I am not writing about an error with the software. I would like to know how to structure a shopping cart that will setup a category that has a fixed price on it. Then I need to add items to the category that are photo files from my web site that the client chooses. He pays a fixed price for the category and then checkouts but I need to see which items he selected for the fixed price. It seems very straightforward, but I haven't been able to make it work as the pricing model is.

Example: A client orders and checksout to pay me $20 for a product called " Quantity of Two to Five Photos". He previews a page on my web site that contains say 100 photo thumbnails. He chooses a number of them and adds them to the Product ( or maybe Category) I set up above but they are no charge inside the category since he will have paid a fixed price of $20. The items have no cost, since he has ordered a Product (or maybe Category) for a fixed $20.

Here is the dilemma:
How can a customer pay a fixed price for a category product and then choose to add and put in 5 photo thumbnails and checkout so I get my $20 and can see which 5 of the photos were selected for the $20. I need to see the jpg file names and I need to get a $20 fixed price for the Product (or maybe it is a Category). I still need to see which file items he selected within that category, but he has already decided to pay $20 at checkout for the photos. I can 't seem to see how the client can include the files he chose in the product so I know which high quality files to send back. After the checkout, I will email him the photofiles he chose at high quality.

Can this be done with Coffee Cup Pro?
Can you advise me how on this one? Thank you!

Hiya Gerald,

This is where you would use the Optional Fields to give the person the ability to make choices. Unfortunately it's fairly limited and can only accommodate up to 5 choices to make so you would need to include multiple products (maybe separate them by theme, color, or whatever way is best for your business) so that they can effectively choose different choices with different products.

There's no real way to do exactly what you're asking to do. The program is just not built with that many options at this time. But the Optional Fields will give you a bit of leeway on giving your customer choices.

The other option would be to incorporate a small generic (meaning you can use it on every product page) form that has the ability to let the customer make their choices in the form and submit it to you. This would incorporate the customer needing to do 2 things, fill out the form (have the form send them directly back where they were if possible), and then to check out.

This method would also mean you would need to match up form replies to actual purchases to be sure they didn't just fill out the form and not complete the sale.

Not a perfect solution, but it is a solution. Means a bit more work, a little more money spent if you don't have a form builder already, and neither of these methods would allow for inventory control as the Optional Fields do not recognize options, only the original products. And of course using a form would not allow for inventory control either.

Might I also make another suggestion:
Why not use the CoffeeCup Webform Builder which now has payment options built in and setup the form to do exactly what you want it to do. With a form you can create any number of choices in checkboxes, dropdowns, or whatever makes it easy for you. A little more work than a site as you'd want to use conditionals for some of this maybe, but well worth the effort to do so.

This would give you full control over every aspect of the sale, just wouldn't be a shop, you'd have to put the form on the site and reference specific pages/categories/etc. so the customer knows where to find them, but it would work pretty nicely.

Just another option there is all, hope that all helps and answers your questions.

JoAnn, thank you very much for those alternatives. I have put up my fixed price product list and you can see one of my category products at
http://mdlinglphotos.com/shop/viewcateg … ?groupid=7
I think the form idea and send to me with choices is a good one just before checkout. I will look at Web Form Builder for this and see if it will do the job. I would like to keep this thread alive while I make some adjustments to the site.
Thanks again!

You're quite welcome Gerald, and don't underestimate the usefulness of the Form Builder that CC has created. You could do your site using that without the shop at all really. Create some web pages and add the form to a page for people to use to check out. It has a built in payment system in it.

Here's another idea that might be even more useful than both of the ones we were talking about.

Why not create the form so it's fully payment processing with all the options it needs for your products. Change your shop so it's a catalog instead of a functional shop (you can do this in the settings). Now put your form on a new page of the shop and you have the best of both worlds built in and only one function needs to be done by your customers instead of 2. The form would be the form and the purchasing system all in one while the shop would still allow you to display all your products for them to choose from.

JoAnn, I will try that. And I have decided to buy the Form Software so I will test it out

Would you kindly look at the following URLS and let me know if the Creator Pro Catalog combined with the Form will do what I am trying with these two steps below? I am not very happy with the way it works, but if your suggestion works, I would be eternally grateful!
Here is my pricing model steps:

Client clicks on the form http://jcarp1939.coffeecup.com/forms/Photoform/
(S-drive until I buy. Please ignore coffee cup, I will substitute image later)
On the window the opens, customer clicks on the image (coffee cup for now)
Next window: Customer chooses Bluebirds vs Ravens
Next window customer clicks on image or Add to Wish List
Sends email to me with photo description based on package selection quantity.
(one per email unfortunately)
Returns to form and Submit to pay for package selection.

Will the combination of Creator Pro and Form do this all in one place as you have described? Will customer see images he selected from the Shop (set as catalog)? my process is very rudimentary and cumbersome, but I hope your idea of combing two product features is the one I need. thank you very much!

hmmm. I have added photos to the Shop I created as a catalog. But since they have no price, I don't see how to select them and put them into a product on From Builder such as a Product of 2 to 5 photos for $20. I see how I can easily buy the product using Form Builder, but I am not sure how to merge this form with the catalog on Creator Pro and select say, 5 photo images from the Catalog and put them into the Form? If I can do that, I can easily have the client buy the product. He gets 5 photos for $20 inserted into the Product on Form Builder from the Catalog on Creator Pro. This is my vision, but I can't see how to configure the Shop as a Catalog to merge its products into the Form. I hope the business model is clear as I have tried to explain it. Is it possible to do it that way as you had proposed in the earlier reply?
Thank you again!

JoAnn, I am going to post on Form Builder as I think it is what I have to use for this biz model. Please look on there for my initial post. I have made some change file name changes, so the link above will not be active.