Version Info this help item shows Joomla v1.5 but is almost identical in v1.0
Help Tip Some information in this tutorial is excerpted from the VirtueMart User Manual which covers most of the configuration settings in VirtueMart.
What Are The Choices?
VirtueMart offers many choices as to how to setup the customer purchase procedure for an ecommerce site.
- You can keep it it fairly simple and not even offer account creation, or make it mandatory for a customer to create an account, agree to terms of service, returns policy, and review your legal text.
- These options are often overwhelming for new Joomla site owners, especially since these choices are not selected in one place in the VirtueMart Admin area, and the choices and their ramifications are not explained clearly for the site owner.
- Some businesses need to use these features either due to national or local laws, or to insure the customer understands the conditions of the sale.
- The best way to make sure your site checkout is working the way you want is to make a test order every time you make a change to the checkout choices so you can see exactly what your customers will experience.
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Start by opening the Configuration Tab...
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The Checkout Process
You select the number of steps in the checkout process on the Checkout Tab of the Configuration Panel.
This determines how many steps are in the checkout process and whether to show the Checkout Bar at the top of the checkout pages:
Depending on your site's design, the checkout bar graphics may look fine or not so fine, like the ones above. The images used are located in the components/com_virtuemart/themes/ThemeName/images/checkout folder so you can customize them if necessary.
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User Registration Settings
The user registration settings section is located on the Global Tab of the
Configuration Panel. A number of important settings are chosen here.
Must Agree To Terms Of Service On Every Order?
Check if you want a shopper to agree to your Terms of Service before completing a purchase. You setup your Terms of Service statement in the Store > Edit Store Panel (discussed further down).
Show Information About "Return Policy" On The Order Confirmation Page?
This actually refers to whatever text you have in the Legal Information Text Box just below the Return Policy checkbox. You can include your returns policy, privacy policy, or any other important info you want the customer to see before completing a purchase. If you click the checkbox your legal information text will show on the checkout page like this:
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User Registration Types
Normal Account Creation
This type of registration asks each customer for a username and password and all other published registration details.
Silent Account Creation
In this mode, users don't need to fill in a username and password for a new account. Instead the email address is used for the new account and a random password is generated. The registration details are emailed to the customer.
Optional Account Creation
The customer can select if a persist ant account is created or not. If the customers chooses to create an account, he is asked for a username and password. If he chooses not to create an account, a hidden account is created - so the customer can be silently logged in and check out.
No Account Creation Possible
In this mode the customer can checkout without being able to create an account for returning later on. Each time a dummy user account is created to keep the data structure intact.
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Long Version Of The Return Policy (Link To A Content Item)
If you create a Joomla page with a longer version of your legal information or customer service policies, you can select that page here. If you also check the "Show information about Return Policy on the order confirmation page?" box, the text from that page will show at the bottom of the customer's order confirmation email.
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Terms of Service & Store Description
As mentioned above, the Store > Edit Store Panel
is where you edit your optional Terms of Service Statement and optional Store Description. Other store contact information is also updated here.
Terms of Service
If you have not checked the
"Must Agree To Terms Of Service On Every Order" checkbox in the Configuration Panel you don't need a Terms of Service statement because the customer will never see it. If you did check that box, the customer will see whatever you enter here if they click on the "I agree to the Terms of Service" link on the order confirmation page.
Store Description
You can create a Store Description here,
however it will only show up if you have a Joomla menu link to VirtueMart that displays all your VirtueMart categories. You do that on a Joomla menu by selecting VirtueMart as the menu item type and then not choosing a specific category. The Store Description appears above the thumbnail display of VirtueMart product categories.
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Last Updated (Thursday, 08 October 2009 08:36)
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