Tweaking Digital Download

[distancedrawing]

http://www.distancedrawing.com

(1) I am using FrontPage and one thing I did was move index.html from www.distancedrawing.com/store/index.html up to www.distancedrawing.com/index.html . My web hosting service technical support person said I need to play with something called .htaccess. The ShopSite guide says something about getting a new store.auth. In the meantime, in Test Mode (of authorize.net) when I place an order and go through some motions and then attempt to get back to index.html, I see a "Not Found The requested URL /store/index.html was not found on this server."

(2) Even though I am in Test Mode, ShopSite did allow the download to occur from the email that I got as a test customer. I sure would like a perfect stranger to try placing an order so I can see what it looks like from the inside. There will be no charge whatsoever for anyone who tries it. If you can actually get a download without paying, right now, that would be quite a problem for ShopSite, yes?

(3) On an order for the digital download product there is a "Select Ship to address" that should not be there, right? How do I get rid of it?

(4) Isn't there something in ShopSite that explains in detail the digital download protocol FOR THE CUSTOMER, i.e., a built-in explanation of the sequence of events involving email to the customer. OR, do I have to write that up myself and stick it somewhere convenient for any site visitor to see?

distancedrawing

[loren_d_c]

1) The only reason you would need a new license file would be if you intebd to use ShopSite-generated pages, because the links between ShopSite-generated store pages to other ShopSite-generated store pages (and More Info Pages, and URLs to the images selected via the pull-down or pop-up image selections in ShopSite) will all be based on the URL in the license file. If you are going to be creating and editing your own pages in FrontPage, then this is not necessary. There may be a link in the email receipts going back to the store/index.html page by default, but you can change this by changing the Preferences -> Hosting Service setting labeled '"My Store" URL' and/or modifying the Return to Store link that may be in Commerce Setup -> Order System -> Thank You field labeled 'Information on the Thank You screen to return to storefront'.

2) "If you can actually get a download without paying, right now, that would be quite a problem for ShopSite, yes?" No, that would be your problem for leaving your gateway in test mode but making your site or your digital download products live/visible. Don't do that. Or at least turn off automatic delivery of the download link via the thank you screen and email receipts in the Digital Download configuration.

3) If all of your products are Digital Download products or you don't ever want to ship any of your products to any address other than the billing address, then you can turn off the shipping address block by checking the Commerce Setup -> Order System -> Checkout box labeled 'Ship only to Billing Address'. Just indicating that a product is a Digital Download product won't affect this (and shouldn't necessarily affect it, some items that can be downloaded could also have a shipped portion, i.e. download it now and get a hard copy on CD shipped to you, or download the software and get a hard copy of the manual shipped to you, etc).

4) No, there is nothing that explains the process 'in detail'. The text-based email receipts will include text saying, basically, here is the download link. The receipt screen and HTML email receipts will just make the product name into the download link (assuming you have enabled them in these places in the Digital Download configuration). Not all merchants configure this feature the same regarding where/how the download link is delivered (and how long it is valid, etc etc) so there is no default explanation of this. You can add your own message tailored to your configuration and your customers to your store pages and/or shopping cart pages and/or thank you screen and/or receipt emails.

-Loren

[distancedrawing]

Loren,

Thank you, that is very helpful. Regarding (3), I am offering both a hardware product and a digital download product. Please advise.

distancedrawing

[Jim]

There is no way to turn the Shipping address off for just Digital Download items. So you have 2 choices,
1) Turn the Shipping address off for all orders.
2) Leave the Shipping address on for all orders.

If you want any of your hard good orders to be shipable to an address other than the billing address of the shopper you will need to choose option 2.