Hi Guys,
Just a quick mention of a new payment option I came across earlier today (I have nothing to do with the project or the alliance & leicester - the bank who is backing it)...it's UK only I think but I thought it was an interesting idea.
It's called PAY OFFLINE and it does exactly what it says on the tin..i.e. customers can order products online...when they 'checkout' they get an invoice to print out and bring along to a shop with payzone (pretty much any shop/petrol station/etc in the UK) and make the payment in cash. If you don't have a printer, you can write down the barcode number.
http://www.payoffline.com/Public/HowToPayOffline.aspx
I haven't used it yet.but, it is an interesting one, albeit off beat and it should be easy enough to integrate it into Drupal's ecommerce suite.
One of the reasons I particularly liked it, is because the same principle could be used for a ticketless GIG TICKET system..or for high value transactions...where people would prefer not to use their credit card.
Dub
Comments
Ahah...
Argh, I wish I'd thought of this... :)
Although, in light of your gig ticket idea, how do you know who's paid when they get to the door...? I'm a bit fluffy this morning, I've probably missed something obvious...
The downside to something like this is, people can make "purchases" without having actually paid, as yet - so this raises lots of questions around stock control management and availability, etc.
Web Development in Nottingham, UK by Kineta Systems / Follow me on Twitter! @NikLP
quick one..
I assume the barcode invoice is linked to a transaction ID that expires within a certain amount of time..i.e. once the person pays at a payzone, that transaction ID is marked as paid.
Valid point, but, the same could be said about cheque/bankdraft payments.
I'm not saying they (payoffline.com) have a killer payment solution...but it is interesting.
My dream payment solution is mobile wallet based, but, the telco's will have to reduce their commission dramatically before that becomes a reality. The commission telcos take for reverse SMS at the moment are so high...it's bordering on extortionate. It would make Tony Soprano cringe.
Dub
I assume the barcode invoice
Yes, that much is certain - but you have the problem that you need some way to cross-check the person at the door has some sort of transaction completion confirmation - would they still not need to present something? If not, a gig of a thousand would mean... barcodes... or something...?
It certainly is. And you're quite right about the mobile wallet gizmo. I really wanted to do something in this area myself a while back, but the start-up costs are potentially phenomenal. Someone will crack it sooner or later.
Web Development in Nottingham, UK by Kineta Systems / Follow me on Twitter! @NikLP
oh..i see what you mean..
Hi NIkLp...
I see what you mean about the gig tix thing.
It's as easy as handling a guest list for a gig....consider this: tour manager logs onto the Drupal site using his/her mobile/laptop and pulls up the 'paid' transactions on screen and can manage it from there, prior to the gig....or an hour before the doors open, tour manager logs on - switches off the ticket sales and then prints out the list of paid transactions along with the barcode numbers, usernames, mobile number etc
Processing admission to a gig that way is actually far quicker than handling cash at the box office/door.
A few years back, for a project with a major label in the UK, we ran a few "secret gig" promotions for a few bands...where the fans would know the city, but only an hour before the gig started would they know where it is. It was done by delivering a special SMS text message to their phones on registration (they were all free gigs and sign up was done at the band website)...and then a special SMS broadcast to let them know the venue on the night.
Processing at the door was a breeze..all we had to do was ask everyone to hold up their mobile phone with the special text message open.
At that time, we couldn't send something like a barcode - which would make it even faster, but,most people are used to printing out receipts, like for flights, or writing down the transaction code to present at check-in, so, I suppose it's not a huge culture shock to do it for gigs.
Hope that makes sense...
Dub
Yeah
It makes sense, but checking hundreds of names/codes/whatever against a list is vastly slower that ripping a stub off a ticket. Ask anyone who's ever had a guest list entry - it's loads slower, there's just less of the boggers! :)
I suppose there is a way round it - you could get a confirmation message sent to your mobile when you've paid, but how would that work...?
Web Development in Nottingham, UK by Kineta Systems / Follow me on Twitter! @NikLP
USB Barcode Scanner with Drupal
Maybe what we need is a Drupal-to-USB Barcode scanner module. :D
Generate the barcodes upon purchase, have fans print their tickets out and bring them to the door, then use the barcode scanner with a laptop to input their barcode and check it against a Drupal database. Since the barcode outputs the data as if it was typed by a keyboard, you could just load up your Drupal website, set the focus on the input field and then scan the barcode ticket to fill the field.
ticketing with PayOffline is possible
Hi there, i have been reading this thread with great interest because it covers some of the the very cool uses we had envisaged for the PayOffline system.
PayOffline could be used to act as a ticketing system for gigs/events...
Whats in the pipeline for PayOffline:
The development team at PayOffline are highly proactive, we are always looking for new ways to improve functionality and usability and we have fairly quick turnaround times, so please let us know of any features, enhancements etc that you would like to see in the PayOffline system.
Also, if we can be of any assistance to you or you would like any further information on the PayOffline service, then please do not hesitate to ask. You can send all your questions to info at payoffline dot com
payoffline.module
Hi,
It would be great if you could post up here or link to some integration information, so a payoffline.module can be created to integrate payoffline into the ecommerce.module suite of modules as a payment option.
Dub
Yup.
...Aaaand also ubercart, which seems to be going great guns at the moment.
Web Development in Nottingham, UK by Kineta Systems / Follow me on Twitter! @NikLP
integration information
I have linked to the easiest and quickest form of integration (HTML Form POSTed to PayOffline), this is the option actinic, cubecart and a few other carts have gone for.
http://www.payoffline.com/support/IntegrationGuideiBasic.aspx
let me know if you have any other questions.
Just to let you know that we are also working on a more functional invoice editor, it will give merchants more control over the invoice styling.
wrong url
Sorry guys, i initially provided the wrong url to the integration guide, it's been updated.
payment method
it is pretty interesting concept to use your online store as POS for online sales so all your transactions go trough one place. By the way if anyone interested to see variety of barcode scanners and check out what it would cost to have scanner with USB connection you can checkout System ID website, they have large variety of scanners and staff is pretty helpful too!