customer log in required?

[Merlinpa1969]

Tell that to my now over 2000 customers who use PWA (98% of all)

I didnt deny that your clients didnt choose this method,
the farse part is the fact that you are dishonest with a customer,
yo uare in fact creating an account for this person.
thats what the statement about passing th epassword as a hidden variable was about.


and in over 3 years here I can honestly tell you that the people requesting or demanding this feature is actually quite low compared to the number of users.


My post wasnt about starting a heated discussion, merely pointing out that your state statement about no one realizing wasnt quite accurate,

the powers that be ( the ones that are giving you this software ) have stated more than once that they think it is one of the dumbest things that they have ever heard of, but that they will include this feature in a future release when they totally redesign the checkout. ( No timeframe givin )

the fact that with a few well placed statements about WHY an account is beneficial to a cleient ( since your going to have ALL of their details anyway ) is beneficial,

such as quick order next time,
even better, a receipt, and they can check on their order status.


these are all benefits that you ofer a customer since you already have their
name
address
phone
email

[dude_s]

the powers that be ( the ones that are giving you this software ) have stated more than once that they think it is one of the dumbest things that they have ever heard of, but that they will include this feature in a future release when they totally redesign the checkout. ( No timeframe givin )

OK, so here's another request for "the dumbest things that they have ever heard" then.

Sad to see that this has been "on the roadmap" for almost a year now without any result. I agree with bakdoor and others in this thread that we should place as few hurdles as possible in the way of completing the sale. I sell things that most people buy maybe once every 5 years. They don't come back for seconds. The last thing they need is another http://uselessaccount.com/

[madmumbler]

I have a customer who has had a lot of HIS customers complain about "having to register." I suggested he turn off the customer greeting.

I have never purchased from a website where I didn't have to enter information/create some sort of account, and I've never personally had any of my customers complain about how my ZC is set up (other than they were trying to enter their Yahoogroups login info *LOL* -- ie. customer error).

I also don't see a benefit to "anonymous purchases," especially if a customer is buying digital/downloadables. Then they won't be able to log in later to access their purchases.

I would suggest going into language files and changing all references to "register" to "customer information" or something along those lines.

Someone mentioned Amazon -- I have purchased from Amazon and it asked me to create an account? So I don't understand where that came from. I can go back in and check my order information.

One way or another, you have to have an account so you can check order status.

Maybe greater flexibility in sorting how the "registration" page displays might help some people having this problem?

[dude_s]

I've never personally had any of my customers complain about how my ZC is set up

They may not take the time to complain, instead they may just take their business elsewhere. And you'll never know unless you do a before/after test of your abandon rates with a sufficiently large sample.

I also don't see a benefit to "anonymous purchases," especially if a customer is buying digital/downloadables. Then they won't be able to log in later to access their purchases.

Accounts make perfect sense in many cases and I wasn't arguing to get rid of them altogether. I also wasn't talking about downloads. Just because accounts are a good solution for downloads doesn't mean they are good for everyone.

Someone mentioned Amazon -- I have purchased from Amazon and it asked me to create an account?

Amazon was mentioned in a different context (having a less intimidating checkout form). As for accounts, Amazon certainly can expect repeat business. People will come back to buy other stuff at some point, write reviews etc.

Not every business is like Amazon. I can think of plenty of examples where you would not reasonably expect customers to come back for more: engagement rings, certain medical devices, yearbooks or gowns for a graduating class, the letters for your house number that you put on your driveway, other hand-crafted items, ...

One way or another, you have to have an account so you can check order status.

No, you don't. Have you ever shipped or received sth with a tracking number? Did you need an account with DHL, UPS or FedEx to check on it? No. You just paste in the number and get your status. There's no reason why order tracking couldn't work the same way.

Thanks for the other suggestions though. I'll look into my options.

[DrByte]

Have you ever shipped or received sth with a tracking number? Did you need an account with DHL, UPS or FedEx to check on it? No. You just paste in the number and get your status. There's no reason why order tracking couldn't work the same way.

How do you suppose one would get the tracking number?

[Merlinpa1969]

I Made a purchase from www.knex.com recently and was ticked that I couldnt view my order history, couldnt track shipping, nothing,

[dude_s]

How do you suppose one would get the tracking number?

Email.

I Made a purchase from www.knex.com recently and was ticked that I couldnt view my order history, couldnt track shipping, nothing,

Look Merlinpa, I noticed you have a strong opinion about this. I've seen you arguing against having that option in several threads I've dug up about this topic.

Why? I don't understand. I, and I believe everyone else who has ever asked for this option, don't argue to take accounts away entirely. Whatever works best for you, man. If you feel strongly that you should require accounts then you should have them. Similarly, what's wrong with giving the option of having a direct checkout to business owners who feel strongly that this would better serve their needs? I thought Zencart is all about choice?

I've read the argument that, hey, the account is just one more line (the password). No, it's not "just another line". People can type in their address without even thinking about it. Not so with the password. It stops you in your tracks for a moment. You have to think about what password to use, maybe write it down somewhere to remember, type it in again - blindly - for confirmation. It reminds people that all their activity is being tracked and probably being used to market to them. Some people don't like that. It also makes you wonder what happens with the "account" and all the info in it after you left, esp. if you likely never come back. It makes you wonder how you can cancel the account if you don't want it anymore. It's much more involved than typing your zip code. I don't want anything to stop people in their tracks on their way of hitting that Confirm button.

[Merlinpa1969]

whoa,

I was NOT arguing for or against, I answered your questions the other day and pointed you to where there is a mod for this, and also suggested that you could do what others have done and thats reword it, to make it an incentive for the customer.


I could really care less anymore,

I merely made a statement, I bought stuff a few months ago and was pissed that I couldn't follow my order, thats all that was about, and had to play wait and see.

[BFTUK]

I'm amazed this option does'nt exist in the core code seeing as EU ecommerce policy compliance includes:

There must be a way to order without saving the userdata within a customer account and without registering first. Therefore the customer orders and his data must not be saved anywhere outside the order dataset. Also only order relevant data may be collected. Tip: Generate another method -> Order without registering a customer account

[Kim]

Please post a link to the Article from which you are quoting.