Configuring your checkout
Utilizing the Free form mailers
RealCart suggests that you use the Free form mailers as a last resort. The main reason we recommend not using the free form mailers is due to the fact that you can accept credit cards in a real-time environment with no up front cost and no on-going monthly fees. You only have to pay a fee for real-time credit card transactions when you actually sell something.
Not all ISPs allow CGI
As mentioned in the previous section, RealCart offers very limited support for FormMail as it is beyond the scope of our tech support to teach you how to troubleshoot scripting issues and cgi problems with your web hosting provider. Typically this is the job of your web host if in fact they offer the capability of hosting such 3rd party script and exe files. Our ISP support center is designed to allow you to quickly and easily send a form letter to ask your ISP about your web hosting package capabilities. If you are not sure whether your web site is being hosted on an NT server or a UNIX server you can try the simple test described in Section 2.5. You may not have CGI capabilities on your web hosting plan. Worse yet, you may have CGI capability but your web host refuses to help you with installing a script. Either way you may need to configure RealCart to use one of the two dozen non-cgi methods of checkout like a secure payment provider or PayPal (no confirmation).
Alternatively you can pay a small $25.00 per month fee to use RealCart to accept credit cards real-time without the need to Join PayPal. When you are ready to step up to a more professional store you can either pay the setup fee (under $300 USD) up front or pay it out on a lease agreement (no money up front) to start accepting credit cards within the next 7 days. To find out more visit our merchant account center.
Configuring Checkout for NT or UNIX
Configuring your checkout for either NT or UNIX (Linux users should choose UNIX) will force RealCart to utilize one of the FREE form mailers as your means of transacting sales. There are a number of complications involved in utilizing the FREE form mailers. They are:
- No real-time approval of transaction possible. Transactions must be processed off-line.
- Inadequate security. Credit card info will be emailed unless you create your own cgi mailer.
- Lowered total sales due to lack of confidence in your store by your customer.
- Not all web hosting ISPs allow cgi scripts.
Some ISPs may configure their servers in such a way as to make the automatic installation of our Free form mailers with RealCart’s built-in publishing wizard impossible. RealCart will attempt to automatically install the Free form mailers if you follow these steps:
- Start RealCart.
- Open the Checkout Wizard by clicking the Cash Register button on RealCart’s large toolbar.
- Click the Server tab.
- Select UNIX for the server type if your web site is hosted on a UNIX or LINUX based web server. (Check which one for sure by following the simple test outlined in Section 2.5)
- Select NT for the server type if your web site is hosted on a Windows NT based web server.
- If you selected NT for the server type you will need to also provide an NT email server address. (click here for more info)
- Click OK (or Next > if configuring for the first time.)
If this doesn’t work and you get a 404 File Not Found error during a test order then you may want to try to manually install the form mailer. Instructions for installing formmail.pl can be found on our technical support site. If you need to install rscmail.exe just upload it to your web server’s cgi-bin folder using a 3rd party ftp program like WS_FTP LE, Cute FTP or others. Permissions for rscmail.exe should be set to “execute permissions for everyone.” For complete upload instructions see the next page.
If your web hosting provider does not offer cgi access don’t panic! It is MUCH easier to open a PayPal account than it is to change ISPs. If you cannot utilize the Free cgi form mailers then you should open a PayPal account and utilize the PayPal (No Confirmation) option until you can secure a merchant account from either Authorize.Net, WorldPay or other payment gateway.
How the free form mailers work
When you use the free from mailers included with RealCart you will get an email containing all of the order data including the customer’s street address and contact info each time an order is placed. You will also get their credit card number and a detailed description of their order. If you are not getting email when an order is placed there are several things you might check. Take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions section for insight as to how you might correct any problems that you may have with the free form mailers. The most usual problems include the following:
Email Server
When using NT based checkout in RealCart you must provide the SMTP email server name of the email server that contains your email account. The specific email account we are referring to is the email POP box that accepts the email sent to the Cart Order Email address you defined in the store wizard. If you do not use the proper email server here you will likely get Relaying Denied errors or have other difficulty sending Order emails. In some rare cases your web Host ISP may insist that the "From" address of all your orders be YOUR email address instead of your customers.
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