Working with ShopSite

ShopSite Billing/Shipping Page FAQs

Here is a list of questions and answers about the shipping and billing page in the ShopSite shopping cart.

How do I make the ordering system secure?
Do I have control over which fields on the billing page are mandatory and which fields are optional?
How do I turn on/off the separate shipping/billing addresses?

How do I make the ordering system secure?

ShopSite can use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) security when customers are entering credit card information and when merchants view order information. Configuring SSL security is a two-step process, and you will have to work with your ISP on both steps:

Talk to your ShopSite Hosting Partner about adding SSL security to your store. You will either be able to use a digital certificate that they already have, or they will work with you to obtain on for your store on their server. If you buy a certificate for your store, prices may vary somewhat from company to company, but as an example, a one year certificate from Thawte costs $125.
Set ShopSite to use SSL security. Your ISP should tell you when they have configured the URLs to work with your certificate. In the ShopSite back office, go to Preferences > Hosting Service. In the SSL Security Settings of the screen, check the box for Use SSL security in ShopSite and Use SSL security in Shopping Cart. Fill in the URL fields with values provided by your ISP.

After installing a certificate and configuring ShopSite, you can test it by making a purchase in your store. Add a product to your shopping cart and go to the screen where you enter credit card information. Verify that you see an icon of a locked padlock at the bottom of your browser window. like this: . Complete the order (you can always use your payment gateway merchant account to refund your money later). In the ShopSite back office, go to Orders, select your new order in the list and cick View Orders. Verify that you see the locked padlock on the screen where you are viewing the order information.

Do I have control over which fields on the billing page are mandatory and which fields are optional?

No, you cannot specify some fields to be mandatory and some fields to be optional. ShopSite requires values for the Name, E-mail address, Address 1, City, Card Number, Card Name, and Expiration Date fields (or equivalent fields for other payment methods). All other fields are optional.

If you would like to strongly encourage customers to enter other information, such as their phone number, you can change the label for that field. For example, in the Preferences > Store Text > Checkout screen, you could change the Phone Number field to "Phone Number (required)." Although ShopSite would not require customers to enter phone numbers, most customers will enter information that they think is required.

If you have ShopSite Pro or ShopSite Manager and you have enabled UPS Address Validation, customers must enter a valid city, state, and zip code combination or the order will not be accepted.

How do I turn on/off the separate shipping/billing addresses?

On the Commerce Setup > Order System screen, there is a field called Separate billing address box checked by default. Check this box if you want the shopping cart for your store to always show separate address fields for biling and shipping. Uncheck this box if you want only one address field. Customers will always see a checkbox that they can use to switch from one setting to the other.

ShopSite Help and Resource Center
February 6, 2002
Give Feedback