Post: #1

I've new at the E-commerce game, and I've been trying to set something up but I'm not sure what type of e-commerce software has what I need. It either isn't offered, or I don't know the industry terminology to properly search.

Please keep in mind that this is for a service based business. Think consulting.

Besides the basics, like inputting contact information/billing information, I need:

1. The customer must be able to upload a file upon checkout. This will be an option that costs more money.

2. The checkout must e-mail me the document, along with other details of the transaction in a sortable manner. For example, if John Doe sets up a meeting at 2PM on July 11th, I would need the e-mail subject to be "07/11/1400 John Doe" so I can sort this from all other appointments by date and time. The pdf would be attached to the e-mail.


Is there anything approaching this type of checkout system?

Post: #2

I hired an Indian company to design my site. I got a site for a fraction of what I would have paid using someone locally. Btw, not sure how true this is but I hear most places based in the states are basically a middleman who use Indian companies and are the go between so make things smoother but essentially your paying someone a heck of a lot of money in most cases to basically save you from having to send a few emails and clarify a few things to the true web designers.

I'm somewhat happy with my site but somewhat not, I wish I could have sat down withh someone face to face and explained exactly what I wanted. Not only is there a language barrier but also me not being super tech saavy when it comes to web design I don't know what all the possibilities are for a checkout and what have you so I'm having to explain my concept to a guy who doesn't totally understand me and he's having to figure out how to do it without me knowing hwats possible or even the correct terminology or way of explaining it.

Anyhow, that said I'm not exactly sure what I'm using for my checkout, I think Wucommerce or some plugin but something that's also been heavily customized for me as well. I can login later and see exactly what plugins I'm using but I also have a feature where people have to upload a document. Works fine my problem is I don't consistantly get the emails that should be forwarded to me. I can always access the info by logging into wordpress and looking on the backend but I should be getting emails so that's a little frustrating as well.

Post: #3

(07-08-2014 04:44 PM)tarquin Wrote:  I've new at the E-commerce game, and I've been trying to set something up but I'm not sure what type of e-commerce software has what I need. It either isn't offered, or I don't know the industry terminology to properly search.

Please keep in mind that this is for a service based business. Think consulting.

Besides the basics, like inputting contact information/billing information, I need:

1. The customer must be able to upload a file upon checkout. This will be an option that costs more money.

2. The checkout must e-mail me the document, along with other details of the transaction in a sortable manner. For example, if John Doe sets up a meeting at 2PM on July 11th, I would need the e-mail subject to be "07/11/1400 John Doe" so I can sort this from all other appointments by date and time. The pdf would be attached to the e-mail.


Is there anything approaching this type of checkout system?

Hey Tarquin

You may want to try Jotform

You can create a form to get all the information you need from your customer, and add a payment processor such as Paypal, Stripe, 2 Checkout, Clickbank and a few others. You can also add a "file upload" function, so your customer can upload any files and it gets sent to you.

Let me know if you have any other questions, ill be glad to help

Post: #4

You might be able to use square for this:
https://squareup.com/sell-online

My business partner set our company up with QuickBooks online which does auto e-mail invoicing for our computer consulting where they can pay right from a website rather than send a check.

Post: #5

(07-08-2014 06:33 PM)coolmike Wrote:  Hey Tarquin

You may want to try Jotform

You can create a form to get all the information you need from your customer, and add a payment processor such as Paypal, Stripe, 2 Checkout, Clickbank and a few others. You can also add a "file upload" function, so your customer can upload any files and it gets sent to you.

Let me know if you have any other questions, ill be glad to help

I am always weary of monthly subscriptions. Gravity Forms is a one time purchase, and should cover all your requirements, except for sorting the emails by appointment time and date. You might have to get some custom work done to incorporate that functionality. But, the rest of it is pretty standard and easily done.

Post: #6

There is a free plan for Jotform, it allows 100 form submissions per month.

Post: #7

Thanks, guys. I might try jotform to start out with, but if it seems like things are going down the right path I'll just hire a programmer. Heck, maybe I'll hire somebody from here!