Checkout without account

[KTNaturals]

I have to chime in... The Paypal Express Checkout in 1.3.7 does mostly what isrzencartus mentioned. Granted, it only works if a customer uses PP, but you don't even need a PP account to pay with a credit card. I worded things a bit differently to show that PP account isn't required.

ETA: I'm not implementing this mod because I want to use gift certificates. Plus, I don't want future upgrades to be a nightmare. So PPEC is the next best thing.

[craftzombie]

I have to chime in... The Paypal Express Checkout in 1.3.7 does mostly what isrzencartus mentioned. Granted, it only works if a customer uses PP, but you don't even need a PP account to pay with a credit card. I worded things a bit differently to show that PP account isn't required.

ETA: I'm not implementing this mod because I want to use gift certificates. Plus, I don't want future upgrades to be a nightmare. So PPEC is the next best thing.

I also do not use my own mod anymore because I have wholesale customers and need a login for them. Now I use this mod:

http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.p...ithout_Account

I don't use gift certs, but supposedly you can still use them with the above mentioned mod

[craftzombie]

the communication between you and the zen-cart team in previous posts is what I wanted to touch on.

I think you are confused about who the zen team is. I haven't communicated with members of the zen team on this topic. Any communication you are referring to was with other zen users and turned into a debate on the whole issue, which is what most posts about this topic turn into.

You came in here saying "We need this!!!" but I don't think you fully understand that you are beating a dead horse. This has been talked about over and over again even before I came to Zen Cart (which wasn't that long ago by the way).

I would also like to clarify... there is a thread out there where I say something to the effect that users should have to log in and entering a password should be no big deal. This was when I was new to zen cart and came across a thread about the subject. I hadn't had my cart online for very long and didn't see what the big deal was about logging in. After implementing User Tracking and watching customers leave when they got to the login page, I searched these boards for "checkout without account" like everyone else does. I've read every thread on the subject. At the time, I was PMing with another zen member about a totally unrelated mod. I mentioned checking out without an account. He basically said "Here, I've got this code I've been messing around with that kinda does what you want." I took that code, installed a test cart, and experimented. I came up with a workaround for my problem that wasn't quite what I wanted, but was better than nothing. I noticed there were a lot of people wanting this same thing and considered writing it up as a mod for other people to use. Then someone sent me a PM asking for help on this topic. So I wrote the mod, gave it to him, and posted it here. Its not like I woke up one morning and said, "Hmmm, let me ##############IZE zen code today and screw the zen team!"

[isrzencartus]

I'm with you.

We're all with you.

[henryvuong]

I applaud any effort to create a "checkout without account" module for Zen Cart. But I will wait a litter longer until it is mature. It is my first time using Zen Cart so I do not want to mess around until I'm good at it. Meanwhile, can someone tell me if Paypal Express Checkout will work around this issue? Will PEC allow customer to pay me without create an account whatsoever?

I believe this one of the few disadvantages of ZC. Merlinpa1969, I know you have reasons to believe that an account is neccessary for customer. As a seller, it would be nice to have all customers sign up for account so you can effectively manage your orders. But buyers are buyers, they do what they want. I am both an online seller and buyer for many years. I only want to sign up for an account with stores where I know I will need to return many times, any there is only one for me now. Even with stores that I do return, I still prefer COWA.

One of the reasons I do not want to sign up is security. Signing up with a store means it will keep your information somewhere online, and if this store is hacked, your information is accessible to criminals. Of course without signing up, your information can still be captured, but between a greater risk and a smaller risk, I would choose smaller risk. Another reason is when signing up, you have to remember your ID and password for the next visit. If I only visit a store once or twice a year, it would be too long since my last visit to recall it. My memory is already filled up with so many IDs and passwords for my bank account, eBay account, Paypal account, email, on so on. I do use the same ID and password for some accounts, but I do not want to use the same password as my bank account for a store I hardly visit.

I hope that explains why COWA is neccessary.

[craftzombie]

Meanwhile, can someone tell me if Paypal Express Checkout will work around this issue? Will PEC allow customer to pay me without create an account whatsoever?

An account is still being created with any of the mods that exist right now for optional or no account checkout, so that should not have any effect on a customer checking out with PayPal. These mods are entering auto-generated passwords and allowing duplicate email addresses for those who choose not to sign up. When the Zen creators make a "real" guest checkout, I'm not sure how all of this will work. Don't we need the customer in our system anyway? At this point, after installing J_Schilz's optional account mod, I don't really need the Zen developers to make any changes to Zen. I don't see how them re-designing the checkout would be any different from how that mod works.

(How do real PWA carts work?? Are orders only emailed to admins with no record being kept in the DB? I don't like that if thats the case)

[KTNaturals]

PPEC automatically creates an account transparent to the user. You have an option of auto-emailing customer with a randomly-generated password. As long as the returning customer uses PPEC, s/he would never have to log into Zen Cart.

If you don't want to email customers their password, then it's probably a good idea to delete order status/account links in order status emails. You'll also have to word Gift Certificates carefully so that they know that an account/login is required.

[craftzombie]

Nice site Katie!

[KTNaturals]

Thank you, craftzombie!!

[henryvuong]

Could you clarify this: If I use PPEC I don't need to intall this mod in my Zen Cart, PPEC will take care of the "check out without account" thing like Katie's store does, correct? Thanks.

Even if COWA process creates an account in the background, as a buyer I still prefer this method. Whenever I see a store requires an account, I have an impression that the process is a bit complicated (even though it's not always true), I simply click away and look elsewhere. There're some strange behaviors of web users that you can never explain. You just have to accommodate to them.