Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

[thenix]

What is the easiest way to combine OPAY and OSEL into one page?

[Brandon MUS]

Re: Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

Hire a developer? Honestly, it's not easy at all, so if you are at all timid to hack apart the templates, I wouldn't try it. You'll need a firm understanding of html forms as well as a good amount of experience with smt. Toolkit is also a big plus.

[thenix]

Re: Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

I am willing to learn how to hack apart templates, I just need an idea of were to start. I've already drastically edited the product display layout and page code for the store.

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

This is probably the best place to start: https://www.emediasales.com/support/...&kbarticleid=5

[aarcmedia]

Re: Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

Single page checkout is by far one of the most overrated feature request out there. The problem is that if your shipping & payment configurations are even a slightly complex, then you really don't have a single page checkout anymore because they have to use javascript to reload the page after certain steps, so the effect is almost exactly the same as when they get taken to the next step (therefore negating the reason for doing it in the first place)

And to make it worse, if a person's browser, computer or phone doesn't support javascript, then your totally awesome single page checkout results in them not being able to checkout at all, unless you want to pay a ton of money to have it do browser and system checks to make sure it throws them a checkout option their platform supports (mucho dinero for that).

Just build an intuitive system for making sure they know what each step of the Miva checkout process is for, and you'll be much better off.

Even eMediaSales will likely advise against the single page checkout in certain cases depending on your shipping & payment configurations. The only time it's 100% easy for them to set up for you is if you sell something like soft goods. They've recommended 3 or 4 of our clients don't pursue single page checkout, and they all had deep pockets and were willing to pay to have it done right, but it's sometimes just not practical.

In two cases, we simply used Miva's step by step process, and made it APPEAR to be a single page checkout through some creative design and layout using a ton of CSS and custom coding to the process.

And the above is a generalization based on the fact you want to do it yourself and appear to be not willing to spend the money to hire help. Doing it the 100% right way can be done, but it's expensive. If you're asking the question in this forum on how to do it, you will never be able to do it in a manner that will insure your checkout is available to all shoppers and that will cost you not only money, but you'll lose sales as well.

Don't believe the hype. It's not all it's cracked up to be, and most merchants do just fine with the default, step by step checkout Miva provides. You just have to make sure the visitor knows where they are in the process, and they'll be ok with it.

[Zach]

Re: Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

Hate to disagree with Ted on this, but I do.

We've built an ajaxified checkout process that we could integrate for you that does NOT require page reloads or anything of that sort. It will populate new shipping methods based on the zip code and country for international shipping and calculates things like tax too.

For an example of this checkout http://www.softwareking.com or http://www.softwareking.ca.

For more information call us at 800-578-5003 or email [email protected].

[Brandon MUS]

Re: Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

Zach, I think your example for a 1 page checkout just backs up everything Todd was saying. Your checkout process is completely useless without JavaScript enabled. Also, error messages are practically non-existent. On top of that, if I chose PayPal, you still ask for my credit card number and American Express asks for a CVV2 code -- both of which would confuse the crap out of me as a customer.

Also, that checkout process uses very simple shipping and payment methods because you only ship to one country, so it isn't realistic for most stores.

[alphatect]

Re: Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

What about DesignExtend's One Page Checkout? Does that require javascript?

Funny, there was a time that only 1% of my customers had js turned off. Now its 18%. Those are cell phone users. I only see that number going up. I would be willing to sacrifice 1% of sales for a one-page checkout. I think it would easily pay for itself. But 18%? That would be pushing it.

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

All one page checkouts (that calculate shipping or anything for that matter) require either Javascript, or some other type of form submission. So yes DesignExtend uses it too. The only way you can avoid it is if you use only flat rate shipping and don't need to calculate anything based on address (such as tax).

[Zach]

Re: Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

Zach, I think your example for a 1 page checkout just backs up everything Todd was saying. Your checkout process is completely useless without JavaScript enabled. Also, error messages are practically non-existent. On top of that, if I chose PayPal, you still ask for my credit card number and American Express asks for a CVV2 code -- both of which would confuse the crap out of me as a customer.

Might be true. The only way to know for sure is to track actual results.

[alphatect]

Combine OCST and OPAY...

I have an idea for eliminating one screen from the process. It focuses on wrapping up the checkout with a combination OCST/OPAY screen. The final screen would have the OCST form for customer info - plus the OPAY fields below that for the credit card info. Combining those would eliminate one screen. I could probably think of a few different ways to get there. Here's one:

On BASK, along with the Continue button, have required fields for State, Zip, and Country. The next screen would be OSEL - asking you to select ship method and payment method. From there, all order amounts are already established, pay method is already established - so go onto the final screen - OCST/OPAY combo that I mentioned above.

I like the idea of leaving the customer info for last. That gets around the issue a lot of people have with filling out contact info before knowing the shipping amount. Plus all typing (contact info plus credit card info) would be done on one screen.

Now I don't exactly like what I proposed above because of the need for having the State, Zip, and Country fields on the BASK page. But I think I'm going in the right direction with it. By having the goal of finishing the checkout with a combo OCST/OPAY page, I think one page can be eliminated. Its just a matter of finding a good way to lead up to that.

[Siamese-Dream.Com]

Re: Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

Don't the one page checkouts generally check for javascript being enabled???

For some reason, I thought that they would revert to the standard merchant checkout if Javascript wasn't enabled, but I could be wrong.

[Zach]

Re: Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

Don't the one page checkouts generally check for javascript being enabled???

For some reason, I thought that they would revert to the standard merchant checkout if Javascript wasn't enabled, but I could be wrong.

That would be the golden standard. Our onepage ajax cart should work with no javascript installed. It wont revert to the standard, but it will revert to work without javascript just fine.

[eMediaSales]

Re: Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

As a follow up, our "non-ajaxified version" (eg, the original article I wrote a few years back that Rick linked to) works without any JS. But of course, it has it's own set of limitations described above (payment methods/shipping methods not changing dynamically, etc).

In most cases when the checkout process is complex such as needing dynamic shipping methods based on address and clients don't want javascript, we do a "2 page checkout" that combines OSEL/OPAY. The concepts in the original 1 page checkout article can be used to do this.

Finally - I agree - it's complex so I do recommend hiring a developer.

best,
James

[aarcmedia]

Re: Combine OPAY and OSEL into one page

There is no in-between here. One-Page checkout will 100% result in a small portion of your visitors NOT BEING ABLE TO CHECKOUT. Granted, it may only be anywhere from 0.5 to 2 or 3 percent of your visitors that would run into problems, but I have never had a client that would be cool with turning away sales because they want to streamline their checkout process. Sure they sometimes are willing to concede on other parts of their site where this or that feature may not work for certain people because of flash or javascript issues, but when it comes to completing a sale, it's not generally recommended.

One of the biggest knocks on Magento after they made the single page checkout a base part of their platform was that there was no mention or notification that if a magento store owner enabled it, it could cause issues for certain shoppers when trying to complete purchases.

If you look through the Magento forums, they are littered with people having issues with their single page checkout in various browsers and platforms.

I'm not saying it's not useful, but as Brandon above mentioned, it is fine for more basic payment and shipping configs, but the more complex those systems are, the less likely you are to have a good experience with single page checkout.

And Brandon, it's Ted, not Todd. You're killing my identity man. You wouldn't want me calling you Brendon would you :) (just kidding) Thanks for backing me up. I wasn't slamming eMediaSales service as we use their modules and services here and there. Just making sure people know the downsides to the single page checkout stuff.