Shopping Cart Pro

Shopping Cart Pro adds discount codes, delivery zones, tax by country, order emails, downloads and Insights to your Shop. It needs the free Shopping Cart plugin, which must be installed and switched on.

What it does

• Discounts - codes for a percentage off, an amount off or free delivery, with limits and dates. Shoppers enter them in a Discount code box at checkout.
• Shipping & tax - delivery zones by country, each with one or more services priced flat, by weight or by order value. Tax rates by country and tax class.
• Emails - branded order emails to the shopper (confirmation, awaiting payment, on its way, refund, checkout reminder) and a new-order email to you.
• Downloads - sell files (e-books, music, software, templates) and licence keys. Shoppers get private download links once they have paid.
• Insights - twelve weeks of takings, best sellers, categories, repeat customers, code use, low stock and abandoned checkouts you can send a reminder to.

It adds to the Shop; it does not replace it. If your licence lapses, the Shop carries on with its own flat delivery charge and single tax rate. Your products and orders are not touched, and your codes, zones and email wording are kept for when the licence is renewed.

Getting started

1. Make sure Shopping Cart is installed and working. Shopping Cart Pro does not load without it, and switching Shopping Cart off switches Pro off too.
2. Open Shop in the sidebar. Five new tabs appear in the Shop's tab row: Discounts, Shipping & tax, Emails, Downloads and Insights. The product form and each order get a Downloads section.
3. For emails, set up an SMTP server in Site Settings > Email. Without one no email is sent.
4. Set your site's address in Site Settings > General > Site URL (for example https://example.com). Links and pictures in emails are built on it. Without it, emails go out without their links (the server log says so).

Screens

Discounts

1. Click Code to add a code.
2. Fill in the form and click Add code.

The list has filters: All, Live, Scheduled and Paused & ended. It shows how many times each code has been used. Right-click a code (or ⋮, or Shift+F10) to Edit, Copy the code, Pause or Resume, Duplicate or Delete. Deleting a code stops it working; orders that used it keep their discount.

The code form:

• Code - what shoppers type. Letters, digits, - and _. Upper or lower case both match.
• It gives - Percentage off, Amount off or Free delivery.
• Percentage - off the items it applies to, before delivery and tax.
• Amount - off the order, never more than the items it applies to.
• Minimum spend - the basket subtotal needed. Shoppers below it are told how much more to add.
• Starts and Ends - the first and last day it works. Empty means now, and no end.
• Usage limit - how many paid orders can use it in total. Empty for no limit.
• Once per shopper - by email address.
• Only for categories (comma-separated) or ...or products (tick them) - the discount then applies to those items only.
• Note - for you only, for example where the code was given out.
• Active - untick to pause the code without deleting it.

A code is counted when its order is paid.

Shipping & tax

Delivery zones

With no zones, the Shop's own flat delivery charge applies (Shop settings > Delivery).

1. Click Zone.
2. Give it a Name (for you only; shoppers see the service name).
3. Add Countries. A country can be in one zone only. Choose Everywhere else to catch every country no other zone has.
4. Click Service to add a way to deliver, for example "Standard delivery". Choose how it is priced:
   • Flat rate - one Price.
   • By weight - bands of "Up to (grams)" and a price. Uses each product's Weight (g) times the quantity.
   • By order value - bands of "Orders up to" and a price. Uses the basket after any discount. Click Band to add a band. Leave the last band's limit empty for "and above"; a basket beyond the last band cannot use that service.
5. Set Free over if the service goes free above an amount.
6. Click Save zone.

When a zone has two or more services the shopper chooses one at checkout. A country in no zone, with no Everywhere else zone, cannot be delivered to.

Right-click a zone (or ⋮) to Edit, Duplicate, Copy country codes or Delete.

Tax rules

With no rules, the Shop's single tax rate applies (Shop settings > Tax).

1. Click Rule.
2. Choose a Country, or Everywhere else.
3. Enter Standard %, Reduced % and Zero-rated %.
4. Click Save rule.

Each product's Tax class (on the product form, under Delivery & tax) picks which rate it pays. Tax follows the delivery address; with nothing to deliver, the first country in Shop settings > Delivery is used. Delivery is taxed at the standard rate. Whether prices include tax, and whether delivery is taxed at all, stay in Shop settings > Tax.

Emails

The list shows each email and when it is sent:

Email	Sent to	When
Order confirmation	Shopper	When an order is paid
Awaiting payment	Shopper	When a shopper chooses to pay offline
On its way	Shopper	When an order is marked fulfilled
Refund	Shopper	When an order is refunded
New order (to you)	You	When an order is paid
Your downloads	Shopper	Sent by hand from an order's Downloads section (the links are also in the order confirmation)
Checkout reminder	Shopper	Sent by hand from Insights > Abandoned checkouts

Each email is sent once per order.

1. Click an email to edit it. A live preview shows how it will look.
2. Tick or untick Send this email.
3. Change the Subject and Opening line. You can use {{number}} (the order number, for example #1042), {{name}} (the shopper's first name) and {{total}} (the order total). The items, totals, address and a button to the order are added for you.
4. For New order (to you), set Send to, usually your own address.
5. To check it, type an address in Send a test to... and click Send test.
6. Click Save.

Right-click an email (or ⋮) to Switch on or Switch off without opening it.

Click Branding to set the Colour (the top stripe, the shop name and the button) and the Footer (small print under every email, for example your address or returns policy).

If no SMTP server is set up, a warning shows at the top of this tab and nothing is sent. Your wording is kept and starts working once SMTP is set up.

Downloads

Sell files and licence keys. Files are kept privately on the server, never at a public address. A shopper can only download through the links their order is given.

Selling a file

1. Open a product (Shop > Products) and open its Downloads section.
2. Click Upload a file, or choose one already uploaded from Add from the library.... Files can be up to 500 MB.
3. If the product has options (for example PDF and EPUB), choose which option gets each file. Every option gives it to all of them.
4. Under Delivery & tax, untick Needs delivering if there is nothing to post.
5. Click Save.

Licence keys

Paste keys into Licence keys, one per line. Each item sold takes the next key. The shopper sees it on their receipt and in the order confirmation. A key that has been given out never goes back in the list, even if you paste it in again. If the keys run out, the order shows how many are owed. Add more keys to the product, then click Give the owed keys on the order.

When an order is paid

• The receipt page shows a Download button for each file, and any keys. The order confirmation email lists them and links to the receipt (email security scanners open links in emails, so a direct download link could be used up before the shopper clicks it).
• An order with nothing to post is marked fulfilled straight away. No "On its way" email is sent for it.
• An order paid offline gets its links when you mark it paid.
• A refunded or cancelled order's links stop working.

The Downloads tab

• Links last (days) and Downloads per link - 7 days and 5 downloads unless you change them. 0 means no limit. Changes apply to links given from then on.
• Mark an order fulfilled... - untick to fulfil download orders yourself.
• Files - upload files, see which products sell each one, and delete a file once no product sells it and no order's link to it still works.

On an order

The order's Downloads section shows each link, how many times it has been downloaded and until when it works, plus any keys.

• Reset - clears the download count and starts the days again from today. Reset all links does every link.
• Email them again - sends the Your downloads email.
• Give downloads now - shown on an order paid before its products had downloads.
• Give the owed keys - shown when an order is owed licence keys.

A download counts when it starts. Resuming an interrupted download does not use another one.

Insights

• Tiles: 12 weeks of takings, Average order, Customers (and how many came back) and Abandoned checkouts.
• Takings by week - paid and fulfilled orders, by the week they were paid (Monday to Sunday). Refunded orders are left out.
• Best sellers (by takings over the twelve weeks) and Categories.
• Discount codes - paid orders that used each code, what the codes took off and what those orders came to.
• Low stock - products on sale, with stock counted, at or below the low-stock level in Shop settings.
• Abandoned checkouts - shoppers who went to pay more than an hour ago and did not finish.

To nudge an abandoned checkout, click Send reminder, or right-click the row (or ⋮) and choose Send reminder.... The shopper gets the Checkout reminder email with a link back to the shop. Only one reminder can be sent per checkout. You can also Open the order or Email them yourself.

Permissions and roles

Shopping Cart Pro has no permission of its own. It uses the Shop permission from Shopping Cart, in System > Roles under Plugins:

Permission	Action	Lets someone
Shop	See	Open the Pro tabs and read codes, zones, emails, downloads and Insights. Includes seeing licence keys still to give out
Shop	Manage	Add and change codes, zones, tax rules, emails and files, send test emails and reminders, reset download links

The admin role has both by default.

Tips

• Try a new code, zone or tax rule with a test purchase before telling customers.
• Give each product a Weight (g) before using weight-based delivery.
• Use Duplicate on a code to make a similar one quickly.

Limitations

• Needs Shopping Cart. Pro cannot run on its own.
• No email is ever sent without an SMTP server in Site Settings > Email.
• Email links and pictures need Site URL set in Site Settings > General; without it emails have no links.
• Checkout reminders are sent by hand, one per checkout. There are no automatic reminders.
• Download files can be up to 500 MB. A proxy in front of the site may allow less; ask your host if a big upload fails.
• Downloads need Shopping Cart 1.2.0 or later.