Godzone Store payment facilities

[toprob]

From 1st April I've changed the way in which credit card payments are processed by the Godzone Store. This is to bring it into the 21st century, allowing instant access to downloads once purchased. It also means that I no longer have details of credit card accounts, which makes it more secure.

Credit card payments, which in the past have appeared on your statement as 'Godzone Virtual Flight' will now appear a 'Paymex'. Please contact me if there are any issues with Paymex payments.

Once a successful credit card purchase is completed, and the Paymex gateway returns you to the Godzone Store, you should see the download link attached to your order. Note that at this stage your order will show a status of 'processing', but the download will still be active. There should be no need to wait for the order status to change to 'ready to download.'.


See update in later post.

This is similar to the Paypal payment process, but payments by bank/internet transfer are still subject to normal bank clearance procedures. There is talk of NZ banks offering quicker clearances, hopefully this will actually come about.

Note that upgrade orders will still be activated manually, so you will need to await the 'ready to download' status update. However they WILL be charged to your credit card. This means that you should make sure that you are eligible for the upgrade offer, otherwise after the normal eligibility check your order may be cancelled and your credit card payment reversed.

The upgrade process cannot be automated really, as it needs to cater for everything from normal Store orders through to things like 'hey, remember me, I phoned you up when I came to town and you dropped some CDs into my hotel' kind of order. Which happens, and I normally do remember...

[toprob]

Update 18 August 2011-- some minor changes to the Store operation:

Paypal payments are now processed using the Paypal Express Checkout, which has a number of advantages over the older Paypal method. You can (if it is available in your area) bypass the normal requirement to sign up to Paypal, which makes it more like a normal credit card processing facility, similar to Paymex.

It also allows the Store to charge in a selection of currencies, so I'm trialling this at the moment. This means that if you change the displayed currency in the Currency selection drop-down box, you will be charged in that currency, which prevents any surprises in this volatile currency market.

However If you select Paymex, you will be charged in New Zealand dollars no matter which currency you display.

Which credit card payment method should you use?

There are two methods to pay via credit card -- Paypal and Paymex. Paymex is based in New Zealand, so it is recommended for locals. Paypal is more familiar to overseas purchasers, so it is a good choice for outside New Zealand.

However both methods rely on a good reliable connection between you, your bank and the processing site, so if you find one method is giving you time-outs or other issues, try the alternative payment method.

Shipping update:

Note that there is a slight change to the Shipping details on the Godzone Store. I've normally endeavoured to ship the day that I receive the order, but I've had difficulty maintaining this since the earthquake. My local Post Shop continued to operate after the quake, but has now closed after a thorough damage assessment.

Boxed orders have become a rarity, anyway, with most orders now supplied via download, so please consider the download option if you require quick delivery.

[toprob]

I've had to revert to the old Paypal payment method at the moment, as the 'express' payment module is causing issues. Sorry about that.

EDIT: just to expand on that, I originally changed the Paypal payment module because the module was sometimes creating duplicate orders, but these never resulted in duplicate payments. I think it was just that when some orders returned to the store, the original session was no longer active, so the store creates another order to tie in with the Paypal payment.

So now that I've reverted to this module, this can happen occasionally, just rest assured that you are only ever charged once.

[toprob]

Recently Paymex have ceased operations, which means that I've reverted to manually processed credit card transactions for the time-being. This is just a temporary measure, I hope to have a new payment gateway organised within a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, you can continue to use your credit card for orders within the Godzone Store, but for instant downloads you'll need to use Paypal.

Sorry about that.

[toprob]

Ok, I've now reinstalled a Payment Gateway to process VISA/Mastercard credit card payments.
This is provided by Paymate, and will hopefully last longer than the defunct Paymex. Once you select Credit Card payment via Paymate, you will be forwarded to the Paymate site to securely transfer your credit card details. Once you have paid via Paymate, make sure that you return to the Godzone Store, and your download should be immediately available.

Please let me know if you have any problems.