bbt Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 This has got to be the strangest platform I have ever adopted. The software seems to be well designed, but poorly finished. Little things missing which are critical for an ecommerce platform are driving me crazy like missing partial shipping even though its listed as a feature. Recently my biggest problem is a bug in the euro paypal module which makes it impossible to use the express checkout feature if you validate phone numbers for member signups. It causes a fatal error. See: http://forge.prestashop.com/browse/PNM-2050 This problem was presented to Prestashop on the 30th January and its been almost a month now with no solution. This makes the the biggest and most widely used payment gateway broken for prestashop unless you live in the USA, though im not sure if that one could be broken in the same way. Im not sure why this is not a massive issue, it basically makes Prestashop unusable in my opinion. As a developer I recommended the prestashop platform to my employer based on its representation and documentation. Unfortunately once you get into it, its full of disappointment. Magento might be a slow beast, but at least it works and does the job its meant to. This is a huge embarrassment to me and the process to get to launch has been held up terribly by all the problems. For those that are Pretashop veterans, how do I motivate the Prestashop team to fix such critical issues as partial shipping and paypal payments? I cant be the only frustrated user. Cheers, Damien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Patron Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 I think it's very difficult to recommend something one is not 100% sure of and while we have a right to be indignant about this or that missing all in all it works pretty well. Shipping has always been a funny feature in ps, they have recently been improving it but it may just be how the flow of setting it up works as compared to even more archaic method before. I see a few posts on partial shipping but I'm certainly no shipping expert. Most mods are horrible at shipping and avoid this sort of post due to lack of experience. You could, just for the sake of 'hope', install a test version of 1.6.0.2 and see if they made any improvements in shipping. Fingers crossed. Please let us know what you find out. re paypal, see if this helps http://forge.prestashop.com/browse/PNM-2050 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbt Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 I think it's very difficult to recommend something one is not 100% sure of and while we have a right to be indignant about this or that missing all in all it works pretty well. I agree and I never would have got to the bottom of problems without working so closely with the software. Having said that I relied upon statements Prestashop made about its own features such as having partial shipping capability which is still advertised today. A statement not made in good faith it would appear. re paypal, see if this helps http://forge.prestashop.com/browse/PNM-2050 Yes I have seen this bug report because I am the one that posted it. If you read through it you will see it was addressed for a moment and then forgotten. You will see I have also posted several comments trying to get attention, but nobody is listening. This is what also concerns me about Prestashop. The support is lacking and major bugs like the one I posted there are not addressed in spite of the fact that Paypal is the largest and most critical payment gateway for online retailers. I do understand your appreciation of the software, I like it too! However it seems unfinished, miss-represented and does not appear to be supported at a level expected of a serious eCommerce platform. I don't know how to get the attention I need to have the essential problems fixed by Prestashop without paying someone to finish the software so it actually works for real world applications. Right now the business I work for is using the very ancient Interspire Cart (pre BigCommerce) and yet it has the ability to add products during a manual order entry, it has the ability to edit the postal cost and discount the pricing without the expansive voucher system. It has the ability to perform partial shipments when an item is out of stock and send the rest later (as prestashop advertises it can do). It has the ability to accept paypal express payments (because its not broken unlike Prestashop). I want to launch, and yet im waiting for non-existent support for broken software. What should I do? How do I motivate Prestashop to fix their software so it can be used? Cheers, Damien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Patron Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Hi Damien, the one big reason I like ps is it multinational capability. For virtual sellers we don't see the issues hard product sellers do but there are several missing pieces for virtual products as well, i.e. no packs for example, no attributes. I think the made a real go at it with 1.4, 1.3 was really simplistic and way behind the curve of ecommerce. 1.5 was a big step in their game plan and have done a decent job of making it easier to work with. 1.6 will offer any more 'common' improvements. Being from the US I've probably been buying online far longer than those in other countries and there are some really good ps shops running out there but most truly successful ecommerce shops regardless of cms have much time and money invested simply because none of the cms's offer everything that everyone wants. Honestly I could have picked any cms rather than writing my own (which I have done and it was the only one that did everything I wanted) but when I moved to cms I learned to make modules so I could fill holes I needed. So chin up and if ps does not fit your needs you should obviously try others but there will be things that just won't be there. I don't know where ps states partial shipping I have only seen 'wish' type posts. As for paypal, most get it running, some struggle to get it working and others at times must rely on community help or hire professional help. best of luck which ever way you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbt Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Being from the US I've probably been buying online far longer than those in other countries Actually you would think so, but often smaller markets pick up technologies quicker. For example online grocery shopping first started with Australia's largest two merchants in 1998 allowing people to order their groceries online and have them delivered fresh at a requested time. Last time one of my developer buddies from the states was out here he was shocked and said they didn't have this back home yet at least not to this extent. Im not trying to make any kind of negative remark about the USA, its a great country and I just got back from there myself last Friday. However the size of its market dictates that it often takes far longer for the country to adopt technologies. TV, Cell Phones, ATM's, the metric system (apart from when referring to ammunition) just to name a few. The latest one is these old fashioned paper bank notes on my desk from my trip that are easy to counterfeit even though smaller population countries have adopted polymer notes for more than 15 years now. Though I believe the USA is considering adding them soonish. but most truly successful ecommerce shops regardless of cms have much time and money invested simply because none of the cms's offer everything that everyone wants. Oh I agree totally, but some of the basics are missing or broken here. Items advertised as being there too. I don't know where ps states partial shipping I have only seen 'wish' type posts. I believe it was mentioned under features on the front page but I first read it on the PDF of the full features list of 1.5 which can be found here: http://www.prestashop.com/download/pdf/PrestaShop-Feature-List-en.pdf Simply search for the "Improved inventory management, supply orders, product returns and partial deliveries" title. Also it was mentioned by Bryan Shaw when 1.5 was released here: http://www.prestashop.com/blog/en/prestashop-v1-5-now-available-for-download/ This was a requirement for choosing PS are I relied on such documentation for its existence in the software. Yet it does not exist. Aside from all of this, my problems are mainly with one missing but advertised feature and one broken one. While I agree sometimes platforms do not meet needs, I don't think its unreasonable to ask that broken things are fixed and missing but promised features are added. Or at the very least their advertised existence removed so that others like myself are not mislead. Cheers, Damien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Patron Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Damien, I agree...well except for early adopters of e-commerce. ...as for grocery what we experienced here was not so much cms shops but the grocery chains creating their own custom shops mostly using platforms like 'cold fusion'. chin up and hope you find what you are looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kooperg Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Well, it's not complete, I do have a complete packet I can recommend: Intershop Infinity! It's only about 6million US$ for a standard installation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stottycabanas Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 online grocery shopping first started with Australia's largest two merchants in 1998 A quote from a research paper produced by the [spam-filter] Melbourne, no less: 'Online Grocery Shopping was first offered in the United States in the late 1980s (Belsie, 1998) but it has been adopted in other regions, notably European countries and Australia.' Cheers, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbt Posted February 27, 2014 Author Share Posted February 27, 2014 A quote from a research paper produced by the [spam-filter] Melbourne, no less: 'Online Grocery Shopping was first offered in the United States in the late 1980s (Belsie, 1998) but it has been adopted in other regions, notably European countries and Australia.' Cheers, Dave No doubt so, my understanding in this area was from an every day American's experience of the difference rather than first known usage from a research paper. Also from the perspective of a major nationwide chain rather than a small independent service to one neighbourhood. Irrespective of its first small scale usage (which I suspect would have been the case for the first usage), the point remains the same. That was that pointing out that El Patrons statement that suggested that because he is from the US, he had probably been purchasing online longer than others from other countries. It's a statement which would probably grind the gears of most people from other countries. My point was simply to rebut that and point out that larger economies generally move slower when adopting new systems and technologies which is not being critical of the USA in any way. Simply that ones opinion is not necessarily better because of the belief in ones superior position within a country. In any case I agree with El Patrons, the PS software is well designed for the most part and Im sure there are many great sites out there working well in the own niche. And while it is never going to be everything to everyone, it should deliver on the features it boasts to contain rather than finding them missing. It also should fix major bugs with its software when they prevent proper operation of such critical features as accepting paypal payments. Im not asking for anything new, just that they deliver what they advertise in good working order. Cheers, Damien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbt Posted February 27, 2014 Author Share Posted February 27, 2014 Well, it's not complete, I do have a complete packet I can recommend: Intershop Infinity! It's only about 6million US$ for a standard installation! Im quite happy to hand over money for good software and already have paid with Prestashop. Your comment however suggests I am asking for excessive bells and whistles. In fact I am asking for 2 things while criticising PS for a few other issues. PS needs to add the partial shipping it advertises is included in PS 1.5+, yet it does not contain any such feature that I can find. Secondly it needs to fix the PayPal payment module which is broken for Paypal express unless you turn off phone number validation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7m7g7 Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 (...) Im not asking for anything new, just that they deliver what they advertise in good working order. Hi Damien, Just wondering... do you still use Prestashop? If so, how do you manage partial deliveries? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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