Paid Classified - How can we get it to work?

just_me · September 10th, 2007, 10:13 AM

We've been using the classifieds for a couple months now. We used to manually keep track of our paid classifieds in our directory with the free classifieds (business pay for their classifieds, individuals do not).

Since we implemented it, 11 people have tried to use the pay classified. And out of the 11, zero of them worked as we anticipated. None of them go active, they just sit in the payment pending section. And at that point we have to go to paypal, and search for a valid payment. As a result, we're actually spending more time now doing the workarounds then when doing it manually before. I read somewhere that the claim is that the user is not clicking a button in paypal to go back to our classifieds to make it valid...but if this is the case, if nobody can get it "right" it must be extremely confusing for the end user.

So I guess my question is, is something broken or if it's b/c they're not clicking a button in paypal....how do we make it obvious so some of our payments work?

Chuck S · September 10th, 2007, 10:30 AM

If they successfully pay you for an ad there is a link in paypal for them to click to link back to the site to confirm payment has been recieved. If the ads are in the payment pending que I would suspect they are not clicking this link. You can try this out yourself to see what I am talking about here. There are no payment issues that have been reported. Only issue ever reported has been this users not clicking the required paypal linkback.

just_me · September 10th, 2007, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck S

If they successfully pay you for an ad there is a link in paypal for them to click to link back to the site to confirm payment has been recieved. If the ads are in the payment pending que I would suspect they are not clicking this link. You can try this out yourself to see what I am talking about here. There are no payment issues that have been reported. Only issue ever reported has been this users not clicking the required paypal linkback.

That's what I figured. But you have to admit - 0 out of 11 means it's obviously not straight forward or easy to understand. Is there anything we can do to further ensure they see this? We've taken paypal payments through other applications and I've never seen a donut hole of successful attempts.

Chuck S · September 10th, 2007, 12:20 PM

Have you tried it? There is nothing we can do to change anything since your on paypals site they give a return url the user clicks it or not. See the issue is of they do not click it there is nothing to tell classifieds the ad has been paid for.

David Bott · September 28th, 2007, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck S

Have you tried it? There is nothing we can do to change anything since your on paypals site they give a return url the user clicks it or not. See the issue is of they do not click it there is nothing to tell classifieds the ad has been paid for.

WOW! If I had know about this issue, I would have looked elsewhere I think. Even Vb and subscriptions is fully automated so when a payment is made an API updates the members account to the new group. So YES, their IS something that could be done. To say their is nothing you can do is just plan not right.

At this point, I just opened the new marketplace and have 9 ads pending MY approval. Added work is not something one looks for and this just adds major work not to mention ticked off people when their paid ad does not show up.

Requiring someone to click on anther link after payment when most people just close the window is very poor IMHO.

Chuck S · September 28th, 2007, 12:33 PM

We use the normal paypal payment system. There is no api subscription system.
That is the distinction here and a big difference. The automated API is used for subscriptions in like forums. A one time payment as found in our program used a normal paypal payment page and as such the user needs to hit the return url.

David Bott · September 28th, 2007, 12:50 PM

Hi Chuck...

Great and understood. But why not just make it an API? It would solve the issue and make for a better product. At this point it can make for issues when it is missed. And with the above members numbers and mine today just was we started, it does seem to be an issue.

It would be great if you can do something with this. As for now, it has already made for issues for us. Now up to 12 that did not go though fully for it was missed. (3 more in 10 mins.) Large site, new opening, makes for an OUCH with issues like this.

THanks

David Bott · September 28th, 2007, 12:55 PM

Oh...Short term...Can you please advise on where and what (How) should be added to the pages JUST BEFORE it goes to PayPal where so we can add...

"NOTE: Your ad WILL NOT SHOW UP after payment UNLESS you are sure to click the link back to the marketplace after you process your payment."

You know, like right above the button used to take you to PayPal.

I guess I am asking, what template and where.

ALSO...O am guessing that if someone does BUY IT NOW their is a similar issue with it being marked SOLD? (Not sure, just asking)

Thanks

Chuck S · September 28th, 2007, 01:33 PM

Sure you may add a bold statement in the payment template through Admin => Edit Templates.

We can always look at ways of improving things. I have often though of writing up a subscription service.

benFF · September 28th, 2007, 01:35 PM

The Paypal Callback system could be used to get around this issue (Paypal make a call to a specified URL once the payment is successful)....

Might be worth looking into Chuck

Chuck S · September 28th, 2007, 01:54 PM

Yes indeed

Michael P · September 28th, 2007, 03:04 PM

We should look into how hard it would be to add an API call versus the link-thru.

Chuck S · September 28th, 2007, 06:52 PM

Yes it is on my list

David Bott · September 29th, 2007, 09:44 AM

Thanks Chuck and Mike. Woke up to 27 more upset people today. And to think I just opened it yesterday. Now I need to find what template to edit.

Chuck S · September 29th, 2007, 10:24 AM

payment template is the one.

David Bott · September 29th, 2007, 10:32 AM

Thanks...Found it easier to edit the English.php file.

Code:

Content visible to verified customers only.

David Bott · September 30th, 2007, 04:09 PM

Ok, this really is a major issue even with the text added, see above, people STILL do not click the link to come back and make the ad show up.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put this HIGH on the list as it really is not something I really thought I would need to monitor. All it is doing is making people upset and adding more work.

Thanks

Chuck S · September 30th, 2007, 06:25 PM

I will look at this when I open a beta.

Joshua van Aalst · October 7th, 2007, 07:28 PM

I'd also like to put a vote in for this issue to be resolved via api calls to Pay Pal.

Cheers,
Josh

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...