as 'Shipped.')

Still have questions about shipping orders? Contact us.

Issuing refunds

To issue a full or partial refund for one-time transactions from the Google Payments Merchant Center:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the number of the order that you'd like to refund.
3. Click Refund some money....
4. Select the reason for the refund from the drop-down menu.
5. Add comments if needed. (Your comments will appear in your buyer's account.)
6. To process a partial refund, adjust the Refund amount.
7. Click Process refund. Your buyer will receive a refund notification email from Google.

If you're currently processing recurring charges using our beta API and would like to cancel a subscription, please refer to our Developer's Guide.

Tips and guidelines

Before you refund an order, keep in mind the following guidelines:

• A refund can't be cancelled once it's been issued.
• We'll return the variable portion of the transaction fee to you and retain the flat fee.
• If your account balance becomes negative after you issue a refund and remains negative for at least 48 hours, we'll collect funds from you for the amount of your negative balance, in accordance with our Terms of Service.
• If you refund an order before we've issued the payout for it, you won't receive the refunded amount in your next payout. If you refund an order after you've received your payout, the amount that you've refunded will be deducted from a future payout.
• We review accounts regularly to ensure a safe purchasing environment and compliance with our Terms of Service. While your account is being reviewed, you'll temporarily be unable to process refunds. Please keep in mind that this process is normal and that you'll be able to continue processing refunds after 24 hours.

Still have questions about refunding orders? Contact us.

We encourage buyers to contact you directly to resolve any order-related issues, as many disputes can be settled through open communication. However, buyers may file claims with Google or chargebacks via their credit card issuer for a variety of reasons.

Claims

If a buyer files a claim with Google for orders placed in the last 90 days, we'll mediate the issue and help propose a solution, so please be sure to reply to any dispute notification emails from Google within the specified timeframe.

Chargebacks

If a buyer files a chargeback, we'll ask you for more information to increase the chance of winning the chargeback. We’ll review this documentation and, when possible, forward it to the credit card issuer to help dispute the chargeback.

No further action is needed if the chargeback is reversed. If you're found liable for a chargeback, we’ll email you with more details.

Tips for preventing chargebacks

• Describe items accurately
• Provide tracking information
• Avoid duplicate billing
• Keep order statuses up to date
• Process refunds promptly
• Check your reviews
• Work with buyers to resolve disputes

Still have questions about chargebacks or claims? Contact us.

If you’d like to contact your customers, you can locate their email addresses and phone numbers under the Shipping information section of each order details page in your Checkout account. (If the email address is formatted with the buyer’s first name and an alphanumeric string, your buyer has chosen to have Google forward emails to and from merchants, but please rest assured that any emails you send to encoded addresses will reach your buyers normally.)

You may also want to add notes to orders that you're cancelling or refunding. These notes will appear on your buyer's invoice page.

Still have questions about communicating with your buyers? Contact us.

Reviews allow your buyers to share their impressions with other shoppers while also giving you the opportunity to respond to their feedback. Each review consists of a star rating on a scale of one to five (with five stars being the highest rating) and an option to comment on delivery time, customer service, and overall satisfaction. Your business's overall rating score equals the average number of stars awarded by all buyers who have left reviews for you.

To see all the reviews you've received:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click Reviews at the top of your orders inbox.
3. Click More next to any review to see details.

If you disagree with a buyer's comments, we encourage you to contact your buyer directly to resolve any issues that might have led to a low rating. You can also respond to a review by clicking the 'Respond publicly' link below the buyer's review.

Please know that the Google Checkout team can only remove reviews in limited circumstances.

Still have questions about ratings and reviews? Contact us.

Offering promotions to your customers can help drive traffic to your site and increase conversions. To create a promotion:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click the Promotions link.
4. Click Create New Promotion.
5. Enter a title for the promotion, set start and end dates, and select an offer type. (A promotion can’t begin until at least 8 hours after you create it, and it must run for at least 24 hours.)
6. Review the promotion terms and conditions, then click Schedule. You can also select Save for later if you’d like to edit the promotion details later.

After you schedule, save, or complete a promotion, it will appear on the Manage your promotions page so that you can easily edit saved drafts or view current and completed promotion details. Please keep in mind that a discount amount can't be changed once a promotion is active, but you can end your current promotion and create a new one.

Still have questions about promotions? Contact us.

We’ll use the private contact information you provide in your Checkout account to reach you if needed, but please rest assured that this information won't be displayed publicly.

• We’ll share service notifications and important account updates with the primary contact email address listed in your account.
• Messages about technical issues, including API errors and failed callbacks, will be sent to your technical contact email address.
• We’ll send messages about payments and chargebacks to your financial contact email address.

To edit your private contact information:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Settings tab.
3. Make the appropriate changes to your profile settings.
4. Click Save profile.

Still have questions about account settings? Contact us.

The general store information you provide in your Checkout account includes:

• Your business’s location (if the country currently listed is incorrect, you’ll need to sign up for a new account and specify the appropriate country during the signup process)
• Your business's name, address, and phone number to help customers contact you if needed
• Your credit card statement name, which will be preceded by GOOGLE * to help customers identify charges on their billing statements
• Your public business website, which we’ll use to perform periodic reviews of your account and website as needed

To edit your public business information:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Settings tab.
3. Make the appropriate changes to your profile settings.
4. Click Save profile.

Still have questions about account settings? Contact us.

The customer service and policy information you provide in your Checkout account includes:

• Your customer support email, where we’ll direct messages submitted by your customers and notifications about new orders, cancellations, refunds, and disputes
• Links to your customer support website and frequently asked questions page to help customers locate relevant information (optional)
• Summaries of your return/cancellation and shipping policies (to set expectation for your buyers and help avoid chargebacks and claims against your business, we encourage you to keep this information up-to-date)

To edit your customer service information:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Settings tab.
3. Make the appropriate changes to your profile settings.
4. Click Save profile.

Still have questions about account settings? Contact us.

If you take orders by fax, phone, or other offline methods, you can use Checkout’s email invoicing feature to request payments from customers. Your invoices will contain your personalized message about the requested payment and a link for your buyers to make payments by signing in to their Google Wallet accounts.

Please keep in mind that email invoices can't exceed $10,000. Also, email invoices aren't intended to be used for cash advances or peer-to-peer payments.

To get started, you’ll simply need to sign up for a Google Checkout account, then follow these steps:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab, then click Send an invoice.
3. Enter the buyer's email address and name, your personalized message, the requested payment amount, and a description of the payment in the appropriate fields.
4. (Optional) Check the box next to Send me a copy of this email if you'd like to track your email invoices.
5. Click Send invoice email.

After you've sent an email invoice, that order will only appear in your account's orders inbox after your buyer has clicked the link in the invoice and authorized the payment.

Having issues with email invoices? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about email invoices? Contact us.

To charge taxes if you use email invoices, Buy Now buttons, the store gadget, or the Checkout shopping cart, you can set tax rates in your Google Payments Merchant Center:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Settings tab.
3. Click Tax setup.
4. Click Add your tax settings.

Follow the onscreen instructions to specify how you calculate taxes, including not charging taxes, entering a flat tax rate for each state that you charge tax in, or asking Google to use Tax Data Systems data to determine taxes based on your buyers' ZIP codes. Please keep in mind that this data is provided by a third party and that Google can't guarantee its accuracy.

Google Checkout sellers are solely responsible for specifying tax rates. We won’t apply taxes to your orders if you don’t provide this information, so please be sure to keep it up-to-date.

Having issues with charging taxes? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about charging taxes? Contact us.

If you'd like to charge shipping on an email invoice order, please add the shipping charge to the price of the item and request this total amount when you send the invoice to your buyer.

To create an email invoice:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab, then click Send an invoice.
3. Enter the buyer’s email address and name, your personalized message, the requested payment amount (including the price of the item and shipping charges), and a description of the payment in the appropriate fields.
4. (Optional) Check the box next to Send me a copy of this email.
5. Click Send invoice email.

Once you've sent an invoice, that order will only appear in your Checkout account's orders inbox after your buyer has clicked the link in the invoice and authorized the payment.

Still have questions about charging shipping with email invoice orders? Contact us.

You can quickly and easily create coupons for your Google Wallet customers in the Google Checkout Merchant Center or via the Merchant Calculations API.

To create a coupon in the Google Checkout Merchant Center:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Coupons, then click Create a new coupon.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions to enter your coupon name and values and set restrictions as needed.
5. Click Create.

After you've created a coupon, you can track, edit, or end it by following these steps:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Coupons.
4. Click the name of a coupon code in the table to review a coupon's performance. If you'd like to change a coupon's settings, click the name of the code, then select Edit. To disable your coupon, click End Now next to the coupon code in the table.

Alternatively, you can use the Merchant Calculations API to offer coupons and discounts. Coupons for free shipping promotions currently can be created only via the API, not through the Merchant Center. Please keep in mind, however, that you won't be able to use any coupons that you may have created in the Merchant Center if you decide to implement coupons via the Merchant Calculations API.

Having issues with coupons? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about creating coupons? Contact us.

Buy Now buttons are an easy way to get started with Checkout if you're selling single items at a time and don't have shopping cart functionality on your website.

Creating Buy Now buttons

To add a Buy Now button to your site:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Buy Now buttons.
4. Follow our button creation wizard’s instructions.
5. Click Create button code.
6. Click any part of the code snippet to highlight the entire snippet.
7. Click Copy to clipboard.
8. Paste the code snippet in your website HTML near each item on your site for which you’d like to accept Google Wallet as a payment option.

You can then test your button code by clicking a Buy Now button on your website to initiate the purchase, since you won't actually be charged unless you click Place your order now.

Changing Buy Now buttons

If you'd like to change an existing Buy Now button, you can either create a new button or edit your existing Buy Now button code directly on your website. (If you're using a website editing application, you'll need to use the Code view, not the Design view.)

Please keep in mind that our program policies don't allow merchants to change the appearance or functionality of Buy Now buttons in any way.

Having issues with Buy Now buttons? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about Buy Now Buttons? Contact us.

To charge taxes if you use email invoices, Buy Now buttons, the store gadget, or the Checkout shopping cart, you can set tax rates in your Google Payments Merchant Center:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Settings tab.
3. Click Tax setup.
4. Click Add your tax settings.

Follow the onscreen instructions to specify how you calculate taxes, including not charging taxes, entering a flat tax rate for each state that you charge tax in, or asking Google to use Tax Data Systems data to determine taxes based on your buyers' ZIP codes. Please keep in mind that this data is provided by a third party and that Google can't guarantee its accuracy.

Google Checkout sellers are solely responsible for specifying tax rates. We won’t apply taxes to your orders if you don’t provide this information, so please be sure to keep it up-to-date.

Having issues with charging taxes? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about charging taxes? Contact us.

Charging shipping

Shipping internationally

You can quickly and easily create coupons for your Google Wallet customers in the Google Checkout Merchant Center or via the Merchant Calculations API.

To create a coupon in the Google Checkout Merchant Center:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Coupons, then click Create a new coupon.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions to enter your coupon name and values and set restrictions as needed.
5. Click Create.

After you've created a coupon, you can track, edit, or end it by following these steps:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Coupons.
4. Click the name of a coupon code in the table to review a coupon's performance. If you'd like to change a coupon's settings, click the name of the code, then select Edit. To disable your coupon, click End Now next to the coupon code in the table.

Alternatively, you can use the Merchant Calculations API to offer coupons and discounts. Coupons for free shipping promotions currently can be created only via the API, not through the Merchant Center. Please keep in mind, however, that you won't be able to use any coupons that you may have created in the Merchant Center if you decide to implement coupons via the Merchant Calculations API.

Having issues with coupons? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about creating coupons? Contact us.

You can change your Buy Now button at any time either by editing the existing button's HTML code directly on your website or by creating a new button in your Google Payments Merchant Center. (If you're editing your existing Buy Now button's HTML and you're using a website editing application, you'll need to use the Code view rather than Design view.)

If you'd like to create a new button, please remember to remove the old Buy Now button code from your site. You can then add a new Buy Now button:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Buy Now buttons.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions to create your button code.
5. Click any part of the code snippet to highlight the entire snippet, then select Copy to clipboard.
6. Paste the code snippet in your website HTML near each item on your site for which you'd like to accept Google Wallet as a payment option.

You can test your button code by clicking a Buy Now button on your website to initiate the purchase, since you won't actually be charged unless you click Place your order now.

Having issues with Buy Now buttons? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about changing a Buy Now Button? Contact us.

Although the instructions below will show you how to create buttons with blank prices, you can also follow these steps to add buttons that allow your customers to specify their own product name, description or quantity too.

Enable the HTML API

First, you'll need to enable the HTML API in your Google Checkout Merchant Center settings:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Settings tab.
3. Click Integration.
4. Uncheck the box next to My company will only post digitally signed carts.
5. Click Save.

Create your Buy Now button

Next, you'll need to create your Buy Now button. When prompted by the button creation wizard, you can temporarily enter any price for your item, since it will be removed in the next step.

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Buy Now buttons.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions, entering any price for your item when prompted.
5. Click Create button code.
6. Click any part of the code snippet to highlight the entire snippet.
7. Click Copy to clipboard.
8. Paste the code snippet in your website HTML near each item on your site for which you'd like to accept Google Wallet as a payment option.

Adjust your button code

Once your button has been created, you can adjust the line of button code associated with the price to create a button for an unspecified amount. Each button that you create is composed from a series of hidden input name/value pairs, such as <input type="hidden" name="item_price_1" value="9.99">. Here are the adjustments that you'll need to make to replace the predefined price with a blank field for your customers to fill in:

1. Change the 'type' value from hidden to text. For example, you would change <input type="hidden" .../> to <input type="text" .../>).
2. Remove the value parameter.

Following the previous example, the button code has now changed from <input type="hidden" name="item_price_1" value="9.99"> to <input type="text" name="item_price_1">.

After you've made these changes to your button code, paste your updated code snippet in your website HTML. You can then test the button on your website to ensure that it works correctly, since you won't actually be charged unless you click Place your order now.

Still have questions about creating buttons with blank input fields? Contact us.

With the Google Checkout store gadget, you can quickly and easily create an online store and manage your inventory from a Google Docs spreadsheet. Your store gadget can be embedded on Blogger, Google Sites, iGoogle, or your personal website.

Our store gadget wizard will help you get started in just a few minutes.

Still have questions about the store gadget? Contact us.

With the Google Checkout shopping cart, you can easily add shopping cart functionality to your site. When buyers click the Add to Cart button next to an item on your site, that item is immediately added to the Google Checkout shopping cart. Your buyers can add multiple items at a time to the cart, then complete the payment process by signing in to their Google Wallet accounts.

To get started with the Checkout shopping cart:

1. Sign up for an account.
2. Edit your account settings to accept unsigned shopping carts.
3. Generate the shopping cart code from your Tools tab by clicking Checkout cart and following the instructions onscreen.
4. Click any part of the code snippet to highlight the entire snippet, then select Copy to clipboard.
5. Paste the code snippet in your website HTML.

You can then customize your shopping cart’s appearance, location and behavior.

Still have questions about the Checkout shopping cart? Contact us.

To charge taxes if you use email invoices, Buy Now buttons, the store gadget, or the Checkout shopping cart, you can set tax rates in your Google Payments Merchant Center:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Settings tab.
3. Click Tax setup.
4. Click Add your tax settings.

Follow the onscreen instructions to specify how you calculate taxes, including not charging taxes, entering a flat tax rate for each state that you charge tax in, or asking Google to use Tax Data Systems data to determine taxes based on your buyers' ZIP codes. Please keep in mind that this data is provided by a third party and that Google can't guarantee its accuracy.

Google Checkout sellers are solely responsible for specifying tax rates. We won’t apply taxes to your orders if you don’t provide this information, so please be sure to keep it up-to-date.

Having issues with charging taxes? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about charging taxes? Contact us.

Charging shipping

Shipping internationally

You can quickly and easily create coupons for your Google Wallet customers in the Google Checkout Merchant Center or via the Merchant Calculations API.

To create a coupon in the Google Checkout Merchant Center:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Coupons, then click Create a new coupon.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions to enter your coupon name and values and set restrictions as needed.
5. Click Create.

After you've created a coupon, you can track, edit, or end it by following these steps:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Coupons.
4. Click the name of a coupon code in the table to review a coupon's performance. If you'd like to change a coupon's settings, click the name of the code, then select Edit. To disable your coupon, click End Now next to the coupon code in the table.

Alternatively, you can use the Merchant Calculations API to offer coupons and discounts. Coupons for free shipping promotions currently can be created only via the API, not through the Merchant Center. Please keep in mind, however, that you won't be able to use any coupons that you may have created in the Merchant Center if you decide to implement coupons via the Merchant Calculations API.

Having issues with coupons? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about creating coupons? Contact us.

The Google Checkout shopping cart widget is the module that displays the buyer's shopping cart on your website. When your buyer adds an item to the cart, the shopping cart JavaScript parses the HTML on your website to identify the CSS annotations that contain important information about your goods. The widget then updates to reflect the newly added item.

You can customize the widget's appearance and behavior, plus control the location on your website where it appears.

Controlling the widget's location

By default, the shopping cart appears in the top right corner of the browser window. Because it's attached to the browser window instead of your webpage, the widget remains there even if the customer scrolls down the page. If you’d like to attach the widget to a specific location on your page, check our Developer’s Guide for instructions.

Customizing the widget's appearance

Our interactive tools allows you to test CSS customizations and instantly see your changes in an actual shopping cart. To learn more about customizing the appearance of your shopping cart, including its text and background colors, please refer to our Developer’s Guide.

Customizing the widget's behavior

With JavaScript customizations, you can also change the behavior of the cart, such as the currency that prices are displayed in and the time required for the cart to expand and collapse. More information about changing these settings is available in our Developer’s Guide.

Still have questions about the shopping cart widget? Contact us.

We've partnered with a variety of shopping cart providers to help merchants integrate with Checkout quickly and easily. Because all of the integration work has already been done for you, you can get started in just a few minutes without needing any programming or API skills.

Once you've chosen a pre-integrated cart, you'll need to sign up for a Google Checkout account and enter the Merchant ID and Key associated with your merchant account into your cart's management system.

If you'd like Google to notify your order management system when you receive new orders through Checkout, please ask your cart provider for the appropriate API callback URL, then enter it in your Google Checkout Merchant Center.

Still have questions about pre-integrated carts? Contact us.

Because a third-party partner has integrated your Google Checkout solution, you should contact your shopping cart provider's support team directly for assistance. As each shopping cart's managements tools differ, your provider will be able to offer you the fastest resolution.

Please keep in mind that you're solely responsible for specifying tax rates and that Google won't apply taxes to your orders unless you provide this information, so be sure to keep your tax rate information up-to-date.

Still have questions about charging taxes? Contact us.

Charging shipping

Shipping internationally

You can quickly and easily create coupons for your Google Wallet customers in the Google Checkout Merchant Center or via the Merchant Calculations API.

To create a coupon in the Google Checkout Merchant Center:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Coupons, then click Create a new coupon.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions to enter your coupon name and values and set restrictions as needed.
5. Click Create.

After you've created a coupon, you can track, edit, or end it by following these steps:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Coupons.
4. Click the name of a coupon code in the table to review a coupon's performance. If you'd like to change a coupon's settings, click the name of the code, then select Edit. To disable your coupon, click End Now next to the coupon code in the table.

Alternatively, you can use the Merchant Calculations API to offer coupons and discounts. Coupons for free shipping promotions currently can be created only via the API, not through the Merchant Center. Please keep in mind, however, that you won't be able to use any coupons that you may have created in the Merchant Center if you decide to implement coupons via the Merchant Calculations API.

Having issues with coupons? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about creating coupons? Contact us.

Given the wide variety of shopping cart solutions that have integrated with Checkout and the diversity of merchants' needs, we're not able to provide individual recommendations about shopping cart providers. However, we've partnered with several shopping cart providers to allow you to integrate with Checkout in minutes, since the integration work has already been done for you.

Still have questions about choosing a shopping cart provider? Contact us.

We recommend that merchants who use custom shopping carts and who need access to more advanced features or would like to automate order processing activities implement Checkout via an API integration. Our APIs allow you to post shopping carts from your website to Google Checkout and process orders programmatically.

You can choose to integrate just your shopping cart or both your cart and order processing system via the Checkout API. Once you've determined the type of integration you'd like to complete, you can choose between the HTML or XML API implementation options.

• XML APIs give merchants access to all Google Checkout features and are recommended for merchants who need to digitally sign orders before sending them to Google, want to offer coupons or discounts, or plan to integrate Checkout with their internal order processing systems.
• HTML APIs allow merchants to send and receive information using name/value pairs in HTML forms instead of XML.

The following resources will help you get started with API integrations:

• Developers’ articles
• Sample code
• Merchant forum

Having issues with your API integration? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about API integrations? Contact us.

If you've integrated your custom-built shopping cart with the Google Checkout API, you can specify predefined tax tables at the zip code or state level that will be attached when you send your shopping cart to Google. For detailed instructions, check our Developer's Guide.

If you've integrated your order processing system via the API (a level two integration), you can specify customized tax rates based on states, zip codes, municipalities, or other criteria, which will be applied to orders systematically in response to the buyer's shipping information. More information is available in our Developer’s Guide.

Google will ignore any tax rates that you may have specified in the Google Checkout Merchant Center if you submit a shopping cart that includes the tag <tax-tables>. Please also keep in mind that you're solely responsible for specifying tax rates. Taxes won't be applied to your orders if you don't provide this information, so be sure to keep it up-to-date.

Having issues with charging taxes? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about charging taxes with custom-built shopping cart integrations? Contact us.

Charging shipping

Specifying shipping rates via the API

Shipping internationally

You can quickly and easily create coupons for your Google Wallet customers in the Google Checkout Merchant Center or via the Merchant Calculations API.

To create a coupon in the Google Checkout Merchant Center:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Coupons, then click Create a new coupon.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions to enter your coupon name and values and set restrictions as needed.
5. Click Create.

After you've created a coupon, you can track, edit, or end it by following these steps:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Tools tab.
3. Click Coupons.
4. Click the name of a coupon code in the table to review a coupon's performance. If you'd like to change a coupon's settings, click the name of the code, then select Edit. To disable your coupon, click End Now next to the coupon code in the table.

Alternatively, you can use the Merchant Calculations API to offer coupons and discounts. Coupons for free shipping promotions currently can be created only via the API, not through the Merchant Center. Please keep in mind, however, that you won't be able to use any coupons that you may have created in the Merchant Center if you decide to implement coupons via the Merchant Calculations API.

Having issues with coupons? Check our troubleshooting tips.

Still have questions about creating coupons? Contact us.

If you're having difficulty locating the password or login email address for your Google Checkout account, please visit our password and username recovery page.

Still have questions about your username or password? Contact us.

If you signed up for your Google Checkout account with an email address that doesn't end in @gmail.com, you're welcome to change your username to another active, valid email address, as long as it isn’t already associated with a different Google Account:

1. Visit the Google Accounts homepage.
2. Sign in to your account.
3. Click the Change email link next to Security.
4. Enter your new email address and your current password.
5. Click Save.

If you signed up for your Checkout account with a Gmail address, it isn’t possible to change your login email address at this time. If you’d like to receive Google Checkout messages at another email address, however, you can set up Gmail filters to forward these messages.

Still have questions about changing your username? Contact us.

To resolve an Oops error, please first take the following steps:

• Sign out of all other Google Accounts.
• Clear your browser’s cache or cookies. (Please remember, however, that deleting your cookies will remove your saved settings for sites you’ve previously visited.)

If you still receive the 'Oops!' error after following these recommendations, please contact us. Although we don't offer email assistance in your language at this time, we welcome you to send us a message in a supported language.

We ask that you provide the following information to help us troubleshoot the issue:

• The exact sequence of steps to replicate the issue
• The browser and operating system of the machine where the error occurred
• The frequency of the problem
• A screenshot of the error you’re receiving, if possible

To resolve this error, please first take the following steps:

• Clear your browser’s cache or cookies. (Please remember, however, that deleting your cookies will remove your saved settings for sites you’ve previously visited.)
• Try signing in to your account using a different Internet browser.

If you still experience signin issues after following these recommendations, please contact us.

We ask that you provide the following information to help us troubleshoot the issue:

• The exact sequence of steps to replicate the issue
• The browser and operating system of the machine where the error occurred
• The frequency of the problem
• A screenshot of the error you’re receiving, if possible

If you still have access to the email address that you use to sign in to your Google Checkout account, we encourage you to reset your password to prevent anyone else from accessing your account.

If you're locked out of your account, please complete our account recovery form. We take the privacy and security of our users very seriously, so we’ll ask that you provide detailed and accurate information to help us verify that you're the account's real owner.

Order reports

The order report is helpful for tracking order information and verifying that you've taken, or will take, the appropriate action for all orders that you've received. You can download this report in a comma-separated values (.csv) format that's compatible with standard importing functions.

To download the order report:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Orders tab.
3. At the bottom of the page, click Download data to spreadsheet (.csv).
4. Select a date range for your data and specify the orders that you'd like to see by their status, such as 'charged' or 'reviewing.' To download more detailed data, check the box next to Include more buyer and order information columns (up to 500 results will be returned).
5. Click Download.

Alternatively, you can use the Order Report API to retrieve order reports. For instructions, please check our Developer’s Guide.

Transaction and payout reports

To view payout information, you can access transaction and payout details reports for dates up to two months in the past. The transaction report provides an overall summary of your payouts and debited adjustments, while the payout details report specifies the payout amounts and dates associated with your charged orders.

To download transaction and payout reports:

1. Sign in at https://checkout.google.com/sell.
2. Click the Payouts tab.
3. At the bottom of the payout summary page, select either Payout details or Transaction details under Download data to spreadsheet (.csv).
4. Select a date range for your data.
5. Click Download.

Still have questions about downloadable reports? Contact us.

We encourage buyers to contact you directly to resolve any order-related issues, as many disputes can be settled through open communication. However, buyers may file claims with Google or chargebacks via their credit card issuer for a variety of reasons.

Claims

If a buyer files a claim with Google for orders placed in the last 90 days, we'll mediate the issue and help propose a solution, so please be sure to reply to any dispute notification emails from Google within the specified timeframe.

Chargebacks

If a buyer files a chargeback, we'll ask you for more information to increase the chance of winning the chargeback. We’ll review this documentation and, when possible, forward it to the credit card issuer to help dispute the chargeback.

No further action is needed if the chargeback is reversed. If you're found liable for a chargeback, we’ll email you with more details.

Tips for preventing chargebacks

• Describe items accurately
• Provide tracking information
• Avoid duplicate billing
• Keep order statuses up to date
• Process refunds promptly
• Check your reviews
• Work with buyers to resolve disputes

Still have questions about chargebacks or claims? Contact us.