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Google Checkout

Checkout Store Gadget

Contents
Step 1. Sign up
Step 2. Define your products
Step 3. Set up your gadget
Step 4. Start processing orders
Step 5. Getting paid
Troubleshooting
Other resources
How to add a Store Gadget to your site

The Google Checkout store gadget allows you to quickly and easily create an online store using a Google Docs spreadsheet.

Will this procedure work for me?

  • This procedure will allow you to sell multiple items in a single transaction.
  • The Google Checkout store gadget can track inventory, if you have only limited quantites of the items you are selling.
  • You'll need to be able to edit the HTML source of the webpage where you want to embed the gadget.

Technical Skills Required:

    The person implementing the Google Checkout store gadget does not need to write HTML, but should be able to read HTML well enough to know the appropriate point where the gadget code snippet should be added.

This symbol means the link opens up the page in a new window or tab so when you're done with that step, you can close the window or tab and go on to the next step.

Step 1. Sign up for a Google Checkout merchant account

  1. Sign up now (http://checkout.google.com/sell/signup) for a Checkout merchant account if you don't already have one.

    This is a production (http://code.google.com/apis/checkout/developer/Google_Checkout_Glossary.html#production) account, for receiving orders from actual paying customers. You will need to supply your email address, to which you will be sent an email to confirm. You will also need to supply information that personally identifies you or your business — depending on the country, this might include a credit card number, tax number, registration number or other identification.

  2. Specify a bank account

    Follow these instructions to get paid: Bank account set up and verification (http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=113730).

    When you sell through Google Checkout, buyers pay Google Checkout, who then pays you. Before you can get paid, you need to specify a bank account so that you'll be eligible for payouts. This setup can take a few days, so it's good to set it up early.

  3. Allow unsigned carts

    Go to the Integration Settings (https://checkout.google.com/sell/settings?section=Integration) page and uncheck the checkbox labeled My company will only post digitally signed carts. Then click the Save button.

  4. Locate and write down your Merchant ID

    Write down your Merchant ID located on the same Integration Settings (https://checkout.google.com/sell/settings?section=Integration) page. This is your production (http://code.google.com/apis/checkout/developer/Google_Checkout_Glossary.html) Merchant ID, to be used for actual sales. You will need to add this Merchant ID to the HTML form in step 3B.

    Note: Your Merchant ID is public, but your Merchant Key is not. You should keep your Merchant Key strictly private and never share it with anyone. No Google representative will ever ask you for your Merchant Key. Someone who obtains your Merchant Key could tamper with prices in an order and fraudulently purchase items at a steep discount.

Step 2. Define your products in a Google spreadsheet

  1. Open our template spreadsheet (http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AgVCB1DVT80ccl8tQXZKc0RTSVZCNXFoa0JzSHJ4alE&newcopy).

  2. When asked if you'd like to make a copy, click Yes, make a copy.

  3. Replace the sample data in the spreadsheet with your product information.

    Note: If you like, you can add additional columns to keep notes on your inventory without affecting how the gadget works. However, keep in mind that your spreadsheet is publicly viewable, so please don't store any private information you don't want people to see. Your changes are automatically saved as you edit the document.

  4. (Optional) Specify shipping charges per product by entering the shipping price as a numeric value in the shipping column. To specify free shipping for an item, enter 0 for that item's shipping value.

  5. (Optional) Specify options for your products in the option and option_name columns.

    • The values for the option column should be in the format of a comma-separated list of product options. For example, the options for a T-shirt could be S, M, L, XL. If values are present in the option column, they will be displayed as a drop-bown box above the Add to cart button in the Google Checkout store gadget.
    • The option_name column, if present, specifies a label for the drop-down box, such as "Size:".

  6. Click on Share in the upper right-hand corner of the template spreadsheet.

  7. Choose Publish as a web page from the drop-down menu.

  8. Make sure that the Automatically re-publish when changes are made option is checked.

  9. Click the Start Publishing button.

Step 3. Set up and embed your gadget

  1. Determine which gadget template best meets your needs:

    • Large: 800x400
      Large Google Checkout store gadget

    • Small: 320x300
      Small Google Checkout store gadget

    • Tiny: 215x250
      Tiny Google Checkout store gadget

  2. Select the embed location of your gadget:

    Embed location

    To embed the Google Checkout store gadget on your website


    1. Open one of the store configuration tools below in a new window.

    2. In the store configuration tool, enter the entire URL of your inventory spreadsheet (including the "?key=" portion) into the Data Source URL field.
      Example: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=KEY
    3. Enter your Merchant ID (the one you recorded in Step 1 above).
    4. Click Preview Changes to see a preview.
    5. Make any desired customizations.
    6. When you like what you see, click the Get the Code button.
    7. Copy and paste the HTML snippet on your website.

Step 4. Start processing orders

Go to the Orders tab of your Merchant Center (https://checkout.google.com/sell/orders) to see orders that buyers have made.

Getting paid

After a buyer has placed an order, you have shipped it to them and charged their credit card, Google then pays you that amount minus a transaction fee. To find out about payment prerequisites and schedules, see:

Troubleshooting common problems

I'm having problems with the store configuration tool in Chrome and Safari.
We are currently working on this problem. In the meantime, everything should work in Firefox.

"Oops! <Merchant> has sent Google a shopping cart with errors in it."

Please make sure you're allowing unsigned carts. Follow this link (https://checkout.google.com/sell/settings?section=Integration) to enable unsigned carts (uncheck 'My company will only post digitally signed carts'). More details (http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/bin/answer.py?answer=113366).

"Oops! We were unable to process your request."
Check to see if you have entered your production Google Checkout Merchant ID or your sandbox Google Checkout Merchant ID. In the store configuration tool, make sure that "Use Sandbox Account?" is set to "No" for a production account or set to "Yes" for a sandbox account.

My gadget gives me an "invalid response [object Object]" error and says "Access denied".
Make sure that your spreadsheet is published by clicking on Share, then Publish as a web page, and then Start Publishing.

No data is showing in the gadget.
Make sure that your spreadsheet is published by clicking on Share, then Publish as a web page, and then Start Publishing. Also check that your spreadsheet is in the correct format. The first row of the spreadsheet must be the column names, such as title, content, price, quantity, etc. See this Google spreadsheet (http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AgVCB1DVT80ccl8tQXZKc0RTSVZCNXFoa0JzSHJ4alE&hl=en) for an example.

Other resources

Google Checkout store gadget forum
Spreadsheet Gadget Developer Guide
Setting up your merchant account to accept unsigned carts