Forum Moderators: buckworks
I've come across the issue again (see above topic) of being presented with a screen that requires me to have a PayPal account for checkout.
I've tested this in both IE and Firefox. I'm going to guess that it is an IE issue as Firefox displays the appropriate "Don't have a PayPal account? Use your credit card" page. IE does not. It shows the basic PayPal account page with no option to enter CC information.
This is not happening with all IE users but we're going to guess that it is happening to "too many". Actually, one is "too many" for me. ;)
Has anyone else experienced this?
P.S. No, a PayPal Account Required is not being forced on the visitors.
<added>
Let me clarify. In Firefox, the user is presented with a screen that has the form to enter their CC information in addition to the PayPal Account option.
In IE, the user is presented with the PayPal Account login table and then a link that reads...
Don't have a PayPal account? Click here
The page does not have any additional information. When you "Click here", you then get the CC information page. So, that page is one click away for IE users, and "in your face" for Firefox users.
Why the difference?
[edited by: pageoneresults at 1:55 pm (utc) on Aug. 31, 2006]
pp_rb
I'd like to know if others are experiencing this. See my addition above on the explanation.
If you click the "click here" link for users without an account on the login page, then as long as the next page does not say that "signing up is required", you are viewing the Account Optional checkout.
If you clear your cookies in IE, you'll see the same behavior as Firefox. PayPal displays the login page because it sees that you have been using PayPal to log in previously, and logging in to your account to pay is much faster and simpler than going through a checkout where you enter your credit card details all over again. (You can still log in from that credit card page, but the login page makes it easier to find & faster to login.)
Have you checked your cookies? Try deleting any from PayPal and try again.
Edit: Dang, you beat me to it... ;-)
[edited by: FalseDawn at 2:16 pm (utc) on Aug. 31, 2006]
It sounds as though you use IE to log in to your PayPal account, and therefore it's showing you a login screen meant for users who already have an account.
You are correct and thanks for the quick response. That's much quicker than going through support, I think. :)
But why the two different screens? You could avoid all these "senior moment" questions from people like me if it were just one screen for all. ;)
<form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post">
But why the two different screens? You could avoid all these "senior moment" questions from people like me if it were just one screen for all. ;)
There are two different pages because there are two different situations for your buyers. Some of your buyers are PayPal account holders (who see the page without the credit card data input fields) and some are not (who see the credit card data input fields right away). This is a common question for merchants who are testing their checkout, but seldom confuses buyers.
In the English version it says: "Have a PayPal account?" And then on the button "Pay fast with Paypal".
Two problems here:
1. The button does not look exactly like a button.
2. The text is not very clear. What does "Pay fast with Paypal mean? If I am a new customer I want to pay "fast" too which might lead me into clicking this button. No hint that this means "pay with your existing account".
In the German version it is even worse. If Germany is selected as country it says: "Jetzt mit PayPal bezahlen" (Pay now with Paypal). And on the button "Zahlen Sie schnell mit Paypal" (Pay fast with Paypal).
No hint whatsoever that this is addressed to people with an existing customer account. However this is only the case when Germany is selected, other German speaking countries like Austria show the "Have a Paypal account?" text.
While I am at it a few other minor bugs in the new layout concerning mainly the German version:
1. Confusing text behind the name fields:
here it says: "wie für Ihr Bankkonto angegeben" (As stated for your bank account").
Even if credit card is selected as payment option. This can lead to mistakes.
2. I have disabled bank account payments in my customer account since I want to use Paypal only for credit card payments. However users get the option bank account payment shown nevertheless since the layout has been changed.
