Could we get your help with a quick test of a new NZ in 2020 payments system

[Norman Cates]

I’ve been updating how we receive payments, to shift it to using Stripe.

Could I ask you to go to:

https://dev.nzin2020.nz/pre-supporting/

And check out the flow and instructions.

Follow it through, but don’t fill out the Membership form. We know that works.

Once you’ve checked out that page, then go to:

https://dev.nzin2020.nz/pre-supporting/pre-support-payments-shop/

And follow that through.

See if it works in terms of flow and options.

It’s a demo store so no payments will be made, even if you choose the credit card option. There are instructions for how to do a demo credit card payment included.

[Ross]

Do I understand correctly that you want people to fill in a Google form and then go through a shopping cart process where they have to enter their details again?

US cheques are hopelessly insecure. They expose the person writing the cheque to fraud if the cheque gets lost, or even just seen by somebody untrustworthy. I’m not sure we should be promoting them, and I’d be surprised if many people would want to use them for this reason. But I’m only writing this as a technologist; perhaps fans with closer connections to the US can chip in with actual data on the ground on how many people actually still use them.

[Norman Cates]

No don’t fill out the Membership Google form. It’s not needed.

The first page to see if there’s something missing or bad….

The payments form (the second link) is the really critical one.

As for cheques…. They are a pain. Maybe they shouldn’t be used?

It would make it simpler for us. But I’m not sure about how widespread they still are. They might have gone away like they have here in NZ…

[Ben Yalow]

It will also be interesting to see how much the credit card surcharge that NZ has (and that nobody else does) will affect the balance between cash / check / credit card.

As a foreigner, I didn’t expect my hotel bill to get a 3.5% surcharge for using an American Express card to pay my bill (I changed to a Master Card, but still got hit for 1.5%).

[Norman Cates]

Interesting. Adding a credit card charge is moderately common in smaller or budget businesses. But it’s unexpected to me at a hotel.

If that’s happening a lot, then that’s definitely something we need to point out to our members. Because one of our “things” is that prices are all inclusive. So if places like hotels are adding a credit card surcharge, that’s an expectation we need to set…

I think it’s partly because EFTPOS is so common here, and it’s a bit cheaper than credit cards…

[Ben Yalow]

Many people in the US still write checks.  A lot fewer than before — and mostly don’t mail them.  But they’re far more common in person than in the mail.

[Norman Cates]

I’m going to remove the cheque option, but make a note that if people need to pay in an alternate way to contact us.

So basically we can accept cheques in person at events. But not online. Unless special provisions are made.

[Esther MacCallum-Stewart]

Yes, this looks clear.

– lots of people don’t really understand the opposing support but I think it’s clearly explained here. Possibly add something to the effect that you don’t get anything back, ever from it.

– Cheques bleh bleh bleh whhhyyyyyyyyyyy.

I’m using a Mac and google chrome. Nothing amiss I can see.

Esther

[Ben Yalow]

Notes on the Pre-support page:

(1) It might be useful, if possible, to embed the existing pre-support lookup functionality into the page, rather than telling people to go to a different page.  Any time people wander off, there’s always a possibility of losing them, instead of them coming back.

(2) The payments section says that US bank transfers are supported, but the payments page only seems designed for NZ bank transfers (and explicitly says that).

 

Notes on the payments page:

(1) It says we’re using Paypal, and doesn’t say anything about Stripe.

(2) The currency converter is really hidden all the way at the bottom of the payments page, where nobody will find it.  It should probably be more findable.

 

But, in general, it all seems fine.

Under Windows 7, Chrome Version 67.0.3396.79

[Norman Cates]

We can embed the presupport list pretty easily on the page.

I tidied up what I was copying across to the Live site as far as saying what payment methods we can accept…

Among other things.

The currency converter thing has been the bane of these pages. There’s plenty of plugins that will do currency conversion, even live on the prices on the site.

But they all stumble when it comes to separating the converted currency from the default (NZ$) currency depending on whether people are transferring to a bank account, or paying by credit card. And we don’t want the credit card payments to be made in anything but NZ$. Otherwise there are basically two swings through currency conversion, and that’s never going to go well for us.

So having the Currency Converter widget as a convenience is a compromise to getting the pages done faster. I’m not sure I can shift it anywhere more obvious without altering code. Which is perfectly doable. I could do it, but I think we have bigger fish to fry. Mind you, if anyone wants the opportunity to learn about WordPress and Woocommerce, widgets and pages, this would be good project…

As it is, I’ll see if I can mention more explicitly in the various areas that a currency converter is available. Any thoughts gratefully received!

[Margaret Menzies]

Hi,

Here’s my feedback on the pre-support payments page and process:

PRE-SUPPORT PAYMENT page
The thank you section is good, but should be followed by more  info to complete the payment. I was initially confused about having the payment type info at the top – I thought I had to select one.  So always get to the payment options first and put the explanation text about how they can pay under it.  (The payment process gives them these options on check out anyway with explanatory text.)

Sample text under the Thank you section:
To complete your payment,  select the pre-support or donation type below.  This will take you to a page to select your payment amount (in NZ dollars). 
  -Select New if this is your first pre-support membership.
  -Select Upgrade to change your pre-support membership level.
  -Select Donation if you simply wish to send some funds without attaching them to a membership. 

We currently have three methods of payment <payment info here>

I’d get rid of the sort by popularity drop down – you have too few options to need this and it’s distracting.

I would make the Donation button the same as the others with a “Select options” button with 4-5 donation values to select.  T his keeps the selection type/flow on the page generally the same.

Unless you think you’ll get  a lot of NZ folks paying with cheques, I would ditch the cheques option.  If someone must pay by cheque, then put a sentence at the bottom of the page saying “Payment by cheque is possible.  Please click here and fill in your membership information and someone will contact you.”  The link should go to a general contact page where they enter name, email address and have a text field to enter  their request.

PAYMENT page feedback (once you’ve clicked the “select options” button)

I’d get rid of the related products item at the bottom and have them focus just on the option they’ve selected.

CHECKOUT page feedback
Put some text at the top saying that the person can review and edit the information below and then fill out the information below to complete the purchase.  Other items may be added to by clicking “here”.   The “here” link is back to the pre-support payments page shop.

Question: The returning customer comment and link to login – can regular members create their own logins to this site?   Or just crew?  If most people will not be able to create a login, hide this text.  If so, I’d re-label “customer” to member (if possible).

Same question as above for “Save payment information to my account for future purchases.  I’d hide this.

POST PAYMENT Page
The info there is okay – but will I get an email with my order information?  That should be stated here  – i.e. An email with this information has been sent to <the email address you entered on the payment form>.  An option/button to print a copy of this information is a good idea if it’s easily added – or put a sentence in “Use your browser print option to print a copy of this information”.

EMAIL  with text of Purchase
I got this about 4 minutes after placing the order.  The text says my order is being processed – will I get another email saying the order is complete?  It looks like you’re using Woo Commerce so I assume so, but I know you need to manually check in WordPress to see new orders and manually move them to a complete status.  If you want to skip the processing step and automatically make credit card orders complete, there is a plug in to do so.

Thanks for letting me comment.  If I’ve been unclear about any of the above, let me know.

Best,

Margaret

[Norman Cates]

Awesome feedback. Thanks.

I’ll see how much of this is quickly actionable. One way or another, this isn’t going to be our method of capturing memberships for the convention.

So I don’t want to personally spend too much more time on it, beyond doing what we can quickly.

You are 100% correct, it is Woocommerce. It’s a larger hammer than we strictly need, but solved a few problems I was having with Stripe capabilities compared to PayPal.

I’m really keen/happy to turn this over to other people if you or others have more expertise in these areas. I’m just muddling through. And keep on having to remind myself to try to delegate… 🙂

[Ian Jack]

Just run through it and it looks good to me.

 

I think we should be more explicit about what currency the amounts are denominated in. At the moment it’s not clear if they are NZD or USD.

[Norman Cates]

I’ll see what I can do to make the currency more explicit. There may be some options…

[Margaret Menzies]

If this system is going to have a minimal shelf life only through Worldcon this summer, then I agree you should do only minimal changes.  Knowing this, here’s 3 things that I would change:

1. As Ian noted, make sure to say the amounts are in NZ dollars and if paying by credit card from outside NZ, then the credit card system (Stripe) will make the conversion and charge the appropriate amount in  your own credit card’s currency – which I assume Stripe will do unless it’s a different set-up than I’m familiar with.

2. Make the donation button the same as the other 2 options – i.e. you select it and then select the amount you want to donate.

3. On the Post payment page, add a sentence that you’ll get an email with a summary of your purchase.

Unfortunately I can’t commit to take on more web stuff other than occasional testing help through December.  But if more help is still needed  in January, we can talk!

Margaret

[Norman Cates]

I think I’ve made most of the changes that people suggested on the live site. But not on the dev site, because I didn’t want to double handle.

https://nzin2020.nz

Margaret, I haven’t got to putting in the text on the final page noting that an email will be sent. But that’s a good idea, and I’ll find a way to do that.

Thanks for the tip about Woocommerce and completing orders. That was definitely a gotcha. Found a useful plugin that does many of those useful things…

And yes Margaret, let’s talk in January.

Glad to get comments about the live site if you spot a problem…

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