Automatic Sales Notification

[mn2683]

My client would like to know whenever someone registers (pays for) a class on their website. Does Shop Site have the ability to automatically contact the merchant when a sale is completed via email? They don't want to have to constantly check the Orders section and would prefer an email notification with the customers' information. Can this be done?

[Jim]

Yes, a merchant email is sent when an order is completed. The address(es) that it is sent to are configured on the Preferences > Hosting Services screen. If this screen is blocked by your host, the email will probably be sent to the main email for your account.

[mn2683]

How do I ensure that the customer also receives the confirmation email? We did a test order with a real credit card and email address, and no one received the confirmation. I thought this was supposed to be an automatic email to the customer and store owner?

[Jim]

An email should be sent to the shopper and the merchant when an order is completed. If no emails were received there could be a problem with the way your email client is configured. ShopSite just passes the email to what ever email application you have set up so if it isn't working the problem is with the email client. You can test the email by going to the main screen of the backoffice of your store. The url should end with start.cgi. Change that to diagnose.cgi and there is an email test on that screen. If you don't get the email from that test you need to contact your host and have them check the email server configuration.

Note it is possible to turn off emails but only if you have a OrderAPI script enabled. That is found under Merchandising > OrderAPI. So you might check there too if you have OrderAPI enabled

[mn2683]

Where under Merchandising would this Order API be located? When I click on Merchandising, all I see is Order Anywhere, Custom Templates, Tell A Friend, Auctions, Google, Buysafe and Marketplace.

Under that there is E-Marketing, Search Engines and Marketing, I checked all these links and did not see anything about Order API.

[Jim]

You must have a Manager level store. Order API is a pro feature. So the emails can't be turned off on your store because of that.

You need to check with your host and find out what the problem with their mail server is.

[mn2683]

My client tried another test purchase. This time he entered his non-work email address, which is on his blackberry, and still received no confirmation email. I don't understand why none of these emails are going through. What is the standard subject line or who is the generated email from?

[Jim]

Merchant receipt subject
Order number 1235 from [ shopper name ] for [ Store ID ]
Shopper receipt subject
Your Receipt Order Number: 1235

[ shopper name ] will be the name the shopper entered
[ Store ID ] is the login name of the store the order is for.

Both will have From of the merchant email address specified under Preferences > Hosting Services.

[mn2683]

What kind of mail server is Shop Site using? Our client placed another order from his home and used his personal email address and once again did not receive the confirmation email. I now know it is not their business' email server. Their hosting company is GoDaddy; do you know of any mail server settings that have to be adjusted there to allow this to go through?

[mn2683]

Can anyone help? I've called Shop Site twice and have not received any calls back. I'm very irritated with the way Shop Site handles customer issues.

[Jim]

ShopSite passes emails to the sendmail (on unix type systems) or SMTP host (on Windows systems) that is configured when the store is installed. Once that is done it is the mail server that has control of the email. Sendmail or SMTP is part of your hosts server configuration and is outside of ShopSites control.

You need to contact your host and have them find out why their mail server is not working. If they need help in testing it they should contact ShopSite for support.

FYI ShopSite is sold and supported by the partners who sell it. In most cases support issues (such as this one) deal strictly with the installation on the hosts server. ShopSite does not have access to those servers so we are unable to do anything about that type of issue.