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osCommerce

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The most basic question ever


oldcat

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OK--I am new at ecommerce and know nothing about PHP. I installed oscommerce and am about to create the database. This is for a publisher who sells only books. I don't need anything on my index page or anyone to sign in. I just want people to be able to click on a graphic next to a book description that lets them add the book to a shopping cart. When they check out, I need their name, address, and credit card information, which will be sent by e-mail to my client (the publisher). The customer should receive an e-mail which tells them their total (inc. shipping and any tax. They are taxed in one state only.) This information will also be in the e-mail that goes to the publisher, of course.

 

I WOULD like to be able to design the shopping cart page (graphically speaking), confirmation page, and the like.

 

How do I get from where I am now (just building the database) to where I want to be? How will I make stuff appear on my site and in the form I want it to be? :huh:

 

I said this was really basic. Any help at all much appreciated.

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Take my feedback for what it's worth as I'm not particularly skilled in OScommerce although I have a reasonable programming background.

 

Here are my thoughts on how you can accomplish what you would like as I have done similar things in the past.

 

Get the use to simply click on a graphical image to add the item to a cart.

 

there are a many different ways to accomplish this. First you can simply modify one of the products modules such that rather that have a seperate window pop up when they click the image you can substitute the code with the code that is used for the add_to_cart button.

 

Another option would be to simply make an general index page with the graphics of the books your looking to sell and then add the add to cart code on the image link..

 

For example:

<a href="http://www.hoop-head.com/products_new.php?action=buy_now&products_id=37"><img src="your image" width="118" height="40" /></a>

 

 

Regarding forwarding the email to the vendor to notify them of the purchase. This can easily be done using the

Configuration-->My Store--> Send extra order emails: You can send yourself as well as the vendor all of the order details.

 

The only problem I see here is emailing the credit card information. This can be a major liability as you don't want to email CC info or store it in your database. You may have to utilize a payment processor such as PayPal or Authorize.Net and then forward the required proceeds to the vendor.

 

Regarding in the information that you want to collect...

 

you can simply modify the create_account.php and simply hide the text boxes for the information that you don't want to collect.

 

Just my general thoughts.

 

HD

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If your going to go that simple as suggested above you might skip oscommerce all together and just create a webpage with a left menu and use a paypal purchasing processor, it would probably be a much simpler cart function since you dont really need to store any info. The paypal processor would give you a buy button to add to your product pages and would take the payment as well as email which ever receipients you like and provide their mailing address. This would get rid of using an admin panel and database. Your basic book pages would have the book info with a buy button.

 

Not using a Database would limit your multiple item purchases to just one item at a time however.

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If your going to go that simple as suggested above you might skip oscommerce all together and just create a webpage with a left menu and use a paypal purchasing processor, it would probably be a much simpler cart function since you dont really need to store any info. The paypal processor would give you a buy button to add to your product pages and would take the payment as well as email which ever receipients you like and provide their mailing address. This would get rid of using an admin panel and database. Your basic book pages would have the book info with a buy button.

 

Not using a Database would limit your multiple item purchases to just one item at a time however.

 

 

I thought this was an excellent suggestion. I checked, and Paypal has a merchant account that would have been perfect for my client. I suggested it. However, she wants more direct control. She has her own credit card machine and wants to use it, etc. I don't think she trusts Paypal either. (I have been using them almost since their inception, have never had a problem, and find their record keeping extremely helpful.) Soooo-- back to the shopping cart. She didn't get the cc info in an e-mail (my mistake). She got an e-mail notifying her of an order, then went to the cart page (??) and picked up the cc info. With osCommerce, where would the site owner pick up the customer credit card info, etc.?? How does that last part work?? Thanks so much!

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Take my feedback for what it's worth as I'm not particularly skilled in OScommerce although I have a reasonable programming background.

 

Here are my thoughts on how you can accomplish what you would like as I have done similar things in the past.

 

Get the use to simply click on a graphical image to add the item to a cart.

 

there are a many different ways to accomplish this. First you can simply modify one of the products modules such that rather that have a seperate window pop up when they click the image you can substitute the code with the code that is used for the add_to_cart button.

 

Another option would be to simply make an general index page with the graphics of the books your looking to sell and then add the add to cart code on the image link..

 

For example:

<a href="http://www.hoop-head.com/products_new.php?action=buy_now&products_id=37"><img src="your image" width="118" height="40" /></a>

 

 

Regarding forwarding the email to the vendor to notify them of the purchase. This can easily be done using the

Configuration-->My Store--> Send extra order emails: You can send yourself as well as the vendor all of the order details.

 

The only problem I see here is emailing the credit card information. This can be a major liability as you don't want to email CC info or store it in your database. You may have to utilize a payment processor such as PayPal or Authorize.Net and then forward the required proceeds to the vendor.

 

Regarding in the information that you want to collect...

 

you can simply modify the create_account.php and simply hide the text boxes for the information that you don't want to collect.

 

Just my general thoughts.

 

HD

 

I SORT of understand what you said. I need to look at the code some more, I guess, and (try to) figure out what is saying what. Yes, I just want a graphical image next to the book description that the customer can click on to add the book to the shopping cart. Also, it turns out my client didn't get the cc info in an e-mail (my mistake). She got an e-mail notifying her of an order, then went to the cart page (??) and picked up the cc info. With osCommerce, where would the site owner pick up the customer credit card info, etc.?? How does that last part work?? Thanks a lot for your help!

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I SORT of understand what you said. I need to look at the code some more, I guess, and (try to) figure out what is saying what. Yes, I just want a graphical image next to the book description that the customer can click on to add the book to the shopping cart. Also, it turns out my client didn't get the cc info in an e-mail (my mistake). She got an e-mail notifying her of an order, then went to the cart page (??) and picked up the cc info. With osCommerce, where would the site owner pick up the customer credit card info, etc.?? How does that last part work?? Thanks a lot for your help!

 

 

As far as picking up the cc information goes, the credit card information is acquired during the order process. Then the payment modules (such as authorize.net) authorize the transaction real time. The credit card information is never saved anywhere as that is a tremendous liability.

 

So here is what the process will ultimately look like.

 

1) Your customer makes a purchase

2) Your customer pays via credit card

3) The credit card information is entered into OScommerce

4) Your payment module takes that information and validates it using PayPal, Authorize.net or whatever processor that you've selected

5) Paypal, auth.net or whomever tells you that the transaction was a success and reports that information back to the site

6) Your client receives a confirmation email

7) Auth.net or PayPal deposit the funds into your bank account (minus some nominal fees)

 

Regards,

HD

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If you handle CC info you MUST be PCI compliant (<-- It's a link click it)

 

Not abiding by the rules can result in stiff fines and other penalties.

 

And I'm sure sending CC info via email is a big "no-no" for a merchant.

:o

 

Now, if Joe Blow down the street wants to email his CC info to a friend, that's HIS business. But no business that collects that info FROM HIM should be doing that.

If I suggest you edit any file(s) make a backup first - I'm not perfect and neither are you.

 

"Given enough impetus a parallelogramatically shaped projectile can egress a circular orifice."

- Me -

 

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