Reservations ($0.00) Order total does not process

While this is a problem with a checkout module - We only use the Ceon manual module - I think the issue we are having is fundamental to our use of the cart.

This store has a combination of three presumptions that are creating the problem.

1. Customers will likely write in additional items that are hard to quantify in the cart ( "Enough of X to make item Y" ) which makes totalling the order and shipping costs difficult/impossible to calculate. I only mention this because it is part of the rationale of 3.

2. Reservation items are frequently placed up far enough in advance that the final price for the item is not available. Also, Reservation items are not billed until stock is in hand.

3. Shipping is charged as actual cost, no fixed values, as such is listed as a $0.00 item to the cart due to 1 and 2.

The problem arises when a customer ONLY orders a reservation item and as a result has an end cart total of $0.00. I was able to modify the payment template page to ensure the billing information was collected, but it does not seem to to "process" after the confirmation.

I can work around this by making all of the Reservations a penny, but this is an upgrade of a 7 year old or so OSC install and that from a several year install of a previous product and lord knows years before that online. It would not be prudent to change the customers expectations unless we have no choice.

Does anyone know what I need to poke at in the checkout steps in order to resolve this?

Thank you.

Do you have the FreeCharger payment module enabled? If not, then Zen Cart won't do 0.00 checkouts.

DrByte:

Do you have the FreeCharger payment module enabled? If not, then Zen Cart won't do 0.00 checkouts.

With and without it I get the same results - no billing information gets passed on. It states the method, but does not send any billing information.

"send any billing information"? What exactly do you mean by that?

DrByte:

"send any billing information"? What exactly do you mean by that?

The card type, number, expiration, and cv2. The stuff you need to process the item when it is in stock.

Okay, it appears as though you're making assumptions about how the payment system works, vs how your unique needs require it to work.

You're going to need to alter the core code to allow 0.00 checkouts which also require collection of payment details. As I said, the system is designed to NOT ask for payment information when the purchase price is 0.00, which is also known as "free".

And make sure you have extremely secure practices set up inside your business to be sure that the credit card numbers you're collecting without any authorization or payment, are truly secure.

DrByte:

Okay, it appears as though you're making assumptions about how the payment system works, vs how your unique needs require it to work.

You're going to need to alter the core code to allow 0.00 checkouts which also require collection of payment details. As I said, the system is designed to NOT ask for payment information when the purchase price is 0.00, which is also known as "free".

And make sure you have extremely secure practices set up inside your business to be sure that the credit card numbers you're collecting without any authorization or payment, are truly secure.

Yeah.

I thought I was pretty clear about that in my explanation of the situation but I guess not. What I'm looking for is some advice/explanation or where in the code the alteration likely needs made. Since it is clearly looking for a particular value, there must be a if of some kind somewhere that I haven't been able to spot.