I sell my one of a kind art online...help please!

[rubarb]

Hi,

I'm brand new to this message board and new to web site design. I am currently creating my own web page on which to sell my work which is one of a kind (only one of each available). I have sold at an auction site for a few years now with lots of success, I just don't want to pay the listing fees anymore. The web hosting service that I'm using is pretty simple, just a drag and drop deal (I have limited html knowledge).

Anyway, when I use paypal's shopping cart or buy now buttons, and do a dummy purchase, i can enter any quantity I want (100 or 10000000!!). There is only ONE available of each item that I put up. I have tried asking paypal (they say they don't have that feature)and the web site company (still waiting for an answer from them).

I guess what I'd like is a only a quantity of one to be entered and also wondering if once someone purchased that item, would something pop up that says SOLD or NO LONGER AVAILABLE?

I bet I need a storefront or something...

Would any of you great minds out there in cyberspace have an answer for me?-

Sorry I rambled,
Barb (rubarb)

[tony_fulford]

--Barb

Go to the PayPal site and select Merchant Tools. Under "Website Payments", select "Buy Now Buttons"; Then under there select "Technical Overview". Follow the instructions under "How It Works" to generate the HTML code for your site.

Now modify the generated HTML code to set the quantity to 1 (one) so that the user cannot have the option to change it. If you have a problem doing this, just post the generated code here and I will modify it for you.

--Tony

[rubarb]

Hi Tony!

I looked at the html code and don't know where to input the quanitity...so here's the code...

I appreciate your help so much! Barb

<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick">
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="rubarb04@hotmail.com">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Blue Hawaii Flat Ovals">
<input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="FOV01">
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="0.99">
<input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
<input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/images/x-click-but23.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!">
</form>

[tony_fulford]

--Barb

Add the following line of HTML anywhere with the other type="hidden" lines of code:

<input type="hidden" name="undefined_quantity" value="1">

Barb, I must tell you that building a Web site is like printing a catalog and putting it in the closet. If no one knows about the catalog (your Web site) they will never find it and order you products. Building the Web site is the easy part, promotion of the Web site is the hard part.

This will be a good experience for you and you will come out with a better understanding of why the other sites were charging you for selling your products.

I wish you the best!

--Tony

[rubarb]

Hi Tony, I tried adding the line and I was still able to enter any quantity...I think that last line in the code appeared when I did. I tried deleting it, but then when I went to test it, paypal gave me an error message that there was a problem with this button.

I know you are right of course re: promotion, etc. I have learned much so far and thanks to people like you, I continue to...=)


<form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart">
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="rubarb04@hotmail.com">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="orange orbs">
<input type="hidden" name="undefined_quantity" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="orbs4">
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="0.01">
<input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
<input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/images/x-click-but22.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!">
<input type="hidden" name="add" value="1">
</form>

[tony_fulford]

--Barb

Try changing the same line to:

<input type="hidden" name="quantity" value="1">

--Tony

[rubarb]

Hey Tony,

I must be doing something wrong, still no good...

<form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart">
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="rubarb04@hotmail.com">
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="orbs5">
<input type="hidden" name="quantity" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="orbs5">
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="0.99">
<input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">
<input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/images/sc-but-01.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!">
<input type="hidden" name="add" value="1">
</form>

[jvanv8]

You need to change you paypal structure from an individual item button to a cart button

See the documentation on the paypal site
the form should go something like this


<form name="form" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" >
........ stuff ......

<input type="hidden" name="business" value="you@yourbuisnessEmail.com" />
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart" />
<input type="hidden" name="item_name_1" value="First Product Name" />
<input type="hidden" name="item_name_2" value="Second Product Name" />
<input type="hidden" name="amount_1" value="0.00" />
<input type="hidden" name="amount_2" value="0.00" />
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD" />
<input type="hidden" name="shipping_1" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="shipping2_1" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="handling_1" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="handling_2" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="return" value="http://www.yoursite.com/thanks.html" />
<input type="hidden" name="cancel_return" value="http://www.yoursite.com/thanksfornothin.html" />
<input type="hidden" name="undefined_quantity" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="no_shipping" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="upload" value="1" />
<input type="hidden" name="redirect_cmd" value="_xclick" />
<div id="button">
<input type="image" name="submit" src="http://images.paypal.com/images/x-click-but01.gif" border="0" />
</div>
</form>


That should work
John

[rubarb]

Hi John,

Actually that IS the code for a shopping cart. But only for the first item that i've entered.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks so much,
Barb

[jvanv8]

Did you try the code that I posted... it is quite different from yours. In particular:

The items should all have numbers (ie 'item_name_x' after them) such as:<input type="hidden" name="item_name_1" value="First Product Name" />

The same goes for the amount, shipping,shipping_2 and handling such as:<input type="hidden" name="amount_1" value="0.00" />
<input type="hidden" name="shipping_1" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="shipping2_1" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="handling_1" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="return" value="http://www.yoursite.com/thanks.html" />
<input type="hidden" name="cancel_return" value="http://www.yoursite.com/thanksfornothin.html" />

I think undefined_quantity should be 0 like this:<input type="hidden" name="undefined_quantity" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="no_shipping" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="0" />

Most importantly you are missing the following parameters:<input type="hidden" name="upload" value="1" />
<input type="hidden" name="redirect_cmd" value="_xclick" />
Let me know
John

[rubarb]

Yep, I sure did John. I printed out your suggestions and compared them with the code that i made on paypal for the first item.

My code did not have more than one item tho, since this is the first item that i'm adding. I think as I add more, the code should change, am i right? So, I didn't add the extra item lines, but did use the return value and cancel return.

Also, I set up a shipping rate schedule on paypal where it will change depending on the $ amount spent when a buyer checks out...

I did add the last two lines that you suggested (upload, redirect) but I will try again using the three lines about undefined quantity="0" because I was using "1" ....

btw, how important is it that i use space and forward slash at the ends of lines? I don't see it used in my code.

Thanks so much for everything John, I guess I'll just keep tweaking it and hopefully I'll nail it...

Barb

[jvanv8]

Barb, you are just going to have to trust me on this one I guess...
Copy and Paste the following code into a webpage and try it.
I just ran it and it worked fine and I was not able to buy more than one item.
<form name="form" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" >
........ stuff ...... such as product info, option boxes etc.
<input type="hidden" name="business" value="you@yourbuisnessEmail.com" />
<input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart" />
<input type="hidden" name="item_name_1" value="Matisse Original Painting" />
<input type="hidden" name="item_quantity_1" value="1" />
<input type="hidden" name="amount_1" value="100.00" />
<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD" />
<input type="hidden" name="shipping_1" value="15.10" />
<input type="hidden" name="shipping2_1" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="handling_1" value="2.00" />
<input type="hidden" name="on0_1" value="Option 1" />
<input type="hidden" name="os0_1" value="First Option goes here" />
<input type="hidden" name="on1_1" value="Option 2" />
<input type="hidden" name="os1_1" value="Second Option goes here" />
<input type="hidden" name="return" value="http://www.yoursite.com/thanks.html" />
<input type="hidden" name="cancel_return" value="http://www.yoursite.com/thanksfornothin.html" />
<input type="hidden" name="undefined_quantity" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="no_shipping" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="upload" value="1" />
<input type="hidden" name="redirect_cmd" value="_xclick" />
<div id="button">
<input type="image" name="submit" src="http://images.paypal.com/images/x-click-but01.gif" border="0" />
</div>
</form>
Don't change a thing at first. It will work. You should get see that it totals 100.00 with shipping and handling of 17.10
Then change the details to suit your needs.

John

[rubarb]

Hi John,

Yes, that works great...but isn't that a buy now button instead of a shopping cart?

Most of my customers buy multiple bead sets (one of each of course!)

Barb

[jvanv8]

hmm... in paypal code that I have delt with thus far I have managed my own cart because I didn't like paypal's "add to cart" feature since it popped up paypal in a new window every time you wanted to to add something. I'd rather keep the person shopping by holding the cart variables myself and then throwing them to paypal when the person checks out.

I know you can disable changing the quantity amount with paypal's "add to cart" buttons somehow. Check out the paypal development network site, its very helpful. I downloaded the PDF manuals on coding with Paypal on that website. They also have a help forum and the moderators seem to be pretty knowledgable when it comes to integrating HTML sites with Paypal (they're little in the dark when it comes to integrating Flash shopping carts with paypal though but I'm an expert at that now :p ).

John

[Yogi]

hi barb,
I wonder why are you taking so much of pain to find the solution. Why not start using a ready made solution for a customizable web store. There u need not to worry about anything of this sort as well as the promotion of the site, then you can concentrate on the thing which u do best is creating the creations and selling them, inspite of putting you head in technical glitches. One good solution is at http://b2bparadise.com try that out. ;)

[emerchant]

I have hosted my site on http://b2bparadise.com, our site uses only a fraction of the features they offer, it is a complete e-commerce solution that has a catalog management section (didn;t found this on most ecommerce solutions). I have built my store up and ready in just 2 hours with about 200 items. I didn't required any html, ftp, webdesigning or any other tech know how. Just entered my categories, items, prices and upload images through their interface. Shipping Charge calculation, Sales Tax Calculation, Image Resizing, Reports on Orders received, coupons etc. were the built in features with them
They are charging $24.99 per month alongwith the hosting. Definitely worth a try.