PCI DSS is a security standard for handling cardholder information. In general, if you are accepting cardholder information on your website, then you must be PCI compliant. You may contact your acquirer or merchant service provider in order to determine exactly what you need to do in order to become PCI compliant.
First, it is important to understand that the liveSite software is PCI compliant, however we do recommend following the steps below.
There are items outside of liveSite's control which must also be PCI compliant (e.g. secure hosting environment). Your acquirer/merchant service provider can guide you through the process of becoming PCI compliant. There are generally penalties if you fail to meet their requirements. They will probably recommend a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) that can scan your website for compliance issues, and they might also require that you complete a questionnaire.
Once you have selected a QSA that your acquirer/merchant service provider recommends, the QSA will run a compliance scan on your website. The scan will look for SSL certificate issues, security vulnerabilities, and etc. that would result in your website being insecure. If the scan reports failing PCI issues and you are not hosted with us, then we recommend that you contact your hosting provider about the issues. Alternatively, if there are failing issues and you are hosted with us, then please see below.
First, it is important to understand liveSite is fully PCI compliant already. Unfortunately, the QSA scan can sometimes result in false alerts. This is because the QSA scanner sometimes makes incorrect assumptions. For example, the scan will look at software version numbers in order to determine if there might be a security vulnerability. This is a poor way of detecting security vulnerabilities because automatic updates by the operating system backport security fixes and leave the version number unchanged.
In order to become compliant the QSA requires that we (i.e. the server administrator) appeal each false alert. Unfortunately, you cannot do this yourself, because the appeal process requires answering technical questions about the server. Fortunately, we are happy to help you with this. Please contact us and provide the QSA scan report that shows the false alerts, so we can prepare an estimate for you.
Once all of the false alerts are successfully appealed by us, the QSA will declare that your website is PCI compliant and they will pass this information on to your acquirer/merchant service provider, so that you are not penalized. Please be aware that your QSA might require that false alerts be appealed again (e.g. quarterly). Please feel free to contact us each time you need our help.
Below is a list of some of the things that we do on our servers in order to be PCI compliant or to minimize QSA false alerts.
You may have received information from your QSA about TLS 1.0 no longer being allowed at some point in the future. If you are hosting with us, we keep TLS 1.0 enabled on your website, for now, because many website visitors still require it, because they have older clients. Disabling TLS 1.0 would cause website visitors to no longer be able to visit your website and complete orders, which is obviously undesired. Fortunately, TLS 1.0 is still considered to be reasonably secure, and is PCI compliant. We plan on disabling TLS 1.0 by June 2018, as required by PCI DSS.
Your QSA might require a "Risk Mitigation and Migration Plan" concerning the use of TLS 1.0. If your QSA requires this, and you need our help to create that, then please feel free to contact us.
This screen displays all the Orders that Visitors have created. Orders can be searched, filtered, viewed, and exported by any User that has Commerce Management rights.
You can view any Orders. You can filter the data that you want to export by using the Search and Advanced Filters located at the top of the screen.
The status pick list allows you to change the type of Orders that appear. "[Any]" means that all Orders will be shown. "Incomplete" means that only Orders that have not been submitted yet (i.e. saved carts) will be shown. "Complete" means that only Orders that have been successfully submitted (but not yet exported) will be shown. "Exported" means that only Orders that have been completed and then exported will be shown (this does not include incomplete Orders that have been exported). "Complete or Exported" means that all Orders that have been successfully submitted will appear.
If shipping is enabled in the Site Settings and an Order contains a shipping tracking number, then a truck icon will appear that links to the website for the shipping carrier. This allows you to quickly view which Orders have been shipped. If there are multiple tracking numbers for an Order, then multiple truck icons will appear. If liveSite cannot determine the shipping carrier for a tracking number, then a truck icon will still appear, however it will not be linked.
NOTE: If you are viewing sensitive customer/payment information on this screen, then it is recommended that your site have an SSL certificate and that secure mode be enabled. Please contact your hosting provider for more information about an SSL certificate, and please see the Site Settings for more information about secure mode.
The shipping status field in the advanced filters allows you to view Orders that contain a certain shipping status. "Any" means that all Orders will be shown, regardless of shipping status. "Unshipped" means that Orders will be shown where there is at least one ordered item where the shipped quantity has not been updated yet to match the ordered quantity. "Shipped" means that Orders will be shown where, for all ordered items, the shipped quantity is greater than or equal to the ordered quantity. You can update the shipped quantity for items on the view order screen.
If shipping is enabled in the site settings, then a pick list will appear before the date range, which allows you to select either "Order Date" or "Ship Date". This allows you to limit the Orders that appear by a certain type of date. "Order Date" is the date that an Order was submitted by the customer. "Ship Date" is a date that is stored for each ship to in an Order. The ship date is automatically calculated at the point of purchase and stored in the ship to. It is the date that liveSite recommends you ship items for a ship to in order for those items to be delivered to the recipient by the requested Arrival Date. You can update the ship date on the view order screen. You can also read the help on the view order screen to learn about how the ship date is calculated.
A Order is created when an Order Preview Page or Express Order Page is successfully submitted.
Orders are the collection of information about an sales or donation transaction.
Order are linked to the Contact associated with the Customer. If a Customer orders while logged in, the Order will also be linked to the User.
All Orders contain an Order number, Reference Code, date and time, billing information, payment information, Products ordered and their quantity and price, Order amount, and other referral data if collected.
If a Offer is applied to the Order, then the Order Code and Discount amount is also stored.
If Shipping is enabled, any Shipping amount per recipient is also collected.
If taxation is enabled and the Products ordered are taxable, and the Customer is not tax-exempt, then the Tax amount is also collected.
If a payment gateway is enabled, then the Transaction ID and Authorization Code from the processor is also retrieved and stored.
Saved Carts
All Orders begin as a "Cart" when a Visitor first selects Products from any Order Form Page or Express Order Page and clicks the submit button (Add to Cart). A Cart is basically an incomplete Order, and data fields will begin to accumulate and be stored with the Cart as the Visitor moves through the Commerce Pages.
A Cart can be viewed at any time when a Shopping Cart Page or Express Order Page is displayed. Items in the Cart remain there until either the Visitor closes their browser, or places an Order using the Payment Preview Page or Express Order Page.
Once the Customer places the Order, the Cart is converted into a Complete Order and it is no longer visible from the Shopping Cart Page.
Carts are created in the website database and are maintained within the Customer's browser "session". In this way, they are alway "Saved Carts", so you can link to them by their unique Reference Code and retrieve them later, or send them as links in an e-mail. To find out a Save Cart's Reference Code, simply display the Shopping Cart Page and at the bottom of the page will be a link to the Saved Cart. You can also view all the Carts by looking at the "Incomplete Orders" View.
When a Cart is displayed on an Order Preview Page or an Express Order Page, and the [Purchase] button is clicked, all required fields are completed with appropriate information and do the following:
If a payment gateway is not selected (see Site Settings), the Saved Cart will be converted to an Order and all Order information will be stored in the website database.
If a payment gateway is selected, then the credit/debit card information is sent securely to the payment gateway. If an error occurs during processing, an error message will be displayed, and the Order will NOT be submitted. If no errors occur and the mode is "Live", the Cart will be converted to an Order and saved in the website database. If the mode is "Test" or "Sandbox", the credit card will be processed through the payment gateway, but the charges will NOT be posted to the credit/debit card.
TIP: Use Test or Sandbox mode to verify that the payment gateway is processing valid cards properly. Once that has been confirmed, change the mode to "Live" to process actual transactions.
When a Cart is successfully converted to an Order, the Order Number is calculated (by incrementing 1 to the Next Order Number in Settings) and stored, along with the date and time of the Order, and the Order Receipt Page is displayed. Also, an optional order receipt is e-mailed to the Customer, using the e-mail address from the billing information.
Now the Order can be viewed, exported, and deleted using the Order view and Order Report views. Orders cannot be edited.
Creating e-Quotes
You can also use the Saved Cart feature to send quotes to anyone via e-mail.
To do this, create a Cart and view it in a Shopping Cart Page. At the bottom of the Shopping Cart Page is a link to the Saved Cart. Paste or bookmark this link and include it in an e-mail to your prospect. When the prospect clicks the link, they will be directed to the Shopping Cart Page, which will be populated with the Saved Cart. They can update the Cart as needed, checkout, and place the Order.
TIP: It does not matter who creates the Saved Cart, because no User information is stored in the Saved Cart. The Saved Cart can be recalled at any time from the Cart's creator through the My Account Page, or by anyone using the Saved Cart link. In this way, the Saved Cart can be viewed and update by several people before it is finally converted into an Order. Once the Cart becomes an Order, the person placing the Order becomes the new owner and is the only person that can view the Order through the My Account Page.
NOTE: Since all Product information is pulled from the database in real-time when a Saved Cart is viewed, the current Product information and pricing is recalculated and displayed.
You can export Orders into a text file and view them in a spreadsheet program for importing into your back-end fulfillment system. Based on the needs of your staff or other third-party systems, you have two options for exporting your Order data. You can export your Order data in multiple files or a single file.
You can filter the data that you want to export by using the Search and Advanced Filters located at the top of the screen. Once you are satisfied with the filtered form data, click either [Export Orders] button.
When complete Orders are exported, then the status for the Order is set to "Exported". This feature allows you to keep track of which Orders have already been processed. Please be aware that liveSite does not update the status of incomplete Orders when they are exported.
There are three data records that make up an Order:
Here is a visual illustration of an Order:
Order Summary / Bill To Information #1
Ship To Information #1
Line Item Information #1
Line Item Information #2
Line Item Information #3
Ship To Information #2
Line Item Information #4
Line Item Information #5
Line Item Information #6
Order Summary / Bill To Information #2
Ship To Information #3
Line Item Information #7
Ship To Information #4
Line Item Information #8
Single File Order Export
Single file export files can be opened by any spreadsheet program and are easy to read by humans. Use this method of exporting when you don't need to import the Order data into another database system.
To create a single export file, filter the Orders view to display the Orders you wish to export.
Click [Export Orders (single file)] button to create a file that contains a single CSV file contains all the records for the Orders as follows:
"Order Number", "Order Field1", Order Field 2", ...
"", "Ship To Name", "Ship To Field 1", "Ship To Field 2", ...
"", "", "Product Name", "Line Item Field 1", "Line Item Field 2", ...
"", "Ship To Name", "Ship To Field 1", "Ship To Field 2", ...
"", "", "Product Name", "Line Item Field 1", "Line Item Field 2", ...
"", "", "Product Name", "Line Item Field 1", "Line Item Field 2", ...
Multiple File Order Export
Multiple file export files are more difficult to read for humans, but are necessary for most import processes of third-party database applications such as accounting or fulfillment systems. Multiple file export files are made up of three or four files: Order/Bill To Information, Ship To Information, Line Item Information, and Shipping Tracking Number Information (if shipping tracking numbers exist). Each file uses a unique ID (key) that joins it to it's associated records in the other files.
To create a multiple file export, filter the Orders screen to display the Orders you wish to export.
Click [Export Orders (multiple files)] button to create a compressed ZIP file containing the three or four CSV files with all the records for the Orders as follows:
orders.csv file contains:
"Order ID", "Order Number", "Order Field1", Order Field 2", ...
"Order ID", "Order Number", "Order Field1", Order Field 2", ...
ship_tos.csv file contains:
"Ship To ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To Field 1", "Ship To Field 2", ...
"Ship To ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To Field 1", "Ship To Field 2", ...
"Ship To ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To Field 1", "Ship To Field 2", ...
"Ship To ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To Field 1", "Ship To Field 2", ...
order_items.csv file contains:
"Line Item ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To ID", "Line Item Field 1", "Line Item Field 2", ...
"Line Item ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To ID", "Line Item Field 1", "Line Item Field 2", ...
"Line Item ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To ID", "Line Item Field 1", "Line Item Field 2", ...
"Line Item ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To ID", "Line Item Field 1", "Line Item Field 2", ...
"Line Item ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To ID", "Line Item Field 1", "Line Item Field 2", ...
"Line Item ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To ID", "Line Item Field 1", "Line Item Field 2", ...
"Line Item ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To ID", "Line Item Field 1", "Line Item Field 2", ...
"Line Item ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To ID", "Line Item Field 1", "Line Item Field 2", ...
shipping_tracking_numbers.csv file contains:
"Shipping Tracking Number ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To ID", "Number"
"Shipping Tracking Number ID", "Order ID", "Order Number", "Ship To ID", "Number"
If you are selling shippable Products, then you can use ShipWorks to print shipping labels for common shipping carriers (e.g. UPS). ShipWorks is a desktop application that can be setup to download Orders from this system.
When you install ShipWorks, select the "Generic - Module" option from the list of carts. Then, enter a username and password for a Commerce Manager User that exists for this site. This could be your own login info or you can create a new User that only has access to manage commerce and enter the username and password for that User. Next, enter the following for the Module URL so that it points to the correct location for the shipworks.php file. Replace the bracket areas with your own values.
https://[www.example.com][path][software directory]/shipworks.php
To download Orders into ShipWorks, click the download button in the ShipWorks application. Once Orders are downloaded into ShipWorks, then the status in this system will be updated to be "Exported". Please do not use the Export Orders buttons on this screen to download Orders into ShipWorks, because it will not work.
If an Order contains multiple recipients, then the recipients will appear as multiple Orders in ShipWorks (e.g. 1000-1, 1000-2, etc.). If there is only one recipient, then just one Order will appear (e.g. 1000).
The ship date value for a recipient is sent as the order date to ShipWorks. This means that when ShipWorks refers to "Order Date" in its application, that is actually the "Ship Date" in this system. This allows you to do things in ShipWorks like view "Today's Orders" and see all Orders that need to ship today. The real order date is included in a note in the order in ShipWorks.
If you need to update the ship date for an Order that has already been downloaded to ShipWorks, you can update the ship date in this system and then click the download button again in ShipWorks. If you need to update the address for a recipient, then you will need to do that in ShipWorks. We recommended doing that right before you print the shipping label, because the updated address might later be reverted back when you download orders again.
You can enter weights for your Products in this system and then that weight info will be sent to ShipWorks when Orders are downloaded. This might allow you to print shipping labels without having to weigh packages. ShipWorks does require that weights be entered in pounds in this system.
If data for a recipient was collected from a custom shipping form on a Shipping Address & Arrival Page, then that data will be included in a note for the order in ShipWorks. For example, this might allow you to output a gift message on a shipping label or packing slip that is printed from ShipWorks.
If the customer's Contact has a member ID, then the member ID will be included in a note for the order in ShipWorks. This allows you to create a filter in ShipWorks to see orders from members.
You can configure ShipWorks to update the shipped quantity and add a tracking number for a recipient in this system when you ship an order in ShipWorks (i.e. print a shipping label). The shipped quantity will be set to the ordered quantity and the tracking number will be added to the list of tracking numbers for that recipient. That will allow you to show the customer in his/her account that the order has shipped and will allow the customer to view tracking information.
If you want ShipWorks to do this automatically, then when you setup the store in ShipWorks make sure that "Upload the shipment tracking number" is checked. If you have already setup the store in ShipWorks in the past, then you will need to add an action in ShipWorks so that when "A shipment is processed", run "Upload shipment details".
Alternatively, if you would like to manually upload the shipment details, then, after you have shipped the order in ShipWorks you can right-click on an order in ShipWorks and select "Update Online -> Upload Shipment Details."
If you create multiple shipments for an order in ShipWorks, then multiple tracking numbers will be added for the appropriate recipient in this system.
Select the Orders you wish to remove card data for and click "Remove Card Data for Selected". When card data is removed, the credit card number is starred out (except for the last 4 digits) and the verification number is removed permanently. The card type (e.g. Visa), cardholder, and expiration date are preserved.
You can find Orders that still contain card data by looking for a check mark in the card data column of this screen.
In order to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) it is recommended that you remove card data after the credit/debit card has been authorized.
Select the Orders you wish to delete and click "Delete Selected".
WARNING: Take care when deleting Orders, there is no undo. Once you confirm the deletion, the Order data is gone!
TIP: You might want to export the Orders to create a backup copy of the data before you delete it.
This screen displays the details of a single Order.
Orders are the collection of information about a complete or incomplete e-commerce transaction.
If an Order requires Shipping, then a ship date field will appear. The ship date is automatically calculated at the point of purchase and stored in the ship to. It is the date that liveSite recommends you ship items for a ship to in order for those items to be delivered to the recipient by the requested Arrival Date. You can update the ship date at any time via this screen. The ship date is calculated differently based on the requested Arrival Date.
For "At Once": If the Order is submitted before the "end of day time" in the site settings, then the calculation starts with the Order date. Otherwise, if the Order is submitted after the "end of day time", then calculation starts with the day after the Order date. Then, the greatest preparation time for all Products in the ship to is added to that starting date to determine the ship date.
For an Arrival Date in the future: liveSite calculates the transit time for the Shipping Method and applies that backwards from the requested Arrival Date. The transit time = Shipping Method Base Transit Days + Transit Adjustment Days for recipient's Country (if Adjust Transit for Country is enabled in Shipping Method). Also, Excluded Transit Dates, Transit on Sunday, and Transit on Saturday settings for the Shipping Method are taken into account when calculating the transit time.
Please be aware that if you change transit time settings in Shipping Methods and Countries, the ship date for past Orders will not be updated automatically. If necessary, you can manually update the ship date. However, the new settings will automatically be used for future Orders.
The ship date is purely for your own use. The ship date is never displayed to the customer. It is used by the shipping report screen in order to determine how many Products need to be shipped on a certain date. You can remove the ship date if you don't want data from a ship to to appear on the shipping report. You can also update the date range type to "Ship Date" on the all orders screen to view Orders that contain a ship date in a certain date range.
If an Order requires shipping, you may insert one or more tracking numbers for each Ship To. You should enter one tracking number per line in the field. The tracking numbers will then appear on the view order screen in the my account area for the Customer. If the tracking number is from UPS, FedEx, or USPS, then the tracking number will be linked to a status page on the carrier's website.
If you initially only shipped some of the items that the Customer ordered (e.g. a product is out of stock), then you might want to update the shipped quantity to indicate to the Customer how many items were shipped. The ordered quantity and the shipped quantity will then appear on the view order screen in the my account area for the Customer. Once you have shipped the rest of the items to the Customer, then you can update the shipped quantity again to show that all items have been shipped. You can either leave this field blank so a shipped quantity does not appear to the Customer or you can enter any number that is greater than or equal to 0.
The shipped quantity that you enter here will also affect the shipping report screen. You can update the shipped quantity to match the ordered quantity once all items are shipped. This will result in data no longer appearing for an item on the shipping report screen. Also, once you have done this for all items in the Order, it will also result in the Order's shipping status being considered "Shipped" on the All Orders screen.
If the Order contains shippable items then you can click the printer icon for each recipient in order to print a packing slip. A pop-up window will appear with the packing slip and the print dialog will automatically appear. A packing slip can be included in the shipment in order to inform the recipient about what is included in the shipment. The quantity that appears on the packing slip is the ordered quantity. Shipped quantity does not appear on the packing slip.
NOTE: If you are viewing sensitive customer/payment information on this screen, then it is recommended that your site have an SSL certificate and that secure mode be enabled. Please contact your hosting provider for more information about an SSL certificate, and please see the Site Settings for more information about secure mode.
This screen displays all Order Reports.
You can view any Order Reports. You can summarize and filter most all of the Order data.
Click on "Create Order Report" to create an Order Report.
Select the Order Reports you wish to delete, click "Edit Order Report" and click "Delete".
INFO: Deleting Order Reports does not delete any Order data.
NOTE: If you are viewing sensitive customer/payment information on this screen, then it is recommended that your site have an SSL certificate and that secure mode be enabled. Please contact your hosting provider for more information about an SSL certificate, and please see the Site Settings for more information about secure mode.
This screen displays the Order Report and allows you to change the summary layout, filters, and save the Order Report. Each time you run a saved Order Report, there is no delay the data, it is always reported in real-time.
Order Reports allow you to summarize (totals) for almost every data point stored for each Order. You can optional filter the Order Report to restrict the Orders that are included in the report.
Here is a list of all the data points that are stored for each Order, some are used to summarize the report, and others to filter the report. Here is a list of most of the data points available for your reports:
TIP: Order Reports are shared among all Commerce Managers, so you can setup reports for others to run and view. However, you should also take care when editing someone else's report.
NOTE: When you add a Filter, it is not saved to the report until you click "Save & Run".
NOTE: Deleting a Order Report does not delete any of the Order data.
This screen displays all orders that contained an Affiliate Code and the amount of commission due each Affiliate. You must have enabled "Affiliates" in Site Settings to see this screen. Use the date range filter to view new commissions and their totals.
Commissions are are added to this screen whenever an order is completed that has either an Affiliate Code in the Offer Code, or an Affiliate tracking link that was recieved when the shopper reach your website. Affiliate tracking codes will last in a shopper's browser cookie for 3 months, so even on a return visit to order, the Affiliate still gets the commission.
Commissions are calculated based on the Affiliate's Commission Rate, and the Commission Rate (override) from all purchased Products. Whichever percentage is lower will be used to calculate the commission for each Product ordered. So, if a Product has a commission rate of 10% and the Affiliate has a commission rate of 30%, then the commission will be 10% for that Product. If the Product is recurring, then any commissions for that Product are also recurring. (See Commissions Profiles for more information about recurring commissions). Percentages for Affiliates and Products can be changed at any time by editing the Affiliate's Contact, or the Product's override. You can also set the default commission rate for all new Affiliates in the Site Settings.
Commissions for online payments are not typically payable instantly. Instead, they go through a process before becoming payable to the Affiliates. We use 4 statuses to manage commissions through their lifetime. Statuses are not fixed, so you can move any commission to any status at any time:
NOTE: Affiliates can track these statuses in real-time for their own commissions by viewing their My Account page.
This screen allows you to update the Status of a particular Commission manually. You can move any Commission to any Status at any time:
NOTE: Affiliates can track these statuses in real-time for their own Commissions by viewing their My Account page.
This screen displays all Recurring Commission Profiles that are created by liveSite when a commission is detected for a recurring Product that is ordered. Each recurring Product (and Quantity) will have it's own Recurring Commission Profile.
When an order is placed, liveSite will create and enable the Recurring Commission Profiles needed. Each day, the recurring profiles are scanned, and if a new commission is due, then a new commission will be added to the All Commissions screen and set to the status of "Pending". If you want to "pause" or "stop" or "restart" the creation of new commissions, you can disable or enable the Recurring Commission Profiles at any time. Doing so will not retroactively create any commissions that where missed, liveSite only looks forward.
IMPORTANT: Take care in disabling Recurring Commission Profiles, since you cannot create or recreate commissions manually.
This screen allows you to enable or disable a Recurring Commission Profile.
Products are displayed/purchased through the website and include merchandise, downloads, donations, fees, recurring fees, account payments, and memberships and renewals.
Products are organized in one or more Product Groups.
Product Groups are referenced by Catalog Pages to display the Products on the website.
In addition, if you want to allow any Products to be purchased through your website, you can also add these Products to any Product Groups that are referenced by any Order Form Pages, allowing Customers to add the Products to their Order/Cart and checkout.
Products can also be "taxable", based on the Customer's billing state/province and country. (If you also sell to non-profits or resellers, you can allow each Customer to declared their tax-exempt status and waive taxes using the optional "Tax-exempt" Site Setting).
Products can also be "shippable", and you can charge shipping fees based on what is ordered and where it is being shipped. You can also define where the Product can and cannot be shipped, and within the time frame specified by the Customer.
Products can also be "commissionable", and a percentage can be tallied for the Affiliate that referred the Customer.
Products can also be setup to charge a recurring payment to the Customer's credit/debit card automatically through a supported payment gateway.
Products can also grant access to any Private Folder upon a successful Order.
Products can also add Customers to a specific Contact Group upon a successful Order.
Products can also add days to the Customers Membership Expiration Date upon a successful Order.
Products can also require a custom Product Form for any Product (and/or quantity) before an Order can be submitted.
To quickly find a Product, enter a keyword and click "Search". All Products that have the matching keyword within any of their fields will be displayed. Be sure to click "Clear" to reset the screen to show all Products.
To quickly find a type of product, such as recurring or donation products, use the "Product Type" pick list to show only the products that you want to see.
Select the Product and click to view the Product's properties.
Enabled Products appear with a green color, while disabled Products appear with a red color.
Click on "Create Product" to create a new Product.
TIP: If you want to start with a copy of an existing Product, select the Product you wish to copy, then click "Duplicate" from the Edit Product screen. A new Product will be created and all Product fields will be duplicated into the new Product, ready for you to edit.
To import and create many Products at one time, click on "Import Products".
Select the Product and click to edit the Product's properties.
NOTE: Editing the Product does not affect the Product Groups that display the Product.
You can easily export any or all Products to your local computer that can be opened with a spreadsheet program (e.g. Microsoft Excel).
Filter the Products view until you have all of the Products you want to export, and click on "Export Products" to download a CSV file.
Exporting Products allows you to export Product data into an external system. It also allows you to update Products offline and then import the updates via the "Import Products" feature (e.g. update inventory levels).
You can update the settings for multiple Products at once by selecting the Products you wish to modify and clicking "Modify Selected". You can update the status, allow Shipping Zones, and/or disallow Shipping Zones. If you check a Shipping Zone under Allow Shipping Zones, then that zone will be allowed for all selected Products. Similarly, if you check a Shipping Zone under Disallow Shipping Zones, then that zone will be disallowed for all selected Products. liveSite will maintain existing relationships between Products and Shipping Zones for any Shipping Zones that you do not check.
Select any Products you want to delete, and click on "Delete Selected".
WARNING: Take care when deleting Products, there is no undo. Once you confirm the deletion, the Product is gone!
This screen displays a single Product. This Product can be used to define merchandise, downloads, donations, fees, recurring fees, account payments, event reservations, or memberships and renewals.
Check this field to enable the Product or uncheck this field to disable the Product. Enabled Products will appear on Order Form, Catalog, and Catalog Detail Pages and be available to Customers for ordering, while disabled Products will not. In addition, if a Product is disabled after a Customer has added it to his/her cart, then the Product will be automatically removed from the cart, before the Customer is allowed to submit the Order. Also, when a cart is retrieved or a completed Order is re-ordered, then disabled Products are automatically removed from the new cart.
When a Product is disabled, its relationship with various Product Groups is maintained, so if you need to re-enable the Product in the future, you can quickly do so and have it automatically appear in all of the same Product Groups as before.
If you are needing to disable a Product because of inventory issues, then you might want to use the Track Inventory feature on this screen instead, because it allows you to display an out-of-stock message to Customers.
Tag clouds will automatically be updated when you enabled/disable Products.
Unit Price:
This is the price of a single quantity of this Product in your base Currency.
Although it is generally recommended to use Offers to discount a Product or Order, you may enter a negative price (e.g. "-1.23") if you want this Product to act as credit or discount. This might be useful if you consider the discount to be a "credit" and you don't want the order process to refer to the discount as an "offer".
You should be careful with negative-price Products, because the customer has access to change the quantity, which could allow the customer to reduce the cost of his/her Order. You may need to set a minimum and/or maximum quantity to control this. Also, you will probably want to protect access to the negative-price Product. For example, you may only want to include the Product on an Order Form that only staff members have access to.
If a negative-price Product is discounting taxable Products, and you want the tax to be discounted also, then you will need to check the taxable setting for the negative-price Product. However, if the negative-price Product is discounting non-taxable Products, then you should not check the taxable setting for the negative-price Product.
If you enter a price for a Product that is less than or equal to zero, then it is possible that an Order total might be less than or equal to zero. If an Order total is less than or equal to zero, then a payment method is not required, no transaction is sent to any payment service, and the Order is simply accepted when the customer clicks "Purchase Now".
For Products with a donation selection type, the customer is not allowed to enter a negative amount. The Product will be removed from the cart if the customer attempts to do that. This prevents the customer from reducing the cost of his/her Order.
NOTE: If this Product is shippable and it is free, either because the Unit Price is less than or equal to zero, or because an Offer discounted this Product, then the Product must be accompanied by at least one non-free Product for the same recipient. The Customer will be informed about this requirement if he/she attempts to check out with a recipient that only contains one or more free Products. The reason for this requirement is that your organization and/or the Customer probably don't want to pay for shipping a shipment that only contains free Products.
Taxable:
Select this check box if tax should be calculated for this Product.
If you have entered a negative price for this Product, please take note of the following: If a negative-price Product is discounting taxable Products, and you want the tax to be discounted also, then you will need to check the taxable setting for the negative-price Product. However, if the negative-price Product is discounting non-taxable Products, then you should not check the taxable setting for the negative-price Product.
If you are using ShipWorks, then the weight value you enter here will be sent to ShipWorks for each ordered item, so that you do not have to weigh packages when printing shipping labels. If you are using ShipWorks, then you must enter the weight in pounds.
You may optionally enter the minimum quantity that is allowed to be ordered for this Product. If the Customer attempts to add less to his/her cart, or update his/her cart with less, then the quantity will be automatically increased to the minimum and the Customer will be alerted with a message. You may leave this field blank if there is no minimum.
For example, if you are selling an inexpensive product (e.g. pencils), then you might want the Customer to be required to order at least a certain number of them.
If there is only one exact quantity value that you allow for a Product (e.g. no more or less than 10), then you may enter that same value for both this minimum field and the maximum field below.
If you have multi-recipient shipping enabled, then the minimum and maximum quantity requirements are enforced at the recipient level (not the order level). For example, if you set the minimum quantity to 10, then the Customer must order 10 of the Product for each recipient that the Product is added to (not 10 for the whole order).
You may optionally enter the maximum quantity that is allowed to be ordered for this Product. If the Customer attempts to add more to his/her cart, or update his/her cart with more, then the quantity will be automatically decreased to the maximum and the Customer will be alerted with a message. You may leave this field blank if there is no maximum.
For example, if you are selling seats at a charity event, you might want to put a cap on the number of seats that an individual can order.
If there is at least one Attribute in liveSite, then an area will appear which allows you to manage Attributes for this Product. Click the "Add Attribute" button to associate an Attribute with this Product. First, you should select the Attribute, and then you should select the option that is associated with this Product. For example, if there is an Attribute for t-shirt color, and this is the red t-shirt, then select the color Attribute, and "Red" for the option.
You can use the "X" button to remove an Attribute association. This does not delete the actual Attribute. It only removes the Attribute association to this Product.
Changes to the Attribute associations will not be saved until you click the "Save" button at the bottom.
E-mail Additional Page to Customer:
Specify an optional Page to e-mail the Customer when this Product is successfully ordered. (The Page's Title field is used as the e-mail message's Subject).
You may enter the mail-merge fields, that are listed below in the "Create Submitted Form" section, into the Page's HTML, in order to output dynamic content about the Order (e.g. ^^billing_email_address^^). In addition, if this Product creates or updates a Submitted Form, then you may enter mail-merge fields for the Submitted Form also. For example, if there is a field on the Custom Form named "license_key", then you can enter a ^^license_key^^ mail-merge field in the content, so that a dynamic license key value appears in the email.
If you want to repeat specific content for each quantity that is ordered, in the body of the email, you may add "<!-- Start Quantity Row -->" and "<!-- End Quantity Row -->" HTML comment tags around the repeated content in the Page, like below.
<p>Example header content (this will not be repeated)</p>
<p>^^order_number^^</p>
<p>You may find your license key(s) below:</p>
<!-- Start Quantity Row -->
<p>This content inside the quantity row tags will be repeated for each quantity.</p>
<p>License Key: ^^license_key^^</p>
<!-- End Quantity Row -->
<p>Example footer content (this will not be repeated)</p>
You may include mail-merge fields for product form fields, if a product form is enabled, and also submitted form fields, if Create/Update Submitted Form is enabled. Within quantity row tags, the data will be specific to that quantity. Outside of the quantity row tags, data for the first quantity will be used.
TIP: This feature makes it easy to send instructions, a welcome message, or other information to the Customer after they have ordered this Product successfully.
NOTE: This is different from the order receipt that can be sent to the Customer. Check the Express Order or Order Preview page type properties for that.
Email Gift Card:
Select this option if this Product is a virtual/email Gift Card. A customer can order this Gift Card Product and specify the different options for the Gift Card during the Order process (e.g. recipient email address, from name, message, delivery date). A Customer can also order multiple quantities of a Gift Card Product in order to send multiple Gift Cards at once.
Once the Order is complete, a Gift Card, with a unique, secret code, will be created in liveSite so the balance can be tracked (see All Gift Cards screen). An Email Campaign will also be created which will be responsible for sending the Gift Card email, with the code, to the recipient at the appropriate time. If the giver selects the current date for the delivery date, then the email will be sent immediately. Otherwise, if the giver selects a future date, then the email will be sent at 12 PM on the future date.
NOTE: The Email Campaign Job must be enabled in order for the Gift Card email to be sent automatically.
Once the recipient receives the email, he/she can use the code in the email, to redeem the Gift Card at your website. Make sure that Accept Gift Cards is enabled in the Site Settings. The Gift Card code is sensitive data that should be treated like cash, because anyone with the code can use it to purchase items from your site.
You can setup different Gift Card Products with fixed amounts (e.g. $5, $10, $20) by using a Selection Type that is not "Donation". The price of the Product will determine the amount. Alternatively, you can set Selection Type to "Donation" if you want to setup a Gift Card Product with a variable-amount that the giver can specify (e.g. $29).
You can enter the following mail-merge fields into the subject and/or body below in order to output dynamic data. At the very least, you must include the fields in bold below.
You may use the following format to output different content depending on whether there is a value or not. For example, the ^^from_name^^ field might be blank if the giver wanted to be anonymous.
[[There is a value: ^^from_name^^|| There is not a value]]
Subject:
Enter a subject for the Gift Card email that is sent to the recipient.
Format:
Body:
If you select Plain Text for the format, then you must enter the body content for the Gift Card email that is sent to the recipient. Make sure to include the necessary mail-merge fields mentioned above.
Page:
If you select HTML for the format, then you must select a Page that will be emailed.
Create/Update Submitted Form:
If you need to create or update a Submitted Form when a Customer orders this Product, then you can check this field. For example, you can use this feature to convert a conversation thread into a paid project thread, once a Customer orders this Product.
Please see the field "Form/Comment Quantity Type" further below which controls whether a form is created/updated for each quantity.
Please be aware that this feature is different from the Product Form feature. This feature creates/updates a Submitted Form that is separate from the Product, as if the Customer submitted a Custom Form manually, and so the Submitted Form can therefore appear on Form List/Item Views.
Custom Form:
Select the Custom Form that is associated with the Submitted Form that you want to create or update.
Create Submitted Form:
If you need to create a Submitted Form when a Customer orders this Product, then you can check this field. A Submitted Form will not be created, if updating a Submitted Form is enabled and a Submitted Form was found, that needs to be updated. You should configure all of the fields that you want to set when the Submitted Form is created.
You can enter the following mail-merge fields into the "to" value field in order to set Submitted Form fields to dynamic values from the Order.
The product form mail-merge fields will be replaced with data from the product form for the appropriate quantity. For example, if a 2nd Submitted Form is being created for the 2nd quantity, then the product form mail-merge fields will be replaced with data from the product form for the 2nd quantity, if a 2nd product form exists. If a 2nd product form does not exist, then data from the 1st product form will be used.
Update Submitted Form:
If you need to update a Submitted Form when a Customer orders this Product, then you can check this field. You should configure all of the fields that you want to set when the Submitted Form is updated.
You can enter the mail-merge fields listed above into the "to" value field in order to set Submitted Form fields to dynamic values from the Order. If you set the "to" value field to exactly "^^quantity^^" then the quantity will be added to the existing value. For example, if the field is currently "1" and then the Customer orders 1 quantity of this Product, then the field will be set to "2".
Next, you should specify which Submitted Form should be updated, by defining where a certain field is equal to a certain value. You can enter mail-merge fields, listed above, into the value field. A common use is to set where the "Reference Code" is equal to "^^reference_code^^", where "reference_code" is the name of the Product form field that the Customer will enter the reference code into. This will allow the Submitted Form to be updated for the reference code that the Customer enters.
If you are creating or importing a Product, then the Product form field will automatically be created for you, if you leave the value field blank (i.e. the field to the right of "is equal to"). If your Product has already been created in the past and you are editing it, then you will need to enable a Product form, create a field for the reference code, and enter the mail-merge version of that field name into the value field (e.g. ^^reference_code^^).
Once a Customer enters a reference code during the order process, then liveSite will check to make sure that a Submitted Form exists for the code and will return an error to the Customer if a Submitted Form does not exist.
You will need to update the required property for the reference code field to match your requirements. For example, if you want to allow the Customer to leave the reference code field blank so a Submitted Form is created, then uncheck the required property for the field. Alternatively, if you don't want a new Submitted Form to be created and you want the Customer to be forced to enter a reference code then check the required property for the field.
If multiple Submitted Forms match, then only the oldest one, as determined by the submitted date, will be updated.
Add Comment:
If you want to add a Comment to a Page when this Product is ordered, then check this field. This feature is often used in combination with the "Create/Update Submitted Form" feature above.
Please see the field "Form/Comment Quantity Type" further below which controls whether a comment is added for each quantity.
Page:
Select the Page that you want to add the Comment to.
Comment:
Enter the message for the Comment. You can enter mail-merge fields into this field in order to enter dynamic values from the Order (available fields are listed above for the "Create Submitted Form" field).
Added by:
Enter the name that you want to appear next to the Comment. You can enter mail-merge fields into this field in order to enter dynamic values from the Order (available fields are listed above for the "Create Submitted Form" field).
Only add Comment if Submitted Form was updated:
If you only want a Comment to be added when a Submitted Form is updated and NOT when a Submitted Form is created for the "Create/Update Submitted Form" feature, then check this field.
Form/Comment Quantity Type:
This setting affects the Create/Update Submitted Form & Add Comment features above. If you want a submitted form to be created/updated and/or a comment to be added for each quantity of the Product that is ordered then select "One form/comment per quantity". For example, if a customer orders a quantity of 10, then 10 submitted forms will be created/updated. Alternatively, if you only want one submitted form to be created/updated and/or one comment to be added regardless of the quantity then select "One form/comment per product".
If you entered a label for the custom Product fields in the Site Settings then the fields will appear here. You should enter the value for each custom field for this particular Product. The values for custom Product fields do not appear on the front-end of the website for Customers. They are purely for internal staff use, with the one exception that they do appear on the packing slip, which Customers might receive. Custom Product field values can be managed and viewed in the following areas.
The following fields are included in the RSS feed for Catalog, Catalog Detail, and Order Form Pages. These fields are not used by this system, however they might be required in a Google data feed for importing into Google Merchant Center.
In addition to the fields below, your inventory settings will affect the availability value in the RSS feed. If inventory tracking is disabled or inventory quantity is greater than 0, then the availability will be set to "in stock". If inventory quantity is set to 0 and accept backorders is disabled, then the availability will be set to "out of stock". Otherwise, if backorders is enabled, then availability will be set to "available for order". This system does not use the "preorder" value.
If a Product is currently discounted by an Offer, then the sale price will be included in the RSS feed.
NOTE: When you save changes to the Product, all Catalog Pages & Order Form Pages that reference a Product Group that this Product is placed into, will be updated instantly.
You can Import Products into liveSite from any Comma Separated Values (CSV) File. CSV file format is a universally accepted way to move data between systems. Most spreadsheet programs and databases can save data as a CSV text file so it is an ideal way to upload and create Products automatically in liveSite.
Simply put your data into columns using a spreadsheet program and save as a .CSV file. Here are the guidelines for the CSV file:
You can use the Product export feature if you want to see an example of how a CSV file should be formatted.
Here is the list of the valid Product Properties that you can import. Place one of the following on the first row of each of your data columns:
submit_form_create
"0" to disable or "1" to enable.
You can also import data for each field that should be set. To do this, add a column on the first row of the CSV file with a prefix of "sfc_" and then the field name. For example, if you want to set a field that has "subject" for the name, then add a column that contains "sfc_subject". Then, enter the data that you want set for that field in the appropriate Product row and column. "sfc" stands for "submit form create".
Please be aware that if you are updating existing Products, and include any submit form fields, then you must include data for all submit form fields. Any existing data for submit form fields will be deleted and replaced with data from the CSV file.
submit_form_update
"0" to disable or "1" to enable.
You can also import data for each field that should be set. To do this, add a column on the first row of the CSV file with a prefix of "sfu_" and then the field name. For example, if you want to set a field that has "subject" for the name, then add a column that contains "sfu_subject". Then, enter the data that you want set for that field in the appropriate Product row and column. "sfu" stands for "submit form update".
Please be aware that if you are updating existing Products, and include any submit form fields, then you must include data for all submit form fields. Any existing data for submit form fields will be deleted and replaced with data from the CSV file.
Product Groups are simply collections of Products. Products are grouped into Product Groups for display purposes only.
Products can be are organized in one or more Product Groups. Product Groups are then referenced by Commerce Pages to display Products on your website:
If you place any Products into Product Groups that are not referenced by a Commerce Page, then the Products will not be visible to your Visitors and considered unpublished.
WARNING: Catalog Pages are dynamic in nature, meaning that a single Catalog Page (and optional Catalog Detail Page) are capable of displaying your entire hierarchy of Product Groups and Products. You need to be sure when you move Products and Product Groups around in your Product Group hierarchies, that you are careful not to expose wholesale or unpublished Products to your other Customers accidentally.
Click "Create Product Group" to create a new Product Group.
Click on the Product Group Name to edit the Product Group and change it's Parent Product Group.
Click on the Product Group Name to add or remove Products and Product Groups from the Product Group.
Click on the Product Group Name to edit the Product Group, then click "Delete" to delete the Product Group.
NOTE: Deleting a Product Group does not delete any children Product Groups, Products, or Commerce Pages. However, any Commerce Pages that reference the deleted Product Group will no longer display any Products and so they will need to be updated or removed as well.
liveSite can now be setup to manage on-season and off-season catalogs. For many gift-giving shopping sites, it's important to have the ability to quickly enable and disable catalogs, product groups, and even individual products so customers and phone order reps all have real-time access to the currently available products for purchase. v2017.1
Disabled Product Groups / Products will hide them from selection on any Catalog Pages. To disable a Product Group / Product, hover over any enabled Product Group / Product name and a "Disable" button will appear you can click to disable. You can enable Product Groups / Products in the same way.
This screen displays the details of a Product Group.
If there is at least one Attribute in liveSite and the display type is set to "Display contents for selection on catalog detail page", then an area will appear which allows you to manage Attributes for this Product Group. Check "Enable Attributes" if you want Attributes to appear on the Catalog Detail Page to the customer. If you enable Attributes then liveSite will show a list of all Attributes that have associations with Products in this Product Group. If you disable Attributes, then the traditional pick list of Products will appear to the customer.
You can set a default option for an Attribute, if you want the pick list for that Attribute to be selected by default when the customer first views the Catalog Detail Page. You can leave the default option unselected if you don't want a default option. The default option pick list will only contain options that have been associated with Products in this Product Group. If an option appears to be missing from the list, then edit a Product in this Product Group and assign the option to it.
You can use the up and down arrows to change the order of the Attribute pick lists on the Catalog Detail Page for the customer.
If you change the Products that are included in this Product Group, then you should save your changes and then come back to this screen so that the list of Attributes is updated.
Changes to the Attribute order will not be saved until you click the "Save" button at the bottom.
The Attributes area does not appear on the create Product Group screen, because it is not yet known which Products will be included in the Product Group. You may edit the Product Group after it is created, in order to manage Attributes.
This screen allows you to duplicate a Product Group, and, optionally, the items inside it. You may check the options below that you want, however you do not have to check any option. You may click the Duplicate button when you are ready to duplicate the Product Group.
Also duplicate Product Groups inside this Product Group.
Check this option if you want liveSite to also duplicate any Product Groups that it finds inside the Product Group you selected. All levels of Products Groups, inside the Product Group that you selected, will be duplicated, so the whole hierarchy of the Product Group will be duplicated.
If you do not check this option, then liveSite will only duplicate the exact Product Group you selected.
Also duplicate Products inside this Product Group.
Check this option if you want liveSite to also duplicate any Products it finds inside the Product Group you selected. This applies to Products in the exact Product Group you selected, and also Products in any child Product Groups, if you selected that Product Groups should also be duplicated via the option above.
Each Product is only duplicated once. For example, if the same chocolate pie Product is located in multiple Product Groups under the Product Group you selected, then the chocolate pie Product will only be duplicated once, and the same, new chocolate pie Product will be added to all of the necessary new Product Groups.
If you do not select this option, then existing Products will be added to the new Product Group. New Products will not be created.
Featured items are Product Groups and Products that you want to highlight on Catalog Pages. Similarly, new items are new Product Groups and Products that you want to highlight on Catalog Pages.
In order to set featured items, you may enter a sort order number for the Product Groups and Products that you want to feature. Items with a lower featured order will be displayed first. It is recommended that you leave gaps in featured order numbers, in order to be able to easily reorder featured items in the future (e.g. 100, 110, 120).
In order to set new items, you may enter a date for Product Groups and Products that you want to display as new items. Newer items will be displayed first, and older items will be displayed last. New items with dates in the future will not be displayed as new items until the dates are no longer in the future.
As a Customer browses through a catalog, featured and new items from the current product group and all sub-product groups can be shown. For example, if a customer is currently browsing in the top-level product group (e.g. Electronics), then featured and new items in that product group and all sub-product groups (e.g. TV's, Cameras) can be shown. It is important to understand this when entering featured order numbers, because featured orders numbers are compared across the product group hierarchy and not just in a single level of the hierarchy.
The top featured item or newest item, if there are no featured items, is highlighted more strongly on a Catalog Page. This means that more information (e.g. full description) is displayed about that item on a Catalog Page.
After setting featured and new items on this screen, you must enter a "Number of Featured Items" and a "Number of New Items" for the page properties for a Catalog Page, so that the featured and new items are displayed.
TIP: You can use this feature to not only to create a dynamically changing catalog of products, but also to create a dynamically changing catalog of media! To do this, simply create a product for each media item, set it's Price to "0.00", and set it's Selection Type to "Donation". This will surpress the ecommerce features. Additionally, if you want to display the media, and sell a full-length version, you can easily update the Price, and your media items can be purchased online.
This screen displays all of the Product Attributes that can be used by one or more Products. Product Attributes allow your customers to select Product preferences before a Product is added to his/her cart. For example, if you sell a t-shirt in different colors, then you might want to allow the customer to choose the color (e.g. "Red", "Blue", "Green").
Click the "Create Product Attribute" button on this screen to create a Product Attribute that can be shared among one or more Products/Product Groups. For each Product Attribute, you will set a label and options. For example, for a t-shirt color Attribute you might set the label to "Color:" and add 3 options for "Red", "Blue", and "Green".
Now, you need to assign the appropriate Attribute option to your Products. For example, for a t-shirt with three colors, you would create three different Products with three different IDs/SKUs. On the create/edit Product screen, add the appropriate Attribute and select the appropriate option for that Product. For example, for the red t-shirt, add the "Color" Attribute and select the "Red" option.
Finally, you need to verify that the appropriate Products are included in the Product Group and that Attributes are enabled for the Product Group (they are enabled by default). For example, for a t-shirt, edit the Product Group for the t-shirt and make sure that all of the t-shirt Products for the three different colors are included in that Product Group. Also, make sure the "Display Type" for the Product Group is set to "Display contents for selection on catalog detail page". Save your changes.
Now, edit the Product Group again, and you should see a list of the Attributes that were found for Products in that Product Group. Make sure that "Enable Attributes" is checked, and order the Attributes, so that the Attributes appear in an appropriate order for the customer. The Attribute(s) should now be live for your customers on the Catalog Detail Page.
When a customer views a Catalog Detail Page for a Product Group (e.g. t-shirt), each appropriate Attribute will appear as a pick list, and the Attribute options will appear as options in the pick list (e.g. "Red", "Blue", "Green"). The traditional pick list of Products will not appear. When the Page first loads the full description & details for the Product Group will be shown (assuming you did not set default options for any Attributes). Also, the price will contain a range for all of the Products in that Product Group (e.g. $10.00 - $20.00), if the Products have different prices.
Once the customer selects an option from an Attribute pick list, then the price range will be dynamically updated to include the range of Products that match the customer's selections so far. Once the customer selects enough Attributes, where there is only one remaining matched Product, the full description, details, and price will be dynamically updated to use the values from that Product, instead of the Product Group. This allows you to show unique information for the exact Product that the customer has selected. For example, if the customer selected "Red" for the t-shirt color, then you can show a picture of a red t-shirt in the full description. This also allows the customer to see the exact price for his/her selection(s). If a matched Product does not have a full description and/or details, then the default values from the Product Group will remain.
Once the customer has completed the Attribute selections and clicked the add-to-cart button, then the matched Product will be added to his/her cart. If the customer clicked the add-to-cart button too soon, before making all of the necessary Attribute selections, then a message will appear to the customer, instructing him/her to complete the selections.
If you are viewing a Catalog Detail Page and are in edit mode (i.e. where the grids appear around regions), the Attribute Helper will appear. The Attribute Helper will show the number of Products that have matched the current Attribute selections. You may also click the title of the Attribute Helper to see a list of all of the matched Products. You may click a Product in the list in order to edit it. The Attribute Helper will be dynamically updated as you select Attributes, which will help you to confirm that Attributes have been properly assigned to Products. Customers will not see the Attribute Helper. You may disable edit mode, to view the Catalog Detail Page like the customer.
When you are setting up Attributes, make sure you assign Attributes to Products in a way where there will only be one matched Product once the customer completes the Attribute selections. For example, don't assign the "Red" option to two t-shirt Products, if that is the only Attribute. Otherwise, the customer will receive an error.
Once a customer selects an Attribute option, other Attribute pick lists might be hidden or some of their options might be removed dynamically, based on the Products that were matched from the first Attribute that the customer selected. For example, for a t-shirt, you might have an Attribute for the color ("Red", "Blue", "Green") and an additional Attribute for the material ("Cotton", "Polyester"). If the customer selects "Red" for the color, but "Red" is only available in "Cotton", then the "Polyester" option will be removed. If there are no valid options for an Attribute, then the Attribute pick list is hidden.
A customer can click an "X" button next to the pick list to reset his/her Attribute selection, which might then show other Attribute pick lists/options that were previously hidden.
You can use Attributes for "Yes"/"No" options also. For example, if you offer an optional gift box with a Product, you can create an Attribute with the following options: "Yes, please", "No, thanks". Then, you can create two Products (i.e. one with the gift box and one without).
If an Attribute option results in a higher price, you can explain that to the customer by appending "(add $5.00)" to the option label, however keep in mind that you will have to manually update that content as you update Product prices or add Offers (that discount Products) in the future.
Attributes only appear on Catalog Detail Pages, not Order Form Pages.
You should not attempt to use Attributes to collect data from customers. The customer's Attribute selections are not stored in a completed order. Attributes are purely used by liveSite to filter down a group of Products to one Product, that is then added to the cart. If you need to collect data from customers about a Product, then please see the Product form feature (e.g. custom embroidery content on a t-shirt).
You can customize the look of the Attributes. For example, if you want the Attributes to appear as buttons instead of pick lists, you can do that. You can update the Custom Layout for the Catalog Detail Page, like below.
<div class="product_attributes">
<?php
// Loop through the product attributes in order to output a row for each attribute.
foreach($attributes as $attribute):
?>
<div class="attribute_<?=$attribute['id']?> attribute_row">
<?php foreach($attribute['options'] as $option): ?>
<?php if (!$option['no_value']): ?>
<button type="button" class="option_<?=$option['id']?> option"><?=h($option['label'])?></button>
<?php endif ?>
<?php endforeach ?>
<input type="hidden" name="attribute_<?=$attribute['id']?>">
</div>
<?php endforeach ?>
</div>
You can then style the buttons with CSS, like below.
.product_attributes .option {
}
.product_attributes .option.selected {
}
If a button is selected, then it will have a "selected" class.
You can even style particular options specifically, using the option ID. For example, if you want to show a different background image for the button, depending on if it is selected, see below.
.product_attributes .option_8 {
background-image: url('/example-off.png');
}
.product_attributes .option_8.selected {
background-image: url('/example-on.png');
}This screen allows you to create or edit a Product Attribute.
Name:
Enter the name that you want to use to manage this Attribute in the control panel. The name does not appear to the customer. For example, if this Attribute is for the color of a t-shirt, then set the name to "Color".
If you have multiple Attributes that are similar, but for different types of Products (with different options), then make sure that you enter a name that is specific enough so you will understand which Attribute this is, when you are associating Products to different Attributes. For example, you might have a color Attribute for t-shirts (e.g. "Red", "Blue", "Green"), but you might also have a color Attribute for jeans (e.g. "Blue", "Black"), so you might want to use "T-shirt Color" for one Attribute name and "Jeans Color" for the other.
Label:
Enter the label that you want to appear next to the Attribute pick list on the Catalog Detail Page for the customer. For example, if this Attribute is for the color of a t-shirt, then set the label to "Color:".
Add options for this Attribute. For example, if this Attribute is for the color of a t-shirt, then add an option for each color (e.g. "Red", "Blue", "Green").
If this Attribute has an option where the customer can select that they are not interested, then check the "No Thanks" Option check box for that option. This will allow you to not have to select the "No Thanks" option for many Products that the Attribute does not apply to. For example, if you have a Product Group with many Products, but only one Product allows for a gift box, if you set the "No Thanks" option, then you only have to associate the gift box "Yes, please" option with the one Product that has it (and not all of the other Products that don't have it). Only certain types of Attributes will have a "No Thanks" option. For example, a gift box Attribute might have one, but a t-shirt color Attribute would not. If you decide to use the "No Thanks" option, only one option should be checked as the "No Thanks option.
You may use the up and down arrows to order the options. This will affect the order of the options in the pick list for the customer.
You may use the "X" button to remove an option. Please be careful with this feature, because it will also remove all Product associations to this option that you might have set up in the past. Because of this, if you simply want to update the label for an option, then simply edit the label of the existing option, instead of removing and adding a new option. This will allow all of your existing Product associations to be preserved.
If you are editing an Attribute, then you may use the Delete button to delete the Attribute and all of its options. Please be careful with this feature, because all Product associations to this Attribute will also be deleted.
This screen displays all of the virtual/email Gift Cards, that have been created automatically when Gift Card Products were ordered, or that have been created manually. All Gift Cards have a secret code and a balance. The balance for a Gift Card is automatically adjusted as the Gift Card is redeemed by the recipient. The total balance for all Gift Cards is listed at the bottom.
You can enable Gift Card acceptance in the Site Settings. Then, you can setup a Product that allows a customer to email a Gift Card to a recipient. A customer can order the Gift Card Product and specify the different options for the Gift Card during the Order process (e.g. recipient email address, message). Then, the recipient will receive the email Gift Card with the code that he/she can use to redeem at your website, on the Order Preview Page or the Express Order Page.
Multiple Gift Cards can be redeemed on the same Order. Also, if the customer's gift card does not have enough balance to cover the entire order total, the customer will be required to select another payment method (i.e. Credit/Debit Card, PayPal, or Offline Payment) to supplement the payment.
Customers will not be allowed to redeem a Gift Card for an Order that only contains other Gift Cards. The customer will need to add a Product, other than a Gift Card Product, to his/her Order, in order to redeem Gift Cards. This prevents customers from purely ordering a Gift Card with a Gift Card (i.e. regifting).
You can create Gift Cards or click to edit the balance of an existing Gift Card from this screen.
Active Gift Cards, which are colored green, are Gift Cards that have a balance greater than zero and have not expired. Inactive Gift cards, which are colored red, are Gift Cards that have a zero balance or have an expiration date that has expired. Inactive Gift Cards may no longer be redeemed by customers.
You can click the "Export Gift Cards" button to export all Gift Cards to a CSV file. This might be useful if you have another system that needs to know about all of your Gift Cards. All of the properties of the Gift Cards are included in the CSV file, including the balance.
This screen allows you to create one or more new Gift Cards. You will need to manually send the code on the next screen to the recipient.
Amount:
Enter the currency amount for the new Gift Card.
Expiration Date:
If necessary, enter an expiration date for the Gift Card. You may leave this field blank for no expiration. The customer will not be able to redeem the Gift Card once the expiration date passes. If "Validity Length" in the Site Settings is set, then this field will be prefilled with an appropriate expiration date based on the number of days in that setting. Check applicable laws for information regarding Gift Card expiration.
Notes:
Use this field to keep track of internal notes concerning this Gift Card. For example, you might want to explain why you are creating the Gift Card manually. The customer will not see these notes.
Quantity:
If you want to create more than one Gift Card at once, then increase the quantity. A separate Gift Card, with a unique code, will be generated for each quantity. The maximum allowed quantity is 1,000. Please be careful with this feature. Make sure you enter an appropriate number for the quantity, because it might take a while to delete excess Gift Cards, if you accidentally create too many.
This screen allows you to update the properties and view the details of the Gift Card.
Code:
This is the secret code that allows the recipient to redeem the Gift Card. The Gift Card code is sensitive data that should be treated like cash, because anyone with the code can use it to purchase items from your site.
Balance:
Enter the new balance for this Gift Card. The balance is automatically adjusted when a recipient uses a Gift Card, so you normally do not need to update the balance. However, if an Order is canceled, for example, you might need to. The original amount is the amount that was assigned to this Gift Card when it was first created.
Expiration Date:
If necessary, enter an expiration date for the Gift Card. You may leave this field blank for no expiration. The customer will not be able to redeem the Gift Card once the expiration date passes. Check applicable laws for information regarding Gift Card expiration. If you need to disable a gift card, you can set the expiration date to yesterday.
Notes:
Use this field to keep track of internal notes concerning this Gift Card. For example, if you updated the balance, then you might want to explain why you did that. The customer will not see these notes.
Order Info:
If this Gift Card was automatically created because a Gift Card Product was ordered, then the details that were selected by the giver will appear.
Redemption History:
Once the customer redeems the Gift Card by completing an Order, then a line in the redemption history will appear. Multiple lines might appear if the Gift Card is redeemed in multiple Orders. The amount is the amount that was redeemed. The remaining balance is the balance for the Gift Card after the Order was completed.
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