PayPal Buy Now Buttons

JMR

Hi there,

Looking for some advice here...
I have a website up and running since January (www.drypro.ie) and it was built using Wordpress with Buy Now buttons as it was deemed to be the simplest and most cost effective solution due to the small number of products for sale.
Originally I expected ireland to be the sole market but have since started selling to the UK so inserted a second Buy Now button on each page with a UK shipping charge associated and using GBP as the currency.

Now though, I want to add an additional shipping option, express delivery at a higher cost.
It seems the only way I can currently achieve this is to insert yet another dedicated Buy Now button for the express delivery purchase.
I think this will make the site cluttered and need a slick solution.
My site developer has quoted for installing a shopping cart from http://tribulant.com/plugins/view/10/wordpress-shopping-cart-plugin but I am looking for a cheaper option that I can implement myself.
Anybody have a simpler solution?

cormee

JMR wrote: »

Hi there,

Looking for some advice here...
I have a website up and running since January (www.drypro.ie) and it was built using Wordpress with Buy Now buttons as it was deemed to be the simplest and most cost effective solution due to the small number of products for sale.
Originally I expected ireland to be the sole market but have since started selling to the UK so inserted a second Buy Now button on each page with a UK shipping charge associated and using GBP as the currency.

Now though, I want to add an additional shipping option, express delivery at a higher cost.
It seems the only way I can currently achieve this is to insert yet another dedicated Buy Now button for the express delivery purchase.
I think this will make the site cluttered and need a slick solution.
My site developer has quoted for installing a shopping cart from http://tribulant.com/plugins/view/10/wordpress-shopping-cart-plugin but I am looking for a cheaper option that I can implement myself.
Anybody have a simpler solution?

I really don't get this prevalent unwillingness to invest in one's business, it's an obsession with cheapness at the expense of professionalism. Do it right or don't do it at all - the correct way to do this is, as your designer suggests, add a shopping cart or an e-commerce plugin.

You're not capable of doing it yourself, so you need someone who is, get them to do the job, pay them, and move on.

If you want your business to grow, invest in it, don't go cutting corners looking for half-assed DIY shortcuts.

JMR

cormee wrote: »

I really don't get this prevalent unwillingness to invest in one's business, it's an obsession with cheapness at the expense of professionalism. Do it right or don't do it at all - the correct way to do this is, as your designer suggests, add a shopping cart or an e-commerce plugin.

I really don't understand your ire!

My question was a simple one and does not indicate an obsession with cheapness at the expense of professionalism.

I am looking for an alternative solution to paying in excess of €1000 for what seems to be a small modification to my site.

I currently have a drop down list associated with my Buy Now buttons which provide a different price for each size (6 in total). What I now need is an additional drop down list or similar which will provide 2 or 3 different shipping prices (standard / express etc.)

It seems to me from researching the PayPal website and playing with the options available to me that this is not possible.

I can have a flat shipping rate associated with the button or else a scaled value calculated based on the purchase amount.

I'm simply looking for others opinions on this and whether anybody has overcome a similar problem without having to install a costly shopping cart plugin

cormee

JMR wrote: »

I really don't understand your ire!

My question was a simple one and does not indicate an obsession with cheapness at the expense of professionalism.

I am looking for an alternative solution to paying in excess of €1000 for what seems to be a small modification to my site.

I currently have a drop down list associated with my Buy Now buttons which provide a different price for each size (6 in total). What I now need is an additional drop down list or similar which will provide 2 or 3 different shipping prices (standard / express etc.)

It seems to me from researching the PayPal website and playing with the options available to me that this is not possible.

I can have a flat shipping rate associated with the button or else a scaled value calculated based on the purchase amount.

I'm simply looking for others opinions on this and whether anybody has overcome a similar problem without having to install a costly shopping cart plugin

Are you saying your designer wanted to charge you €1000 just to install that shopping cart plugin, or was there any work involved?

whyalwayswe

seen these websites for sale on the net. you BUY THESE sites for €500 and they work as a secondary site as when someone clicks and follows a link to buy the products specified on your site you get paid commission? Does any1 have any experience of these sites?

JMR

cormee wrote: »

Are you saying your designer wanted to charge you €1000 just to install that shopping cart plugin, or was there any work involved?

Essentially, yes.
I don't have quotation with me to provide detailed breakdown but cost was €1000 to install Wordpress cart plugin (as in original post) and nearly double that to switch to dedicated cart software from 'OpenCart'.

Work involved is modifying site to work with cart plugin etc.

cormee

JMR wrote: »

Essentially, yes.
I don't have quotation with me to provide detailed breakdown but cost was €1000 to install Wordpress cart plugin (as in original post) and nearly double that to switch to dedicated cart software from 'OpenCart'.

Work involved is modifying site to work with cart plugin etc.

Post the project on elance.com, pick a bidder with good feedback and WordPress experience - you'll get it done for a fraction of the price.

Although your site's not great, you'd probably be better off just buying an ecommerce theme and having someone install it for you. No point throwing good money after bad. http://templatic.com/ecommerce-themes/store/ would be ideal

JMR

cormee wrote: »

Post the project on elance.com, pick a bidder with good feedback and WordPress experience - you'll get it done for a fraction of the price.

Just thought I'd update on this....

I engaged a contractor in India and got the required mods made very quickly and for a very reasonable price.
Will definitely use Elance again if the need arises

IRE60

As much as it against the grain - I've used elance and others a few times (one regretful one - but that can happen anywhere). The reason for that was the same scenario listed here - €1000 for opensource software!!! FFS - is it any wonder the likes of Elance are so popular.

link8r

cormee wrote: »

I really don't get this prevalent unwillingness to invest in one's business, it's an obsession with cheapness at the expense of professionalism. Do it right or don't do it at all - the correct way to do this is, as your designer suggests, add a shopping cart or an e-commerce plugin.

I can't tell you how much I like this comment - fantastic and so well put. I don't know how many times I've met business owners who don't want to put €500 into an "online business" but are happy to arrive at a meeting in a brand new car.

We have to get over consumer-lead thinking based on the idea of a free internet = everything is free. "I want to build a million dollar company but I'm not willing to pay for it because I'm clearly owed it"

My opinion: I'm a big fan of the EEC and EU open market but I think the French/German approach to commerce (essentially communism) is terrible. Basically, if its not how an American would do it, then you're doing it wrong.

link8r

IRE60 wrote: »

As much as it against the grain - I've used elance and others a few times (one regretful one - but that can happen anywhere). The reason for that was the same scenario listed here - €1000 for opensource software!!! FFS - is it any wonder the likes of Elance are so popular.

€1000 for installing a plug-in makes no good business sense at all. However, with the absence of the POV of the said web designer, are we sure that the quotation was just for adding the plugin or for something else? I'm just playing devil's advocate - I have no idea on either side.

We also have to remember that the living costs in India are a fraction of what they are in Ireland. I really don't want to sound like a trade unionist or retail support group but while I agree that €1000 is ridiculous for installing a plugin (provided that was the extent of the quoted engagement), I'm not going to be surprised that India is cheaper.

From commercial experience though, over a 12 year period, there is no comparison between quality control, experience and RAD between Ireland and India. There are transactional items (like installing a plugin) where the technical skills, planning, project management and risk are almost non existent but compared to greendfield, Ireland wins hands down on cost and quality purely because of speed of development, experience, comprehension and better-built in quality of development.

tricky D

link8r wrote: »

I can't tell you how much I like this comment - fantastic and so well put. I don't know how many times I've met business owners who don't want to put €500 into an "online business" but are happy to arrive at a meeting in a brand new car.

We have to get over consumer-lead thinking based on the idea of a free internet = everything is free. "I want to build a million dollar company but I'm not willing to pay for it because I'm clearly owed it".

Too many online businesses seem to forget how things work in real world bricks and mortar stores. There's not as much disconnect between the online and offline as some would believe. This goes for selling techniques to development prices. A quote of thousands or more like tens of thousands for setting up a real world shop is deemed more acceptable than a price say ten times cheaper for online. It's not like like there's some cheap magic wand that only works in the online world.

I often find myself asking clients would they do this or that and how much would that cost in the real world. Gets the penny to drop a bit.

link8r wrote: »

€1000 for installing a plug-in makes no good business sense at all. However, with the absence of the POV of the said web designer, are we sure that the quotation was just for adding the plugin or for something else? I'm just playing devil's advocate - I have no idea on either side.

We also have to remember that the living costs in India are a fraction of what they are in Ireland. I really don't want to sound like a trade unionist or retail support group but while I agree that €1000 is ridiculous for installing a plugin (provided that was the extent of the quoted engagement), I'm not going to be surprised that India is cheaper.

Yup €1000 for merely installing is a bit rich, unless there's work to be done on conversion which is often the case.

link8r

tricky D wrote: »

Too many online businesses seem to forget how things work in real world bricks and mortar stores. There's not as much disconnect between the online and offline as some would believe. This goes for selling techniques to development prices. A quote of thousands or more like tens of thousands for setting up a real world shop is deemed more acceptable than a price say ten times cheaper for online. It's not like like there's some cheap magic wand that only works in the online world.

I often find myself asking clients would they do this or that and how much would that cost in the real world. Gets the penny to drop a bit.

There's this sense of - I can see it , I can build it. Because its laid on out on screen, it's easy to do. Also, because its a website (which is just a brochure) - it also marketing, built in.

tricky D

It is easy to do, easy to do badly. That's why there's so many crap designs and designers (no real barrier to entry and all that). There's so much more skill and experience to the whole UI/UX and the rest of it than most realise (and value).

IRE60

link8r fcuk the living costs in India - €1000 is "Dick Turpin" for adding a plugin - no matter where you reside - end of, and no excuse bout it

link8r

IRE60 wrote: »

link8r fcuk the living costs in India - €1000 is "Dick Turpin" for adding a plugin - no matter where you reside - end of, and no excuse bout it

Hey Ire60 - I don't think I'm disagreeing with you. But I also think its unfair to assume that that was what the whole quote was for. I've met a lot of people - nearing the hundreds - that have claimed over quotations like this but then to find out they really just didn't understand what the quote was for.

What if the web designer included transfer of products and other services?

IRE60

Here is the quote "but cost was €1000 to install Wordpress cart plugin" - nothing to intimate that there is anything else involved and we cant assume that there is.

AKA the 'web designer' is a fcuking thief.

link8r

IRE60 wrote: »

AKA the 'web designer' is a fcuking thief.

I'll leave it there, clearly other issues at play here too.

blue4ever

No issues, just seeing the wood for the trees.

JMR

link8r wrote: »

Hey Ire60 - I don't think I'm disagreeing with you. But I also think its unfair to assume that that was what the whole quote was for. I've met a lot of people - nearing the hundreds - that have claimed over quotations like this but then to find out they really just didn't understand what the quote was for.

What if the web designer included transfer of products and other services?

I will clarify what quotation was for...

• HTML Coding (valid XHTML) and other Modifications - €100
• Shopping Cart Pages -Product Listing, Product, add to cart, checkout and complete checkout pages - €200
• Shopping Cart System - from tribulant - installations-upgrade and setup - €400
• Paypal Integration - €150
• Project Management & Testing - €150

Just to be 100% clear on this.......
I engaged the contractor in India to make the mods required to provide what I was looking for, as outlined in original post.
They did not carry out the work as quoted above, they essentially provided a different, simpler and most importantly at €140, a much cheaper solution

blue4ever

JMR wrote: »

link8r wrote: »

Hey Ire60 - I don't think I'm disagreeing with you. But I also think its unfair to assume that that was what the whole quote was for. I've met a lot of people - nearing the hundreds - that have claimed over quotations like this but then to find out they really just didn't understand what the quote was for.

What if the web designer included transfer of products and other services?

I will clarify what quotation was for...

• HTML Coding (valid XHTML) and other Modifications - €100
• Shopping Cart Pages -Product Listing, Product, add to cart, checkout and complete checkout pages - €200
• Shopping Cart System - from tribulant - installations-upgrade and setup - €400
• Paypal Integration - €150
• Project Management & Testing - €150

Just to be 100% clear on this.......
I engaged the contractor in India to make the mods required to provide what I was looking for, as outlined in original post.
They did not carry out the work as quoted above, they essentially provided a different, simpler and most importantly at €140, a much cheaper solution

Well - that's clarity - and thanks. It's patently robbery. PayPal Integration at 150 is a laugh.

I will leave this now that the facts are laid bare

cormee

JMR wrote: »

Just to be 100% clear on this.......
I engaged the contractor in India to make the mods required to provide what I was looking for, as outlined in original post.
They did not carry out the work as quoted above, they essentially provided a different, simpler and most importantly at €140, a much cheaper solution

Well done.

One other project you should consider is replacing the theme with an ecommerce theme like the one I posted the link to. They look much more professional than a hacked standard theme, and have most of the functionality you'll need already built in.

For future projects on elance - always describe it down to the last minute detail, and test well before handing your cash over. Do that and you can't go wrong (well, in 90% of your projects anyway).