No Login Needed for Checkout

Please tell me there is a mod for this.  Some customers do not want to have to login to be able to checkout.  I use Paypal to process the orders anyway so I do not need the information from them since Paypal gets it for me.  Is there anyway to work around having to login in order to proceed with a purchase?  I desperately need some help.

BTW this is the best cart software I have ever used.  So easy to use...so I am not knocking it, but I need to do what makes my customers happy.  Any help is greatly appreciated.

sorry... but there is no mod for this. 

The closest I have seen is the way I process the "Express Checkout" part of the Paypal Website Payments Pro (UK and US) payment extensions. Note that they are both commercial extensions to opencart.

If you were to give more details of your order processing workflow, I could probably advise you on how to make appropriate changes to your store. It would help to know the opencart version too.

Cheers

Bruce

Noob, the answer depends on 2 factors:
1. Do you need to have their information on file within the opencart site
2. Do you plan on having repeat shoppers.

So if (1) you do not plan on having the information stored on the site, simply change the checkout workflow so that clicking checkout on the cart drops you directly into paypal. In between, create an order with some random data for name address..ect.

If you either need to store info on the site and/or plan on having repeat customers, its better for loyalty rate to force the customer to create an account. You can check out http://forum.opencart.com/index.php/top ... 11737.html for ideas on how to minimize the pain of that experience

I want both....
I tried to even put the Paypal buy not button on the description, but it still brought them to the cart.  I will read up on it some more, but I do not think I will be able to do what I want.  I just want the option to go straight to the Paypal checkout screen.

what you are asking for is for "paypal express" behavior. that is in the works I believe.

Actually, we need an express checkout (meaning no need for customer to log into OpenCart) for PayPal and for Google. The biggest challenge in implementing an express checkout is the fact that by the time the checkout is done no customer information such as the shipping address are available in OpenCart, only the shopping cart. Hence, there is no straight forward way to provide a shipping quote.

Also, in an express checkout scenario, the order processing and fulfilment by the store owner would be done via the store owner's PayPal or Google account web panels, not through OpenCart's admin panel.

The first step would be to see how a few shops that use PP Express do it with shipping. I think the last site i bought from with PPExpress asked for my zipcode before asking me to click.

In fact here is an example:
http://www.shop4tech.com/

add any product to your cart and when it takes you to the cart page, you see it asks for zipcode. But I think that is PP Pro because it brings you back to their site to continue the process after logging into paypal


Zen-Cart actually has it and explains how it works here:
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54630

and below that they have a link to PP Pro

Hello All

OpenCart seems ideal for my small webshop! But I really hope there will be an option for shopping without creating an account made possible!? I want to offer both options to my customers.

Cheers and I hope to become another opencart website soon.

This is a topic of concern i see on a lot of ecommerce sites. But people seem to not realize that the only additional field between checking out once, and creating an account.... is the password field.

Think about it.

without account:
Name
Address
City
State
Country
Phone
Email

with account:
Name
Address
City
State
Country
Phone
Email
Password

So it's a pretty silly concept, yet many people still seem adamant about it.
So the simplest way to make it so that users don't need to make a password, is to clone the account_create pages and rename to "address_entry" or something like that and simply set the tpl file for both password and confirm to a set value:

CHANGE: TO: Then make a separate link on the account_login page that says "Checkout without account" and send them to this new address_entry page

That should sufficiently fool your customers into thinking they didn't make an account, while you as a store owner still gets to see them as account holders

OK, this will in effect create customer details without the need to enter a password.

However, what if he comes back a few days later, and rather than having to re-enter his address details, merely wishes to re-use the existing entry? Also, what prevents somebody else to use these customer details?

don't understand. If he comes back in 3 days, he will not think he has an account, and he will just re-enter his address, essentially making a new account with the same information, but his auto-incremented customer_id will be different.

Also, no other customer will use the same email and no customer will know the "secret" default password. abcdefg was just an example

however, I'm not sure if opencart uses "email" as a unique identifier, in which case you'd need to add some random hash to the end of the email to keep it unique the next time he comes around and uses the same email.

I guess you could even just remove the sql insert for the customer table, tho i'm not sure if that is cross referenced on the order page in admin

Yer, this create account is a psychological problem
To get over the trauma of having to create an account, you could pass the cart page to account_create (instead of account_login) and name the page something like "Your Details" instead of create account.
Returning customers can then click the login link from the account create page to login
New customers will merrily enter their name, address etc without being aware that they are creating an account
By the time they reach the password field, they have forgotten the trauma of having an account
When they return again, the account problem won't be important as an element of trust has been established with the first transaction. Unless you spam them in the meantime in which they won't return anyway.
It is a psychological problem that can be handled with smoke and mirrors.

I fixed it myself.  I just inserted a Paypal code that changes based on the item you are at.  It populates all the required information that Paypal needs to use and its dynamic.  The only down side is that I couldn't get the options to migrate over so I have the customer enter those manually.  So now i have a Paypal button on every product page so they skip the "add to cart" function completely, but its still there for others to use. 

Thanks for all the help....I just needed to look into it a bit more.

Well done, I say.

NOOB to OPENCART wrote: The only down side is that I couldn't get the options to migrate over so I have the customer enter those manually.

You should be able to pick up the option variables from the product.php in the area
$options[$result['option_id']][] = array(
Try option_value_id

So now i have a Paypal button on every product page so they skip the "add to cart" function completely, but its still there for others to use.

I don't know Paypal and I don't want to know Paypal but how are you managing stock control.
If you by-pass the cart, you won't have stock control unless Paypal sends the info back or you don't use stock control.
You also won't have information on customers and their orders in Open Cart. Maybe PayPal has those.

I don't use stock control.  Its a made to order kinda thing. 

As for the customer information....Paypal collects that stuff when you purchase anything, even if using the cart.  So having them login then go to Paypal is kinda redundant in a way.  Paypal also sends an email when an order has been made, so I will know when they order using the cart or the button.

I have also tried your idea before I got to where I am now.....it doesn't quite work.  It does populate the drop down, but with only one option.  I will play around with it and then post my code here once I get it perfected.  Thanks again to all who tried to help.