Stock Attribute values on "Who's Online" or "Recovered Cart Sales"

[Dunk]

(and check out, if he's giving you payment info over the phone).

Actually, you raised an interesting point there.
Taking phone orders (whether or not the customer is even looking at the website) and completing the order via zen cart is ultimately what we'd like to do (if only for the sake of stock control and uniform invoicing).

I know there must be a few techniques for doing this ... anyone care to recommend the ways they do it?

[Dunk]

I know there must be a few techniques for doing this ... anyone care to recommend the ways they do it?

EDIT: the above sounds a little dumb I know... but what I can't quite get my head around is how we complete the order on behalf of the customer. Assuming they're already a registered customer, can we log into their account, go through the checkout process and then enter their card details into our website payment section on their behalf? (in our case through SagePay Direct UK). Is it legal and above board to do this??

Second, what if it's a new customer? How do we set up an account for them so we can take their order? Don't they need to click a link in an activation email in order to confirm they want to open an account with our store? (can't remember if that's the case!)
Another discrepancy is that they may then wish to buy online themselves at a later date, try registering with the same email address only to be told that the address is already registered... and probably get a little confused!

[Dunk]

scratch the bit about activation emails, i see they don't need to do that but a customer would be completely unaware of what their password was if we created their account and password on their behalf!

[stevesh]

Assuming they're already a registered customer, can we log into their account, go through the checkout process and then enter their card details into our website payment section on their behalf? (in our case through SagePay Direct UK). Is it legal and above board to do this??

Second, what if it's a new customer?

You can do that, but I can't comment on the legality. It seems to me that if the customer gives you the credit card info over the phone (business I don't accept, BTW) they're giving you the option to process it the way you see fit, so it would be above board in my opinion.

Second, you would have to create an account for them, unless you had one of the COWOA mods installed.

[Dunk]

You can do that, but I can't comment on the legality. It seems to me that if the customer gives you the credit card info over the phone (business I don't accept, BTW) they're giving you the option to process it the way you see fit, so it would be above board in my opinion.

Second, you would have to create an account for them, unless you had one of the COWOA mods installed.

Thanks, we take a lot of phone orders... and a lot of internet orders. And the fact that the two systems are entirely separate is a PITA.

As for COWOA, (I had to Google that one )
Which checkout without account mod do people recommend? And is it possible to restrict use to sales staff only?

[DrByte]

COWOA is a serious hack, and altering it for "sales staff only" is even more complicated serious hacking. If it suits your needs, go ahead. Just be aware that it'll complicate your upgrades and require a fair amount of lead time to get it working for your unique requirements.