New Release - ShopSite version 6.3

ShopSite, Inc. recently released ShopSite version 6.3. Some of the new features in v6.3 include:

Product Quantity Discounts - Products in ShopSite Pro stores can now be offered at different prices, depending on the quantity ordered by a customer. This allows merchants to give discounts for large-quantity orders.
XML Orders Download - in ShopSite Pro, no manual intervention is necessary to retrieve order information. In addition, as future versions of ShopSite continue to add new features and data fields to the order download, programs written to use the XML Order Download will not have to be updated if they have no need for the new data fields.
Lynk Systems Payment Gateway - An interface to the Lynk Systems payment gateway for real-time credit card processing is built into all ShopSite products.
Multiple Associate Landing Pages - The links given to associate sites can now redirect to targeted pages in the store for better merchandising.
Optional One-Coupon-Per-Order Limit - Merchants can limit customers to one coupon per order to prevent customers from applying multiple coupon discounts in a single order.
JavaScript to help prevent duplicate orders - JavaScript has been added to the checkout screen to disable the order submit button after the initial click. This prevents an anxious shopper from re-clicking (and possibly re-submitting the same order) before the "thank you" screen comes up.

For a complete list of new features and enhancements in ShopSite 6.3, please go to this page.

Feature Profile: Product Quantity Discounts

Earlier ShopSite Pro versions have a volume Order Discount feature that can be applied to the order total. For example, if a shopper spent over $100 on an order they could be offered 10% off the total. ShopSite Pro v6.0 added Digital Coupons that can be applied to an order or individual product. Now, with the new Product Quantity Discount feature in v6.3, a ShopSite Pro merchant can easily apply per-unit discounts based upon the number of units ordered. For example, a merchant can give price breaks on units at 10, 20, 50, and 100 or greater of a product ordered. The merchant determines the number of price breaks and at what quantity a price break occurs.

A product using the Quantity Discount feature would display the product's pricing in a table similar to the following:

The shopper would enter the quantity desired on the product page or order screen and the appropriate per unit pricing would be applied. The Quantity Discount feature can even be configured to show a sale price. The background colors can be configured by the merchant and Custom Template fields are available so web designers can format the table as desired.

To see Product Quantity Discounts in action visit the Als Tools Demo Store.

Merchant Tip

The following was posted on the ShopSite Newsgroup:

"How do I ship a product for free? I have some large heavy items that are drop shipped for free by the manufacturer. So set the weight to zero - right? But I use the automated UPS shipping charge look-up system. A zero weight item has a shipping charge with UPS."

Solution

In ShopSite Pro use the "No Shipping Charges" checkbox for a product so that it is not included in the shipping calculation for these large products. You'll find the checkbox under the product shipping section when you go to Products and select Edit Product Info.

-Rob M.

The "Support Queue"

Q: I recently received an e-mail from Authorize.Net stating that payment gateway transactions from shopping carts that connect via IP address will fail after May 6, 2003 and that merchants should check to see that their Shopping Carts connect using the secure URL:

https://secure.authorize.net/gateway/transact.dll

Does ShopSite connect using the URL?

A: Yes, ShopSite connects to Authorize.Net and other gateways via their URL (domain name) and not by IP. This means that ShopSite stores are already using the recommended connection method, and ShopSite merchants do not need to make any changes. For more information see the knowledgebase article:

http://support.shopsite.com/kbase/view_answer.php?questionID=S5475

Q: VeriSign recently announced that they "will be discontinuing support of the Payflow Pro(r) V1 client on August 1st, 2003." What version of ShopSite uses the V1 Client?

A: ShopSite v4.x and earlier uses the Payflow Pro V1 client (socklink). In earlier versions of ShopSite, Payflow Pro is also known as Signio and PaymentNet. If you are running ShopSite v4.x or earlier and are using VeriSign's Payflow Pro gateway, you will need to upgrade to ShopSite v5.x or v6.x.

ShopSite In The News

ShopSite, Inc. Releases Version 6.3 of its Easy-To-Use E-Commerce Shopping Cart. Read the press release here.

Industry Articles

Survey: Web Use Trends Ever Upward

http://news.com.com/2100-1017-984566.html

"Online shopping has increased dramatically, according to the study. Nearly two-thirds of 2,900 Web surfers Ipsos-Reid surveyed said that they had at some point in time bought something online, up from 36 percent of those surveyed in 2000. The biggest markets for online shopping, according to the 12-country study, are in the United States and the United Kingdom, where 77 percent and 68 percent of Web users surveyed, respectively, have made purchases online."

Knowledgebase Articles

The following articles were recently added to the support knowledgebase.

S5473: Can I use the CyberCash payment gateway in ShopSite v6.x and newer?
http://support.shopsite.com/kbase/view_answer.php?questionID=S5473

S5472: '+' symbols in the Authorize.net (or ECX) username or password causes problems (Reason: This request cannot be accepted.)
http://support.shopsite.com/kbase/view_answer.php?questionID=S5472

Current Product Information

Most recent release of ShopSite:

6.3 (On Linux, Solaris/SPARC, Windows 2000, Irix, FreeBSD or BSDI servers)

To upgrade your ShopSite store, contact your authorized reseller hosting partner.

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