Tips and Tricks WP eCommerce

eCommerce Solution for WordPress Blog

WordPress eStore Plugin Details

WordPress eStore is not a heavyweight online store/e-Commerce system. It is a simple and easy-to-use WordPress plugin that allows you to sell any kind of products (tangible and non-tangible) or services directly from your own site, with payment via PayPal, 2Checkout or Manual payment. It has the design flexibility to blend into your site’s look and feel, it has a shopping cart facility to handle sales of multiple products, and it provides purchasers with a customized time-limited encrypted download link to maintain the security of your digital assets. Best of all, it can be set up in less than five minutes.

The WP eStore plugin allows you to add “Add to Cart”, “Buy Now” or “Subscription” buttons anywhere on your wordpress blog (eg. posts, pages, sidebars) easily. It allows you to add the shopping cart anywhere on your blog too (eg. posts, pages, sidebars). The shopping cart shows the user what they currently have in the cart and allows them to remove the items.

After the buyer makes a payment, a pre-configured email is automatically sent to the buyer with an encrypted product download link (multiple links if the buyer purchased multiple products). The link automatically expires after a configured time.  The seller also gets a product sale notification email. This is why the WP eStore plugin is great for selling digital products (ebook, mp3, photos etc) directly from your wordpress blog.

The encrypted link can be configured so it redirects the buyer to a web page when clicked. This is particularly useful when you want to set up a video on demand (V.O.D) system for example. You can also use this plugin to send membership info (login and password) to the buyer after he/she has paid for it.

With this plugin you can design the way you want to display the product listing (You use the WordPress editor to design the way you want the product listing to appear with images, inside a table  etc, then just add an ‘add to cart’ button next/below the product with the trigger text which allows the buyer to purchase the product). You also have the flexibility of showing the shopping cart anywhere (posts, pages, sidebar) on your blog.

WordPress eStore Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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  • Is WP eStore compatible with the latest version of WordPress?

Yes, all of our plugins are kept upto date to work with the latest version of WordPress. We use our plugins on our own site, so it is in our best interest to keep the plugins upto date.

  • Are there any ongoing fees for WP eStore plugin?

No, the WP eStore plugin is a one time purchase software.

  • Why buy a premium WordPress plugin?

See the why buy a premium WordPress plugin page.

  • Is there a limit to the number of products I can have with WP eStore plugin?

No, the WP eStore plugin has no restrictions on the number of products you can have.

  • What payment gateways are available?

At the moment the WP eStore plugin has 7 payment gateways that comes with the plugin for FREE (PayPal, 2Checkout, Authorize.net, Manual, BitPay, Google Wallet, eWay Rapid 3.0).

We also have a premium addon that can be used to add a lot more payment gateways to eStore if you need. See the Payment Gateway Details page to learn more.

  • Is the eStore plugin PCI compliant?

Yes the eStore plugin is PCI Compliant.

  • What autoresponders can be integrated with WP eStore?

WP eStore currently integrates with AWeber, MailChimp, GetResponse.

  • What themes work with your plugins?

You can use any properly coded theme with our plugins. See this article for more information on what a properly coded theme is. Many of our customers use the following themes with our WordPress plugins.

    • WordPress Default Themes
    • Themes from WordPress.org Theme Repository
    • Thesis
    • Genesis
    • Headway
    • Child Themes
  • I want to sell a downloadable PDF (eBook), does your software cover PDF download and is this fully automatic? I want to leave this site on autopilot and start on a new site.

Yes, the WP eStore plugin is specifically designed to sell digital products securely on Auto-Pilot

  • Can I sell services and subscriptions with the eStore?

Yes you can sell services and subscriptions (recurring and non-recurring) with the eStore.

  • Does the WordPress eStore plugin work on a WordPress MS (Multi-Site) installation?

Yes

  • Can the plugin’s language be translated or customized?

Yes, Any of the customer visible text/messages displayed by the plugin can be translated for localization purpose.

  • Which languages are already included in the plugin?

The following languages are already included in the plugin:

  • English
  • Spanish
  • German
  • Italian
  • Dutch
  • French
  • Hebrew
  • Swedish
  • Polish
  • Serbian
  • Portuguese
  • Russian
  • Bulgarian
  • Catalan
  • Chinese
  • Norwegian
  • Czech
  • Can this plugin be used to accept paypal payment for a digital product?

Yes

  • Can the PayPal secure merchant ID be used instead of the email to receive payment?

Yes

  • Does this plugin have shopping cart functionality?

Yes

  • Can the shopping cart be added to any post, page and sidebar?

Yes

  • Does this plugin have multiple currency support?

Yes, it can be configured to accept all the currencies that are supported by the Payment Gateway that you are using.

  • Is the ‘Buy  button customizable?

Yes, you can customize the “buy” button. You can use any button image or customize the text of the default button. This can be done on a global or per product basis.

  • Does this plugin use a return URL to redirect customers to a specified page after Paypal has processed the payment?

Yes, typically you will make a ‘Thank You’ page where your customers will be redirected to after payment.

  • Can this plugin be used to automatically email the digital product to the buyer after purchase?

Yes

  • How does this plugin deliver the digital product to the buyer?

The plugin will send an email to the buyer which will contain an encrypted download link that is valid for a configurable amount of time. The buyer will also be able to download the digital products from the “Thank You” page instantly after payment.

  • Can I put the downloadable files on a storage site and serve it from there?

Yes, the downloadable files can be stored anywhere on the web (eg. your domain, a storage site, amazon S3) as long as it’s accessible. Customers always receive a link that allows them to download the file but they never know where it’s actually coming from.

  • Can I sell large digital files with WP eStore plugin?

The short answer is yes. However, if you plan to sell large files then you must read the document on Selling Large Files with eStore.

  • Can I have multiple files per product?

Yes, you can break a large file into smaller files and deliver all the parts upon purchase of the product.

  • Can I sell both digital and physical products with the plugin?

Yes (How to sell digital and no-digital products with WP eStore plugin)

  • Can I charge sales tax (regional and international) to my customers?

Yes (How to use sales tax)

  • What license or licenses are you using for the WP eStore plugin?

Read the WP eStore license details

  • Is a special PayPal account needed for the WP eStore to work?

No, you don’t need any specif PayPal account to use the WP eStore plugin but I think PayPal requires you to have a premium or business account if you want your customers be able to pay you using their credit card. Upgrading to PayPal Premium or Business account is free.

  • Does my site need to have an SSL certificate?

No, your site does not need an SSL certificate. The credit cards are accepted on the payment gateway’s site and uses their SSL. However, if you want to use a payment gateway that does on-site checkout (example: Stripe) then you will need an SSL certificate.

  • Do I need to buy the product right now?

No, there is no rush or limited sale for this product. However, over time as we add more features to the product the price is increased to match the development effort. Existing customers get free future updates. The only reason for you to buy right now would be to lock in the current price.

WordPress eStore Plugin Change Log

WordPress eStore v8 Change Log

  • Some minor inventory control updates
  • Added an option to turn off sale notification email for admin
  • Added a new email tag {product_details_tax_inclusive}
  • Ability to enable ajax option on the add to cart button action
  • Ability to show fancy template with Donate now buttons
  • Fixed the {total_tax} email tag for manual checkout
  • Some minor enhancements for the area specific tax checkbox feature
  • Added a new feature for store pickup option (allow you customers to pickup at your store)
  • Added another condition in the recurring payment check function
  • The “store action” page will now be hidden from the navigation menu by default
  • The “Store pickup” option (if selected by the customer) will be shown in the manual checkout email.
  • Added a new subscription button shortcode.
  • Updated the standard manual checkout interface
  • Added a “Add New Product” link at the top of the page in the add/edit products interface
  • Added a new option in the PayPal gateway settings to collect special instructions on the PayPal checkout page
  • Added the product name data in the manage customers summary list menu
  • Added a new option to enable ajax in the advanced settings menu
  • Added Mad Mimi integration
  • Added a copy option in the “Manage Customers” menu of the plugin
  • Added an option to reset the counter tag value
  • Added a new filter for doing affiliate tracking via discount coupons/codes
  • Changed the MailChimp integration’s listsubscribe call to use “updatable” parameter to have a value of true
  • The AWeber signup will now work for both List name and List ID value
  • The popular products list shortcode can now take category ID and exclude product IDs value
  • The plugin will show a warning in the admin side when you have the “Sandbox” mode enabled
  • Added more action hooks and filters in the plugin
  • Added a new option to turn off the PayPal IPN validation step after a PayPal checkout
  • Significantly improved the manual checkout form’s look and feel
  • Added a new option to disable the automatic encrypted link expiry feature. useful if you don’t want the links to expire
  • Added a new option to enable admin notification via email when a squeeze form is submitted
  • Upgraded the shopping cart basket icon in the cart
  • Fixed an issue with download now button type and digital product variation
  • Added a new product display template (fancy 17) that can be used to show products in a grid display
  • Added a new product display template (fancy 18)
  • Enhanced the serial key retrieval function.
  • Added a new option in the manage customers interface to export a list of serial keys that has been issued to the customers
  • Improved the fixed amount discount implementation.
  • Download link shortening feature now uses Bitly API
  • Removed the extra “new line” character from the {product_link} email tag.
  • Added an empty new line character after each download link listing in the email.
  • Added an option to view the corresponding member profile from a customer entry record.
  • Added an option to capture the subsequent recurring payment sales data in the customers menu.
  • Updated the nav menu appearance in the settings interface to a better looking one.
  • The sales count and available inventory columns can be sorted from the Manage Products interface.
  • when “Show Quantity Update Button” option is enabled, it will show the quantity field with the up/down arrow options in the cart.
  • Added a checkbox in the “Addon Settings” so PDF files can be stamped at the time of download.
  • The selected shipping variation option from a checkout is saved in the admin notes field of the manager customers menu
  • Added a new settings in the advanced settings tab so the plugin can use the same timezone specified in WordPress General Settings
  • Ability to apply discount code via the URL
  • New feature to allow download now functionality using a text link (instead of shortcode).
  • New option in the Receipt Creator addon to export the receipt entries to a CSV file.
  • The subscriber ID value is now shown in the edit customers menu (applicable for subscription payments only).
  • New option to create gateway specific subscription payment via a URL.
  • Added a new filter to allow customization of the “no_shipping” field value of PayPal checkout parameter.
  • Created a new addon to collect customer input in the cart. https://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/ecommerce/?p=4004
  • Added a new email merge tag for IP Address {ip_address} that can be used in the notification email body.
  • Manage Customer menu interface has been revamped. The functionality has been redesigned using menu tabs to make it more user-friendly and easy to use.
  • The conditional coupon now supports the “category id” is “greater than” condition.
  • Ability to enforce the customer to select an option from the variation dropdown (when you don’t want to use a default option).
  • Added a new email merge tag {total_minus_tax_and_shipping}
  • Added a new email merge tag {discount_amount}
  • Added new Amazon S3 integration option.
  • Added a new option to specify the checkout selector label in the cart (when using multiple payment gateways option)
  • Added a new settings option to set the alignment of the checkout button in the shopping cart.
  • Upgraded the shortcode inserter (TinyMCE button) to include more shortcodes.
  • Replaced the paypal’s deprecated page style parameter with image url.
  • Added filter for the seller notification email body.
  • Reworked the file uploader interface and made it more user-friendly.
  • The “Send Emails to Buyer After Purchase” feature now works for manual checkout emails also.
  • The {purchase_date} email merge tag now outputs a formatted date value according to your WordPress settings.
  • Added an option to specify Cancel URL on a per product basis.
  • Added an option (in the customer export data interface) to reset the export files.

WordPress eStore v7 Change Log

  • Updated the Add/Edit products menu user interface
  • Added a new product display template (Fancy 9 Display)
  • Added a new email tag for phone number – {customer_phone} (it will work when a customer enters the phone number during checkout
  • Optionally add the buyer email and some payment parameters in the admin notification email
  • Ability to reset the cart when the user browse to a different WordPress install in the same domain
  • Option to enable “No affiliate commission for self purchase”
  • WishList Members integration for Manual/offline Checkout
  • Added a new product display template (Fancy10 product display)
  • New shortcode to dynamically show a particular details of a product. Demo Product One shortcode will show the name of product 1.
  • Ability to show the original price (before the coupon discount application) side by side of the discounted price.
  • Added the save and retrieve cart feature
  • Image set will work by default on a per product basis.
  • Added an option to stamp the {transaction_id} in the PDF file when used with PDF Stamper plugin
  • Added an option to show an “Update” button next to the quantity field in the shopping cart
  • Changed the Authorize.net checkout description field’s value to include the Product IDs
  • Increased the z-index value of eStore’s lightbox CSS
  • Added a new email tag for counter. Use {counter} to add a counter in the emails
  • Added a new email tag for coupon code. Use {coupon_code} to add the coupon code used for the transaction in the emails
  • Added a new elegant looking compact cart shortcode
  • Text link option for PayPal subscription product
  • New “Download Now” button image for the squeeze form
  • Added an option to enable tax calculation on shipping amount
  • Added the quantity purchased information for a product in the “Manage Customers” area.
  • Updated the encrypted link shortener feature to use the new Google API with the API Key
  • New dynamic eStore and eMember protected buttons using the “restricted” parameter
  • New AWeber API integration
  • Ability to return to a product specific “Thank You” page for “Add to Cart” type button for one item checkout
  • Serial number/license key selling feature
  • Ability to reset the cart action messages on page load
  • Google base feed addon for your products
  • New shopping cart template (Fancy Shopping Cart 2)
  • Order summary shortcode (to list a summary of current shopping cart items)
  • Ability to customize the anchor text of the download links on the “Thank You” page to say “Click here to download”
  • Better WP Super Cache integration
  • Added a new product display template (Fancy 11 Product display template)
  • Ability to turn off the email that gets sent after the eStore squeeze form submission
  • Added an “Admin Notes” section in the manage customer area
  • Added links to the product in the purchase history shortcode
  • New checkout redirection option to minimize session conflict on some servers
  • An option to allow coupon stacking (if you want to allow your customers to apply multiple coupons and stack them in one checkout)
  • When a refund is issued via PayPal, it will update the order management addon’s transaction too
  • Ability to display the Unique Registration Completion URL on the “Thank You” page
  • Ability to enforce shipping variation selection before shipping price is shown
  • Option to show the currency symbol after the amount
  • Ability to POST the refund IPN to an external URL for 3rd party integration
  • Added a site diagnostic section in the “Admin Functions” menu of the plugin
  • Added an option to stamp the PDF file at the time of download.
  • Added an option in the eStore settings menu to show tax inclusive price
  • The total price amount dynamically gets updated when a user changes the variation drop down options
  • Added an option that will allow you to create a squeeze form that can redirect the user to a particular page after the squeeze form is submitted
  • Fixed some minor fancy2 product display template CSS glitch
  • All payment gateway compatible “Buy Now” type button shortcode (previously this was only available to PayPal)
  • Upgraded the settings menu tab look and feel
  • Added the ability to specify a language by force for the PayPal checkout page
  • Updated the CSS classes of the squeeze form so it can be customized easily from the CSS file.
  • Upgraded the checkout with paypal image to make it look better.
  • Added a check to make sure a customer has to select and update a shipping variation before he/she can checkout (if you are using the shipping variation feature)
  • Added an option to show the eMember’s memberhsip level IDs next to the “Reference Text” field (only if eMember is used together with eStore)
  • Updated some of the delete entry confirmation to be more user friendly
  • Added an option to turn off the welcome email sending for mailchimp autoresponder signup when double opt-in is disabled.
  • Ability to generate a list of unique customer email addresses (comma separated)
  • Added a new shortcode to create PayPal donations buttons to accept Donation via PayPal for a cause
  • Added a new shiny default “Sold Out” button image
  • Ability to specify a custom button image in the add to cart button shortcode to override the button image
  • Added more filters in the shopping cart output
  • Added the ability to apply interest grouping/list segmentation for MailChimp signups
  • Added the ability to bulk delete products in the products management interface
  • Added an option to open the download links on the thank you page in a new window.
  • New shortcode to display the purchase history of a customer.
  • Updated the eStore order management addon to do manual checkout “unpaid” and “paid” status handling
  • Added an option to specify a “Text” instead of an image for the sold out button message
  • Added a coupon start date field so you can create a coupon that for a future event
  • Added a “Go to Page” option in the eStore product display pagination area for easy navigation
  • When uploading product thumbnail image, you can choose the thumbnail size in the uploader and it will use that version
  • Added a settings option to customize the price display format.
  • The donation type buttons can also use the product specific return URL
  • Moved the email settings fields to a new tab called “Email Settings”
  • Added an option so you can now send the “Purchase confirmation email” as a HTML type email.
  • You can now customize the squeeze form email via the eStore email settings menu
  • You can now specify a download expiry time and download count limit on a per product basis
  • There is now a settings option in the “Advanced Settings” menu to enable the alternative redirection method
  • Ability to add email tags in the product specific instruction section of a product
  • Added an option to create buy now text link for any gateway available in the plugin
  • Ability to use a simple anchor text for the download links on the thank you page
  • Added a next product and previous product link in the edit product menu of the plugin
  • The {product_details} email tag will show a modified details for a subscription product

WordPress eStore v6 Change Log

  • Added an option to specify a number of products to show for each category when using the category fancy shortcode
  • Added IP address capture option for every customer in the customers database
  • Added a shortcode to display purchase history with product download option (Useful for eStore and eMember use)
  • Ability to use a text link for a Buy Now button. Example: http://www.your-domain.com/?wp_eStore_buy_now=2 (this can be used to post a link on your facebook or twitter page)
  • Added an option to disable the double opt-in email confirmation feature for MailChimp Autoresponder.
  • Made the package product download option more robust so you are allowed to nest package product inside another package product or a multi-part product.
  • Added an option to allow the admin to sort the products or categories by their name in the admin dashboard.
  • Ability to make a product tax exempt even when using the PayPal profile based tax option.
  • Added an email tag to include the shipping variation selected by the user in the email. {shipping_option_selected}
  • Enhanced the download now shortcode to work with digital variation
  • Enhanced the authorize.net post payment processing check to include the failure reason (if any) in the transaction result display.
  • Added an option whereby the admin can choose to automatically shorten the encrypted download URL to make it look cleaner.
  • Added the ability to specify a commission override on a per product basis when using the revenue sharing option
  • Added the ability to POST the PayPal IPN to a 3rd party script which can be used for additional 3rd party integration purpose.
  • Satellite Affiliate plugin integration option
  • Added the “Do Not Award Commission if Coupon Used” feature
  • Ability to left or right align the checkout button section in the shopping cart via CSS.
  • Ability to specify the variation addition symbol to your liking (by default it is the “+” sign but you can make it whatever you like)
  • Ability to POST the payment notification (IPN) to an external URL/script for all payment gateway (previously this was only available to PayPal gateway)
  • When shipping variation is used it will always prompt the customer to hit the “Update” button at least once to adjust the selected shipping choice.
  • Ability to specify multiple notification email address (the plugin can notify multiple email addresses after each sale)
  • Added a new email tag {product_link_digital_items_only} This will only list the products links for digital items in the shopping cart.
  • Made the pagination section for products more user friendly and customizable via CSS
  • Ability to hide the quantity in the shopping cart. Helpful if you are selling digital items only.
  • Download now button also tracks the sales/inventory counter
  • Added Mod X-Sendfile method for file download
  • Changing quantity or removing items after a coupon is applied won’t reset the cart anymore.
  • Added more email tags {total_tax}, {total_shipping}, {total_minus_total_tax}
  • Quantity limit per customer for individual product (this need to go to the features page).
  • Quantity limit per shopping cart checkout for an individual customer.
  • Changed how the revenue sharing calculation is calculated when affiliate campaign is used together.
  • Ability to use the email tags in the email subject area too.
  • New shortcode for recent products list
  • New shortcode for random products list
  • New shortcode for popular products list
  • Added Some Charts in the stats menu
  • Additional security check for free product download option (check the “Enforce Zero Price Checking on Free Product Download” option in the eStore settings)
  • Digital variation robustness when used in conjunction with normal variation
  • Upgraded the look and feel of the checkout redirection to the payment gateway
  • Ability to specify a minimum and maximum cart amount checkout limitation value
  • Ability to place the manual checkout form on a WordPress post or page
  • Fixed commission per transaction option
  • Ability to display the links on the thank you page for Authorize.net and Manual transactions (the same way PayPal transactions work).
  • Ability to add reCAPTCHA on the squeeze form.
  • Fixed analytic bug with Yoast’s Google Analytics Plugin

WordPress eStore v5 Change Log

  • Added the ability to specify product specific commission for tier2
  • Ability for the customer to enter a price they wish to pay for the product
  • Added a new shortcode to display a list of latest products (recently added products)
  • Added an option to copy the details of an existing customer when manually entering details of a new customer
  • Added the option to display products from a category using any of the fancy display options
  • Added an option whereby you can sort the product displays from a category
  • Added a few different download methods for sites having download issues
  • Ability to clean the encrypted download links table by performing bulk delete
  • Added the option to use PayPal’s PDT feature to display the links on the thank you page
  • Added CSS class for the variation select boxes so it can be customized with CSS
  • Added an option for shipping variation
  • Added support for Multiple categories per product (you can now assign more than one category for a product)
  • Added option to display Terms and conditions checkbox for buy now and subscription type buttons
  • Added option to display multiple product image in lightbox
  • Added Fancy6 display option in the extra shortcodes plugin
  • Added Fancy7 display option in the extra shortcodes plugin
  • Added Fancy8 display option in the extra shortcodes plugin
  • Added more download method option in the “AddOn Settings” tab
  • Added a check to verify if a specified Image URL is valid when creating or updating products
  • Manual payment gateway displays a summary of the items a customer is checking out
  • If using with WP eMember (WordPress membership plugin) then the manual checkout will auto fill in the form with the logged in member’s details
  • Added an option to reset the settings options to default
  • Added an option to reset the sales data so you can reset all the test transactions before going live
  • Amazon S3 Integration so that the downloadable files can be stored on Amazon S3
  • NextGen gallery auto integration for “Add to Cart” type buttons
  • Ability to capture lead on squeeze form submission (check under the addon settings menu)
  • Ability to automatically create affiliate accounts for buyers after purchase
  • Ability to specify an old price for a product (the old price is displayed as a slashed out price in some fancy displays)
  • Added an option to specify an expiry date for a coupon

WordPress eStore v4 Change Log

  • Google Analytics e-Commerce tracking
  • Ability to display purchase history of members when used with the WordPress Membership plugin
  • NextGen gallery alternate integration
  • Added smart thumbnail options. If your product thumbnail images look a little bit squashed then this feature will fix that issue.
  • Ability to POST PayPal IPN data to a external script (Can be used to integrate with the Memberwing plugin)
  • Better checkout flow with an option of using fancy redirection to the payment gateway.
  • Ability to track coupon per transaction
  • W3 Total Cache Integration
  • Fancy 3 display
  • Fancy 4 display
  • MemberWing Plugin Integration
  • Limit download by number of download count
  • Option to add customers to the database for manual checkout
  • Changed the look and feel of the checkout redirection page.
  • The product name, customer’s address and phone number also gets stored in the customer’s database
  • PDF Stamper integration
  • Added variation control options for “Buy Now” and “Subscription” type buttons
  • Added GetResponse autoresponder inegration
  • Option to only allow logged in members to checkout when used with WordPress Membership plugin to create an Amazon site type checkout system.
  • Added a fancy display option for the shopping cart.
  • Added order summary display option on the Manual checkout page.
  • Added an option to add product download links to the email that gets sent after the manual checkout.
  • Added built-in tax option
  • Ability to setup a revenue sharing site
  • TinyMCE butons to insert shortcodes
  • Added the option to display a quantity text box with the add to cart button.
  • Ability to display the product prices in a secondary currency side by side your primary currency (this is for display purpose only… the actual transaction will use the primary currency)

WordPress eStore v3 Change Log

  • Added the option to add product specific instructions for buyers on a per product basis (the instruction gets appended to the main email body).
  • Added a new shortcode that allows you to display a category with name, thumbnail and description (Refer to the eStore Shortcodes page).
  • Added an option to display the Compact cart in the sidebar widget (useful for sites with narrow sidebar)
  • Added the thumbnail display option in the “Manage Products” page for easy product identification.
  • Added the “One Time Commission for Subscription Payment” option (Check under the Addon Settings tab).
  • Option to upload product details from a CSV file using the WP CSV to DB plugin.
  • Added Itemized sale stats in the “Stats” menu.
  • Fixed some other minor bugs.

WordPress eStore v2.9 Change Log

  • Product names can now be linked to another page when using the fancy display options.
  • Product details copy option to copy an existing product.
  • WishList Members plugin can be integrated through the settings menu of the plugin (3rd party integration tab).
  • Added an option whereby a customer can enter an “Affiliate ID” in the shopping cart to give reward to an affiliate
  • Added the capability to link the “Affiliate ID” field with the coupons table so customers entering an “Affiliate ID” in the shopping cart will also be able to receive a discount
  • Added an option in the “manual checkout settings” section to turn on or off automatic commission awarding for manual checkout.
  • Now a custom page style name can be specified in the paypal gateway settings section to allow custom template checkout page
  • Upselling feature (a textarea in the discounts feature where the admin can put in some coupon codes which the customers only get after a checkout).
  • Fixed an issue whereby subscription payment wasn’t sending quantity value so available qty didn’t change

WordPress eStore v2.5 – v2.8 Change Log

  • Added a feature so downloadable goods can be delivered on the “Thank You” page after payment. See the instructions page to learn more.
  • Ability to display the shopping cart in your own language.
  • Added a trigger text that allows the shopping cart to be placed on a checkout page and it displays empty cart (add it to the shortcodes post)
  • Added the capability to use the WordPress’s mailing system
  • Ajax/JQuery powered squeeze page type form
  • Be able to automatically redirect to Checkout page after add to cart button is clicked
  • Fix quantity to not update when it is more than the available copies
  • Ability to take customer input for special instructions
  • Ability to offer multiple file downloads per product
  • Fixed it so the Admin function link generation works for package products and muli part files
  • The buy now and subscription buttons display normal buttons when the button image is not specified
  • Shopping cart multi-language support
  • Paginate and Search capability for Customer display list (also added transaction id, date etc display)
  • Better product search capability – Partial search for products and customers
  • Price round to two digit so PayPal doesn’t have issue after coupon code is applied
  • Wishlist plugin integration for “Add to Cart” and “Buy Now” buttons.
  • Added a 4th variation option
  • The instruction/customer input field is customizable
  • Added a second fancy product display option
  • AWeber Integration
  • Added PayPal profile based shipping capability (You can now use weights for products and specify weight based shipping in your paypal profile)
  • Sell different products in different currencies from one site when using the “Buy Now” type buttons.
  • Added Redeemable coupon option (also displays a message when you apply a coupon)
  • Did some sopping cart beautification
  • Ability to link the thumbnail image to any URL
  • Ability to make the add to cart button redirect to a URL rather than adding the product to the cart (useful when you don’t sell your own products)
  • Ability to customize the ruturn button text after payment on paypal
  • Added manual checkout option
  • Added 2checkout option. Read the payment gateway instructions page to learn more.
  • Option to place a “Continue shopping” link in the cart
  • Auto customer record reversal upon refund
  • WP eStore can now be integrated with iDev Affiliate Software
  • WP eStore can now be integrated with JROX JAM Affiliate Software
  • Added shortcodes to display sales and available copy counter
  • The plugin now sends email to the admin when payment verification fails
  • Added a few options for automatic Free Shipping Discount
  • Added conditional coupon option
  • Added option to display category list like the fancy product display

WordPress eStore v2.4 Change Log

  • Product categorization (ability to categorize products and display all products from that category)
  • Ability to configure a “Subscription” button for any type of subscription payment.
  • Variation control for digital product (digital delivery of different files depending on the selection)
  • LightBox effect on product display images (Just click on a thumbnail image to see how it works).
  • Ability to setup “Buy Now” type buttons with different PayPal email address (per button basis). Useful on a multi-author blog where different authors can setup “Buy Now” buttons with their products and get the money directly into their PayPal account.
  • Add/edit products page face lift
  • WPMU options page fix
  • Added more security checks in the post-payment processing handling script.
  • Ability to insert HTML (eg. URL of a page) in the product description field (Useful when you want to link to a detailed description page for that product).

WordPress eStore v2.3 Change Log

  • Added Coupon Code/Discounts Feature (How to Use Coupons / Discounts in WP eStore)
  • Added variation control feature (How to use variation control in a product)
  • Ability to offer product specific affiliate commission when using with the WP Affiliate Platform plugin.
  • Added a stats page to display some basic stats (I will add more stats and graphs in a future release)
  • Option to display a link to the products/shop page in the shopping cart widget when the cart is empty.
  • Added Subscription option.
  • Added an empty Cart button in the shopping cart.
  • Display the product name of each product next to the encrypted link in the email.
  • When using the stylish display it shows the Available Quantities of that product if specified.
  • Ability to use an image to display the empty shopping cart instead of just plain text (Shopping cart empty).
  • Fixed a bug whereby refund was issuing another email.
  • Tidied up the Pagination on the display all products page a little bit.
  • Tidied up some labels
  • Fixed some minor bugs and tightened some validation checking for more security.

WordPress eStore V2.2 Change Log

  • Added the capability to configure packaged/bundled products from the existing products (How to Configure bundled product).
  • Products can now be configured with a thumbnail image and a description and can be displayed in a stylish way with a trigger text (Display product in a stylish way).
  • A list of all products can be displayed on a page in a stylish way through the use of a trigger text (Display a list of all the products).
  • Added an option so the download URL can be customized (How to Customize the download URL).
  • Added an option so the plugin can be run in Sandbox mode (for PayPal sandbox testing) with one tick (Running the plugin in sandbox mode).
  • Added pagination in the manage products screen. This will help anyone who has configured a lot of products by splitting the page into smaller pages (eg. displays 20 products per page).
  • Added product search option from the Manage products screen.
  • Added a minor tweak so the return page from PayPal doesn’t show the POST data in the URL.
  • Removed the Currency field from the Add/Edit products menu (This value is now derived from the settings menu globally).
  • Fixed the hardcoded $ (currency) sign in display all products.
  • Fixed a bug whereby the squeeze page was not working in Internet Explorer.

WordPress eStore V2.1 Change Log

WordPress eStore V2 Change Log

  • Added a Customer Database (When a Customer purchases an Item the Name and Email address goes to the database)
  • Individual return URL for ‘Buy Now’ type buttons (Each ‘Buy Now’ buttons can have a different return URL to the one specified in the settings menu)
  • Ability to offer a ‘Squeeze Page’ type free product download option (This can be used to let the visitors download a free digital product after they fill in their name and email address. Very effective for email list building)
  • Capability to limit the maximum number of copies to be sold for a specific product (Useful when you only want to sell 50 copies of a product for example)
  • Added shipping calculation capability (Useful for non-digital products)
  • Added a counter for ‘sales count’ for each product (Useful to find out how many copies of a product has been sold)
  • Some other minor additions

How to sell Both Digital and Non Digital Product with the WordPress eStore plugin

The WordPress eStore plugin is mainly used for selling digital products securely from your blog but you can still sell non-digital products using this same plugin. To sell non-digital content just leave the Download URL field empty when you add the product to the database. This way when the buyer receives the courtesy/confirmation email it won’t have any link there. Instead it will say there is no downloadable content for this product.

Shipping cost is only added to the cart if any item in the cart has a product with shipping cost specified in the “Shipping Cost” field of the product. So for example, if a customer adds a digital product together with a physical product to the cart only then the shipping cost of the Physical product and the base shipping cost (If this is specified in the settings menu) is applied to the cart.

Below is a screenshot of how the shopping cart looks like when someone adds both a digital and a physical product to the cart:

Shopping Cart Screenshot with both Physical and Digital products

Shopping Cart Screenshot with both Physical and Digital products

And this is a screenshot of what the customer will see in the email or the “Thank You” page after payment:

Screenshot of a Post Payment Message

Screenshot of a Post Payment Message

Please refer to the shipping cost calculation guide to understand how shipping cost is calculated for non-digital products.

How the Shipping Cost Calculation Works in WordPress eStore

WP eStore’s main strength is selling of digital product so we do not offer complex shipping options in the eStore plugin in an effort to keep the plugin easy to use and lightweight. Please feel free to read the available shipping options in eStore from this page so you can determine if it will meet your shipping needs.

1. Simple Shipping Option

If you just want to use flat shipping cost for each item then just enter “0” in the Base Shipping Cost option in the settings menu and add the individual shipping cost in the “Item Shipping Cost” field when you configure the product.

If you just want to use a fixed shipping cost for the cart no matter how many items are in the cart then you can achieve this by specifying this fixed amount in the base shipping cost. Remember, the base shipping cost is only added to the cart if a product in the cart has individual shipping value specified (this way if a customer buys digital product he doesn’t get charged any shipping). Use an individual shipping value of “0.001” for your physical items which won’t increase the shipping cost but will trigger the base shipping cost to be added as a fixed shipping rate.

2. Using PayPal’s Profile Based Shipping

You can have PayPal calculate shipping charges automatically. PayPal calculates shipping charges based on rates that you specify in your account profile. You can set up shipping rates as follows:

  • Domestic (U.S.-only) shipping rates for regions defined by state or zip code
  • International shipping rates for regions define by country or jurisdiction

You can specify shipping rate based on the weight of the items too. Within shipping regions, you can specify rates for different shipping methods, such as standard and express delivery.

We have a tutorial on how to setup paypal profile based shipping that you can look at if you have never configured profile based shipping before.

To use PayPal’s profile based shipping simply check the “Use PayPal Profile Based Shipping” checkbox in the settings menu of eStore and the shopping cart will use the shipping options you have specified in your PayPal account profile:

PayPal's profile based shipping

PayPal’s profile based shipping

If you use PayPal’s profile based shipping, your customers will be prompted to enter the shipping destination when they go to checkout via PayPal.

Choose destination for shipping calculation

Choose destination for shipping calculation

After the customer enter the destination it will automatically add the shipping amount based on what you have specified in your profile (eg. based on the weight of item and or delivery location).

Shipping is calculated based on the specified criteria in your profile

Shipping is calculated based on the specified criteria in your profile

ecommerce-shipping

3. How to Give Shipping Discount when Someone Buys Multiple Products

What if you want to use the simple shipping option but be a little more intelligent with the shipping cost calculation and want to use Base Shipping Cost in conjunction with the individual product shipping cost to offer your customers a better shipping price? You can do that too.

The base shipping cost is added to the total of the individual products shipping cost (The base shipping cost is only applied to the cart if any of the cart item has an individual shipping amount specified for it). So for example if you had two products that costs $50 each and you want to charge $10 shipping for each item then someone buying both the products would have to pay $100(product cost) + $20(shipping cost) = $120(total). That is not a very realistic shipping price since you are shipping both the products to the same address in one package so it will probably cost you $15 instead of $20.

How do you handle this situation?
You use a base shipping cost of $5 and individual product shipping cost of $5.

Now when someone buys both the products the shipping cost will be calculated as following:
$5(shipping for product1) + $5(shipping for product2) = $10(total individual products shipping cost)
Total shipping cost = $10(total individual products shipping cost) + $5(base shipping cost) = $15!

When someone buys one product the shipping cost will be calculated as following:
$5(shipping for product1) = $5(total individual products shipping cost)
Total shipping cost = $5(total individual products shipping cost) + $5(base shipping cost) = $10! (this is the shipping you wanted to charge for one product)

So, hopefully you can see that using the base shipping cost in conjunction with the individual product shipping cost you can be very dynamic in determining the total shipping cost for a purchase.

4. Using A Shipping Variation Option

You can use the shipping variation option field to add more shipping options for your need. For example, you can add a variation called Shipping with the values “Domestic” and “International” that adds different amount to the cart based on the user selection.

Please refer to the WP eStore Shipping Variation documentation to learn how to use variations.

5. Using Bulk Quantity Shipping Discount

Check the bulk quantity shipping discount addon for details.

6. Using Amount Based Shipping

The Amount Based Shipping addon allows you to automatically apply a shipping amount to the cart based on a price range.

How to Test the WordPress eStore to Make Sure Everything is Working Properly

The simplest way to test if the WordPress eStore plugin is working is to create a test product with the price of 1 cent ($0.01) and purchase that product yourself as a buyer.

It is a good idea to turn on debug (check the “Enable Debug” checkbox) from the settings menu and you will be able to see every step of the transaction process (IPN validation, product verification etc) in the ipn_handle_debug.log file.

wp-estore-testing

How to Test Using PayPal Sandbox

You can also use the plugin in SandBox mode (PayPal Sandbox) which will allow you to test it without having to perform a live transaction. To test it using PayPal Sandbox do the following:

  • Go to the settings menu of the WP eStore plugin.
  • Enter your sandbox seller’s email in the ‘Paypal Email Address’ field.
  • Tick the ‘Enable Sandbox Testing’ checkbox.

Please turn on debug from the settings menu and you will be able to see every step of the transaction processs (IPN validation, product verification etc) in the ipn_handle_debug.log file.

If you need a more detailed guide on using PayPal Sandbox then check the following post:

What to do When Something is not Functioning as Expected

If something is not functioning as expected after the payment is made on PayPal (e.g. emails are not getting sent out) it is a good idea to enable debug and perform a test transaction so you can analyze the log file to identify the issue. The following URL will help:

Tips

  • Check this plugin testing checklist – setup preparation for testing
  • Remember to revert the changes to run the Plugin in Live mode again after you are done with the testing (change the paypal email address and uncheck the ‘Enable Sandbox Testing’ option).
  • The debug can be used in live or testing mode and can be very handy when you are trying to figure out an issue.
  • I always recommend testing the system in live mode, this way you have the plugin running in live mode and can see if it has any issues that the customers are likely to see.

WordPress eStore Installation and Update Guide

Installing and Upgrading WordPress eStore plugin is very easy. The installation of this plugin is similar to all the other WordPress plugins.

Fresh Installation of WP eStore

First deactivate the WP Simple Paypal Shopping cart plugin if you are using it. WP eStore plugin has all the functionality of the WP Simple Paypal Shopping cart.

  • Click on the “Add New” link from the “Plugins” menu inside your WordPress admin dashboard.
  • Click the “Upload Plugin” button from the top of this page.
  • Browse for the plugin’s zip file (wp-cart-for-digital-products.zip) and hit the “Install Now” button.
  • Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress.

Installation Video

Upgrade WP eStore Plugin

Before you ask…

Yes, the plugin will retain all the previous information that you saved. No data (your product details, settings values etc.) will get lost during the upgrade.

Important Note 1: If you have a live site with high traffic where customers are constantly making purchases then you should consider installing the new version of the plugin on a test WordPress site first to minimize any chance of upgrade related issue taking you out by surprise. Most people prefer to have a copy of WordPress installed in one of the sub-directories for testing purpose (you can install it in a sub-domain too). This way if you face an issue due to upgrading, you can report it to us and while we work on it, your main site won’t be affected.

Important Note 2: Some users have this bad habit of keeping multiple copies of the same plugin in the “plugins” directory. This is the source of many problems. Please note that you should only have one version of any WordPress plugin in the plugins directory at any given time. If you want to keep backups then you can keep it in your “uploads” directory or on your computer’s hard drive.

With that said, please follow the instructions below when upgrading the WordPress eStore plugin from an older version to a newer version:

Upgrade Steps

Do the following steps to upgrade the plugin:

  • Deactivate the current version of the WP eStore plugin from the Plugins menu.
  • Delete the current version of the WP eStore plugin from the Plugins menu.
  • Now, follow the fresh installation steps outlined above to install the plugin.

Don’t be scared to delete the plugin. It will retain all the previously entered settings and product information (no data will get lost during the upgrade).

Basic Usage Guide

Step 1. First add the product(s) to the database through the Add/Edit Products interface. Products can be modified through the Manage Products interface.

Step 2. To add the Add to Cart button simply add the following trigger text to a post or page next to the product.

[wp_eStore_add_to_cart id=PRODUCT-ID]

Replace PRODUCT-ID with the actual product id of the product (example, 1). Product IDs are unique numbers that are automatically created for you when you add a product to the database. All of your products IDs can be found in the Manage Products section.

Step 3. To add the shopping cart to a post, checkout page and/or sidebar simply add the following trigger text to a post or page in HTML view or use the sidebar widget. The shopping cart will only be visible when a customer adds a product in the post or page.

[wp_eStore_cart]

Additional Usage Guidance

Please leave a comment below if you have any questions.

How to Use Buy Now buttons Using the WordPress eStore Shopping Cart Plugin

WordPress eStore allows you to create “Buy Now” type button functionality so your customers don’t have to add items to the cart. The “Buy Now” type buttons take the customers directly to the payment page for payment when clicked.

Creating a PayPal Buy Now Button

Adding a “Buy Now” type button is similar to adding an Add to Cart button. The main difference is in the shortcode that is used to place the button on a post or page. To insert a “Buy Now” type button add the following shortcode in a post or page:

[wp_eStore_buy_now_button id=PRODUCT-ID]

Replace ‘PRODUCT-ID’ with the actual product id of the product you are selling. For example:

[wp_eStore_buy_now_button id=1]

Try clicking on the following Buy button to see how it works:

product image audio selling
Name: Demo Product Four
Description: Demonstrates the
‘Buy Now’ type button
Price: $1.00

Each ‘Buy Now’ type button can have a unique return URL. When the return URL is used the customer is sent to the specified URL after Payment.

Customizing the “Buy” Button Image

You can customize the buy button image with your unique custom designed image by specifying the image URL in the “Button Image URL” field of the product.

For example I have used the well known “Belcher Button” image for the following buy button. It looks a lot like what you may have seen on may other sales pages, doesn’t it? 🙂

Using a Fancy Display with the Buy Now Button

Demo Buy Now button
Demo Buy Now button
This is a test description. This description is here to show how the description of this product looks like when used with the WordPress Shopping Cart.
Price: $1.00

Enter the following shortcode to display the product like the one above (1 is the product id of the product in this example):

[wp_eStore_buy_now_fancy id=1]

Display Buy Now button from Any WordPress Theme File

You can also use the following PHP function if you want to show the ‘Buy Now’ type buttons from your wordpress theme’s template files (eg. on the sidebar ‘sidebar.php’):

print_eStore_buy_now_button(PRODUCT-ID)

So adding the following line to a PHP file will display a Buy Now button for the product who’s product id is 4:

<?php echo print_eStore_buy_now_button(4); ?>

Creating a Buy Now Button For Other Payment Gateways

Check the following documentation to learn how to create a buy now button for the other eStore gateways:

How to Show Add to Cart buttons Using the WordPress eStore Shopping Cart Plugin

This is a step by step tutorial to setup an ‘Add to Cart‘ button for a Product using the WordPress eStore plugin to accommodate the selling of products from your WordPress site.

After you read this tutorial, you will be able to easily create “Add to Cart” button(s) on your product’s sales page and sell your products.

Setup a Basic ‘Add to Cart’ Button for a Product

Step 1) Think about the name, price and a little description for the product you want to sell.

Step 2) Configure the product using the ‘Add/Edit Products’ interface of the WordPress eStore Plugin. Take note of the ‘Product ID’ after you add the product (all the product ids can be found on the ‘Manage Products’ page).

Step 3)Design however you want to display the product on a Post or Page (the landing page of the product) where you want to sell the product from. I want to keep it very simple for this tutorial. So I am going to use the following as my product information:

Name: Demo Product One
Description: Demonstrates the Add to Cart button
Price: $1.00

Step 4) Now, all I need is the ‘Add to Cart’ button next to the product information so a customer can purchase it. To insert the ‘Add to Cart’ button that goes with this product, add the following shortcode below the line ‘Price: $1.00’

[wp_eStore_add_to_cart id=PRODUCT-ID]

Replace ‘PRODUCT-ID’ with the actual product id of the product you are selling in my case it’s 1 because this is the first product I just configured. So I am going to add the following text

[wp_eStore_add_to_cart id=1]

Step 5) The completed product display looks like the following:

Name: Demo Product One
Description: Demonstrates the Add to Cart button
Price: $1.00

Step 6) Finally, I am going to add the following shortcode in the post that displays the shopping cart when items are added to the cart. You can also use the sidebar widget to display the shopping cart. This will allow the customer to view their order and complete the checkout:

[wp_eStore_cart]

Feel free to hit the above ‘Add to Cart’ button to see how the shopping cart appears below this line and allows a customer to purchase the product.


You can copy and paste all the available eStore shortcodes from the shortcode references PDF file.

Common Pitfalls

The most common mistakes people make when using the ‘Add to Cart’ button’s shortcode and hence the button doesn’t appear are as following:

  • Use of hyphen (-) instead of underscore (_). Use wp_eStore not wp-eStore.
  • Use of lowercase ‘s’ instead of uppercase ‘S’. Use wp_eStore not wp_estore.
  • Forgot to activate the plugin from the plugins menu (Yes it does happen 🙂
  • Didn’t replace ‘PRODUCT-ID’ in the shortcode with the actual number.

How to use a Custom image as the ‘Add to Cart’ button

If you want to make the ‘Add to Cart’ button look nicer then you probably want to use a custom image for the button. WordPress eStore plugin allows you to specify a custom button image for every product. This way you can have nice call to action buttons on your product’s landing page.

When you configure the product, there is an optional product settings field called ‘Button Image URL‘ that you can use to specify a custom button image for the product.

wp_estore_button_image_url

I have uploaded a custom image to my site and used the URL of that image in the ‘Button Image URL’ field of the product settings and now the ‘Add to Cart’ button looks like the following (I have also embedded a picture in the post so the product display looks nicer):

Name: Demo Product Two
Description: Demonstrates Customized ‘Add to Cart’ button
Price: $1.00

The WordPress eStore plugin comes with a few different ‘Add to Cart’ and ‘Buy Now’ button images that you can use. All the images are included in the ‘images’ directory of the plugin. More style to the button can be added using CSS (stylesheet).

How to Display the Product in a Stylish Way

WP eStore comes with a few product display templates that you can use to display your product in a stylish way. Here is an example product display template:

Cool Test Product Two
Cool Test Product Two
Some test description of the product to show how this description field looks like. You can insert plain HTML in this description field too.
Available Qty: 44
Price: $50.00

Enter the following shortcode to display the product like the one above (9 is the product id of the product in this example):

[wp_eStore_fancy1 id=9]

Cool Test Product Two
Cool Test Product Two
Some test description of the product to show how this description field looks like. You can insert plain HTML in this description field too.
Available Qty: 44
Price: $50.00

Or Enter the following shortcode to display the product like the one above

[wp_eStore_fancy2 id=9]

You will have to fill out the Product Description and the Thumbnail image URL when configuring the product for this type of display.

More stylish display options are explained on the stylish product display documentation page.

How to Sell Limited Number of Copies of a Product

WordPress eStore plugin allows you to limit the number of copies of a product you sell. In order to sell limited copies of a product, simply enter the number of copies you want to sell in the ‘Available Copies’ field of the Product when you configure it.

The plugin will decrease that number every time that product sells. When the ‘Available Copies’ number reaches ‘0’ the plugin replaces the ‘Add to Cart’ button with a ‘Sold Out’ image like the following preventing further sales:

Demo Product Three
Price: $9.50

If you are having any problems please leave a comment below.