PhotoPost Community - View Single Post - Paid Classified

websissy · October 27th, 2007, 12:19 PM

No matter what excuse the developers use, the Classifeds payment processing essentially does not function when it fails to properly receive and record a payment that was actually made by the advertiser. The developers can blame it on the user all they want; but if the software fails to receive and record a payment that was actually made, then the enitire classifieds payment approach needs to be rethought.

Hooking the product up to Paypal's subscription processing makes the most sense here because that way the site host can not ONLY get paid for the ad the first time; they at least stand a chance to get paid for the ad renewals as well. So far, this discussion has only revolved around receiving and recording the FIRST payment. If this software is all the way up to version 5.6 and it still can't do THAT right, I can't imagine what a cluster-f*#k getting it to actually RENEW the ad and collect the SECOND payment will eventally be! Good grief, the sun might burn out and become a supernova before ad renewals begin to work properly!

Yes, using the Paypal API call to actually call a Classifieds module that records the payment makes a lot of sense. That way, Paypal could (and would) actively REPORT the receipt of a new ad payment (AND one could at least HOPE ad RENEWAL payments too) back to the classifieds software rather than allowing a mission-critcal business transaction to completely die in the middle of the process and then have the developers blame it on the user (who knows FAR less than any of us do about how this process actually works or perhaps I should say should work) for not clicking the:

[Click Here to Return to the classfieds so I can REPORT your payment back to the software that sent you here and ensure that your ad which you've now PAID FOR actually goes live as you have every right to expect it to. Otherwise, I'll cheat you out of your payment and leave you holding the bag and everyone involved downstream from here will have egg on their faces and be totally embarrassed and blame the whole thing on YOU.]

button!

Jeez, guys... Please give your paying customers (and our customers) a break here and THINK THIS THROUGH!

I licensed this software TWO YEARS ago and discovered real fast that the payment process in the classifieds was lame and broken and essentially useless even then. It's really not too encouraging to come back today trying to determine how things have improved only to discover that Photo Post's developers still haven't thought this area through very well and that current new licensees are still complaining it doesn't work.

May I make a suggestion, Chuck? How about opening a real functionality discussion among your users and developers about how the classifieds payment process really ought to work rather than continuing to throw new temporary patches on this bald old tire? Let's face it, guys, if All Enthusiast's own accounting department was as unreliable about collecting and recording customer payments as this software is, you and all the other Photopost Classifieds developers would have been on the street looking for new jobs long ago...

I for one look forward to hearing how this area will be improved in the December Release...

October 27th, 2007, 12:19 PM	#20 (permalink)
websissy Member Verified Customer Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Socorro, NM Posts: 54	Payments have been broken for a long, LONG time... No matter what excuse the developers use, the Classifeds payment processing essentially does not function when it fails to properly receive and record a payment that was actually made by the advertiser. The developers can blame it on the user all they want; but if the software fails to receive and record a payment that was actually made, then the enitire classifieds payment approach needs to be rethought. Hooking the product up to Paypal's subscription processing makes the most sense here because that way the site host can not ONLY get paid for the ad the first time; they at least stand a chance to get paid for the ad renewals as well. So far, this discussion has only revolved around receiving and recording the FIRST payment. If this software is all the way up to version 5.6 and it still can't do THAT right, I can't imagine what a cluster-f#k getting it to actually RENEW the ad and collect the SECOND payment will eventally be! Good grief, the sun might burn out and become a supernova before ad renewals begin to work properly! Yes, using the Paypal API call to actually call a Classifieds module that records the payment makes a lot of sense. That way, Paypal could (and would) actively REPORT the receipt of a new ad payment (AND one could at least HOPE ad RENEWAL payments too) back to the classifieds software rather than allowing a mission-critcal business transaction to completely die in the middle of the process and then have the developers blame it on the user (who knows FAR less than any of us do about how this process actually works or perhaps I should say should work) for not clicking the: [Click Here to Return to the classfieds so I can REPORT your payment back to the software that sent you here and ensure that your ad which you've now PAID FOR actually goes live as you have every right to expect it to. Otherwise, I'll cheat you out of your payment and leave you holding the bag and everyone involved downstream from here will have egg on their faces and be totally embarrassed and blame the whole thing on YOU.] button! Jeez, guys... Please give your paying customers (and our customers) a break here and THINK THIS THROUGH! I licensed this software TWO YEARS ago and discovered real fast that the payment process in the classifieds was lame and broken and essentially useless even then. It's really not too encouraging to come back today trying to determine how things have improved only to discover that Photo Post's developers still haven't thought this area through very well and that current new licensees are still complaining* it doesn't work. May I make a suggestion, Chuck? How about opening a real functionality discussion among your users and developers about how the classifieds payment process really ought to work rather than continuing to throw new temporary patches on this bald old tire? Let's face it, guys, if All Enthusiast's own accounting department was as unreliable about collecting and recording customer payments as this software is, you and all the other Photopost Classifieds developers would have been on the street looking for new jobs long ago... I for one look forward to hearing how this area will be improved in the December Release... Last edited by websissy; October 27th, 2007 at 12:33 PM.