Gift Card Systems - Recommendations Please?

Really not necessary to respond rudely. What I was trying to address was the fact that I thought Jesseaitui was saying there was not a way to use the pie menu to pay or use the card.

I checked my vendors because I couldn't remember if I had to change the "When left Clicked" option or not when I first set them up. Mine are set to the default, which is "touch" and that is why someone would get a blue drop down asking if they want to use the card. However, if I change them to "Pay", I get the box that Jesseaitui refers to just giving them the option to pay me the set amount without using the card.

Umm were you meaning me or Argent? I assure you I was not trying to be rude at all, just providing information Sorry if it came over that way and if you mean Argent, then nevermind lol.

Wasn't referring to you.

I agree with your point about touch to pay too... actually, I wish there was a way to set the scripted vendor not to do anything when touched and just rely on right click to bring up the pie menu.

1 User said Thanks

Decided to play around with the "left clicked" options to see if I could get around it ... unfortunately, they all make you do something rather annoying if you're just trying to shop in peace. Could change it to sit, but that's probably worse, eh?

I would change it to Touch/grab (default) and then try to configure your vendor to either do nothing on touch or give a notecard that does not exist if possible. Though actually giving a notecard would not be a problem and you can explain all sorts of useful things there

Sorry, I may lost track of who I was responding to, and I thought you were responding to me by repeating the same message. I think we're in "violent agreement" that other vendors allow the behavior that Jesseaitui wants, yes?

Again, apologies, for misunderstanding you and responding more strongly than I should.

hmm... wouldn't that mean changing the script? Unfortunately, even if I had the scripting ability to do that, I don't have permissions to mod the script.

On further fiddling, I did find actually that setting it to "Open Parcel Media" causes it to do nothing when left clicked. I'll have to login as an alt later and test to make sure others would get the same thing.

Thank you. Apology accepted.

I have to admit, I really don't know how other vendors work in this regard. It wasn't something that I really thought to consider when I was originally shopping around, but it would seem that any of them could be set either way...

On rereading Jesseaitui's post, it looks like I may have misunderstood what he was saying too as far as the pie menu goes... so, sorry Jesseaitui.

Yes my love.

The idea is dead.

We'll just make a link to the XstreetSL page to "Purchase as Gift".

Because I already was using the Hippo system, I purchased their system, and it is working pretty well. Even though hardly any people are using the gift cards That is what I like so much about Hippo stuff, it all perfectly fits together.

But if you still have to start from the scratch, certainly take a look at CCTV's system. His gift cards work just as well as hippo's, but it is hard to beat his personal service to people. And that is a very important feature of a product! If I would not have had my hippo stuff set up already, I would have gone with his product.

I didn't go for TMC for the exact same reason. I hooked up with the creator a while back and everything seemed to go OK till I quizzed about branding issue. I couldn't see why my shop card should bear his logo. From my point of view, I was merely looking to buy a system that worked for me, I shouldn't be obliged to promote his product. But the creator clearly didn't like the sound of it and in a round about way suggested that maybe my shop wasn't big enough to use his system. My shops take in 10K daily on average and regularly double or triple that figure. But I guess I'll just have to do better.

CCTV Giant on the other hand is a great example of good customer service. I didn't go for his system in the end for my own reasons, but he was very down to earth and extremely helpful from beginning to the end. If you want a reasonably priced system with good long term customer service I'd certainly recommend his product.

Thanks Girlspeedo for the endorsement on service. Because of the branding issues and requests of the customers, we are currently working on a total OEM version of the system where everything can be changed with no trace back or uneeded advertising of who's system it is. In fact, we have designed the system so you can change every bit of text that occurs during a transaction.

As far as overages go, If a customer has a balance left on the card they can simply spend that towards another item in the store -- just like any other real giftcard that's out there. We are currently adding in a rechargable feature and a customer loyalty program as well.

You also do not need to initiate the transaction by right clicking -- its a simple left click to get it going

We do listen to our customers from the merchant side and the retail side -- the good and the bad. Because, at the end of the day, it all makes the system better for the customers -- they are the ones who pay all of our bills and we never lose site of that. We have a big influx of new residents that come to my retail store and it's proved to be a learning experience as well.

Cheers

CC

Edit: And thanks to everyone else that made mention of my service and support as well ...Marcel etc

Does your script enforce this? That is, if the merchant decides to set the left-click action to "pay", with the script revert that?

This forum is not letting me quote people. I try to submit, and get 403d. Just lost a post. Will try to remember what I said..


@ Betty. No that is not what I was saying. Will try to explain.


When you have 98% of people walking through your door, not using a gift card system, why would you want them to be presented with a pie menu?

If user *is* using a gift card, the pie menu makes sense.

Every single Gift card system I demo`d overwrote the "When left click- Pay" option that is "built in" to SL. You can find it when you set a box for sale. Most shops have it set to "When left click - Buy"... When your curser goes over the box, you get a green dollar sign. This is how, I believe, most people buy items. It was very very important to me, that when a user, who was shopping without a gift card, left-clicked an item, that I was able to use "when left click - buy" or, "when left click - Pay". TMC, by default, sets you up with "When left click - Pay"... This means, that when the bulk of users go through your shop door, who are not using a gift card, they can pay with ease.

You might think "How is getting a pie menu *not* easy?".. Well, it is easy. But it is also a different method, and a method I did not want to "force" customers to use if they were not using a gift card.

The very rare times I venture out in SL and purchase something, when i wave my curser over a product box, I expect to see a green dollar sign. there have been times I saw absolutely nothing so figured it was not for sale. Only to later find out it was, but I just had to right click and choose "buy"... So, the store lost a sale. Personally, I just couldn`t risk it. It was an absolute must that the system I used, when a person (not using a gift card) left clicked, they got a payment box, not a pie menu.

@ CCTV says, "You also do not need to initiate the transaction by right clicking -- its a simple left click to get it going"

So it is also for the consumer not using a gift card, right? I mean, doesn`t your system overwrite the "When left click-Pay" option?

If I`m wrong, I want to know. This was how all the systems seemed to be when I demo`d them.

I wanted my shop to cater to those not using a gift card, and continue to allow them to "left click - pay" instead of bringing up a pie menu.

I only thought the pie menu relevent *IF* said user was using their gift card.

Do you mean you set the left-click action to "pay" and the script changed that to "touch"?

Note that when you set it to "pay" that changes the cursor to a stack of coins, not a green dollar sign.

Another thing I wanted to say, it`s kind of in response to GirlSpeedo....

And I`m not into bad mouthing people so I really hope this does not come across as such. All I`m going to do here, is bring up some further unease I had with TMC that I think people should be aware of while deciding on a GC system. When someone offers a product publically, I believe it is open for comment and critique.

Before I start, again, TMC is a very professional system. He does have good customer support, and the cards are easy to set up. Another plus is your items do not have to be boxed. I hate boxed items, especially if you are on no-build land.


Ok, now to my post. If the branding wasn`t bad enough... When a consumer clicks the TMC card system, that is a stand set up in your shop to sell the cards to your customers, they get a notecard. It basically tells you how the card works. TMC provides a sample card of this. Now, at the bottom of the card, I was shocked to see this:

"Copyright Information (Required)
------------------------------------
The Store Card System is provided by Together Systems. Please route technical
queries to Together Systems. To enable YOUR store, please send an instant message
to <TMC creator`s name here>.

<Landmark>"

I thought this was completely uncalled for. As did a nearby friend who also uses this system. She was helping me set mine up. She too was happy with the system, but because of the branding, she was "commissioning" a very good friend of hers to build her a "similar" system.

Branding was bad enough, but to try to force that above info to be handed out in someone elses shop is a bit over the top.

I just put the notecard aside, and wrote up my own. I don`t think I can be "forced" to include that information in my own notecard write up.

Girlspeed.. I brought up my issue with branding to the creator. His response was that he does not do any in world marketing and people using his card are his only source of hope that he will make more sales. My thought was, well do inworld marketing like any other business. at $15k a pop, inworld marketing is probably affordable, and would usher in more business. I don`t think it`s fair to burdern your customers with advertising for you because you don`t advertise.


Now, if you are a business who does not mind advertising another shop within your shop, then check out the system, it`s a nice one. But the branding put me off for an entire year. Aside from that, I am happy with the system. Like I said, it allows those who are not shopping with a gift card to "left click - Pay," which again was very important to me, and all in all it was a breeze to set up and i`ve not had any issues.

Oh I should mention, you are also sent a log of every transaction made with or without the card. This is great for me because I do not know how to use excel and now I can search transactions right from my inbox

-- Any idea why I`m getting 403 error`d and losing my post while trying to quote people?

@ Argent Says "Do you mean you set the left-click action to "pay" and the script changed that to "touch"? "

Some changed it to touch, some just did not do anything and you actually had to right click to pull up the pie menu.

@ Argent Says "Note that when you set it to "pay" that changes the cursor to a stack of coins, not a green dollar sign."

Right. But it signals to the user "Hey, this is for sale".. If I could not get the green, widely used, dollar sign that is brought about by "Left click - Buy".. The coins with the "Left click - Pay" was the next best thing.

Touch is the default. If they don't do anything, it will stay as touch, unless you changed it to something other than touch.

"Not doing anything" is really the right thing for them to do, because it leaves it the way you set it up. But you have to set it up... Right-click, edit, and change to "pay" in the lower left corner of the edit box.

Unless the creators misunderstood me, and every store I tested it at didn`t have it set.... The card system overwrites what you set it to.

Like I said, I could be wrong. But the ones I tried would not allow for "Left click - Pay/Buy" to remain.

Whenever I left clicked it, it brought up a pie menu as if it were assuming I had a card to pay with.

(Also I could be remembering wrong when I say "some did nothing"... This was several months ago, all I remember is I could not find any system that allowed a user NOT paying with a card, to be presented with either a coin or dollar sign..Until I found TMC)

I fully agree. And I didn't even know about the copyright Info. There's something simply quite lack of elegance about the approach.

Put aside whether the pricing is justified for the product, the creator's insistence on imposing logo and LM on the customers whenever possible says to me that his marketing needs come before the customers. And that's good enough reason for me to walk away.

If your product is good enough, people will spread the word. I think we've all learned that.

Hi Sorry for the long response, had to sleep. I tought maybe your script might have the ability to be configured just a little without editing it, to be able to do that - if not then you are correct with the Open Parcel Media thing being best I guess.

I have NEVER seen a vendor do that on a LEFT click, ever. I wasn't even aware that was possible.

ok. Then it probably isnt and im probably remembering everything wrong. I'm going to go back to the demo store and refresh my memory. Maybe you should too, to find out for yourself if *exactly* how the other systems operated is that important to you.

But I do know that TMC was the only one I found that allowed me to left click and pay while *not* using a card. I clearly remember walking into the shops, WITHOUT A CARD, clicking on merchant boxes and being presented with some type of menu asking if I had a card, or telling me to wear my card, whether this was a pie menu or a blue dialog box, etc I do not recall. Point is, they didn`t work how I needed them to, plain and simple. Anything else is out of my memory. I would not have spent $15K on an over-branded system if I found a cheaper who did what I wanted.

I suspect if you'd asked they'd have told you that you could set it up the way you wanted.