New Features in ShopSite 8.1

Version 8.1 of ShopSite has been released. For the complete list of features click here.

Google Checkout (Pro, Manager, Starter)
The new Google Checkout has been integrated into ShopSite 8.1.
Add an Auction (Pro, Manager, Starter)
List products in your ShopSite store on eBay auctions quickly and easily.
VISA CISP/PABP Compliant (Pro, Manager, Starter)
ShopSite has passed VISA's Payment Application Best Practices (PABP) validation. When properly configured, ShopSite stores meet the requirements for storing and processing credit card information safely and securely. For more information, see PCI Security Practices.
FedEx Support (Pro, Manager)
Real-time FedEx shipping rates can be calculated in the shopping cart.
Header/Footer for Packing Slip (Pro, Manager, Starter)
Packing Slips and Orders can include a customizable Header or Footer. Packing Slips can also be configured to hide or display monetary information.
Title/Meta Data Tags in More Info Pages (Pro, Manager)
More Info Pages now include fields to indicate HTML Title, Meta Keyword, and Meta Description tag content. Store Pages also have a field for HTML Title tag content.

For the complete list of features click here.

Google Checkout

ShopSite supports the new Google Checkout. ShopSite's shopping cart can link to Google Checkout to let shoppers pay for purchases. This means that merchants can accept credit card payments without having to obtain a merchant account. In addition, merchants that use Google AdWords will have an icon on their ad to indicate they accept Google Checkout thus driving more shoppers to their store.

How It Works
After the shopper adds products to the shopping cart they can choose to either checkout with Google Checkout or the traditional ShopSite checkout. If they choose Google Checkout they are then sent to the Google site where they sign-in, select the address to ship the product to and payment method, then finalize the order. Google Checkout remembers their previous shipping, payment, and other information. The shopper can even view previous orders from the Google site.

New ShopSite Forum

ShopSite has moved the Newsgroup to a web-based forum system which is live now, at http://support.shopsite.com/forums/. Some improvements with the new forum system over the newsgroup are:

All content is searchable.
You just need a web browser to participate, no separate news reader software is required.
Forums have an RSS feed.
Content can more easily be indexed by search engines.
Better privacy, email addresses of posters not visible to others.
You can configure your account to have an email sent to you when someone replies to your posts.
Additional forums for specific types of issues can be created more easily if needed.
Moderators can make some posts with commonly asked questions and responses 'sticky' so they always appear at the top of the forum.

Merchant Tip

I'm using the [ -- PRODUCT.QuantityOnHand --] tag to show the quantity available on my product pages. However, and I've just noticed the count remains the same number on the store page until I regenerate the page/store.
How do I get the real-time quantity on hand to display?

Solution
That is the expected result. The tag [-- PRODUCT.QuantityOnHand --] is a static tag, meaning it is only checked when you publish. Since the page created by ShopSite is static and not dynamic, the number will not update until your next publish, at which time it queries the database and publishes with the current inventory.

If you are looking for real-time dynamic numbers on your pages for inventory, look at the two new inventory tags:

[-- ProductInventoryPopUp {optional string} --]
Creates a link which will make a pop-up window (200px x 100px) displaying the Quantity On Hand. If you do not specify text to use for the link, the default text is Inventory.

[-- ProductInventoryActual path_to_shopping_cart_cgi {optional string} --]
Display current Quantity On Hand on the page using Server Side Includes (SSI). This tag creates an SSI #include tag, so your Web server must be configured to allow SSI (contact your Hosting Provider for help on doing this). The optional description text appears before the actual quantity.

-Rob

The "Support Queue"

Q: If you choose Google Payments, other payment types are no longer displayed. Is this the way it should operate?

A: Yes. The requirements from Google specify that 1) wherever you have a checkout button you must have a separate Google Checkout button next to it, and 2) you can not collect address/shipping/tax information from shoppers before sending them to the Google Checkout.

With Google Checkout enabled, there is an additional shopping cart screen called the Google pre-checkout Shopping Cart. This screen only contains the shopping cart contents and two checkout buttons. If the customer chooses to checkout using Google Checkout, the customer will be taken to the Google Checkout system to continue the checkout process. If the customer chooses the standard checkout button, the customer will continue to the normal ShopSite Shopping Cart, and will no longer have the option to pay using Google Checkout.

Designer Template Tips

Q: Is there a way within ShopSite to create a "related item section" or "If you like this product, you might also be interested in..." so that I can advertise other similar items for each product?

A: For related items, you could use subproducts feature within ShopSite. You could setup a custom product template, and within the "DEFINE SUBPRODUCT" section you would specify the format you want the subproducts to be displayed in.

Then have the LOOP SUBPRODUCTS section appear only in the MOREINFO section to achieve this goal.

Note: Version 8.1 includes the Cross Sell template which has that specific functionality built in to it.

-Rob

ShopSite In The News

Google Checkout Included in Newest Version of ShopSite's Leading Shopping Cart System
http://wn.whdh.com/Global/story.asp?S=5098584
"ShopSite, Inc., a leading provider of e-commerce shopping cart and catalog software for small to medium-sized businesses, announced today integration with the new Google Checkout in their new ShopSite version 8.1."

E-Commerce Vendor ShopSite Announces Version 8.1 of Leading Shopping Cart System
https://www.shopsite.com/news_8_1_released.html
"Building on existing features, ShopSite has added features including PayPal Website Payments Pro support for Authorization Mode, New Themes and color schemes that the merchant can select, Support for the UK based NetBanx payment gateway and Public/Private key encryption as well as incorporating the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)."

Industry Articles

Credit cards are losing online market share to alternative payment options
http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=18784
"Alternative online payment options-such as PayPal, Click and Buy, and Bill Me Later-are chipping away at credit cards' hold over online retailing, says Dan Schatt, analyst at Celent Communications. Less than half of e-commerce dollar volume will come from credit cards in 2009, down from 96% in 1999, he says."

Search Engine Optimization: 12 Essential Tips
http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions/advertising/article.php/3618946
"Search engine improvements are resulting in a huge increase in the number of pages that show up for a query so it's more important than ever to know how to keep your site at the top of the list."

Knowledgebase Articles

The following articles were recently added to the support knowledgebase.

8.1.3.1 maintenance release fixes some problems with v8.1.0 and v8.1.2.

How can I add Google Analytics e-commerce tracking code to my ShopSite thankyou page?.

Current Product Information

Most recent release of ShopSite:

Version 8.1.3.1 on Linux, Solaris/SPARC, Windows Server 2000 and 2003 and FreeBSD servers.

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

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