SBA PAYPAL

[dr dognutz]

Does anyone else have trouble using PAYPAL when trying to order something thru the shop?

[Torsten]

yes, the occasional customer has trouble going from the shop to paypal. It appears to be something related to the individual's computer as other customers have no problem with it AT THE SAME TIME. Also, the problem usually goes away if the customer uses a different computer/connection.

However, don't worry about it. You can bypass this problem. Simply check out using 'cash in mail' and then log into your paypal account and make the payment to orders#@#shaman-australis.com.au [remove the hashes]

A new site is already being built and hopefully this will fix the problem.

[mr me]

I've never had a problem, but I have only made a couple of orders. When will the new site be up Torsten? What will it offer that the current one doesn't?

[Torsten]

actually, just noticed that this is in totally the inappropriate forum.

new site will be a better layout, will be easier for check-out [esp re disclaimer & order info], and should eliminate all payment problems.

It will also be a leaner site. I am sure that the laws will change in NSW soon that will make it problematic for information to be supplied from the same page as the item is sold. I think separating the two will make it safer for both the vendor and the customer. Too much about drug law is to do with intent and the possession of information. By having all the info on the same page as the item it is impossible for any customer to claim ignorance. eg, if you order a khat plant in SA then the mere fact that my page states the constituents is enough to make an ignorance defence impossible. This is the main reasons why I haven't added any information to the site in the last few years and moved the forums to a separate domain.

The main feature of the new site will be something that most people won't notice, but will probably become the most important tool to broaden people's horizons. From our webstats we can see that hardly anyone ever clicks onto the lesser known genus categories and hence might be completely unaware that there are awesome plants that do the same as another plant that the customer is keen on or maybe something they hadn't even thought of. The new category format will allow us to point out the most important aspects of a genus in a short summary. We employed a similar format in the item listing of the medicinals and food plants and it has made a tremendous difference, but because of the size of our shamanic collection this is not possible with the current software in that section.

So yeah, personally I am just keen to get this new category feature happening and to eliminate check-out problems. But there will be many other little features, such as stock notification, better image display, etc etc.

As for timing..... hopefully within 2 months. The changes will be visible immediately as there will be a change in style, but the content will remain the same for a little while. Once it all works I'll start to edit the content and hopefully by that time we'll have the info site live as well.

[vual]

wow torsten that sounds great what a surprise, I must admit the SAB store isn't the most stylish online.

Edited July 28, 2010 by vual

[Torsten]

I've literally spent 5 years looking for a piece of software that will do the one function I really wanted. It is not available for Unix servers and I didn't want to move to a windows server. So finally I have decided to get the existing software custom edited to make this possible. Obviously I didn't want to do any work on the site when it was always in the back of my mind that we'll move to a new webstore software as soon as I find it. The new software will be a different version of oscommerce, so we can continue with the same database which makes things a lot easier for us and our customers [no new log in needed] but it won't have all the formatting problems I introduced over the years .

The new store will be neat and tidy and pretty. But it will be the same colours

[mr me]

Thanks for the info. Sounds like a good idea separating into two sites. It would be a shame to lose the site to some crusading "do gooder" intent on trying to bring down the community.

[Torsten]

you mean conroy? ;)

I never thought I'd say this, but given some of labor's policies I'd almost prefer a paralysed liberal government than an empowered labor government this time round. Then again, if the greens get the balance of power in both houses we wouldn't have to worry about these things.