Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Google had the chance to make up for the 2 fatal flaws of the PayPal checkout system:

1) Self-promotion which makes checking out distracting.
2) The ability to pass a return URL and then have the customer return to the site after purchase.

#1 they address partly because Google isn`t trying to sell you anything ... but you still need to have and/or create a Google Account.

#2 they completely missed the boat on. COMPLETELY. This is the one fatal flaw of the PayPal system and Google had the chance to swoop in there and steal all of PayPal`s frustrated customers ... but they didn`t. Is it really that hard to be able to pass a return URL and a return message through the cart so that at the end, the user gets a message that they must return to complete their purchase or collect their product? Or, better yet, to redirect them after they see the thank you message?

Apparently other people have noticed this as well, as this was on Google Checkout`s suggested changes board:

• Auto Return - ability to send buyer to a specific URL automatically after purchase. 
  • To provide instant download (rather than relying on email) after selling a digital product like a software or ebook or mp3 etc.
  • This also improves the user`s buying experience when they are sent back to the original company page with something like, "Thank you for your order..." and instructions for downloading, time frames, et al 

   

• Auto Return by Product - ability to send buyer to a specific URL automatically after purchase which differs by product 

  • Sends buyer to a different download page for different digital products.
    

Is anyone else as baffled as I am why any of these cart companies couldn`t implement this feature to be a truly useful 3rd-party payment processor?

For those who use PayPal or Google Checkout, what do you do as the work-around to get the purchase marked as paid in your system, complete inventory control, etc? Sadly, I think a lot of people end up having to do it manually ...

Could this be a security issue?
First, I know next to nothing about programming shopping carts, but i might be able to approach it a different direction.
Suppose I was able to break into someone`s site. I don`t want them to send the sale to me (say $19.99) Yes, that would be nice, but everyone would catch on pretty fast. What I want is the Paypal identity and password.

I would design my hack to simply sit and wait for that return URL. I would then spoof a Paypal page and say something like.
"Sorry your purchase did not go through . . . We`re having technical difficulties ... Would you please enter your username and password"
The customer does so and hits return.
"thank You, Your payment has been processed"

Here the store owner gets their money and the customer may not even remember the event.  This could go on for weeks.
I might be totally wrong, just my guess.

PayPal does a return URL now ... they just make it so incredibly tiny that no one clicks on it.

The return URL is just a page on your site, like any other. If someone could use that for phishing ... they could do it with any URL. Like they could do it with the "view cart" page and ask for your password there. Or the front of your website. Or PayPal itself!

So having this "return URL" is pretty much useless in itself. Really it`s just something that looks like:

yourdomain.com/success.php?conf_no=4382746&status=paid

And you`d only make that valid if the referrer was your PayPal shopping cart.

Ok, well that ruins that theory.
Never seen that link before. It always seems like a dead end at Paypal

Yes, exactly!!!

This is the problem!

So if you are using their system, and you need a payment confirmation in order to process the order, mark your inventory, etc ... what do you do? I know you`re not a programmer, but what kind of follow up would make sense to you as a user?

Would you return, if say I specifically asked you to before you were sent to PayPal?
Or if I sent you a confirmation email giving you a link to return and complete your order?
Or ???

As a user what i would like to see is something like...

"hey, we are going to send an e-mail to you after payment. Click on the link and we will then proceed to ship your product"

 I would see it as something similar to purchasing software. Asking me to come back before the Paypal may not work. Who knows, the phone rings, I click  "pay" while talking on the phone and never remember to return.

Well......maybe Mr. & Mrs. Google have a lot on their mind at the moment, and weren`t thinking about it? Kids in school, summer vacations, that sort of thing. I mean, how much can a body figure out ahead of time, y`know? They`ve gotta have some personal time...right?

I fixed it!!!!!

I`m so excited. It took me FOREVER but I finally came up with a programming fix to the problem to use with my shopping cart.

YAY!

And someday I might get around to making this an official product, lol.

Depending upon the ecommerce solution you are using...there are return url settings. Provided by the ecommerce program/integration of Google Checkout.

~Roland

-------------------------

Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

There is only return URL  IF ...
paypal doesn`t distract you trying to sell services
the link actually shows up
people actually remember to click on it
People actually click on the return link in Google checkout.

Which ... I`m sure you know ... the rate of people doing what they`re supposed to, haha.

So the goal was to design a system that works whether or not the return URL is used, or the link is clicked on, etc. Take the user out of the equation.