My customers end up on a blank, white page when checking out on my website. Help!

[Silverocity]

This is an intermittent problem. Some customers check out just fine with no issues. Others, including myself when I tested this, fill up their shopping cart, click the "checkout" button, and are taken to a plain,  white page. I mean it's like they have reached the end of the internet! There is NOTHING on this page!

Lucky for me, many of them have emailed me or called me and asked if I could send them a PayPal invoice for the jewelry they wished to purchase. I have to wonder though, how many customers got frustrated and just left my site without uttering a word to us about it.

I contacted my hosting company about this TWICE. Both times, they replied with a link to their own website for me to read that supposedly had the answer to my issues in that page somewhere. She told me that "this issue is happening because I'm using frame based domains". She said I'll want to follow the proper domain configuration steps and this issue should no longer occur!

This article can help you get set up: http://wiki.shopify.com/PayPal

I read that article, and nowhere in the article did I read anything about frame-based domains, proper domain configuration steps, or anything about getting a blank page at checkout. Since this is the second time she gave me the same response, I give up on them giving me any help. I figured I'd come straight to the source and see if any of you PayPal brainiacs can help me! Another solution, of course, could be to move my entire site to a new hosting company and see if they will give me better customer service regarding this issue, but I don't have the time or the energy to re-build my entire website.

When I did go digging around in my PayPal account settings earlier this evening, I discovered that I never got PayPal Verified. I've been a PP member for at least 15 years, and I never did it. So I did that this evening, and then tested my website again. This time I was able to complete an order, but is it because I got verified or is it because this is an intermittent problem?

If anyone can help me, please do! Thanks so much!

Happy New Year!
Kelly

[snowshoe]

Unfortunately there's still not information as someone would have to look at your web site setup, button coding method, type of PayPal Account (Personal, Premier or Business)  and do some testing.  Not being verified means that your account has limits for the amount of funds you can receive or withdraw or send.  Assuming you have a Premier or Business Account meaning customers can pay with their credit cards and your account is setup OK, the issue would most likely be related to your web site design or setup.  This could also affect your button code.  For example, if you're using frames in your page design, this could affect how the button code functions.  

[Silverocity]

Thanks so much for your response, Snowshoe. Actuallly, I have not had limits on withdrawals for years now, so I guess while I thought i was verifying myself yesterday, I must have already been verified. I have already withdrawn $5,000 at a pop. I do have a business account as well. If it is something with the way my website is designed and not something in my PayPal account, I don't understand why Shopify does not just fix it for me! They have gone into my website and fixed codes for me in the past.

I know just enough about web design to make me dangerous. I have no idea what "frames" mean and i wouldn't know how to look at the coding in my site to find those frames and remove them. I use one of Shopify's templates, and the only changes I have made were color changes, as well as adding a few apps. This might forever be a mystery, or I might just have to give up and switch to another hosting company. I just wish this didn't mean i would have to build my website all over again.

Does anyone have any recommendations on a good hosting company with minimal work involved to get my website set up again? I was thinking of trying out Big Commerce.

[snowshoe]

These guys are very good:

http://allwebcodesign.com/

They have great website templates,support, hosting and integrated PayPal carts.

One thing to keep in mind, regardless of the service, if coding your own items is not your thing, you really need the help of an experienced designer/programmer who's familiar with website design and PayPal integration. We've learned quite a bit over the years starting with our first online cart system in 1999, long before most folks could spell "www".

Best of luck.