A Checkout is used to collect buyer shipping and payment information, and process payment for buyers to complete their marketplace purchases. Defining your Checkout Settings will be one of the first tasks you should do after purchasing the ChannelAdvisor application.  ChannelAdvisor provides you a choice of several different Checkout solutions to meet your needs, and those of your buyers.   More than one checkout option can be enabled in your account at a time.  When you have multiple checkout options enabled, this allows the buyer to choose what method of checkout they would like to use to complete their order. Using these settings you can define checkout options and features used by buyers to complete their purchases.  Whenever possible, the recommended default values have already been configured in your account.

In some instances the marketplaces themselves have specified what methods of checkout may appear, or more precisely what checkout methods may not appear.  For example, eBay has not approved the Google Checkout as an acceptable method of checkout, so if enabled this option will not appear when an order contains at least one item that was purchased on eBay.  If enabled however, the Google Checkout will appear as an option if the order does not contain an item purchased on eBay.

Prerequisites

• Post Sales Processing Guide

Tasks to Complete

We highly recommend completing the Checkout Settings configuration before you begin selling on any marketplace that will use the ChannelAdvisor Checkout.  ChannelAdvisor offers it's clients three checkout processing options.

Configuring ChannelAdvisor Checkout

With ChannelAdvisor Checkout, you can customize everything from your accepted  payment options  to the  look-and-feel  for the ChannelAdvisor Checkout. You can use the step-by-step Checkout Settings Wizard to configure all of the necessary checkout settings.  You can use this wizard at any time but most users select individual menu settings after logging in for the first time.  To configure your ChannelAdvisor checkout complete the following steps:

1. Navigate to your  Webstore > Checkout > Setup Wizard view .

2. Click  Complete the Checkout Settings Wizard

3. Using this wizard you can complete the following Settings Pages: 

1. Configure Checkout Settings

2. Configure Payment Options

3. Configure Checkout Sales Tax

Configuring Checkout Direct

You can checkout a customer immediately using the  Visit Checkout  icon and following these steps:   

1. Navigate to your Sales > Orders/Transactions view.
2. Select the order to checkout.
3. In the Command column, click  Visit Checkout .

Configuring Google Checkout

Google Checkout offers a “faster, safer and more convenient way to shop online”. More importantly, it offers a new way to process transactions that help online merchants sell more and spend less doing so. Some benefits include:

• Attract more leads.Shoppers who see the Google Checkout™ badge on your AdWords ads will more easily find you when they search
• Convert more leads into sales.A fast, secure checkout process helps persuade shoppers to buy on your site and buy more often.
• With Google Checkout, there are no monthly, setup, or gateway service fees. The transaction processing rates you will be charged each month will be determined by your sales volume during the prior calendar month. Read more about Google Checkout fees. 
• Protect yourself from fraud.Our fraud prevention tools stop invalid orders from reaching you. And our Payment Guarantee policy helps protect you from charge backs.

Configuring PayPal Checkout Express

PayPal Express Checkout (PPEC) is PayPal's multi-channel checkout solution for online retailers. Part of the PayPal Website Payments Pro package, Express Checkout allows buyers to complete their transactions directly at the PayPal site in very few steps.

For additional details visit the Configuring PayPal Express Checkout page.

Additional Checkout Configurations

• Add to Order (Upsell) Settings - Encourage Webstore buyers to make additional purchases by displaying recommended products during Checkout.  The products that you enable as upsell items will appear to buyers on during Checkout, allowing them to immediately add more items to their order.  Using this functionality in Checkout can help to increase revenue to your business with very little setup effort.
   
• Branding Checkout - When you begin selling online, one of the first steps is to establish your brand -- the public facing presence for your business.  Your brand is used on marketplace listings and in your Store, and it is just as important in your Checkout. The checkout is used for basic and premium webstores.
   
• Designing the Checkout Interface - Buyers that visit your Checkout to complete a purchase will feel more secure when they recognize the brand connection between your marketplace listings and the Checkout.  ChannelAdvisor strongly recommends that you use the same images and colors to brand your Checkout that you use on your marketplace listings and in your Store.  This provides continuity for your customers as they buy from your company. 
   
• Define Checkout Messages - Each page of Checkout provides an area at the top where the seller can give instructions to the buyer for that step.  In your account, default message text has been supplied, however you can customize the information using the Messages settings page. 
   
• Customize the Checkout Help Desk -  The Checkout Help Desk will display in the top right corner of each Checkout and can be used to add up to 4 pages of customized content. We recommend using the Checkout Help Desk to provide the following:
  • Information about your company
  • Your return policy
  • Your shipping policy
  • Service terms of the sale
   
• Selecting Additional Checkout Options - Use the Additional Options settings page to do the following:
  • Add fields such as company, phone and special instructions which will appear as buyers checkout
  • Create custom fields that will display during buyer checkout
  • Offer a marketing list opt-in to the buyer
  • Create a purchase agreement
     
• Using the Checkout Preview -  The Checkout Preview allows you to complete the checkout, seeing all of the text and checkout options, just as your buyers will in the future.  You may use the preview to verify the content on the Welcome, Terms, Shipping, Payment and Place Order pages.  The text that appears on these pages can be customized using the Checkout Messagessettings.