Amazon Seller Account Setup
Originally posted at coreybutler.com
If you’re interested in integrating Amazon Payments into your website, the first step is to setup a seller account at payments.amazon.com.
Amazon clearly states right up front that you’ll need to provide your business name, address, and contact information. You also need to provide a personal credit card number and billing address. If you’re like me, that requirement threw up a red flag. As an integrator/developer working on a website for a client, I wasn’t very keen on handing out this information. However; you are the owner of the account, not your client. Amazon Payments supports integrators. In the end, you will not be handing your credit card information to anyone, but it’s not very clear on the signup page. You’ll also be required to provide a phone number where you can be reached during the registration process. This is undoubtedly to keep illegitimate programmers from setting up false accounts and for providing help if necessary through the process. To date, I have not received any spam, phone calls, or anything else annoying from Amazon.
Once your registration is processed, it’s time to configure your account for development. First and foremost, make sure your account is setup to use sandbox mode. You can configure this by selecting the sandbox from the dropdown at the top of the screen (as shown in #1). You should also see the "Switch to Production" box shown in #2. Once the account is configured as a sandbox, basic parameters must be configured for your website. Start by reading the materials in integration central shown in #3.
Integration Central provides all of the documentation you need to integrate Checkout by Amazon into your website. There are plenty of examples for languages of all types including Java, PHP, .NET/C#, and ColdFusion. If you’re a ColdFusion developer, you already have a starting point. See my article on Using ColdFusion with Amazon Payments.
There are two very important links on the Integration Central toolbar. The Access Key page contains your access key and secret access key. You will need these in your code to generate unique signatures for API requests.
Integration Central also has a tool called the Error Console. This tool is very helpful for identifying problems that occur on Amazon servers. The screenshot below shows an example of what you might see if you were working with the Callback API.
Clicking on a specific error will provide you with additional detail specific to the API you’re working with. For example, the Callback API contains a general error, the response received by Amazon, the callback request Amazon sent to your server, the original callback request sent by Amazon, and the original cart request sent from your website to Amazon. To top this off, the very bottom of the page provides steps to resolve known/common issues. Keep this tool in mind as you develop. It can save a lot of time and headaches!
There are a few settings that need to be configured. The list of settings is available under the last main tab of the page.
First, your account is assigned a Merchant Token, which is necessary for the XML submitted to Amazon on each API call. This number is found under Account Info at the very bottom of the page.
Shipping Settings, Manage Taxes, & Manage Promotions
The settings in each of these sections are used as defaults when a user submits a new order through your website. However; no changes are required to start integrating Checkout by Amazon into your website. These settings can be overwritten programmatically using the Callback API.
Checkout Pipeline Settings
This is the most important section that requires the most attention. This is where you set general “pipeline” settings, configure Instant Payment Notification, and find your Merchant ID (which is NOT the same as your Merchant Token).
The Checkout Pipeline Settings defines “redirect” URL’s. These are the locations where Amazon will direct a user’s browser upon a certain event (such as successful payment). This section is also where shopping cart security can be enabled. This setting determines whether Amazon will accept XML-based shopping carts with or without a signature. This can be disabled for development purposes, but is required for production use.
It is better to enable secure carts right from the beginning of development. For the most part, there is no functional difference between a secure/insecure cart. However; secure carts require proper use of SSL on the server side. For many developers, this is more of a stumbling block than writing code. Your web server must have a recognizable SSL certificate installed in order to communicate with Amazon. If you are a ColdFusion developer, this means the Amazon SSL certificate must be imported into the keystore (covered in the Using ColdFusion with Amazon Payments article).
Once you have configured your seller account, it’s time to start developing! If you didn’t look at the documentation in Integration Central, it is a good idea to at least review it. If you are looking to integrate Checkout by Amazon into a ColdFusion website, please check out my article on Using ColdFusion with Amazon Payments.