Checkout without account

Try adding the latest PayPal patch (UPDATE - FEB 15, 2007) to your v1.3.7 install:
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56216

I too desperately want checkout without account creation. (Hurry up Zen programmers!) My business has dropped since installing zen cart and I think the account system is the problem. Here is an example of the kind of checkout page we need: https://www.fanshawemusicstore.com/login.php

BUT IN THE MEANTIME, MAYBE HERE IS A SOLUTION:

I bought from one website that did not require account creation, but which displayed one of those jumbled security images where you would type down the numbers and letters you see. I felt good about improving my security. But I never like creating an account for a one-time purchase.

Couldn't we trick the purchaser into creating an account by displaying a letter jumble image (the same picture of course, every time), which the customer has to type in--thereby creating the required account password without their knowledge, and without concerning them? Can the confirm password be filled in automatically after that, or easily eliminated?

Also the e-mail creation box would need to be moved up to the Additional Contact Details section.

Can anyone suggest simple code changes to achieve this?

postergame:

https://www.fanshawemusicstore.com/login.php

The above link is an osCommerce shopping cart. It is a community contribution that was added to the catalog.

I use to use osCommerce (The Father Catalog of Zen Cart) but switched to Zen cart because of the ease of use and it fixed a couple bugs that osCommerce has, namely the PayPal module and the SSL issues of secure and not secure pages.

I also want to have pay without and account and have been thinking of ways to do this.

All I want is to by pass the login.php and go directly to checkout with their email address on that form, no password, then rewording the sent emails.

I am not a PHP programmer but am thinking about hiring one to get this going.

I have tried to see if the osCommerce PWA contribution could be implemented into Zen Cart but with the Template System and file changes, I have yet to figure out the proto call for file system.

Guess I will have to read that book I have on PHP or hire a programmer.

:down:

i agree, I lost many potental sales becuase of this! I am possibly thinking of moving to OS untill Zen cart has no login needed. I have had a gazillion hits but when they see that login page people freak out.

and you are sure that this is the problem,
Login,
or is it the prices
or maybe the layout

or a combinatin of the price and layout,

you have NO idea why people are NOT buying at your site,

so unless ou have hard data to back it up please dont blame this on create account,

and once again you can always use express checkout

I am sure that login prevents a lot of sales. As you think what for is necessary PayPal Express Checkout?
You can answer what for is necessary address, name, birthday and much another if I sell the digital goods? Account - right instead of duty of the customer.

One more time-

First- go to your admin and turn off ALL of the optional items that you don't need to ship/deliver your goods

Admin> Configuration> Customer details>

Email Salutation
Date of Birth
Company
Address Line 2
State

Second- Change the wording to make it more friendly - stop calling it an account.

Third- In the future there will be a much better system for the checkout- but it involves re-writing the whole process. If you can't wait - find another cart.

Apparently a solution has been found to allow customers to shop without creating an account.

(This was posted by craftzombie):

Make password optional & allow duplicate email addresses:
No_Account_v-dec-29-06.zip

And this is her test page, to see if it is right for your cart:
http://www.craftzombie.com/shop2/

I can't wait to try it out.

And the mod works perfect. It is just what we wanted for those of us who do not have the need to have buyers log in to an account and do want to make an express checkout for our shoppers.

I use this on my site and tweaked it even further. I use it in conjunction with the Dual Prices mod. I have log-in fields for wholesale customers only. I open accounts for them and utilize the lost password function to send them their passwords. All other customers are never asked for a password and can come back to place additional orders without having any errors that their email address is already in the system. I have a few customers that have come back so many times that I sent them an email asking them if they'd like to have a password for easier shopping in the future. They are really appreciative of this and it makes them feel special because they get to use the "Wholesale Login". Its kind of funny... you have something there (logging in) and people dont like it so you take it away. Its only then that many realize it was there for a reason! If I had my way, everyone would create an account/log in. I totally believe in it. But my customers didn't so I bent over backwards to accomodate them. And I believe I have more sales because of it.

So to make account optional for returning customers you could furnish them with the link to login ( /index.php?main_page=login, this could be done in the order email) change the wording in login and remove the bottom box , and change the password wording to say enter password or leave blank and a password will be emailed to you?

Just thinking out loud here.

Options are always a good thing.

Ok the above will not work unless you leave in the login box and have the box below for those who want accounts and those who do not or make the password those that want an accound and leave blank for express check out.

Never mind I think I will just go with out account log in for now.

usernamenone:

So to make account optional for returning customers you could furnish them with the link to login ( /index.php?main_page=login, this could be done in the order email) change the wording in login and remove the bottom box , and change the password wording to say enter password or leave blank and a password will be emailed to you?

Just thinking out loud here.

Options are always a good thing.

I do this when my customer has placed their third order: For their shipping confirmation, instead of sending them the email through Zen Cart (its too stale), I send them a more personalized email saying something like this:

Thanks again for your order! Your delivery confirmation number is 0000 0000 0000 0000 and your package should be arriving in 2-5 business days.

We would also like to offer you the option of saving your information on our secure server so that in the future you can checkout faster. You will also be able to save your cart contents for later. This option is normally reserved for wholesale customers, but we like to offer this option to our repeat customers as well.

If you are interested, please reply to this email and we will gladly take care of this for you.

They reply yes, I email them back and tell them that my cart will send them a randomly generated password that they can change once they login. I give them the link to login (I moved mine from mainpage=login to mainpage=create_account). mainpage=login is where all customers end up when they click on checkout. I do not want login fields there because I want the checkout to appear more as an express checkout type of thing where I am just asking for billing info. Wholesale customers and other customers with passwords have a link on the top left of the page that takes them to mainpage=create_account. You can see all of this on buttonbunny.com, but please do not create accounts there. I have never given buttonbunny.com out before because I didn't want people going there to create test accounts, that is what my test site is for (craftzombie.com/shop2). Go to buttonbunny.com and look at the links on the top right. Click on "Wholesale Login" and see that it is actually mainpage="create_account". Now add somthing to your cart and click on checkout and you will go to mainpage=login.

i talk too much. :P

P.S. This all sounds like a big hassle when you look at it on paper, but it really isn't. I have many customers who shop once and maybe might come back again. And then I have a few who just keep buying. Those are the ones I offer this option to.

Hi CraftZombie,

Thank you for taking the time to make this Mod and sharing it with everyone. I can see why it isn't posted as an "official mod" as it's a work-around and may end up seriously confusing less savvy users.

Thanks so much!

Does this Mod from craftzombie work with normal paypal merchant processing?

Thanks for all the hard work.

OutdoorsInteriors:

Does this Mod from craftzombie work with normal paypal merchant processing?

Thanks for all the hard work.

Even though I have my own merchant account, most people use PayPal and I haven't had any problems at all. This workaround only allows duplicate email addresses to be entered into the database and allows for the password fields to be blank upon "account creation". Thats it. The rest is all template changes to keep the customer from getting confused. It should have no effect on any payment modules.

sdelong:

may end up seriously confusing less savvy users

And to make matters worse, I have a tendency to go on and on and may confuse them even more in my instructions! But I am available for help :smile:

No doubt, you should know a little bit if you're going to use this. Hell, you should know a little bit if you're even going to try to use Zen in the first place.

I know absolutely no php. But I am very good with HTML and CSS and I know the difference between php, html and css when I see them. If someone doesn't know, they will be confused I'm sure.

The php changes were done by PaulM. The php changes for the duplicate email addresses consisted of me messing around and changing a "true" to a "false" and luckily it worked. But I have no clue how or why it works because php is german to me.

Don't be scared... I've been successfully using this since December. :smile:

craftzombie,

Thanks for this add-on.

One thing that I'm hoping to do is have this option alongside logging in and creating an account in the split panel login for checking out. Something like:

Returning Customers: Enter your email and password to login
New Customers: Click here to create an account -or- Don't want to create an account? Click here to checkout without an account.

So, my question is this: Do you know how to make it work as I've described?

Spectacular hack by the way, think it's just great. (;

Thanks much,
Joe

OK: I just read your readmelast.txt, and am now reading:
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53689

I guess that means my question is answered. (;

KGZotU:

craftzombie,

Thanks for this add-on.

One thing that I'm hoping to do is have this option alongside logging in and creating an account in the split panel login for checking out. Something like:

Returning Customers: Enter your email and password to login
New Customers: Click here to create an account -or- Don't want to create an account? Click here to checkout without an account.

So, my question is this: Do you know how to make it work as I've described?

Spectacular hack by the way, think it's just great. (;

Thanks much,
Joe

OK: I just read your readmelast.txt, and am now reading:
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53689

I guess that means my question is answered. (;

In the future I may try to work the whole optional account thing out. I don't think its impossible. Things are currently working out just fine for me the way it is now and thats why I'm not working on it. And if I had any free time on my hands I'd definitely try to work it out for you and everyone else. I will definitely post any new developments.

GDOrn the original poster of this forum has such a mod on his site. (optional password)

See page 1.
Then see his site and login it looks like a html switch.

https://bulbster.com/lightbulbs/login.html

He may want to share how he made the account optional or not.

I am choosing the no password for my shop.

If anyone wants to log into their admin and click on Customers from the tool bar you will see how many of your buyers have loged into their ACCOUNT and that should determin your need for accounts or not.