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.

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.

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

Any other suggestions?

To access the new section in your Commerce Administrator, open the “Configuration” menu and select “IP Black List.”  Select the “Automatic Deny” tab.  You will find the following fields available to you.

Automatic Deny

Automatically block an IP address if they attempt to authorize ___ credit cards in ___ minutes:
Fill in these fields to indicate how many declined transaction attempts are allowed within a given span of time.

Please Enter IP Quarantine Duration:
Enter the number of minutes you would like to use as the quarantine time.  Any quarantined IP address will not have access to your web store during this time.

Disabled:
This feature is not currently in use

Quarantine IP Only:
The IP address will be quarantined and not allowed access to your site for the specified duration in minutes.

Quarantine IP and Remove Session:
The IP address will be quarantined and not allowed access to your site for the specified duration in minutes.  Additionally, any baskets assigned to that IP address will be deleted from the web site.

Permanently Block IP:
The IP address will be added to the Store Deny list.  It can only be restored access to the site if you go to the Store Deny tab and manually remove it from the list.

Purge IP from Automatic Block List:
This field applies to the “Quarantine IP Only” and “Quarantine IP and Remove Session” options.  In these cases, the IP address will be quarantined for the specified amount of time.  You can use this field to remove a specific address from the quarantine.

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/68143.html

Enjoy!

Some of the main PDG Commerce Version 5 New Features & Tools include:

PCI PA-DSS Certified – PDG Commerce Version 5 has been tested and certified as PCI PA-DSS compliant. The only software of its type (e.g. storefront) to achieve this certification and be recommended for new deployments on the PCI’s list of approved softwares, this certification helps make a merchant’s own PCI DSS certification simple and straight forward.

Improved Administration Panel with New Tabbed Layout – The Version 5 administration panel has undergone a tremendous make over, greatly simplifying a merchant’s navigation through both initial set up pages and pages you’ll access on a regular basis.

Full XHTML Compliant Storefront/Catalog Coding – PDG Commerce Version 5 introduces full XHTML strict compliance within both the HTML templates distributed with PDG Commerce, as well as any portions of code that are generated by PDG Commerce.

Unlimited Product Images and Automatic Resizing – Merchants can now upload and display an unlimited number of images for each product within their PDG storefront. As the merchant browses their computer for the image, PDG Commerce automatically creates a thumbnail and large image based on the merchant’s specifications. PDG Commerce Version 5 also provides an “alt text” field for each group of photos in order to maintain XHTML strict compliance and increase visibility for the product within search engines.

Navigation Breadcrumbs – PDG Commerce Version 5 can display a “breadcrumbs” trail at the top of your catalog pages in order to remind the customer where they are currently shopping within the storefront and provide 1-click access to return to the “parent” level of the category they’re currently shopping within (e.g. Clothing -> Mens -> Shirts -> Men’s Dress Shirts ; each respective link would direct the user back to the “top” area for that specific category).

Full Purchase/Order History for Registered Customers – Customers who register with your PDG Commerce enabled site will be able to view the details for all prior purchases – INCLUDING purchases that were completed prior to your upgrade to PDG Commerce Version 5. Within the details of their prior purchases, the customer can elect to add any or all of the items purchased in prior transactions to their current basket and can even choose the option of replicating the entire order. Users can also view the current payment and shipping status of the order based on the status of the order within the new Version 5 Order Manager (more below…).

Improved Product Searches – PDG Commerce Version 5 will allow your customers to search for products within certain categories – both parent and sub-categories. Searches within parent categories will automatically search within all respective sub-categories as well. Also, Version 5 will allow merchants using QuickBooks Point of Sale to provide a “search by size/style/color” function to their site (e.g. Show me all women’s shoes in size 7.5).

Improved Product Category Display – PDG Commerce Version 5 provides a nested unordered list display of your product category hierarchy, providing a simple way to introduce DHTML/CSS/JAVA based menus displays to provide accordion, fly-out and other dynamic menu options within your storefront (e.g. click/hover on parent category to see subcategories of that parent without having to load another page).

Shipping Cost Estimator – Customers shopping at your PDG Commerce Version 5 site will be able to get a quick estimate on shipping costs without having to go through the checkout process. Simply add a form to your basket or any other page to collect the zip, state and country of the shipping address and the customer’s preferred shipping method. Upon submitting, the page will reload displaying the estimated shipping costs. Better still – the shiping information will already be prepopulated for registered users shopping within your store – providing a 1-click shipping estimate.

WYSIWYG HTML Editor for Company Information Pages and Product Long Descriptions – Easily insert HTML encoded information for any of your PDG generated “company” pages, as well as long descriptions for your products. Just like working within FrontPage, Dreamweaver, etc., simply enter the text, choose your format options (size, color, styling of text), insert images and other formatting options and PDG Commerce Version 5 automatically creates the HTML code for your display.

What’s New, Best Sellers and Other Custom Item Lists – PDG Commerce Version 5 allows you to insert a dynamically generated customized display of products within any of your PDG generated pages. This feature allows you to display a current list of “newly added” products, “best sellers” within your storefront, or build your own “custom” item list (e.g. “May Specials” or “Mother’s Day Flowers”). Choose from preprogrammed lists or create your own list within the PDG administration panel.

Administration Panel “Dashboard” – Providing a quick-glance view of your store’s operation, the Version 5 dashboard displays your top selling items, daily sales totals, version information and more. Subsequent Version 5 releases will provide additional customizable ‘widgets’ to tweak the dashboard to your satisfaction.

Version 5 Video Documentation and Tutorials – Based on feedback received regarding our QuickBooks and QuickBooks Point of Sale Integration Tutorials, PDG will now be offering future product documentation in video format. Providing a direct 1st person example of set up will allow new users to easily implement and set PDG Commerce features just by viewing and replicating what was demonstrated in the video docs.

Pricing information for new users interested in purchasing PDG Commerce Version 5 can be found at http://www.pdgsoft.com/commerce_purchase.htm .

Existing PDG Commerce users interested in upgrading to PDG Commerce Version 5 can find upgrade information at http://www.pdgsoft.com/commerce_upgrade_purchase.htm .

Finally, PDG Shopping Cart users interested in upgrading to PDG Commerce Version 5 can read more about their upgrade options at http://www.pdgsoft.com/commerce_upgrade_cart_purchase.htm .

Hope everyone enjoys!

If you are interested in participating in the Beta release, please email support@pdgsoft.com. We will contact you within the next 1-2 business days with the information necessary install PDG Commerce Version 5.

We’re talking about PayPal users. Seemingly every second there are thousands of eBay auctions ending, and how are the vast majority of the winning bids paid? You guessed it, PayPal!

Now, wouldn’t you like to be able to tap into the billions of dollars sitting in these PayPal user’s account? Many of these users prefer to shop with merchant sites that accept PayPal. Why? They can pay directly with their PayPal funds and not have to pay any service fees in order to have their PayPal money converted into “real” money.

Fortunately, adding the ability for your customers to pay via PayPal is as simple as signing up for a PayPal and implementing PayPal in your PDG Software storefront (Video tutorial and PDF documentation provided).

Studies have shown an average revenue increase of around 14% when merchants add PayPal to their existing “credit card only” sites.

Better still, PayPal offers a number of different options for merchants to accept PayPal transactions, including services that have no monthly fees! You pay only the transaction fee and traditional PayPal percentage, both of which are consistent with standard merchant account transaction fees and discount rates. In fact, you mind find that PayPal’s rates are better than your existing merchant rates, in which case you can explore PayPal’s “Pro” services that include not only PayPal processing, but also a full blown merchant account and payment gateway.

Use the links below to sign up for a PayPal account, to learn more about PayPal, or to get information on how to implement PayPal within your PDG Software storefront.

Sign Up for PayPal!

Learn More About PayPal Payments Standard

Learn More About PayPal Express Checkout

Learn More About PayPal Payments Pro

Learn How to Add PayPal to your PDG Shopping Cart or PDG Commerce webstore

PDG