Instant Payment and Automatic Account Creation

[nightdesigns]

Using Paypal Payments pro for the embedded credit card processing. To use that, paypal also requires Instant payments to be activated ... okay...

When the user checks out via the instant, an account is automatically created.

A few things I've noticed
1-They are never asked to create an account password
2-They do not get an new customer e-mail
3-They do not have the choice to join the mailing list.

Is there a way to change the options for at least #2 or #3? The mailing list is the most important to me; that's my direct line of communication to my customers.

[Kim]

You'll need to ask PayPal those questions, The TOS for Express checkout stipulates that you NOT require account creation.

[flatlanderoutfitters]

I have a similar issue- I would like to *fix* the automatic account creation so it works on my website. However, Ive been having a hell of a time locating the point where the automatic account creation stuff actually happens. If I can locate that, I intend to fix 2 things: First, the account is not set with a gender, has no Date of Birth, and no password gets set. For the first two, I will be editing the code to insert "unspecified" gender, and a default D.O.B. , then I will generate a randomized password , and all of this information, along with their order receipt and order status can be sent in an email, and that way, if they want to login and correct their information, they can do so. and secondly, The problem is, as it currently stands, a customer can checkout with express, it sets up an account for them, when they get back to my site they are logged in. However, if they do not update their information from that point, and they return later, they are unable to login, and the password reset DOES NOT WORK. I have had 8 customers all contact me in various stages of "MAD" because they cannot log in to their account, no matter what they try, and non of them ever got an email with account details..

I want to FIX this on my cart - I have not bothered filing it as a bug report (it IS a bug) because I noticed a couple bug reports while google searching the issue. It appears to me that the devs have little to no interest in fixing this issue, however, it severely affects my business image when things do not work the way they are supposed to. So, I will be fixing it, and I'll gladly post the fixes back to this thread (or wherever devs may request it) . however, if someone can point me to what file, and better yet what lines of code, actually do the account creation based on data posted back by paypal, it would be very helpful.

[Kim]

Are you using PayPal Express Checkout? If so, you are missing the whole point of EC - it is made so that your customers don't create an account during checkout.

[flatlanderoutfitters]

Right, I understand the point of EC , however , so far , 8 out of 11 customers that have used EC have complained to me about the account login problems (one threatened to file a fraud report because they could not login to their account, and Zen Cart said "this account does not exist" - which is another issue I planned to fix, but realized it was because the account creation process is bugged!)

In any case, I want to fix this issue because so far, I have had nothing but grief from customers that used it and then tried to log in a few days later to check on order status, and could not.

The fact remains that automatic account creation is *BUGGED* , and I want to fix it so it at least has some semblence of working right. (and I already tried turning off automatic account creation in options, before you ask, and got tired of constantly having to log in to paypal to update tha status, insert tracking numbers, etc.) - If there were an option to use DP alone (but that's an issue with paypal policy, not zen cart) , I would not even USE EC in the first place - I hate it, but it is a necessary evil. the majority of my customers do not even have a paypal account (My Zen-cart store is merely supporting a brick-n-mortar store), and the few people that used EC to check out did so because they had some money in their paypal account, and chose to use it spur of the moment - if it had not been there, I would *not* have lost the sale (but did lose one of the customers, due to the aforementioned issue) - They would simply have used the DP with credit card.

The problem will be *eventually* solved once I can get a merchant account set up with my local bank, however, the problem right now is, my gross sales by credit card are not sufficient that they will set me up with an account - soon enough, however, with the web store's sales added to that figure, I can finally get my merchant account, but that does not solve my *immediate* problem, which is the fact that some customers may choose to use paypal EC , and then the "account" that they have does not work, because the automatic account creation is *bugged*

All I am asking is simply this: What file would I find the automatic account creation routine that is called when EC is used? Simple question, should be a simple answer.

[DrByte]

I have a similar issue- I would like to *fix* the automatic account creation so it works on my website. However, Ive been having a hell of a time locating the point where the automatic account creation stuff actually happens. If I can locate that, I intend to fix 2 things: First, the account is not set with a gender, has no Date of Birth, and no password gets set. For the first two, I will be editing the code to insert "unspecified" gender, and a default D.O.B. , then I will generate a randomized password , and all of this information, along with their order receipt and order status can be sent in an email, and that way, if they want to login and correct their information, they can do so. and secondly, The problem is, as it currently stands, a customer can checkout with express, it sets up an account for them, when they get back to my site they are logged in. However, if they do not update their information from that point, and they return later, they are unable to login, and the password reset DOES NOT WORK. I have had 8 customers all contact me in various stages of "MAD" because they cannot log in to their account, no matter what they try, and non of them ever got an email with account details..

I want to FIX this on my cart - I have not bothered filing it as a bug report (it IS a bug) because I noticed a couple bug reports while google searching the issue. It appears to me that the devs have little to no interest in fixing this issue, however, it severely affects my business image when things do not work the way they are supposed to. So, I will be fixing it, and I'll gladly post the fixes back to this thread (or wherever devs may request it) . however, if someone can point me to what file, and better yet what lines of code, actually do the account creation based on data posted back by paypal, it would be very helpful.

Right, I understand the point of EC , however , so far , 8 out of 11 customers that have used EC have complained to me about the account login problems (one threatened to file a fraud report because they could not login to their account, and Zen Cart said "this account does not exist" - which is another issue I planned to fix, but realized it was because the account creation process is bugged!)

In any case, I want to fix this issue because so far, I have had nothing but grief from customers that used it and then tried to log in a few days later to check on order status, and could not.

The fact remains that automatic account creation is *BUGGED* , and I want to fix it so it at least has some semblence of working right. (and I already tried turning off automatic account creation in options, before you ask, and got tired of constantly having to log in to paypal to update tha status, insert tracking numbers, etc.) - If there were an option to use DP alone (but that's an issue with paypal policy, not zen cart) , I would not even USE EC in the first place - I hate it, but it is a necessary evil. the majority of my customers do not even have a paypal account (My Zen-cart store is merely supporting a brick-n-mortar store), and the few people that used EC to check out did so because they had some money in their paypal account, and chose to use it spur of the moment - if it had not been there, I would *not* have lost the sale (but did lose one of the customers, due to the aforementioned issue) - They would simply have used the DP with credit card.

The problem will be *eventually* solved once I can get a merchant account set up with my local bank, however, the problem right now is, my gross sales by credit card are not sufficient that they will set me up with an account - soon enough, however, with the web store's sales added to that figure, I can finally get my merchant account, but that does not solve my *immediate* problem, which is the fact that some customers may choose to use paypal EC , and then the "account" that they have does not work, because the automatic account creation is *bugged*

All I am asking is simply this: What file would I find the automatic account creation routine that is called when EC is used? Simple question, should be a simple answer.

1. What version of Zen Cart are you using?
2. Evidently you're not using the latest version, else you'd probably have already switched off the Express Checkout button on the shopping cart page.
3. When you have your PayPal EC settings set to auto-create a customer account, an email IS sent to that customer immediately upon account creation INCLUDING a randomly-generated password for their account.
If those emails are not arriving, then you have an email problem.
4. Inserting an "unspecified" gender option is more than a mere code change. It's an architectural schema change ... and is probably not worth the effort. If your customers don't wish to provide gender info, then simply turn off that option in Admin->Configuration->Customer Details
5. Further, if Date of Birth is not relevant for your customers to provide, simply turn it off too. Admin->Configuration->Customer Details.

As far as I can tell, the "bugs" you're talking about are merely configuration errors on your part.

All the things you're saying you want to change code for ... already work just fine on a brand new clean install of Zen Cart. I just tested them all while sorting through your tirade of anger.