The store and the cart

The store is where visitors become clients. It is public: nobody has to register before looking at prices, choosing options and filling the cart. The account is made at checkout, in the same step as the order. This chapter follows the buyer's path: the store, a product, the domain tools, the cart, promotion codes, checkout and the confirmation. How you build products and groups is in Products; what happens to the order afterwards is in Orders.

The path in three steps

The order pages show a small progress bar: 1. Configure, 2. Review & Checkout, 3. Complete.

The Store entry in the top bar opens a menu with every visible product group, then Register a New Domain and Transfer a Domain to Us (when domains are on) and View Cart. Hidden groups are not listed, but their address still works.

Store looks

The store shows one product group at a time. Above the products a row of links switches group; a Register a New Domain link sits at its end. A group may also have a headline, a tagline and a list of ticks, shown above the products. The look is chosen per group (Setup > Products/Services, group form, field Order Form Template); the default for new groups is Setup > Order Form Settings.

The tick list comes from the product description, split at commas and line breaks, so write features one per line. A product with stock control and none left shows Out of Stock instead of the button; a product with no price shows Unavailable. A retired product is not orderable at all.

Configure a product

Order Now opens the configure page with an Order Summary on the right that updates as options change.

1. Billing Cycle - one box per cycle with the price and the setup fee. A free product has no choice. A product that allows quantity shows a Quantity field.
2. Domain - for products that need one (see below).
3. Server Configuration - for a server product: Hostname, Root Password, Nameserver 1 and 2.
4. Configurable Options - drop-downs, radio buttons, yes/no ticks and quantity boxes, each with its price for the chosen cycle.
5. Available Addons - ticks (with a quantity box when allowed) and their prices.
6. Additional Information - the custom fields you added to the product.

The button says Add to Cart, or Update Cart when the visitor came from Edit in the cart. Continue Shopping goes back to the store. If the product is out of stock or cannot be ordered the page says so instead.

The domain card

Which choices appear depends on the product and on the extensions you sell:

• Register a new domain - type the name, pick the extension and press Check Availability. The answer appears at once, without leaving the page.
• Transfer your domain from another registrar - the domain and its EPP / Authorization Code.
• I will use my existing domain and update my nameservers.
• Use a subdomain - when the product offers subdomains.

Under register and transfer are ticks for DNS Management, ID Protection and Email Forwarding, with their yearly prices; they apply only when the extension supports them. A product with a free domain shows an info line, for example that a free registration is included when the client pays annually, and the first year of the domain then costs nothing in the cart. See Domains.

Domain checker, bulk and transfer

/domain opens with a banner Find your perfect domain name: a name box, an extension list (with all) and Search. A name that already has an extension is checked as typed; a bare name is checked with the chosen extension, or with the first six extensions of your list when all is chosen.

Each answer is one row:

Below the results is Other extensions, a list of suggestions. Their availability is checked when they are added. At most ten domains are added in one go, and a domain already in the cart is refused. If a lookup fails, the domain cannot be added until it can be checked, so make sure a registrar or WHOIS lookup works first (see Registrars).

• Transfer - Transfer a Domain to Us asks for the domain and the EPP code (required for most extensions) and says transfers usually take 5 to 7 days. The domain must already be registered elsewhere.
• Bulk Search - up to 20 names, one per line, checked in one run and added together.
• Pricing - a table with Register (1 Year), Transfer and Renew for every extension you sell, with a Popular badge on featured ones.

Searches are throttled (40 per minute per visitor, 10 for WHOIS), and the page then asks the visitor to wait.

The cart

Shopping Cart lists each item with its group, cycle, domain, chosen options and addons, the amount, and the line "then X per cycle" for what will recur. Per line: Edit for a product (back to the configure page), Remove, and for a domain a drop-down for the registration period (1 to 10 years, only the periods you priced). Continue Shopping and Empty Cart are below the items. If an item is no longer on sale it is dropped with a warning. An empty cart offers Browse Products and Register a Domain.

The side box Order Summary shows Subtotal, Setup Fees, Discount, Tax, Total Due Today and Recurring Charges. For a visitor who is not signed in, tax is shown as Estimated Tax when tax is on. A visitor who is not signed in can pick a currency from the top bar menu; a signed-in client always sees their own.

Promotion codes

The cart shows a Promotion code box and a Validate Code button. A good code shows Promotion code X with Remove, and the discount line appears. A bad code gets one of these answers: was not found, This promotion is not active yet., This promotion has expired., This promotion has been used up., This promotion is for new clients only., This promotion is for existing clients only., You have already used this promotion. or This promotion does not apply to the items in your cart. A code for new clients still works for a visitor who is about to become one. Promotions are set up in Products.

Checkout

A visitor sees two tabs:

• Create a New Account - First Name, Last Name, Company Name (optional), Email Address, Phone Number, Street Address, City, State/Region, Postcode, Country, your custom client fields, and the Password with confirmation (the minimum length is a security setting).
• Existing Customer Login - e-mail and password, then back to checkout with the cart intact. A client with two-factor sign-in is asked for the code first.

A signed-in client sees their details with an Edit button instead. Then come:

• Payment Method - one radio per active gateway that accepts the cart currency, with its fee text. When the total is zero the box says No payment is needed for this order.
• Additional Notes.
• The Terms of Service tick, if you require it (Order Form Settings), with your link.
• A Security check for new accounts.

Complete Order places the order. Before it does, the page checks stock, the code, the payment method, the terms and the account fields, and lists every problem at the top. A sub-account without the permission Place New Orders/Upgrades/Cancellations is told to ask the account owner. For a server order, the root password is wiped from the stored order once it is placed.

What happens when the order is placed

The order is created as Pending with its services, domains and addons, plus an invoice (also for a zero total if you turned on Create Invoices for Zero Orders). The client receives the Order Confirmation e-mail and staff the New Order Notification. Then:

• A fraud check runs (see Gateways and the fraud page in Settings); a suspicious order is set to Fraud. It is skipped for clients who already have an active service when Skip Fraud Check for Existing Clients is on.
• A free order is accepted straight away when Auto Accept Free Orders is on; a paid one is accepted when the invoice is paid and Auto Accept Paid Orders is on. Products set to set up on order or on payment are created accordingly.

Order complete

The confirmation says Thank you for your order! with the order number and the address the confirmation was sent to. Order Details lists each item with its status and the total. For an unpaid invoice a card shows the amount due and the gateway's own payment form, so the client can pay without another click, plus View Invoice. If nothing is due it says the invoice is paid or that no payment is needed. Continue to the Client Area ends the path. See The client area.

Renewing and ordering addons later

Two small order pages serve existing clients. Renew Domain (/cart/renew-domain/<id>) asks for the period and the payment method and creates a renewal invoice (Create Renewal Invoice); if one is unpaid already, the client is sent to it. Order Addons (/cart/addons/<service>) lists the addons of an active service, and Order and Create Invoice makes the invoice.