Anthrocon Online Con Store?
I've been waffling about posting this, but the worst answer I can get is "no," right?
I know there's a large amount of people who couldn't make it to the con this year, but would like to be able to buy the con store merchandise. They might not have any friends that went that could grab them some goodies. There are even people, like myself, who went, but didn't have a chance to grab something (the flag ;_;).
I also know that there's a whole bunch of stuff involved in such an undertaking; the people, the shipping, the hours, the shipping, the inventory, the SHIPPING..
So, thoughts?
And there's only one of me. Sure, I could implement a store, but I also have things to add to our Registration System, a 2011 website to build, and half a dozen other things.
It all comes down to priorities, and how many hours I have in the day.
What about a turnkey solution? Then the only concern would be shipping. I don't know who hangs onto the inventory in the off-season but I don't think the volume of orders would be insurmountable...!
Can you recommend one that is relatively inexpensive and doesn't suck?
I can poke around; I was running a pretty efficient turnkey system at one point that took me about 8 hours out of the box to get running and was open source - zen cart I think? Took paypal payments, etc. Was fairly painless and even automatically calculated shipping costs and could print shipping labels from your PC. I'll see if that's still around and is as good as I remember it being.
I don't actually think the web frontend is the tough part - what concerns me more is putting them in a box and putting them in the mail. :]
It's been awhile, but if Zencart is the one I think I checked out about 3 years ago, I wasn't too happy with it.
As Kage mentioned, PayPal is right out, seeing that they're not a bank and all that.
Ideally, I'd like to set up Drupal's e-commerce module since, as a part of Drupal, it makes my job of managing the website easier (having a single database and document tree is a huge win when I set up development servers, for example) and because it has authorize.net support, which is what we use as our merchant gateway. (it's also nice not to have to keep track of multiple passwords, multiple sets of users, etc.)
If you or anyone else wants to evaluate the e-commerce module and let me know what you think of it, feel free.
I'd be willing to help with Shipping stuffs seeing as all I do right now is attend online courses, the only hitch... I live in FL. Had to handle AC goods in PA from down here.
I'll get a drupal setup running at some point when real work tapers down and shove the module in to see how it behaves. I think we could totally put together a volunteer crew to handle this. :]
From the perspective of man hours, I think that if we sold stuff under the understanding that we do a bulk shipment once every month, it would basically require one night a month of people getting together, printing e-postage, slapping it on envelopes and boxes and getting them ready to mail.
Obviously we're not a fulfillment company, I think most people would be understanding. :]
I'd be willing to wait- so long as I had a confirmation the order
was received and wasn't lost in cyberspace, maybe had a reference#
or something. That way, I'd know I was just waiting for the good
group to assemble and physically process the orders. It's a real
pain if your requests for something get lost in cyberspace and you
need to go through contortions to circumvent the process.
(No, I haven't had any such problems WITH AC, but I have had such
problems...)
If we could get the module up and running and working without glitches, then leave the shipping to me. I can always gather together enough slavesvolunteers to help with packing and mailing.
I'll coordinate with giza after testing it - I think this would be a great way to bring the con money year round. :]
I can always gather together enough
slavesvolunteers to help with packing and mailing.
*nods* They're called philadelphia furries.
He usually bribes us with greasy food and stories. 
If you can get the stock to me, shipping is easy, especially since most of our stock is trinkets, t-shirts, and books that all fit in padded mailers. And since the USPS started licensing out certified postal units, post offices are everywhere! There's a check cashing place about a mile away from me whose CPU is open til 9pm.
From the perspective of man hours, I think that if we sold stuff under the understanding that we do a bulk shipment once every month, it would basically require one night a month of people getting together, printing e-postage, slapping it on envelopes and boxes and getting them ready to mail.
I do notice that the e-commerce module Giza linked to, isn't yet released for Drupal 6. (It's at release candidate 18, so maybe Real Soon Now.)
I'm pretty certain that's not the case. Because if you ship the merchandise and then the card gets declined, now what? Since you just shipped the merchandise, you'd have no leverage with the customer to get them to provide a valid credit card number. In fact, every company I've ever worked for (including my current employer) has always done the "charge, then ship" business model.
I'm not too worried about e-Commerce being not finished for D6. If it has the functionality that we (a subset of the total functionality), then that's fine. If not, there's always Ubercart. It seems that they also have authorize.net support, and they even have a demo.
It actually is the case; we work with a fulfillment company here and you are technically not legally allowed to CAPTURE funds until they've left the place they're being delivered from, IN THE CASE OF A PURCHASE. This isn't something you'll get prosecuted on outright, but in the event you get a call from an angry customer saying you scammed them and it goes to court, it's just another strike against you.
This can eaaaasily be dodged by changing the terms of the sale, though. It's a 'donation' to the convention, and the gift we give you is a t-shirt. Also, the module may very well support the 'authorize first, capture upon shipping' model.
Since it kept gnawing on my brain, I dug out the "Merchant Services Operating Procedures Guide":
3.2. Mail/Telephone/Internet Orders.
[...]
- You may not submit a transaction for processing until after the merchandise has been shipped or the service has been provided to the customer.
[...]- Notify the Customer of delivery time frames, special handling or of a cancellation policy. Merchandise shipping dates must be within seven (7) days of the date authorization was obtained. If, after the order has been taken, additional delays will be incurred (e.g. out of stock), notify the Cardholder and reauthorize the transaction.
So you can either run the card as a regular sale, if you're careful not to submit the batch for payment until after the merchandise has shipped, or else obtain an authorization only without capturing the sale, then do a forced/offline sale after shipping (which is cumbersome to do manually, as you have to enter the authorization code obtained earlier). I'd expect any worthwhile e-commerce system to handle these details transparently, once configured for the way you want to operate.
I had a feeling that these would be the first responses I would get. XD; I know it's just a pipe dream, but still a nice one to keep in mind.
If you need a store web designer, I'll be willing to volunteer for that.
Actually, I am just outside of Philly, could help with shipping merchadise and such.
You need some 3D stuff for the web let me know. I am still learning 
.
Just to keep folks on this thread up to date, I went and installed Ubercart on my test system. So far, I am very impressed with what it has to offer.
More testing on the module continues. It's a big large, containing about 61,000 lines of code(!!) by my estimates.
cool
I've been quietly hacking on Ubercart in my spare time over the last few weeks, and have an Alpha implementation of the con store ready.
We have Anthrocon T-shirts, Uncle Kage Story Hour DVDs, and the Anthrocon car flag available.
Feel free to add stuff to your cart and go to the check out page. Taxes and shipping to US addresses work, but I don't have any of the payment gateways turned on, so you can't accidentally purchase anything. Folks are welcome to bang on it, and let me know what you think!
This is absolutely amazing <3 Thank you so much! I can't wait to get my Anthrocon flags! 
Suggestion.
Consider selling "Uncle Kage Story Hour DVDs" as a discounted box set.
I think Ubercart will let us create "bundles" like what you described, but the real challenge is getting said box designed and made. We'll put it on our list, though.
You get a discount if you invite me over to your place for a drink.
Deal!
However, you must provide your own transportation. And deal with an overly friendly and hyperactive german shep/labrador mutt. And bring a designated driver. We aren't letting you leave inebriated..
deal with an overly friendly and hyperactive german shep/labrador mutt
And this is different from any Furry convention, how?
Are you volunteering?