Let us assume that you have gone through the implementation guide and you have configured your plans, addons, and coupons. Now you think you're ready to deploy your billing and payment system. But before you go live, please go through this checklist to make sure you have everything squared away.
This is a list of settings and configurations that you need to do within Chargebee's web interface.
1. Copy Sandbox Data
This feature only transfers some of the settings. To help you transfer settings from your test site to live, use the copy site configuration feature in Chargebee.
2. Configure your Payment Gateway
Assuming that you already have your payment gateway account approved and ready, you will need to configure this within Chargebee. Click here to know more.
3. Configure your Site Information
These options can be found under Settings > Configure Chargebee.
Specify your country and reporting currency. Also enable daily digest under Settings > Configure Chargebee > Report Settings (available only in your LIVE site).
4. Metered/Usage Based Billing Setup
Enable this if you have a metered based billing setup. Click here to find out how.
5. Tax Setup
Configure your tax settings. To know more about country specific tax, please contact our support team at [email protected] . Here's our documentation on taxes.
6. Retry Settings/Dunning Management
Review your defaults for retry settings to recover from direct debit, wallet, and credit card failures.
7. Invoice Customization
Every time a payment is made, Chargebee sends out an invoice to your customers on your behalf. You can always customize the way it looks. Once you've customized it, email an invoice to yourself to be sure it looks how you want it to be.
You may also set up quotes in Chargebee to be sent to customers before they actually sign-up for products/services.
8. Checkout Customization
If you are using Chargebee's checkout, you can customize the way it looks from Chargebee's web interface. Click here to learn more.
Ensure that you have checked, edited and enabled all the email notification templates that you need before you go live.
9. Email Notifications
Be sure to setup your email notifications as well as the templates you'll be using for your transaction emails. Send a few test emails to yourself and have a look at them using different browsers and devices. Here's more on configuring your transactional emails.
10. Webhook Settings
Webhook notifies you of the changes that occur in Chargebee. You could configure webhooks in Chargebee.
Click here to learn more about Webhook.
11. Provide Access to Team Members (Optional)
If you've already invited users to your test site, and you need those users to have access to your live site as well, invite those users again from the LIVE site. In Chargebee, access is controlled at a Site level, be it TEST or LIVE. So, you need to invite users explicitly for each site.
12. Testing
We recommend that you run a few small-value test transactions with real cards in your LIVE site before opening it up to customers.
Try these tests using all the card types that you've enabled.
Once you've completed all the test transactions, please log in to your LIVE payment gateway account and check for corresponding entries there.
These are a few things that you will need to have done outside of Chargebee:
Security is non-negotiable. And it pays to have a proper SSL certificate, regardless of whether you let credit card information pass through your server or not.
Wildcard certificates are expensive but thankfully you do not need it, unless you intend to allow your customers to create sub domains under your site, just like Chargebee.
As a merchant you will only need a single domain certificate with a named sub-domain, like app.xyz.com or billing.xyz.com.
The SSL certificate requirements differ based on how you integrate with Chargebee:
Chargebee's Checkout
SSL Certificate is not mandatory for merchants using Chargebee's Checkout. But we do recommend configuring HTTPS for the webhook URLs.
iframe-based Checkout Pages
Even though Chargebee's checkout page has HTTPS, end users would see the merchant's website address in the browser URL. If you use HTTP, end users may think they are entering the credit card on an insecure page. Though not mandatory from the compliance point of view, we strongly recommend using HTTPS for iframe-based checkout pages to ensure better checkout experience for end users.
API-based/Custom Checkout Pages
It is mandatory for merchants using custom checkout pages to have HTTPS configured. As credit card details are transferred via the merchant's servers, having an SSL certificate is mandatory.
Where to get SSL Certificates
There are many companies that you can get an SSL certificate from and the price varies from $9 per year to $195 per year, depending on the provider.
Here are a few that we suggest, in no particular order:
Setting up and installing SSL is quite easy and takes anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour depending on the person doing it. All you need to do is buy the certificate from a trusted and well-known source and install it.
If you don't have them already, you need to get them right away before you go live. Click here to know more.
As part of your payment gateway settings, check these as well:
PCI Compliance:
As a merchant using Chargebee's Checkout, all you have to do is submit a Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ-A) to stay compliant (the basic level of compliance required).
Your exposure is minimal when using Chargebee Checkout with the basic declaration to submit to Payment Gateway. Some gateways ask for this SAQ-A form to be submitted once a year and some don't. It depends on the Payment Gateway chosen.
You may download the latest version of the SAQ-A document from the PCI Security Standards Website . It is under the SAQs section.
You can find a sample SAQ-A document here .
For any queries, email [email protected] , and we will help you with the details.