E-commerce FAQ
Short answers to the questions people ask most about selling with Exponential. Each answer links to the page with the details. For questions about running a store day to day, see also the Store FAQ for owners and the Store FAQ for decision makers.
Contents
- What the shop is
- What the shop does not do
- Payments
- Tax and shipping
- Orders and data
- Sites, apps and growth
- Building and extending
What the shop is
Is the shop an extension I have to install?
No. It is part of the kernel: the module shop with its views in kernel/shop/module.php, its classes in
kernel/classes/, its settings in settings/shop.ini. You switch on the parts you need
(What the built-in shop does).
What makes content a product?
A price field: any class with an ezprice or ezmultiprice attribute is a product class
(Catalog modeling).
Where do staff work? In the Store tab of the administration, which opens the Store dashboard (Store manager path).
What the shop does not do
What is not included? Stock management, coupon or voucher codes, invoices in an accounting system, shipping labels, marketplaces, automatic delivery of files after payment, and shipping beyond a flat amount without a handler. Each can be added as an extension (Decision checklists).
Can I export orders to a spreadsheet from the order list?
No. Order data is available as JSON through the expservices order services, from which a script can write a
spreadsheet (Store figures and exports).
Payments
Which payment providers are supported?
The repository contains ezpaypal (PayPal, redirect) and ezauthorize (Authorize.Net, card form on your site). Other
providers need a gateway written for them (Payment gateway development).
How is payment connected to the checkout?
As the Payment Gateway workflow event on the before trigger of shop_checkout
(Payment gateway event).
Can customers choose between several providers?
Yes. Select several gateways in the event; the customer then picks one on workflow/selectgateway.tpl.
A customer paid but there is no order. Why? The provider's callback did not reach the site, so the temporary order was never activated (Troubleshooting checkout).
Tax and shipping
Does the shop charge VAT by country?
Yes, with VAT rules by country and product category, once shop.ini [VATSettings] Handler=ezdefault is set
(Product categories and VAT rules).
Why do some customers get 0 percent VAT? No VAT rule matched their country and the product's category. Add a catch-all rule.
How is shipping charged? A flat amount per order with the Simple shipping event, or anything else with a shipping handler (Simple shipping event, Custom shipping handler).
Orders and data
Can packing staff be limited to their own steps?
Yes, with shop/setstatus policies limited by FromStatus and ToStatus
(Status transitions and permissions).
What is the difference between archiving and removing an order? Archiving hides a finished order from the list and keeps it; removing deletes it for good (Archive, remove and cleanup).
Can guests find their order later?
Yes, with permanent receipts: shop.ini [OrderViewSettings] OrderLinkView=orderreceipt
(Order mail and receipts for operators).
Is card data stored? The kernel does not store card data, and the audit trail records payments without it (Commerce audit trail). With a card form on your site, your gateway code must not store it either.
Sites, apps and growth
Can I run several stores in one installation? Yes, with siteaccesses; they share orders, VAT, currencies and discounts in one database (Multi-store and multisite).
Can an app use the shop?
Yes, through the expservices commerce services (products, basket, orders and more) or the REST API for content
(Headless commerce with expservices).
Can marketing build sale pages without a developer? Yes, with the Layouts editor, including time-limited rules (Content commerce with Layouts).
Building and extending
How do I import a catalog?
With bin/php/ezcsvimport.php for simple catalogs, or with code for anything that must update existing products
(Product imports and migrations).
Where do my handlers and gateways go?
In an extension of your own, selected by settings; never in kernel/ (Extending the shop).
Is there a generator for handlers?
Yes: the RAD handler wizard (setup/handlerextension/<kind>) and the workflow event wizard (setup/workflowevent)
(Developer path).
Related pages
- E-commerce: start here
- E-commerce glossary
- Businesses FAQ
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
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