VibeFox Ozow for OpenCart — Help

Requirements

OpenCart: 3.0.x (tested on 3.0.5.0) or 4.0.2 and later (tested on 4.1.0.3).

PHP: 8.0 or later.

Currency: South African rand (ZAR). The store must have the currency ZAR (System > Localisation > Currencies), and the payment method is shown only when the customer checks out in ZAR. Ozow charges whole cents, so the currency should use 2 decimal places.

Ozow account: an Ozow merchant account with the Site Code and Private Key of your Ozow site, from your Ozow merchant dashboard. The API Key is optional but recommended. Ozow uses the same Site Code and keys for test and live payments.

Reachable site: your store must be reachable from the Internet, without password protection or a firewall blocking Ozow, so that Ozow notifications arrive. The notification also works while the store is in maintenance mode: OpenCart 3 lets payment extension requests through, and on OpenCart 4 the extension adds a startup action that lets the notification and the customer's return from Ozow through.

VibeFox license key: bought on vibefox.net. One key works on one domain.

Installation

The download is one zip file with the packages for both OpenCart versions. Unpack it on your computer. It contains README.txt, the OpenCart 3 package wcp_ozow_pay-oc3-(version).ocmod.zip and the OpenCart 4 package wcp_ozow_pay.ocmod.zip. Install only the package for your OpenCart version. The license key is the same for both versions.

OpenCart 3

1. In the admin go to Extensions > Installer, click Upload and choose the file wcp_ozow_pay-oc3-(version).ocmod.zip. The extension has no OCMOD modifications, so Extensions > Modifications does not need a refresh. Instead of the installer you can copy the contents of the upload folder of this package into the root folder of your store.

2. Go to Extensions > Extensions and choose the type Payments. Find VibeFox Ozow Pay and click Install (the green + button). Your admin user needs the right to modify the payment extensions list.

3. Click Edit (the pencil button) to open the settings page. Paste your VibeFox license key into License key in the license block at the top of the page and click Activate (see License key).

4. Enter the Site Code and Private Key, and preferably the API Key, from your Ozow merchant dashboard. The notification and return URLs are sent to Ozow with every payment, so nothing has to be set up in the Ozow dashboard.

5. Turn on Enable/Disable and click Save. Make a test payment with Test mode on, then turn test mode off to accept real payments.

OpenCart 4

1. In the admin go to Extensions > Installer, click Upload and choose the file wcp_ozow_pay.ocmod.zip. Do not rename the file: OpenCart 4 takes the extension code from the file name, and a renamed package does not work.

2. The package appears in the list of installed extensions on the same page. Click Install (the green + button) next to it.

3. Go to Extensions > Extensions and choose the type Payments. Find VibeFox Ozow Pay, click Install (the green + button), then Edit (the pencil button).

4. Enter the license key and the Ozow keys and test the payment as in steps 3 to 5 for OpenCart 3. The settings page and its fields are the same in both versions. Only the notification and return URLs are different (see Payment notifications); they are sent to Ozow with every payment as well.

A new install starts with the payment method turned off and test mode on.

Configuration

All settings are on the extension page: Extensions > Extensions > Payments > VibeFox Ozow Pay > Edit. The sections are listed on the left; the Save button under the list saves the whole page. Above the settings the page warns you when the Site Code or Private Key is missing (Ozow is then hidden at checkout), when the default currency of the store is not ZAR, when the currency has more than 2 decimal places (set it to 2 in System > Localisation > Currencies), and shows Test mode is on: no real payments are accepted. Do not ship orders paid in test mode. while test mode is on. Without the right to modify the extension the page shows the settings but cannot save them.

The Ozow fields never block saving, except a Title longer than 128 characters (The title must be no longer than 128 characters.). The OpenCart fields are checked: Sort Order must be a whole number (negative numbers are allowed), Total a number of 0 or more, and the geo zone and order statuses must exist. If one of them is wrong, an error names the field and nothing is saved.

Ozow

Enable/Disable: Enable Ozow payments turns the payment method on or off. Default: off.

Title: the payment method name customers see at checkout. It is also the payment method name stored in the order. Up to 128 characters; if left empty, Instant EFT (Ozow) is shown. Default: Instant EFT (Ozow).

Description: the text shown to the customer at the Confirm Order step, above the confirm button. Default: Pay instantly and securely from your South African bank account. You will be redirected to Ozow to choose your bank and approve the payment. In test mode the line TEST MODE: no money will be charged. is added under it (only when the description is not empty).

Sort Order: the position of Ozow among the payment methods at checkout. Leave it empty or enter a whole number.

Geo Zone: offer Ozow only for payment addresses in the selected geo zone. Default: All zones. Geo zones are set up in System > Localisation > Geo Zones. On OpenCart 4, when the store asks for no payment address, the shipping address is used.

Total: the checkout total, in the default currency of the store, that an order must reach before Ozow is offered. Leave it empty to offer Ozow for any total.

Ozow credentials

Copy the Site Code, Private Key and API Key from your Ozow merchant dashboard (Merchant details / Sites). The section links to the Ozow integration documentation at hub.ozow.com.

Site Code: the Site Code of the Ozow site that receives the payments. Answers for another Site Code are rejected.

Private Key: signs every payment request and verifies every Ozow answer. Keep it private. It is saved exactly as entered. Without it the payment method is hidden and no Ozow answer is accepted.

API Key (recommended): optional. With an API Key, every successful payment is also confirmed with the Ozow GetTransaction API before the order is marked paid. The API must report the payment as complete, with the same amount, currency and Site Code.

Saved keys are never shown again. The field stays empty and shows Saved — leave empty to keep it. Type a new value only to change it. To remove a saved key, tick Clear the saved Private Key on save or Clear the saved API Key on save under the field and click Save.

Test mode: Ozow uses the same Site Code and keys for tests: payments are created with IsTest=true and no money moves. Orders paid in test mode get a note; do not ship them. Turn test mode off to accept real payments. A test payment never pays an order in live mode. Default: on.

Payment notifications

The section shows the four URLs that the extension sends to Ozow with every payment: Notification URL (Ozow sends the payment notification there), Success URL, Cancel URL and Error URL (Ozow returns the customer there). They look like https://your-store/index.php?route=extension/payment/wcp_ozow_pay/notify and https://your-store/index.php?route=extension/payment/wcp_ozow_pay/back&ozow_return=success, on OpenCart 4 like https://your-store/index.php?route=extension/wcp_ozow_pay/payment/wcp_ozow_pay.notify and https://your-store/index.php?route=extension/wcp_ozow_pay/payment/wcp_ozow_pay.back&ozow_return=success. They are built from the storefront address of your OpenCart installation. Nothing has to be configured in the Ozow dashboard. If your Ozow site is set to fixed URLs, copy them exactly as the settings show them.

Orders

OpenCart creates the order at the Confirm Order step without a status (a missing order). The order gets a status only after Ozow has sent a correctly signed answer. A cancelled or failed payment leaves the order without a status, and the customer goes back to the checkout with the cart kept. Each field below lists your OpenCart order statuses.

Order Status After Payment: Ozow reported the payment as Complete with the expected amount and currency (confirmed by GetTransaction when an API Key is set). Default: Processing.

Awaiting Ozow Payment Status: Ozow or the bank is investigating the payment (Ozow status PendingInvestigation). When Ozow reports Complete, the order gets the status after payment. Default: Pending.

On Hold (Review) Status: the payment needs your review (see Order statuses). The order is not marked paid. Default: Pending, because OpenCart has no On hold status. You can create your own status in System > Localisation > Order Statuses and select it here.

Failed Payment Status: a payment under investigation that Ozow then reported as Cancelled, Error or Abandoned. Default: Failed.

Cancelled Order Status: the status your store uses for cancelled orders. A payment received for such an order puts it in the review status instead of marking it paid. The extension never sets this status. Default: Canceled.

Refunded Order Status: the status your store uses for refunded orders. A payment received for such an order only adds a note. The extension never sets this status. Default: Refunded.

Advanced

Debug log: writes payment requests and Ozow answers to ozow_p_debug.log.php in the OpenCart logs folder (storage/logs). The file cannot be opened from the web, and at 5 MB it is moved to ozow_p_debug.old.log.php. Errors and warnings are always logged. Keys, hashes, tokens and customer data are never logged. Default: off.

Log: shows the size and the latest entries of the log. Click Clear log to empty it.

Delete data on uninstall: when on, uninstalling the extension removes the gateway settings and the log. The Ozow data of the orders is always kept. Default: off.

Import / Export

Export: Download JSON saves the settings as a JSON file. The Private Key and API Key are not exported.

Import: paste previously exported JSON and click Import to restore the settings. The saved keys are kept.

Checkout

At the Payment Method step the customer chooses the payment method (by default Instant EFT (Ozow)). At the Confirm Order step the customer sees your description and the note You will be redirected to Ozow to choose your bank and approve the payment. OpenCart creates the order at this step, still without a status. On OpenCart 4 the customer picks the payment method with the Choose button of the payment method block, in the window Payment method options, and clicks Confirm Order at the bottom of the checkout page. When the customer clicks Confirm Order, the extension sends the customer to the hosted Ozow payment page with a signed request for the order total in ZAR. The bank statement reference is Order and the order number (up to 20 Latin letters, digits, spaces and dashes). The customer's name is passed to Ozow. On the Ozow page the customer chooses a South African bank and approves the payment in the banking app.

Ozow then notifies the store and sends the customer back. Both carry the same signed answer and both are processed the same way, so the order gets its status even when one of them is lost. The order is marked paid only after Ozow confirms it: the hash must verify with your Private Key, the Site Code must be yours, the answer must belong to this payment attempt of the order, and the amount and currency must match the order. With an API Key the payment is also checked with the GetTransaction API. The order then gets its status the standard OpenCart way, with the usual order e-mails and stock update.

After a successful payment the customer sees the OpenCart order success page. If Ozow or the bank is still investigating the payment, the page also says We are waiting for Ozow to confirm your payment. You will receive an e-mail as soon as it is confirmed — there is no need to pay again. If the order is in the review status, it says Your Ozow payment was received and is being reviewed by the store. We will contact you if anything is needed. If an investigated payment later failed or the unpaid order was cancelled, it says Your Ozow payment was not completed. Please contact us about this order. (on OpenCart 4 the customer is sent back to the checkout instead, see below). If Ozow has not confirmed the payment yet when the customer comes back, a Payment confirmation page shows the waiting text with Check again and Back to checkout buttons.

If the customer cancels on the Ozow page or the payment fails, the order stays without a status. The customer goes back to the checkout with the same cart and sees The Ozow payment was cancelled. You can try again or choose another payment method. or The Ozow payment was not completed. You can try again or choose another payment method. On OpenCart 4 these messages are shown above the checkout page.

OpenCart 3 creates a new order every time the Confirm Order step is shown. OpenCart 4 keeps one order for the checkout and updates it, so after a cancelled or failed payment the customer pays the same order with a new attempt. If another order of the same cart is already paid or awaiting Ozow, the customer is taken straight to the success page, and a late payment of the second order is not applied: a note on the paid order asks you to refund the duplicate in your Ozow dashboard.

If an order of the cart was paid and then cancelled or refunded by you, the customer is sent back to the checkout and pays the cart with a new order. On OpenCart 3 the message is This order was cancelled or refunded by the store. Please confirm the order again to pay with a new order.

OpenCart 4 keeps the order in the checkout until the success page is shown. When the customer clicks Confirm Order again or comes back from Ozow, and that order is closed, the customer is sent back to the checkout with a message, and the next Confirm Order pays a new order: Your previous order was cancelled without a payment. Please confirm the order again to pay with a new order. (for example an investigated payment failed or you cancelled the unpaid order) or Your previous order was cancelled or refunded by the store. Please confirm the order again to pay with a new order. (the order was paid and then cancelled or refunded). If that order is already paid and the cart now has other products or quantities, Confirm Order shows Your previous order has already been paid. Your cart has changed since — please confirm the order again to pay for the current cart.

If the checkout is not in ZAR, the customer sees Ozow accepts payments in South African rand (ZAR) only. Please choose another payment method.

The extension takes one-time payments in ZAR only. It has no refunds from OpenCart, no subscriptions, no saved bank accounts or tokenization, and no payment links sent from the admin.

Orders and refunds

Order statuses

No status (missing order): the customer was sent to Ozow and has not paid, cancelled, or Ozow has not confirmed the payment yet. In Sales > Orders such orders are shown only with the filter Order Status set to Missing Orders.

On OpenCart 4 an unpaid order of the checkout can get the status Voided, which OpenCart 4 sets when the customer comes back to the Confirm Order step. The extension treats such an order as an order without status, and a later payment still confirms it.

Order Status After Payment (default Processing): the payment was confirmed. A note shows the amount and the Ozow transaction ID, and whether the payment was confirmed by the GetTransaction API. A test payment gets the note TEST MODE — no money was received, do not ship this order.

Awaiting Ozow Payment Status (default Pending): Ozow or the bank is investigating the payment. The order is updated when Ozow sends the final status: Order Status After Payment on success, Failed Payment Status on failure.

On Hold (Review) Status (default Pending): the note tells why: the paid amount or currency differs from the order; a payment arrived for an order that had already been cancelled; or, with an API Key, the GetTransaction API could not confirm the payment yet or contradicts it. Check the payment in your Ozow dashboard and change the order status. If the API could not answer, the next Ozow notification completes the order.

Failed Payment Status (default Failed): a payment that was under investigation was cancelled, abandoned or failed. A later successful Ozow answer for it still marks the order paid.

An order that is already paid is never changed back, and a cancelled or refunded order is never re-opened. If a second payment arrives for an order that is already paid, a note asks you to refund the duplicate in your Ozow dashboard. A test payment never pays an order while the extension is in live mode; a note says so.

Notes are entries in the order History that the customer does not see.

VibeFox Ozow Pay tab

In Sales > Orders open an order paid with Ozow. At the bottom of the order page, next to History and Additional, the VibeFox Ozow Pay tab shows the Transaction reference (the order number) and the attempt, the Ozow transaction ID, the Status, the Requested amount, the Amount reported by Ozow, the Ozow message, a TEST MODE label for test payments and the Ozow notes of the order. The tab is shown to users who have access to the extension.

Refunds

Refunds from OpenCart are not supported. Refund the payment in your Ozow merchant dashboard, then record the refund in OpenCart manually. Product returns in Sales > Returns do not send money back through Ozow.

License key

The extension works with a VibeFox license key from vibefox.net. The license block License — VibeFox Ozow Pay is the first block on Extensions > Extensions > Payments > VibeFox Ozow Pay > Edit, above the settings. Paste the key into License key and click Activate. After that the block shows the key masked, the status (for example the date the license is active until and your domain) and the buttons Check now to check the status again, Change key to enter another key and Remove key to remove the key from this store. Below them are the line Product: opencart-payment-ozow and the link Manage licenses and domains in your account, which opens your vibefox.net account. Only admin users with the Modify permission for the extension can change the key. The texts of the block follow the admin language (English and Russian are included).

If the key is not accepted, the block says why, for example Key not found, This key belongs to another product, Domain limit reached or License expired on a date. After the store address changes, or after you free a domain slot in your account, click Check now. If the license server cannot be reached, the extension keeps working on the last known status.

One key works on one domain: the store address from the OpenCart configuration. Removing the key from the store does not free its domain slot. Free the slot in your vibefox.net account.

Without an active key, Ozow is not shown to customers at checkout. If a payment is started anyway, the customer sees This payment method is not available. Please choose another one. An admin user who is logged in to the admin in the same browser still sees the payment method in the store, marked (unlicensed — visible to admins only), so you can set up and test the extension before you buy a key. On OpenCart 4 this preview is not available: the store does not see the admin login, so without an active key the payment method is hidden for everybody. After you have opened the Edit page once, a reminder appears on the admin Dashboard. Close it with × to hide it for 7 days. Existing orders are not affected: payments already started are still confirmed.

When a license expires, the extension keeps working, but updates and support need a renewal. The status is checked again automatically when you open the admin Dashboard or the Edit page: once a day for the first 14 days after the key is entered, then once a week. No cron job is needed. Uninstalling the extension always removes the license key and license status.

Troubleshooting

Ozow does not appear at checkout: check that the license is active, Enable/Disable is on, the Site Code and Private Key are filled in and the customer checks out in ZAR. Also check that the payment address is in the selected Geo Zone and that the order reaches the Total set in the settings. The settings page shows a warning when something is missing.

The payment went through, but the order stays without a status: the Ozow notification did not reach the store and the customer did not come back. Check that your store is reachable from the Internet (no password protection or firewall blocking Ozow). If your Ozow site is set to fixed URLs, check that the URLs are exactly the ones shown in Payment notifications. Turn on Debug log and read the Log field on the extension page.

The notification answers Invalid hash: the Private Key in the settings does not belong to the Ozow site that sent the answer. Copy it again from the Ozow merchant dashboard. Nothing is changed.

The notification answers Unknown site: the answer came from another Ozow site. Check the Site Code.

The notification answers Order mismatch or Order not found: the answer does not belong to a payment started in this store. Nothing is changed.

The notification answers Gateway not configured: the Site Code or Private Key is missing. Fill them in; Ozow may retry.

The notification answers Payment not confirmed yet: the answer could not be applied yet. With an API Key, the GetTransaction API could not confirm the payment (the order is in the review status and the next notification completes it; if it stays there, check the API Key and the payment in your Ozow dashboard). It is also the answer when the customer's return was being processed for the same cart at the same moment; see the log.

The customer sees This payment method is not available. Please reload the checkout page.: the checkout session no longer matches the order, or the payment method was turned off meanwhile. The customer reloads the checkout.

A test payment did not pay the order: the extension is in live mode. Test payments never pay an order in live mode; the order note or the log says so.

Order is in the review status after payment: read the notes in the VibeFox Ozow Pay tab and check the payment in your Ozow dashboard, then set the order status or refund the payment in Ozow.

Uninstall

Go to Extensions > Extensions, choose the type Payments and click Uninstall (the red − button) next to VibeFox Ozow Pay. The license key and license status of this extension are always removed. OpenCart always removes its own settings of the extension: Enable/Disable, Sort Order, Geo Zone, Total and the order statuses of the Orders section, which return to their defaults on a re-install. The OpenCart event of the extension is removed too (on OpenCart 4 its events and its startup action, which lets the notification and the return through in maintenance mode). If Delete data on uninstall is on, the other gateway settings (title, description, Site Code, keys, test mode, logging) and the log are removed. If it is off, they are kept for a later re-install. The Ozow payment records are always kept, so late notifications of old orders are still recognised after a re-install. Existing orders keep their payment notes.

On OpenCart 4, to remove the files of the extension as well, go to Extensions > Installer after the uninstall and click Uninstall (the orange − button) next to VibeFox Ozow Pay in the list of installed extensions, then Delete (the red bin button) to remove the uploaded package.

Ozow is a trademark of its respective owner. This extension is not affiliated with or endorsed by Ozow.