Can I obtain Google Checkout Merchant Item Id for an Android app that has not been purchased?

Question

We are attempting to integrate Android Market into our services and we would need to verify that the user has really is the owner of a particular app, we would need to automate the retrieval of sales for that particular app.

Therefore, we have been evaluating Google Checkout's Notification History API, which allows us to query from our server past sales for a particular app.

Now the problem is that we don't know how to obtain the Checkout Item Id for the app itself. Is there anyway we can map the Android Package Name to Google Checkout Merchant Item Id?

I understand that it is possible to find the Google Checkout Merchant Item Id after a purchase is made and the order shown on Google Checkout. However, can I obtain the Id without any purchases made?

Even after the purchase, where the guarantee that this empirically found item ID won't change upon package update? In Microsoft Marketplace, for example, the item SKU does change. — Seva Alekseyev

Ed Burnette Ed Burnette · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-09T19:31:39

Instead of using the History API can you use the Notification API and record whatever info you need at the time of the order? http://code.google.com/apis/checkout/developer/Google_Checkout_XML_API_Notification_API.html

You could also use the License Verification Library to verify the user really is the owner of the app. See http://developer.android.com/guide/publishing/licensing.html

Can I obtain Google Checkout Merchant Item Id for an Android app that has not been purchased?

1 Answers