Denoting user by country

[terrybarnes]

Hi, Forgive me if this is in the incorrect forum but I wasn't too sure where to post it! I've already posted this in the HTML forum but wasn't too sure if that was the correct place - I think it's more of a programming issue (i'll delete it from one or the other)

I'm currently developing a website where I will need to show users coming from the UK prices in their currency (UK Pounds) and users from all other areas of the world would need to be displayed in US Dollars.

Would I need an IP database in order to denote where a certain user is entering the site from? I'm not really sure how to approach it.

[dreamcatcher]

Hi terrybarnes,

Why not have a drop down currency selector? You might have a scenario where someone is viewing the site in the US, but wants to see the prices in Pounds Sterling. Best to use a selector and set a cookie on their machine.

Thats the way I would approach it personally.

dc

[terrybarnes]

Yes, we did think of that and we have got currency dropdowns in sections of the site where the user can denote their currency but we also wanted something a bit more automated. We are charging the user a subscription charge and this will depend upon where they are entering the site from to what set of prices they see for subscription costs.

Umm, a tricky one!

[PHP_Chimp]

I agree with dc. Allowing people to choose is a very good idea. Allowing the person to store there preferred currency in a cookie would then allow them to change if they wanted to pay with another currency. I have both a US dollar and Sterling account and pay for things with whichever gives me the best advantage, so forcing me to pay via £ may make you comparative more expensive than a competitor if I can pay via $ with them, or the other way around. Choice is (almost) never a bad thing.

There are also some problems with the IP databases for geolocation that are around. As they are generally correct, but as they are not updated very often if you force your selection onto someone you may be wrong, and they will get annoyed with that.

[Habtom]

If you wish to force customers to certain conditions using IP address, though it is possible, it might not be always accurate. Get the IP ranges for UK, and set your conditions based on it, but leave an option for the visitor to go back to the USD if they are not from the UK and happen to be directed to that page.

You might need to work on it on a little more flexible way.

[terrybarnes]

Thanks I appreciate everyone's help with this. I've just found this site: <snip> where you can download a county's IP address range - I can then hand this over to my head developer and get him to slot it in place... hopefully!

[edited by: dreamcatcher at 4:22 pm (utc) on Nov. 6, 2007]
[edit reason] no urls as per T.O.S [webmasterworld.com].Thanks [/edit]