IndieCommunication: Online Fraud, New IC & IL Features, and More

Here's the latest news from the IndieCommunication e-newsletter from the IndieCommerce team:

NEW: Christmas Checkout Pane

Here is a brilliant idea from Porter Square Books that you can offer customers during checkout on IndieCommerce websites: an option to check a box to cancel any items not available by Christmas.

To offer this option on your IndieCommerce website during checkout:

1. Navigate to Store > Configuration > Checkout
2. Click the left tab, “Custom Checkout Pane 1.” NOTE: If you are already using this tab and have changed the language, the tab will reflect what your store has written.
3. Header: “Cancel Items Not Available by Xmas”
4. Description: Explain to customers that they can remove any items from their order that aren't available by Christmas.
5. Checkbox Label: “Yes, please remove any items unavailable by Xmas”
6. Textarea Label: “Special Instructions” or any language appropriate for the store

Stopping Credit Card Fraud On Your Website

You may have noticed that online traffic and sales have dramatically increased on your website since Thanksgiving. As the number of online orders increases, so do the number of fraudulent orders. We’ve put in place several new and powerful tools to help you stop credit card fraud on your IndieCommerce (IC) or IndieLite (IL) website. Review our “Fraudulent Orders” help page for the latest information on stopping online credit card fraud.

New “Pick List” Feature

A pick list is a document that indicates which items should be taken from your inventory to fulfill open orders. This allows you to grab all the items you need for a group of orders and removes the need to go back and forth for each order. With IndieCommerce and IndieLite stores receiving a large volume of online orders — unlike they’ve ever seen before — the IC team has been working on options to help stores process online orders, from speeding up the process to handling different fulfillment options more easily.

The pick list is a new feature available to IC and IL sites. This downloadable list will include the following for each order:

• Products, SKUs, titles, and publisher information
• Availability status
• Quantity in stock and the location within the store (for stores that upload their Local Store Inventory)

IC stores can filter the list by order date, order status, or in-stock status. IL stores can filter by order date and order status. Stores can use the Store Features page (Store > Configuration > Account Information and Preferences > Store Features) to have this feature enabled on their site.

Bulk Printing of Invoices

This IndieCommerce feature (coming soon for IndieLite) allows stores to print order invoices for multiple orders with one click. Orders can be filtered by date range, order status, and payment method. Stores can use the Store Features page (Store > Configuration > Account Information and Preferences > Store Features) to have this feature enabled on their site.

In the Event of Website Emergencies

If your IndieCommerce or IndieLite website is experiencing an outage — if customers can’t place orders or you can’t process orders — take the following steps:

• Check the IndieCommerce Status Page. If you don’t see an incident reported on that page, then…
• Submit a critical outage report. We monitor for critical/emergency outage reports 24/7. As soon as you submit a critical outage report, it’s forwarded to IndieCommerce staff for review. Please include as much detail as possible and please only use this form for emergencies as described above. Note: You must have a BookWeb.org account to submit this form, so make sure your team has login credentials handy.

For non-emergency IndieCommerce issues, email [email protected] and include your store name, site URL, and as much detail as possible about your question or issue.

Gift Codes and Gift Cards Are Selling Well Right Now

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the number of online orders you are processing, consider promoting online gift codes (digital gift code) and gift cards as an alternative that can be easily fulfilled. Both IndieCommerce and IndieLite sites offer an online gift card sales option. IndieCommerce also offers digital gift codes that can be sent to anyone with an email address. Digital gift codes and gift cards are incredibly popular gifts right now. If you are not offering them already, you should be. Here’s more information to get you started. 

Order Invoice Pages Now Include Pub Info, Pub Date, and Shelf Location

By popular demand, online order invoice pages now include publisher information, publication date, and shelf location in your store (if LSI is enabled). This new feature has been enabled on all IndieCommerce websites and should help you speed up online order processing.

Check Your Online Shopping Cart

If you have not done so recently, take a few minutes to place a test order on your website to make sure everything is working smoothly. Customers don’t always report checkout issues — they may just walk away when they run into problems, leaving you to figure out what went wrong. Place a quick test order today!