Checkout Proceedure

[Guest]

Whether or not their patent is valid is completely irrelevant, because I doubt anyone here has the $$$ and time to take on Amazon.com.  The Apple online store uses a one click checkout, but they have licensed the right to use such a system from Amazon.com.  Amazon sued Barnes & Noble back in 1999... it was settled in 2002 or 2003 I think, but I don't know the terms of the settlement as they were not disclosed.

 

Barnes and Noble lost and had to abandon its "Express Lane" checkout system. They copied the process but not the code.

 

http://www.perlarchive.com/___TLC/7114.shtml

[cannuck1964]

I am not sure how this patent is done in Canada, but listed are the following in the case presented by amazon:

 

Claim 11 includes three steps:

 

(1) displaying the item

(2) displaying the action to be performed, and

(3) sending an order request to a server

Claim 11 also includes three limitations:

 

(4) that the sending of the order request be in response only to the displayed single action being performed,

(5) that the item is ordered without the use of a shopping cart, and

(6) that the order is actually fulfilled.

 

Notice part five (limitation) where is states that the item is ordered without the use of a shopping cart, and . since osC is a shopping cart system, this Patent does not apply to the one click preocess from amazom, at least from what I understand from the article.

 

This is similar to the e-commerce patent, and maybe back in 1999, this may have held, not so sure how well it would hold in present times.

 

Since there are 6 items listed by Amazon, all of these must be held to, before a patent infringememnt can be claimed (in the USA).

 

cheers, and like I said, I am no lawyer, and not sure if that patent is enforcable in Canada.

 

Peter M.

[burt]

Here is my new plan for checkout, based on Josh's ideas above + my own original idea:

 

 

 

Scenario:

 

1/ Items are in Cart and the person presses "checkout"

2/ The page above then appears which is an amalgam of; checkout_shipping, checkout_payment, create_account. In this page the first time buyer will input all of his details. He then presses "continue" button.

3/ This will then jump directly to checkout_confirmation (which is exactly as is at the moment). Once he presses "continue" on this page, the order will be stored [pending payment] and he will be sent off to pay (if an external processor).

4/ Index page will then appear thanking him for his order. This will require code changes to update the stored order [pending payment] to something else [order confirmed] (or somesuch). Therefore index.php will need to include some code from "checkout_success.php".

 

At this point, the customer does not know he has created an account as we did not ask him to input a password. An account is actually made, a password is generated. The customer receives a "thank you for your order" email as normal. In this email (in addition to the normal order info) he will also be given the address www.you-shop.com/login.php along with the necessary log-in details (email and the created password). Some sort of fancy language will be used here to positively re-inforce your Store and for him to use the "special" quick checkout feature at www.your-shop.com/login.php ;)

 

Thoughts? Does anyone see any major problems with this?

 

The only problem I foresee is that I'm adding an extra layer of complexity into "index.php" as this will be updating an order from [payment pending] to [order confirmed]

 

I believe that doing this cuts out at least 4 clicks?

[burt]

An alternative (and possibly easier to implement) would be to use the existing checkout_success as a pure PHP page which only updates the order and then does a header redirect to index.php. Index.php then displays the "thanks for ordering, check your email" message...

 

That might be more useful I think...

[dblake]

Here is my new plan for checkout, based on Josh's ideas above + my own original idea:

 

 

 

Scenario:

 

1/  Items are in Cart and the person presses "checkout"

2/  The page above then appears which is an amalgam of;  checkout_shipping, checkout_payment, create_account.  In this page the first time buyer will input all of his details.  He then presses "continue" button.

3/  This will then jump directly to checkout_confirmation (which is exactly as is at the moment).  Once he presses "continue" on this page, the order will be stored [pending payment] and he will be sent off to pay (if an external processor). 

4/  Index page will then appear thanking him for his order.  This will require code changes to update the stored order [pending payment] to something else [order confirmed] (or somesuch).  Therefore index.php will need to include some code from "checkout_success.php". 

 

At this point, the customer does not know he has created an account as we did not ask him to input a password.  An account is actually made, a password is generated.  The customer receives a "thank you for your order" email as normal.  In this email (in addition to the normal order info) he will also be given the address www.you-shop.com/login.php along with the necessary log-in details (email and the created password).  Some sort of fancy language will be used here to positively re-inforce your Store and for him to use the "special" quick checkout feature at www.your-shop.com/login.php ;)

 

Thoughts?  Does anyone see any major problems with this?

 

The only problem I foresee is that I'm adding an extra layer of complexity into "index.php" as this will be updating an order from [payment pending] to [order confirmed]

 

I believe that doing this cuts out at least 4 clicks?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

What about if I want to ship somewhere else? You going to add another address fields for billing address? Thus making that page longer? Something to consider is some people, (not all people) get discouraged at all the information they have to enter. So if you throw all this information at them at once it could turn away some people. Just bringing more ideas and thoughts.

[dreamscape]

Thoughts?? Does anyone see any major problems with this?

I see 2 problems. The first, I guess is not too major, but the 2nd problem, I think is pretty major.

 

The first problem I see, is I don't see where it allows a separate shipping & billing address. At least here in the states, this kind of thing is not uncommon (sending as a gift, having it shipped to your work, a college student having the billing address his home [parent's] address and shipping it to his dorm/appartment, etc).

 

One other problem, that would not affect everyone, but some to most people, is the zones for shipping & payment modules is broken now, from what I gather. Using zones on payment modules isn't very common, but is fairly common on shipping modules. Just for example, for us, we cannot offer ground methods to Alaska & Hawaii, and cannot offer expedited methods to Armed Force addresses. Then when you get into international shipping, alot of people I think offer different methods for intl. vs. domestic. Not to mention the number of shipping modules that rely on the shipping address to properly generate their quotes (All the major carriers I believe - UPS, USPS, fedEx, DHL, Royal, etc - plus many other shipping modules need & use it)

 

Those are the only 2 problems I see

[dblake]

Using zones on payment modules isn't very common, but is fairly common on shipping modules.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Yea you couldnt use a real time quoting system with that proposal. It would only work for flat rate. The user would have to enter there shipping address before they go to a shipping page. Good point.

[burt]

Ah yeah, balls. I didn't think of that. Back to the drawing board.

[dblake]

Add in the ship in cart contribution.  Then modify the layout and code to house the shopping cart.  Put in a box:  Enter your zipcode here, then upon enter/update, the page is refreshed with options in the dropdown box.  They pick there option and then add it to there seesion so when they do login, if not already, it will calculate the correct shipping method.  Obviously you will hide the checkout button until they put in there zipcode, I know it may add another step but it's a pretty small one.  Also I guess you would need to add in a country selector to if you shipped worldwide ;)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

My idea is looking a little better ;)

[burt]

Mmmm. I played around with that Ship-in-Cart mod, it's quite good.

 

Well, it's simple to get rid of login.php.

 

And simple to remove create_account_success (1 click) and checkout_success (1 click, see below). Fairly simple to combine both Payment and Shipping to one page (thereby saving 1 click)...there's 3 clicks saved...

 

I think a very good idea is to make checkout_success into a "pure code" page (somewhat like checkout_process), this will re-direct straight back to index.php+message.

 

So;

 

1/ product in cart --> clicks checkout 1 click

2/ goes straight to create account [this writes the billing address]. This also has a checkbox [is this also the shipping address?]

2a/ If checkbox == yes, then goto #4

2b/ If checkout == no then goto #3

--> continue 1 click

3/ Fills out shipping address --> continue 1 click

4/ Goes to payment/shipping methods page. Chooses relevant option --> continue 1 click

5/ checkout_confirmation --> continue 1 click

 

Goes off to Paypal (or whereever to pay) --> returned to checkout_success.php [pure code php page with instant redirect to index.php] --> index.php [with a message].

 

So;

 

If billing address == shipping address --> 4 clicks.

If billing address != shipping address --> 5 clicks.

[ozcsys]

Interesting.  Josh, in your scenarios, the client *always* fills out the address/email no matter if they have previously purchased...have I got that right?

 

In that case, there is no need for a login page at all --> seeing possibilities...you could also (in their order email) have a paragraph somewhat like  which would tie in quite nicely perhaps?

 

Interesting, interesting...your comments have made me rethink my own solution...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

A perfect example of why Bobby's idea of having a setup for coders to work together is such a good idea.

[Mark Evans]

This thread is aimed to discuss the advancement of the checkout proceedure in oscommerce.

 

In CVS the requirement to create an account have been removed with the user only needing to enter an email address and password to start the checkout process.

 

Please provide any comments on changes you would like to see to the checkout process or any additional features you would like to see.

 

Comments should be based on the checkout process only. Any posts not related to the checkout process will be removed to keep this thread on track.

 

This thread has also been made sticky.

[ciraklizer]

Everyone - while we're waiting for the big checkout process revamp, I'd like to ask if anyone knows of a mod that does the following:

 

My biggest gripe is that the account creation screen only asks for one address, which is then used for both shipping and billing. Is there an existing mod for the "create account" page that lets the customer fill in their shipping & billing address separately, with an option to check that their billing address & shipping address are the same?

 

Thanks for all your help.

[Guest]

This thread is aimed to discuss the advancement of the checkout proceedure in oscommerce.

 

In CVS the requirement to create an account have been removed with the user only needing to enter an email address and password to start the checkout process.

 

Please provide any comments on changes you would like to see to the checkout process or any additional features you would like to see.

 

Comments should be based on the checkout process only. Any posts not related to the checkout process will be removed to keep this thread on track.

 

This thread has also been made sticky.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I would like to see a two-fold process. In the Checkout. Something along the lines of Burt's process outlined above.

 

Here are what I envision for a pre-existing customer:

 

1) If the customer is logged in, then the system should pull in their default address as stored in their customer record. Next to this should be an edit button so they can edit the ship-to address but it isn't a necessary step.

 

2) When they edit the ship-to address, then shipping is recalculated automatically and the options are shown on the checkout screen when they return.

 

3) The Shopping Cart Total needs to be displayed on the Checkout screen and it needs to be updated based on the shipping and any payment surcharges based on the customer's selection. Also show the Order ID on the Checkout Page.

 

4) There needs to be a setting for a "Store Phone Number" separate from the Address field as well as an option to show this number on the checkout page.

 

--------------

If the customer isn't logged in, then they shouldn't be asked for an email and password. It should work as above but instead of a pulled address, it has fields for them to enter the information in. This form section should include a checkbox to "Create an Account". If that box is checked then and only then should the password field appear on the screen. Shipping could be updated once the user puts in their city, state/province and ppstcode using XMLHTTPREQUEST and updated on the screen easily enough. A warning should be also be displayed if the City, State falls into a Zone that cannot be shipped to.

[ACE99]

2-3 STEP PROCESS

 

Here's an idea that you may want to consider. At first I was thinking we could do everything on one page, but like someone earlier said, calculating shipping without an address would be a problem.

 

What about this? A 3 STEP PROCESS:

 

Customer puts item in cart, clicks "Proceed to checkout"...

 

1.) Shipping and Billing Address Page (fields for both on one page)

 

A checkbox is right above the section for the billing address asking the customer if they are the same as shipping. As soon as the box is checked, all the fields below in the billing details are filled on the fly. Customer can also enter an email address.

CLICK!

 

2.) Shipping/Payment

 

On the 2nd page, the customer sees 2 nice little boxes at the top summarizing their shipping and billing addresses with a little edit button in each box. The main focus however is below and that is the shipping and payment options. Optionally, there can be a summary here of the what's in the cart and the total for the order.

 

On this page there are two options. We can have a button on this page that says "submit order" and then it's done. Or, you could go one more page to see all the details. Putting a submit button on this page will make it a 2-step process.

CLICK!

 

Also, if the customer did login, they would jump right to this page after clicking "proceed to checkout" in the cart, thus in a way creating a very quick one-page checkout!

 

 

3.)Confirmation Page or Success Page (optional)

 

Some companies like putting important info on this page like a P.O.S. survey or some other code. This page can be the thankyou page, or the final "complete order page". Or we can skip this all together and just jump to the home page as Burt suggested.

DONE!

 

 

It may seem like a lot on two pages, but again I think the design and layout are very important here, as musch as the concept.

 

I'm going to work on some mockups for this layout and post them.

 

What do you think?

[ACE99]

By the way, I don't mean to change the subject, but I think the shopping cart page is just as important as the checkout as far as the whole process is concerned. I'd really like to see this improved as well:

 

1. Add "remove" buttons next to each product displayed in the cart, instead of check boxes.

 

2. Move the "Update" button so it is directly under the list of QTY boxes for each product, with a little message next to the button that says "Click here to update the qty".

 

3. Below the sub-total and an optional "estimate shipping" module, will be a large "Proceed to Checkout" button, and under that a smaller "continue shopping button".

 

These changes allow the customer to manipulate the cart better and easily find the "update" button which is so often missed. I don't know how many times a customer has told me they can't buy two of something! I know there are a few contribs to help, but perhaps a permanent change is needed along with the checkout-process revamp.

Maybe I can post a little mockup of this too...

[Guest]

tj just sent me the link to this thread, this would be great. Any ideas on when a new solution may be available?

 

Thanks guys.

[Guest]

Hi all,

 

Just trying to set up OSC to my liking, and reading through all this found it very useful. As I see it the main problem with os is the requirement to set up accounts. And the long checkout process.

 

The automatic creation of accounts modand shortening of process suggested above is excellent idea and I would find it useful once worked out.

 

In the meantime what I've managed to do (and I have no idea if I'm doing something wrong somehere :-" ) Is

 

1. install the Purchase Without Account contribution

 

2. Change all the links that say "checkout", ie from basket and nav bars to go to the page where you input your details for a "no account creation" choice. this misses out the login/create account page completely and so doesn't put off the one time purchaser, or those that see the word "account" and run away.

 

3. At the top of this page have a small note to the effect that if you want to track orders etc set up account or login here. which would take them to usual log in page.

 

Otherwise checkout process is standard - so far :D

Thats one page out of the process

 

 

If I can get shipping details and payment options onto the one page that would make it ideal.

 

 

 

Interested to see what happens

 

Cheers

 

K

[jack auth]

I've been running an OSC store with over 70 different contributions for over a year now.  Almost everything in OSC can be modified to create an extremely professional and user-friendly site.  However, my biggest gripe with OSC (and where I feel OSC falls short)  is in the entire checkout process.

 

New online stores are masking their account creation by having customers just enter an email address and having the shipping, payment and other checkout processes all on one page.  I think this is where OSC needs to go. 

 

The current OSC checkout requires way to many steps, and I've lost many customers who do not want to create an account.  I think on my current store users have to go through almost 7 pages (starting with the login screen and ending with the confirmation page) before checkout is done.  Compare that with overstock.com's 3 pages.  And notice on overstock that the email and password are entered first!  It's obvious that the understanding of consumer online behavior has advanced significantly over the past few years, and web developers realize that customers want to checkout as quickly and as easy as possible.

 

My proposal is to revamp the osc checkout system.  I would like to put all of the shipping, payment options, and address info on one checkout page.  I'd also like to get the checkout down to 3 steps, and hide the account creation process so it becomes as suttle as possible.  We need users to create accounts, and so I don't think a guest account contribution is the answer.  We just need to make the checkout easier and more user friendly.

 

I've been working with OSC for over a year now, but I'm no expert.  I'm also still learning PHP.  If anyone would like to help me with this or if any of you have suggestions for how this checkout should function, please post here!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[jenso]

Hi

 

It would be great to limit the clicks in checkout.

 

For my case it is good to have the Billing and Shipping Address together.

Best would be a dropdown of Shipping Address if more than one is on file

secound to have a button to indicate billing and shipping address is the same.

 

We do not ship outside Japan, but currently you can enter any country as shipping address. For us it wouldbe good to be able to select the shipping countries in admin. This way the customer can have any billing address in the world but we still can limit the shipping address.

 

But the problem comes with the selection of shipping and payment.

We do offer Free Shipping, Postal and one Private Carrier. As payment is bank or Cash on Delivery.Currently it is depending on the the shipping if the customer can have choice of COD or bank. In our case we do not offer COD with the Private Carrier, so when the customer is choosing the PrivateCarrier he will not get COD as choise of payment.

 

It is a bit dum because we have to write a text to let him know of the restrictions.

 

I do not know how to implement this little twist.

 

With the payment option the customer should be able to enter any GiftVoucher or coupon number.

 

At the end I do not know who to get to 3 click checkout...

On the summery page everything should be nicely displayed and be able to edit.

 

Checkout Success can be a page like now, with some advertisment for other products or article and the "Thank you note". It could forward automatic after a short time, say to index.php

 

Cheers

 

Rich

[jenso]

Sorry was to fast

 

If you do skip the logIn page and go directly to the billing & Shipping address page than you should include an other button to give the customer a choice to creat an account or not.

 

I like the idea when the customer is asked to provide his eMail address. If it is possible to check the email address against the existing accounts, without that the customer is pushing a button it would save 1 click.

Depending on the result of the email check there should be 2 choices.

When the email is in the database the customer is ask for his password and after that one is checked all billing and shipping address is filled out and he is moving on to the next page where the payment or shipping carrier can be selected.

 

If the email address is not known, than the customer will have to fill out the billing address and if differnet the shipping address.

 

But the customer should have a choice sometime before the order is made final to push a button to creat an account.

 

This way it is the choice of the customer to shop without creating an account or to take the benifits and creat an account. I know when we would creat an account without that the customer is knowing it, we will get into hot water here in Japan.

 

Non the less in Admin I like to be able to have 2 more option besides "Pending, Processing, Delivery". I like to have "Pending, Processing, waiting for payment, Shiped, Delivered". Also it would be nice to have an extra filed for the shipping code and carrier and date of shipping, as well as a field for "Delievered on" This way the customer can look up the data himself without the need for emailing us. Of course in Admin it should be possible to email this information.

 

That it for now

 

Rich

[Twizted]

Hi all,

 

Just trying to set up OSC to my liking, and reading through all this found it very useful. As I see it the main problem with os is the requirement to set up accounts. And the long checkout process.

 

The automatic creation of accounts modand shortening of process suggested above is excellent idea and I would find it useful once worked out.

 

In the meantime what I've managed to do (and I have no idea if I'm doing something wrong somehere  :-" ) Is

 

1. install the Purchase Without Account contribution

 

2. Change all the links that say "checkout", ie from basket and nav bars to go to the page where you input your details for a "no account creation" choice. this misses out the login/create account page completely and so doesn't put off the one time purchaser, or those that see the word "account" and run away.

 

3. At the top of this page have a small note to the effect that if you want to track orders etc set up account or login here. which would take them to usual log in page.

 

Otherwise checkout process is standard  - so far  :D

Thats one page out of the process

If I can get shipping details and payment options onto the one page that would make it ideal.

Interested to see what happens

 

Cheers

 

K

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I would like to know how this worked out and if you had to do anything else for it to work proper.. I would also like to skip the account setup procedure.... I belive this would incease my orders as most ppl do not want to setup an account to order small quantity products...

[thisheart]

While I feel the system can be simplified, I would warn people about 1-click checkout systems. This is patented by Amazon.com and they are quite aggressive in protecting that market advantage.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

You have to sign up first to use the one click ordering system

[ACvanRijn]

While I feel the system can be simplified, I would warn people about 1-click checkout systems. This is patented by Amazon.com and they are quite aggressive in protecting that market advantage.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I reckon this also depends on the country in which your business operates. As far as I know, software cannot be patented in Europe (yet).

[Gil-Gallad]

As far as I know, software cannot be patented in Europe (yet).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This kind of standpoint will divide owners and administrators of osc-shops into two parts - legal and illegal - so what is left to americans to do?