PayPal buttons/shop and EasyStoreMaker 3

[SuV]

Hi

I have the BT Advanced package and although I'm new to website creation I have managed to make my own website using EasySiteWizard. I want to sell a limited number of items through it, so I've set up a shop using EasyStoreMaker 3. (It took me some time to realise that EasyStoreMaker basic is an American piece of software and will not trade in Sterling. I had to ring the premium-rate support line to find this out. Why is BT offering it to its UK customers as a default option?) However, I now have ESM3 working and linked to my PayPal account.

My problem is that ESM3 insists on asking customers if they are residents of Kent (where I live) and does not seem to be able to handle postage and packing in any sensible way. Frankly, this looks unprofessional. Is this problem with ESM3 simply my lack of HTML/computer knowledge or is it a flaw in the software?

I had hoped to solve the problem by using the PayPal shop instead but I found that I couldn't insert the HTML code for PayPal's buttons into my website through EasySiteWizard. Reading other forum posts, it appears that other people have run into the same problem and I haven't seen anyone come up with a solution.

So, can anyone help me find a solution, please? ESM3 works but asks stupid questions which look terrible to customers and ESW doesn't seem to allow any other software than ESM3.

Thank you in advance all you clever computer people!

[dave]

I think the main problem is that it is US software so it has separate postage costs for regional and national, which of course we do not have here in the UK. We tend to use the same shipping rates for anywhere in the country.

The trick is to set up all your shipping methods twice for the UK orders. You can even call them by the same names if you want.

So have 2 lots of Royal Mail 1st class, 2 lots of Royal Mail 2nd class, 2 lots of courier company, etc. Obviously you will still need to have a separate set for international.

Then back at the charge rate screen, apply 1 RM 1st class to National and the other to Regional, same with RM 2nd class and so on. Unapply the default National and Regional methods.

When the customer checks out, they will still be asked for state/provence (you cannot remove this) but as long as they have picked UK as the country, it will not matter what they answer to the state/provence question as they will be given the same payment methods.

It is not ideal but is a good workaround.

I would also say if you are serious about ecommerce, the eShop package is a far better solution.

[SuV]

Thanks very much for your advice, Dave. I'll give it a go and post later about how I get on. I agree about the eShop solution, but I'm just launching at the moment and have no money to upgrade right now, just plenty of time!

[SuV · Accepted solution]

OK, it seems to be working now. I've actually managed to send myself some money through the system both as a resident and as a non-resident of Kent!

I'm still not sure how to get different postage costs attached to different items, but I've forced that by quoting a price plus P&P stated separately in the text, then charged the price plus postage as the item price (if you see what I mean).

Many thanks for your help!