Need Some Assistance with Shopping_URL

[AngelSpeaks]

Here's what I want to do on my website.  I am using Website Payments Standard.  I have multiple items, some items are shipped and some are digitally downloaded.  I have my HTML code so that the customer can have all items in one shopping cart.

I have a new item that is to be personalized.  After the customer clicks the 'Add to cart' buttion, I would like ithe customer to be redirected to a form where he/she can enter the information to be personalized.  From what I've read, the shopping_url tag is what I want.

I have it coded as:

<input type="hidden" name="shopping_url" value="http://mysite.com/myform.html" />

When I just test the page that has the button HTML code in it, the customer gets redirected to myform.html after clicking 'continue shopping'.  Yet when I test the website from the home page, control returns to the page where the customer clicked 'continue shopping'.

What am I missing?  I have one version of my site in FrontPage and the updated version in Expressions Web, and the same things are happening.

Thanks for any help.

[AngelSpeaks]

I wanted to add my sample HTML code, but the post was rejected.

[AngelSpeaks]

Here's an update.  I'll start by saying my site using frames.  One frame on the left with links and the other on the right showing the content.

I've read other discussions on shopping_url.  On the <form code, I've changed target="paypal" to target="_self".  On Firefox, the right frame is blank.  On Internet Explorer, I get:

This content cannot be displayed in a frame.  To help protect the security of information you enter into this website, the publisher of this content does not allow it to be displayed in a frame.  What you can try: Open this content in a new window.

So, I change target back to "paypal"

In FireFox, when I click continue, I get returned to the page where I clicked the add to cart button.

In Interet Explorer, I do get the page specified on the shopping_url.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[PayPal_Frank · Accepted solution]

Hi AngelSpeaks,

I don't think that using the "shopping_url" is your best option here.  If you are specifying it for only one button, it will probably work to redirect them back to your site but it could cause buyer confusion.  You would also need to figure out some way to link the information they fill out on your form to the transaction so you know which customization fits with which transaction.

If you need them to enter information to customize an item,  I recommend using the option variables.  You could create input text boxes to allow them to enter different customization options and assign those to variablesos0 to os6. You can implement up to 5 option selections as dropdown menus and up to 2 option selections as text boxes.

Note:A corresponding option field (on0throughon6) must defined

The nice thing about this option is that this information will be displayed during checkout and in the transaction details for your reference.

For security reasons, frames do not always work well with Website Payments Standard.  The best option is to have target="paypal" and open a new browser tab/window when they submit the form.

I hope this information helps! 😄

- Frank

[AngelSpeaks]

Thanks for your reply, Frank.  Unfortunately, I do need more option variables than Paypal allows, which is why I went with the separate form for personalization.  I will check to see if I can 'condense' it more.

The target="paypal" is the only option that works.  I've been using Paypal buttons for years and have no issues with my frames (of course, I've never tried anything 'fancy' until now).  My site is currently being redesigned to not use frames, but that will take some time.

[AngelSpeaks]

Another update.  I started adding the text boxes and I got up to on9/os9.  The invoice has all of the fields listed, I just haven't changed the code to Sandbox to actually test the checkout yet.

Very interesting........................

[AngelSpeaks]

I used the Sandbox to test the text boxes and dropped down list that I've added.  I added NINE total.  The checkout pages showed all of the text entered and the 'completed' transaction in the sandbox also listed the info.

[PayPal_Frank]

Very nice! 🙂  We must have updated Website Payments Standard to allow for more option variables.  I hope 9 is enough for your form.

- Frank

[lmcconaha]

It looks like I've misspelled my website name on my shopping cart information.  A customer sent the message below.  How do I fix the misspelling?  Lynnae

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