Re: is there a checkout as guest option?

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12 years 11 months ago #40198

Actually this is one reason why I was hesitate to even download and try the Hikashop. It should not even be an issue to deal with. After installing and starting some configuration, setting up things to test ( I am rebuilding a new website in Joomla 2.5), it seems to be the ONLY reason I would have to pay for the commercial or business versions. I can set up products, categories, shipping, payment methods, but when it comes to checkout there is the EXTRA STEP. I tried this some years ago with VirtueMart, and I sold less that year from my site, than I had before with some simple Paypal (pay now, or add to cart buttons) coded in manually on my order page.

I spent a great deal of time on the phone or email correspondence trying to walk customers through the process. Many did not understand why they were filling in an address TWICE (because Paypal page requires one if you are a new buyer) and then they were also getting TWO purchase order confirmation emails - one from Vmart and one from PayPal. I finally unpublished my entire VMART component and menus and set up my own order page from scratch adding in my PayPal button codes. I found that simplified things and I sold many more orders. The only reason I considered trying to use a shipping program again is to have an easy way to organize and list pricing because I am wanting to add a larger product line to my site.

I had recently installed the newer Vmart only to learn that it has it's own compatibility issues with 2.5, and I read so many great things about Hikashop.

I do not see the logic in forcing prospects to register on any site in order to buy, when Paypal is going to either require address info or use their shipping info if they have a Paypal account.

I even tried turning off the registration requirement in Joomla but your checkout for Hikashop still displays the login, name and address forms. A person can not get past any of that to simply check out.

I have read surveys done and registration is the Major reason people LEAVE a site at checkout and move on to another.

So I am currently ON the FENCE about Hikashop since I already PAY PAYPAL to handle my orders. Paying for a shipping cart ($69 US Dollars) is a bit just to have an option to turn the registration requirement off. I do however love the way Hikashop integrates so many of it's features with Joomla 2.5 and for that part, installation was a breeze. Also if I use the Hikashop as is I have to buy a SSL certificate because I do not want anyone having to enter their name, email, etc. on unsecured pages. As soon as they get to PayPal forms they are on the SSL provided by PayPal which I pay for anyway.

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12 years 11 months ago #40208

If you don't want to have your users to deal with the login/address on your website, you can remove the login and address views from the checkout workflow option of HikaShop. We've had some users with a workflow like this:
cart_payment_confirm,end

That way, there is just the cart display with the newt button which leads the user to paypal directly. The user enters his address on PayPal and not on your website.
The downside is that you don't have the information on your website so some features of HikaShop are less useful like the invoice generation, since the address is missing in HikaShop. But you can handle that with PayPal then.

Changing the checkout workflow is possible in any version of HikaShop.

What would require the commercial versions of HikaShop would be for example if you wanted to still have the users to enter their address on your website but not create a user account. The users wouldn't have to enter twice their address as HikaShop sends the address information to PayPal so the address form is already prefilled when the users go to PayPal.

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12 years 11 months ago #40280

Thanks for your timely reply. That has been a real plus in setting up HikaShop so far, is the tremendous amount of step-by-step help documentation, and the fact that your questions get answered on the forum!

I just now tried your suggestion and that works! I had attempted that last evening, but left the shipping part still intact with the login, registration parts removed. That explains why I was getting the shipping address errors because the shipping module was looking for the customer address info.

What I may choose to do in the immediate is follow your suggestion (as I just tested and it transitioned nicely to PayPal page), and handle my shipping via my Paypal merchant tools.

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