Anybody using 2CheckOut for credit card processing?

[webado]

Ok, never have I wasted so much time on what should have been easy as 1-2-3 and nor even see a bit of light.

I've signed up for an account with 2checkout.com. Set up my information, a few products in the online database and copied the generated html code to my web page from which I place the order.

And it doesn't work. I keep getting an error:

Parameter Error

Incorrect parameters were supplied, therefore this purchase cannot begin.

If you are attempting to purchase from a web site please contact the web site so that they can correct the error.


No idea what the error might be. Since I cannot contact myself for clarifications, this is pretty absurd. I didn't' find anything in their help for something like that.

There's a variation in error however. At times the error is something that says my shopping cart is empty. This I feel is a cookie problem, because the way I get rid of this message is by logging out from there (though I'd logged out before as well). Going back to test, I get the old error about invalid parameters.

It's driving me crazy. They don't have support after hours and Sundays, so I'll have to wait until Monday.


They did send em an email this morning asking me to please complete setting up my site so they can verify the links :? Well, duh! I can't set up my site if the thing isn't working. I set this stuff up separately, for testing purposes for now. If and when it works and after I make it prettier too, I'll set it up on the site.

Does anybody have any experience with this at all?

I know I left out some steps because I saw no direct bearing on my application, more like a customization thing. Maybe that's what I was supposed to do, but I saw no indication on how to do it. SOmething about pass-backs to some routine - what? where should it be? where do I define that name?

ANyway, if any body has any ideas before Monday, please let me know. This is souring the entire experience. I can handle errors when I can see them, and look at some code to se what it thinks it wants from me, not when they arise from the unknown.


Thanks.

[China Tea]

The only experience I have with visa card processing is with Payment Tech but the installation process was quite uneventful because everything was done by Yahoo --- it is a built-in thing that goes with the account I set-up with them. Everything went "automatically", if you can call it that. . . All I did was call Payment Tech, pay my start-up fee and go through a simple activation process within the Yahoo Store Manager (sort of like a multiple choice test, click, click, click for dummies like me) and it worked instantly.

Why is their support staff not available on weekends? That's when most people do their websites . . .

Hope things will work out better :)

China T

[webado]

Why is their support staff not available on weekends? That's when most people do their websites . . .

Hope things will work out better :)

China T
Hell if I know! I'll ask on Monday. They also don't work nights, they keep regular business hours.

[bluegum]

Hi chrisooc,

I can't really help from experince, but I did a Google search on the error message (Incorrect parameters were supplied, therefore this purchase cannot begin) and it seems like a lot of other people have had the same problem.

Perhaps you might find an answer if you sift through some of the forum posts that the search turns up?

Just a thought. HTH

Cheers,
Brett

[webado]

Hi chrisooc,

I can't really help from experince, but I did a Google search on the error message (Incorrect parameters were supplied, therefore this purchase cannot begin) and it seems like a lot of other people have had the same problem.

Perhaps you might find an answer if you sift through some of the forum posts that the search turns up?

Just a thought. HTH

Cheers,
Brett
Thanks Brett, I did find many of those answers, but they all referred to situations where people were using various other software like OsComerce with the 2CO plugin extension or whatever it's called. And they never did say what the actual fix was. It would typically be a fixed script provided by the developper of the software, so nothing the users handled themselves.

I'm just using links on my web page, no particular application.

The 2Checkout.com site appears rather messed up, with many broken links. They now have 2 partitions, and I am on partition 2. The 2 don't appear to work the same way. The documentation you get before logging in is not the same as the one you get after you log in. The documentation before logging in describes admin functions that I think I need but I cannot get to after logging in.

[webado]

*bump*

Anybody?

[gntombel]

I don't think I understand the problem properly but I did a script on online payment a few months back and it worked. If the problem is related to that I can suspect the format of your numbers to that of the service provider where you try to connect to. I know I might not be answering the problem but if you can elaborate further I think it can give me a lot more to talk about.

[motorwatchercounter]

Hi Christina,

I have emailed you with screenshots. Let me know how you get on.

:lol:

[webado]

Well, OK, I set up my account, created some products with their prices and information. I geneerated the html code to use either through a button in a form or as a link. When used, 2CO returns an error about incorrect parameters for the purchase. The code was given by their set up process. Their site is a mess, by the way. Their help file gives options that I've never managed to get to, they are just simply not there, or not there on the new partition where they place new accounts like mine.

Anyway, I'll be getting on the phone with them in a little while and hopefully it will get straightened out.

Thanks.

[webado]

Hi Christina,

I have emailed you with screenshots. Let me know how you get on.

:lol:
Hah those screeenshots look exaclty like mine, can't see any difference. But in the end the thing isn't working :)

[webado]

Their support sucks big time. The sites isn't working, dead liks, dead ends, the phone isn't working eitehr, traansferred to soembody who's not there :evil:

[JWJ]

Sounds even worse than AOL :( ... which I didn't think was possible. :shock:

[webado]

Sounds even worse than AOL :( ... which I didn't think was possible. :shock:
Oh, yes.... not only isn't their web site working properly, but their phone system is just as buggy. I'm in voicemail hell again.... after a transfer to "my colleague at the next desk who's going to help you, ma'am" :evil:

[motorwatchercounter]

Hi Christina,

I have 2 accounts with them 8). Feel a bit guilty as I would/have recommend them in the past. My experience has always been good. Must be my boyish charm and good looks :wink:

[webado]

Hi Christina,

I have 2 accounts with them 8). Feel a bit guilty as I would/have recommend them in the past. My experience has always been good. Must be my boyish charm and good looks :wink:
That must be it, for sure. I must be exuding a B**ch odor :evil:

[motorwatchercounter]

That must be it, for sure. I must be exuding a B**ch odor :evil:

What a turn on. Stop teasing.

[webado]

OK, 2CO were saved by the bell. I gave them until 2:30 pm EST to solve this and they finally did, after a few mishaps along the way (dropping the line, etc.).

What had happened is that because I did not immediately set up the links on my site, they placed my account in the Risk category with their Fraud department! That's nice to know and very reassuring! A few spins around the bush where I explained as calmly as I could my great reluctance to use their links on my site when they are not working, finally brought us to an agreement and they removed the Fraud stamp!

I'll say, I was totally ready to throw in the towel and cancel the whole shebang! It's not worth the aggravation.

Anyway, now it appears to work (the links were correct all along, my account wasn't active).

What a weekend and what a day!

[motorwatchercounter]

Problems apart it is still a more professional looking option.

You can switch off the multi currency option by adding the currency part of the code.

[webado]

Problems apart it is still a more professional looking option.

You can switch off the multi currency option by adding the currency part of the code.
Errr..... don't recall seeing that anywhere, except a referecne to only one currency applies to the account at any given time. I guess they haven't solved the problem with multi-currencies yet. I'll stick to one currency, never mind. I suppose this will get adjusted at the buyer's level, their own credit card will convert US to whatever their native currency is.

Though, come to think of it, it might be considered illegal in Canada for me to sell anything locally in a different currency :!: Though, again, they all do it LOL!

Does anybody know of any kind of feed to a live currency converter I can add to my page?

[motorwatchercounter]

http://www.gcitrading.com/converter.htm

http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi (Look at this one better in a popup but read the next one before working on it)

http://www.xe.com/ucc/customize.htm

:lol:

[webado]

OK, I seem not to be able to use www.xe.com - I had already tried before, and Spybot is stumbling all over itself blocking those Doubleclick and other crapware this has. In the end it simply displays a blank page. Not sure it's worth my trying to find what part of it is good and what part is nasty.

But I don't think I need it after all. An added bonus of actually getting my 2CO working is that it does work is multiple currencies. What it doesn't do is have items in the data base that are in different currencies.

So thanks, I no longer need this quite so badly. :lol:

[Annied]

Reading all of this makes me glad I'm with www.ccnow.com !

I use www.xe.com on all my shop pages and it's never given me any problems that I'm aware of.

[webado]

Well, I'd not heard of that other service when I set up 2Checkout. With my luck I'd have run into similar problems I think :lol:

The number 1 reason I actually prefer Paypal is that you're not tied to a particular product that has to be defined in somebody else's database, and you can actually charge or refund on the fly, the amount you want for that transaction. With 2CO and possibly CCnow maybe it all has to be pre-defined. This may create problems with partial refunds which have to be matched with products or services for which there was no corresponding sale for the same amount as such.

This in fact is a problem I'm trying to solve right now, since I'm selling a time-measured service. Unless I define a basic product called "the-one-dollar-generic-item" and sell multiples of this with no actual details (which is not very nice or elegant), I can't see how I can ever offer a refund of a portion only, or charge pro-rated adjustments, etc. The alternative of not giving refunds is repugnant to me. I'd not accept that as a consumer, no way I'd impose it as a service provider. Maybe I'll have to offer refunds by cheque, inconvenient as they may be.

[motorwatchercounter]

I am sure you can credit back. Also if people sign up for 12 months is there going to be a partial refund.

You can easily set up pro rata's put the fees into an Excel spreadsheet, save the cells as values (to get rid of any fomulas), save as a CSV and upload. This could work backwards as a refund if required.

:lol:

[webado]

I am sure you can credit back. Also if people sign up for 12 months is there going to be a partial refund.

You can easily set up pro rata's put the fees into an Excel spreadsheet, save the cells as values (to get rid of any fomulas), save as a CSV and upload. This could work backwards as a refund if required.

:lol:
Not from the way I see it described. A refund matches a sale because what it is it's a rollback of a transaction.
I am of course referring from the point of view of 2CO's operation.
There's always a need to be able to give partial refunds, don't you think? :lol: I will for a good enough reason. Also I plan to offer upgrades to existing plans and they may need to be charged on a prorated basis. It's not the maths of it, it's the 2CO part that's the possible trouble spot.

[Annied]

When I first signed up with CCNow, it was independent, but it got taken over by Paypal a couple of years ago. Paypal and CCNow are still separate entities though. I can make refunds and do all the things I want, to ensure I give good customer service in my online shop. The main disadvantage is that you can only have a set postage rate, or include postage in the price of an item. I do the latter. You end up getting quite inventive working round it. I play on the fact that when you place an order, you won't get any hidden surprises with postage rates when you come to the checkout for example.

Where CCNow did score recently was when my email server was down for 24 hours and lost some of my emails in a black hole. CCNow have a record of all orders and I was able to login, check and pick up an order that would otherwise have been missed.

If I read their blurb correctly, 2CO has a US $49 signing on fee and charges 5.5% plus 45c on sales. There's no signing on fee with CCNow, but you pay a straight 9% on sales. I've done a few quick sums and I'd say it depends on how busy you are and the price of the items you're selling as to which one is best value. For me, all my items are low priced, and I just get a slow trickle of orders, so I'm probably better staying with CCNow. If you do good business and the average order is over US $15, 2CO is almost certainly more cost effective.

Unless they've changed their policy, CCNow, don't accept sellers of anything other than tangible goods that are sent through the post. If you're offering web design or software that can be downloaded for example, it would be outside their terms and conditions.

[webado]

Well, then that settles it. I sell web hosting, thus only services, no tangibles. Glad I've nothing to regret (yet) :lol:

[motorwatchercounter]

Christinas's stuff is non tangable.

I haven't set anything up on 2checkout. I have the options but haven't got around to it. All I was saying is that it is very easy to set products up and you can have as may as you want so, although it may take some time, setting up upgrades will be easy. The difficult part is working out how much extra to charge. Your hosting prices are so low I would feel embarrassed to ask for cash back. All you hosting set up work is done at the start so half the cost would be in the first hour. Should I wait for a few coins to be sent through the post.

I have just signed up with Christina so ONE of my sites will now be with her. Not the Motorwatcher one.

[webado]

LOL! I should hope you're embarraassed to ask for a refund! :lol:

Coins in the mail? That's a thought, though our banks don't carry metal currency except special edition gold coins.... Kind of a bit too much of a refund I think :wink:

[motorwatchercounter]

....our banks don't carry metal currency except special edition gold coins.... Kind of a bit too much of a refund I think :wink:

Sound good to me. I can melt them down and save the tax. Oh that's illegal though.

[Annied]

Well, then that settles it. I sell web hosting, thus only services, no tangibles. Glad I've nothing to regret (yet) :lol:

I only remembered the bit about intangibles when I got right to the end of my previous reply. That's why it's tacked onto the bottom. (I've just had a look at CCNows terms and conditions and it's still there by the way.) But I thought it was worth leaving the rest of the post and the cost comparison in case it was of interest to anyone else.

[rabie80]

I am having the same problem. I signed up for 2checkout account, the first day everything looks good and works well but after I get Parameter Error in the order page.

I tested order pages of other people by replacing sid value with other IDs that I know and they work well. I realized that the problem was with my account because the order URL is correct.

The 2checkout help staff requested from me to fill my contact information in order to accept sales. So try to fill all your contact information, site information, and site settings and probably it will work with you

I also say that this is a serious problem that annoyed many people and that both 2CO system and help support are weak.



Good luck.