Frequently Asked Questions About The Z-Commerce Platform
Below is a list of frequently asked questions about the Z-Commerce Platform. If you are looking for information on how to accomplish common functionality with the Z-Commerce API, please see our How To section. For information about the API's and specific objects, please refer to the Z-Commerce API documentation. And of course,our forums are a great place to seek help and connect with other developers.
General Z-Commerce Platform Questions
What is the Z-Commerce Platform?
- The Z-Commerce Platform is a turnkey commerce-as-a-service solution that makes it easy to plug billing, payment, and subscription management services into your application with just a few lines of code. The Z-Commerce Platform gives developers the full power of Zuora's award winning Z-Billing, Z-Payments, and Z-Force applications via an open API, making it easy for developers to monetize subscription businesses.
Who is the Z-Commerce Platform for?
- The Z-Commerce Platform is designed for any developer working on a subscription service who needs:
- A means to sell, monetitze, and manage subscription services.
- The flexibility to easily change pricing, packaging, billing, and payment options with minimal IT intervention.
What is the Z-Commerce API?
- The Z-Commerce API is a set of SOAP-based web services that make it easy for developers to access Z-Billing, Z-Payments, and Z-Force through a bunch of web service calls. With the Z-Commerce API, you can plug in Zuora’s powerful subscription management, billing, and payment services into your custom applications.
Getting Started With The Z-Commerce Platform
How do I apply for a Z-Commerce Platform beta account?
- You can apply for private beta access to the Z-Commerce Platform here.
How do I log into my Z-Commerce Platform sandbox account?
- Click here to log into your sandbox account. If you do not yet have a sandbox account, you may apply for private beta access here.
Where can I get help with the Z-Commerce Platform?
What programming languages does the Z-Commerce Platform support?
- The Z-Commerce API use SOAP-based web services, giving you the freedom to use any programming language that supports SOAP. All major programming languages provide library frameworks which make working with SOAP simple.
Z-Commerce API Questions
What can I do with the Z-Commerce API?
- With the Z-Commerce API, you can now programmatically create, manage, change and cancel subscriptions, create invoices, and apply payments. In addition, you can programmatically query and update account, contact, payment method, subscription, invoice and usage data. Please consult the Z-Commerce API Reference Guide for a detailed description of what you can do.
What version of the Z-Commerce API should I use?
- We recommend that you use the latest version of the Z-Commerce API, which is available here (requires login to your sandbox). Using the latest version of the Z-Commerce API will ensure that you get all the latest features Zuora offers. However, you may develop with any version of the Z-Commerce API. Zuora will provide support for older versions of the Z-Commerce API without breaking your existing code, as long as your code refers to the API endpoint of the older version. Switching to a newer version of the Z-Commerce API may require you to change code, so it is advisable to fully test your code on the newest version before moving to the newer version.
What is the difference between Subscribe() and Create()?
- The Subscribe() call is a single call that allows you to create subscriptions for new customers in a single step. The Subscribe() call will:
- Create a customer account.
- Create customer contacts and associate the contacts to the account as bill to and sold to contacts.
- Allow the option to create an electronic payment method (e.g. a credit card), and allow the option of authorizing this payment method with a payment gateway.
- Create a subscription under the newly created account.
- Create RatePlans and RatePlanCharges within the subscription.
- Optionally generate an invoice for the first billing period.
- Optionally apply a payment electronically (e.g. charging a credit card) for the amount of the invoice.
- The Create() call allows you to create specific objects, such as Accounts, Contacts, Payment Methods, Amendments, Payments, and Usage without performing other actions within the system.
What is the difference between a ProductRatePlan and a RatePlan?
- A ProductRatePlan is a list of all charges specific to a product. ProductRatePlans are defined in the Z-Billing Product Catalog, and contain one or more RatePlanCharges.
- A RatePlan contains all charges specific to a particular subscription. It is attached to a subscription based on the general structure provided by a ProductRatePlan. It is flexibile and can be modified based on the template (e.g. a quantity of seats may be defined, or a discounted price may be applied off the list price in the ProductRatePlan).
ProductRatePlans contain standard list prices for all charges and are used as a template to apply to a given subscription when a RatePlan is added to the subscription.
- It may be useful to think of a ProductRatePlan as a template for creating a subscription. The RatePlan specific to a subscription is constructed from the ProductRatePlan template. In most cases, the terms of a RatePlan will mimic the product rate plan very closely.
However, for specific subscriptions, businesses may wish to alter the standard pricing and terms on a case by case basis, which can be done using the RatePlan.
What is the difference between a RatePlan and a RatePlanCharge?
- A RatePlan is the logical group of the all the charges for a product. A RatePlan can have multiple rate plan charges, which come in the following types:
- One-time - Charges that your customers pay only once (these payments do not recur). Examples include upfront setup and installation fees.
- Recurring - Periodic charges that repeat on a regular basis. Charges may be set to recur monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. Once the charge is triggered (as of a certain date), the Z-Commerce Platform will automatically charge the customer on the appropriate dates in the future. Examples include the monthly charge from your cable operator or a yearly charge for a magazine.
- Usage - Charges calculated based on a quantity that customer has used, or consumed, of a product during a given billing period. These charges are billed in arrears based on usage data provided to Z-Billing for each customer or subscription. Usage data may be sent to Z-Billing via a file upload or the Usage API. Examples include per-minute charges for long distance phone calls and pay-per-view movies charges from your cable company.
Z-Commerce for Facebook Questions
What is Z-Commerce for Facebook?
- You can apply for private beta access to the Z-Commerce Platform here.
For Whom is Z-Commerce for Facebook Intended?
- Click here to log into your sandbox account. If you do not yet have a sandbox account, you may apply for private beta access here.
How Do I Use Z-Commerce For Facebook?
How Do I Become a Z-Commerce for Facebook Beta Partner?
- The Z-Commerce API use SOAP-based web services, giving you the freedom to use any programming language that supports SOAP. All major programming languages provide library frameworks which make working with SOAP simple.
