How do I allow guest to checkout without making them create an account?

Hi, Im trying to make the process of checking out short and simple but I cannot figure out how to get around the process of creating an account in order to checkout. I understand some buyers do not want to become a member, or atleast not at the point and time when they are trying to buy something so could anyone please tell me how I can fix this so they can check out simple and fast without creating an account??? all help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

use paypal express

I do not accept paypal. I Just need to know how I can make signing up for an account optional and not mandatory so the checkout could be easier for guest

Zen Cart doesn't currently have a built-in ability for checkout-without-an-account.

There are oodles of forum discussions on different ways various folks have attempted to do this for themselves. You might find a search on the topic to be interesting reading.

I read in the free 20 steps to make money from zencart book (i think thats what it was called) and this is what it says:
To bypass the "Create Account Success” page and take the user directly to the "Shipping
Information" step, do the following:
On older versions of Zen
Opening up the following file (includes/modules/pages/create_account/header.php) and alter
as follows:
Find this line:
zen_redirect(zen_href_link(FILENAME_CREATE_ACCOUNT_SUCCESS, '', 'SSL'));
And change to:
zen_redirect(zen_href_link(FILENAME_CHECKOUT_SHIPPING, '', 'SSL'));
On newer versions (1.3.x +)
The same step are followed as above, however the file you will make the changes to is found in
includes/modules/create_account.php

the thing is, I dont know where includes/modules/create_account.php is located...Is it in cpanel or admin options??

That's only to bypass the "success" page which confirms that the customer has created an account.

Is that really what you were asking for?

In the ebook its a part talking about making the creating an account during checkout time optional and thats what I want to do.
Here is some of the things it said that was changed about the standard checkout process.

Visitor vs. Members cart
Removed completely
New Customer? Please Provide your Billing
Information. was changed to New Customer? Please Start your Checkout
Here.
“Create a login profile with …” “ changed to Enter your billing information as it appears on
your Credit Card Statement.”
Log In button Changed to “Continue”
“Login Details” Changed to “Create a Password (needed to
track your packages)”
Newsletter and Email details Email Preferences
“Submit” button Changed to “Continue”

What's listed there appears to be wording suggestions to make it less obvious that an account is being created. In the end, an account is always created. Even with PayPal Express Checkout.

Sorry. As I said, account-optional is not presently a built-in feature of Zen Cart.
You can work on rewording things so it doesn't "sound like" your customer is creating an account, or you can try out one of the various unofficial approaches discussed in other forum threads or the contributions in the downloads area. Use any/all of them at your own risk.

Features akin to checkout-without-account will be built-in to a future version of Zen Cart as per the posted development roadmap. For now, you'll have to do custom coding yourself as I just indicated.

Perhaps the "similar threads" links at the bottom of this page may be interesting to you.

Ok so how do I go about rewording those options? thanks for all the help

deals_24:

Ok so how do I go about rewording those options? thanks for all the help

You mentioned some discussion in the ebook as being some recommended wording changes.

Here's a guide to finding the files that contain the wording you want to change:
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=38
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=39
When editing the files, it would be prudent to save the changes as "overrides" -- as part of your own customized template components.

Here's some useful reading on setting up your custom template/language files:
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=232
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=142
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=143
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=36
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=230

ok thanks again doc.

I just came across this thread from a search for "no account".
Quite disappointing.

I chose Zencart because it was recommended as sooo powerful. Because of the nature of my business, my buyers won't be repeat customers and I want to make the experience as straightforward as possible for them. There is absolutely no need for accounts in my case. Now, after spending hours tweaking it to my needs so far, I came to the point where I want to streamline the checkout process and find that the powerful Zencart can't do a simple checkout without subjecting my customers to additional hurdles.

Man, that seems such a basic thing... I'm reconsidering my whole choice now, wish I hadn't already sunk so much time into it.

I know it's free and all and I can't expect things, but I just had to say it.

this feature will be added inthe 1.5 release of this product,
this has been the decision of the devs since they decided to add the roadmap.

in the mean time there are several choices, you can do a search for craftzombie, she has a solution that might work for you, otherwise if you follow the recommendations of other in this forum, you will see that by utilizing language defines you can indeed set the customer at ease since every bit of information required to create an account is the same as you would need for shipping and billing ( sans password )

deals_24:

In the ebook its a part talking about making the creating an account during checkout time optional and thats what I want to do.
Here is some of the things it said that was changed about the standard checkout process.

Visitor vs. Members cart
Removed completely
New Customer? Please Provide your Billing
Information. was changed to New Customer? Please Start your Checkout
Here.
“Create a login profile with …” “ changed to Enter your billing information as it appears on
your Credit Card Statement.”
Log In button Changed to “Continue”
“Login Details” Changed to “Create a Password (needed to
track your packages)”
Newsletter and Email details Email Preferences
“Submit” button Changed to “Continue”

Hi deals_24
After using Zen cart for some time, I would not want any customer with out “log in information”, but as I read your thread I would love to have the wording changed, so it will look friendlier.
Did you make those changes? Can you post which file and their location? Can you post sample or your shopping cart link? Am I asking too much? :)
Thank you