Shopping Cart and ECommerce Software
Solutions from PDG Software, Inc.^®

It has come to our attention that anyone hosted at godaddy and using the PDG software are experiencing problems with payment gateways and real time shipping carriers. The issue is that godaddy used to require that we have 2 special configuration variables inserted into the shopper.conf file located on your server in order to work. Now it appears that they have made some changes that no longer require these configuration variables. So you will need to remove these variables from the shopper.conf file in order for things to begin working again. The 2 variables that need to be removed look like this:

ssl_proxy_host=proxy.shr.secureserver.net
ssl_proxy_port=3128

Once those variables have been removed from the shopper.conf file. Everything should begin to work again. In some cases clients have had to reenter the UPS shipping info. Payment gateways should be all set. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Hello there..is anyone looking for a way to code a search by size using style items from POS? If so then you can follow the instructions below. This only works like this in version 5:

Once you have hardcoded your search menu and broken it up by size. The links should look something like this:
http://www.webstorename.com/cgi/commerce.cgi?search=action&style=

Then following the style=, you should add the actual size as it is in the items user defined field. So for example if the word small is in the user def field. That is what should follow the style=. Or if it is 7, or 8, x-large, etc.

This resolves an issue where before when you searched for a specific size that was a style item member. It would return the ST- item and not the actual item. Using this method. The actual item is returned, however when you click on it. You are still viewing that item on the style item template. So this means that you still have to select the item you want from the drop down menu.

Hope this helps some of you who wanted to have a search by size menu on your site and have it work properly with style items.

Another great article from Practical eCommerce magazine. This article focuses on both ‘on page’ (e.g. those factors that can be directly controlled by you, the merchant – also part of PDG’s JumpStart SEO service) and ‘off page’ factors.

Enjoy!

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/1839-Search-Engine-Optimization-in-2010-What-You-Need-to-Know-Now

Another great tutorial from our friends at Practical eCommerce magazine – this time on editing your photos to remove backgrounds.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/1768-Tutorial-Removing-the-Background-from-Product-Photos

We have recieved information from paypal that they have started checking IPN frequently. We have been instructed that our customers should make sure that the IPN address assigned in your PDG Administrator is an exact match to the IPN address assigned in the PayPal account. This includes the http or https in front of the URL.

Also please note that if paypal checks multiple times and continues to return a failed message. Your Paypal IPN could potentially get shut down. So you will have to log into the IPN account and reactivate it in your IPN settings.

An alternative to this is to setup Paypal Pro Express Checkout only. This service acts very similar to IPN because the customer has to log into their paypal account to complete the order. This type of  configuration does not require a URL check as does IPN.  This service as far as we know only charges you for the money processed. There are no monthly fees for express checkout.

Please note also that Paypal Pro has another service in addition to express checkout called direct pay. This is to process credit cards and does have monthly fees.You only need Paypal Pro Express Checkout and not direct pay.

The following communication was sent from PayPal regarding merchants that currently process American Express payments. Details for accommodating for this change can be found at the bottom of this post.

What’s Changing

PayPal and American Express have entered into a new agreement that will take effect July 2010. As part of this agreement, Website Payments Pro and Virtual Terminal US merchants that desire to continue accepting American Express will need to log into their PayPal accounts to accept American Express terms, or else lose the ability to take American Express payments. Also, merchants processing via Website Payments Pro or Virtual Terminal in certain business categories (listed below) will not be able to continue accepting American Express in July 2010. Merchants within these restricted categories will need to apply and process through American Express directly. ***Please note that merchants within restricted categories currently account for less than 1% of merchants utilizing Website Payments Pro/Virtual Terminal.

Integration Considerations

To support Website Payments Pro merchants that elect not to accept American Express after July 2010, please ensure the following:

· Be sure your merchants can indicate whether or not they accept American Express within your cart configuration.

Merchants that do not accept American Express will need payment flows that:
Do not display American Express logos on the website
Do not offer American Express as a payment option in the checkout flow
Remove American Express as a payment option for Virtual Terminal integrations
If the merchant has elected not to accept Amex, yet the card type is available for buyer selection within the checkout flow, the buyer will receive an error message stating the merchant does not accept this card type.

Restricted Business Categories

· Airlines & Air Carriers

· Bail and Bond Payments

· Direct Marketing – Inbound Telemarketing (internet – electronic delivery internet – adult entertainment internet – online gambling)

· Court Costs

· Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies

· Debt Collection Agencies

· Financial Institutions – Automated Cash Disbursements

· Financial Institutions – Merchandise & Services

· Fines

· Railroads (freight)

· Betting & Gambling (including lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, off-track betting and wagers at race tracks)

· Government Service

· Local & Suburban Commuter Passenger Transportation

· Massage parlors

· Non-financial Institutions – foreign currency, money orders (not wire transfer), script, and travelers’ checks

· Passenger Railways

· Petroleum & Petroleum Products (wholesalers)

· Postal Services – Government

· Securities – Brokers & Dealers

· Dating & Escort Services, Strippers (i.e., anything sexually explicit; payment of potentially sexually related services)

· Tax Payments

· Timeshares

· Tolls & Bridge Fees

· Wire Transfers & Money Orders

Thank you.

For both PDG Shopping Cart and PDG Commerce merchants that no longer wish to accept American Express payments, this change can easily be performed by modifying the “Verify.html” template being used for your PDG storefront. This template, also referred to as the “payment” template, contains an HTML select box that allows the user to specify their card type. Removing American Express is as simple as locating the entry within the select box and deleting it as an option. Merchants with a current Premium Support contracts or merchants who would like to pay a $50.00 ‘per incident’ support fee may contact PDG Software’s technical support team in order to have American Express removed as an option.

For merchants that plan to continue accepting American Express payments via PayPal, please be sure to follow the steps above in order to maintain this capability within your PayPal account. No changes are required within your PDG storefront once you have performed the steps required in order to update your PayPal account.

According to MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse, a macro-economic report tracking national retail and service sales, today provided summary results for the holiday shopping season. The data showed year-over-year growth in the period between Black Friday through December 24 in all sectors measured. In addition, six out of ten sectors showed positive growth in the period from November 1 through December 24.

SpendingPulse analyzed the Electronics, Specialty (Apparel), eCommerce and Luxury sectors. Here are the end of season highlights:

eCommerce

eCommerce was the big winner this year, with seasonal sales up 15.5% during the period November 1 – December 24. Since Black Friday, eCommerce sales were up 18%. This sector has shown year-over-year improvement every week since the beginning of the season, with double-digit growth in all but one of those weeks.

Apparel

Specialty Apparel made something of a recovery, finishing down only 0.4% for the season to date beginning on November 1st. Since Black Friday through December 24, the category is actually in positive territory, showing a 2.3% year-over-year gain. However, the extra shopping day helped the sales growth rates.

Women’s Apparel sales were down 0.3% for the season to date beginning on November 1st. Taking a Black Friday to December 24 view, this category also finished the season in slightly positive territory, up 1.5%, but again benefiting from the additional shopping day.

Men’s Apparel continued to show strength in the two weeks prior to December 24, bringing the November 1 – December 24 season’s year-over-year growth up 3.9%. Footwear sales have likewise improved, ending with an increase of 5% over the November-December period of last year.

Electronics

After a strong November, electronics sales began to slow down in the first two weeks of December. A spike in the week prior to December 24 helped the category finish the season up 5.9% for the November-December period and up 6% in the Black Friday to December 24 period.

Jewelry and Luxury

After a volatile two months, Jewelry ended the season up 5.6%, with both high and low ends of the category showing marked strength. Again the extra shopping day helped the year-over-year growth rate. Although the Luxury retail ex-jewelry category showed some weekly improvement throughout December, it finished the season more with a slight increase of 0.8% over the 2008 holiday season. Luxury is another category that would have been lower without the additional shopping day this year.

SpendingPulse(TM)

Data Source: A macro-economic indicator, SpendingPulse reports on national retail and service sales and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for certain other payment forms, such as cash and check. MasterCard SpendingPulse does not represent MasterCard financial performance. SpendingPulse is provided by MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide.

More on this article at:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/spendingpulse-2009-holiday-wrap-up-report,1102266.shtml

What’s better for a virus writer than infecting a machine that they can use as a bot? Simple, compromising a website that they can use to spread their malware to every users’ PC that visits a site.

Ran across an article at http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/12/phishers_angling_for_web_site.html that talks about a new scam/phishing scheme targeting webmasters in an effort to gain FTP access to their site. BE WARY OF ANY EMAIL THAT ASKS YOU TO VISIT A WEBPAGE IN ORDER TO CONFIRM YOUR CONTROL PANEL/FTP INFORMATION!!!

If you are using Authorize.Net ,you may be experiencing intermittent problems on your web site resulting in the message “AIM returned unexpected data.”

Due to formatting changes in the information that Authorize.Net is expecting to receive from your web store, you will need to enable a configuration variable in your PDG Commerce program to correct this problem.

To make this change, connect to your web site using FTP or a file manager program.  Browse to the PDG_Commerce folder (usually located in the cgi or cgi-bin folder on your web site).  Find the shopper.conf file, and download it.

Save a backup copy of the shopper.conf file, then open it in a text editor.  At the end of the file, add the following line:
AIM_AUTHORIZE_V2_AIM_3.1_ONLY=yes

Save the file back to your web site.

You should also view the Authorize.Net settings in your Commerce Administrator and verify that the “Authorize.Net Version” field is set to AIM 3.1.

Please note that this resolution applies to the latest patches of PDG Commerce version 5, PDG Commerce version 4, and PDG Shopping Cart version 4.

Another interesting article from Practical eCommerce about increasing conversions and keeping customers on your site…

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/1350-Conversion-15-Reasons-Why-Consumers-Will-Leave-Your-eCommerce-Site

Any other suggestions?