Invision Community 4: SEO, prepare for v5 and dormant account notifications Matt November 11, 2024Nov 11
Posted January 5Jan 5 How would 4.7 clients that have a physical store, be able to retain having an in-house solution with V5? Is Shopify fully integrated, would someone be able to sell physical items there, and will the store be on the domain which IPS is located?
January 5Jan 5 Hi @Joey_M, You can still sell physical products in Commerce on your community; however, the shipping aspect of these products is what will be removed in v5.
January 6Jan 6 If you are using a store externally to the invision product, such as shopify, and you want to have it fully integrated, you would need custom development to do this. What I have seen some do in advance of this, is to brand match the themes accordingly, and simply add a link to each other. Just adding that as a thought
January 8Jan 8 Author Would Invision consider leaving (or implementing) a way for a third-party dev to return the feature for v5? This would be the best case scenario, and a middle ground. I've pitched further information to @Matt. It would be a huge blow if allowing shipment/delivery extensions to be added.
January 8Jan 8 56 minutes ago, Joey_M said: Would Invision consider leaving (or implementing) a way for a third-party dev to return the feature for v5? This would be the best case scenario, and a middle ground. I've pitched further information to @Matt. It would be a huge blow if allowing shipment/delivery extensions to be added. A third party provider could implement their own shipping application if they so choose to do so.
January 8Jan 8 23 minutes ago, Jim M said: A third party provider could implement their own shipping application if they so choose to do so. I don't think any extensions can be used for the checkout process in v5. I don't remember seeing one at least. 🤔
January 8Jan 8 Author 1 hour ago, Jim M said: A third party provider could implement their own shipping application if they so choose to do so. It would be a relief if this is the case, because losing the store's ability to sell physical products would be a nightmare. 35 minutes ago, teraßyte said: I don't think any extensions can be used for the checkout process in v5. I don't remember seeing one at least. 🤔 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
January 11Jan 11 Author Can an IPS team member please clarify that extensions can be used for the checkout process in v5? My solution would be to work with @teraßyte. If that's not possible and a third-party developer can't restore the store functions removed in v5, I may need to find a different solution for my site.
January 13Jan 13 Management We're always happy to listen to the needs of third party developers and to see what we can do to help. It's worth keeping in mind that 5.0.0 will be available alongside v4, and we intend to support v4 for some time yet so if you have a community that relies on certain features that only exist on v4, then my advice would be to keep using v4 and engage with developers (and us) to see if there is a pathway to have that functionality on v5 at some point in the near future.
January 13Jan 13 Author Thanks for your reply, @Matt. I appreciate your response. I'm still a bit unclear about whether extensions can be used for the checkout process in v5. Could you please clarify if it's possible for a third-party provider to implement their own shipping application or any other extensions for the checkout process? I am willing to seek third-party help to restore the features removed from Commerce. However, having this information will help me decide whether to continue testing and familiarising myself with the next major release, keep with 4.7, or look for other solutions.
January 14Jan 14 Management It's a bit chicken and egg. If we can understand what is needed, we can take a look at possible solutions.
January 14Jan 14 Wasn't there a plan to offer an official Shopify integration with IC5? I don't believe details were stated, but it sounded like more of an integration than just matching themes on two completely different sites.
January 14Jan 14 Author 4 hours ago, Matt said: It's a bit chicken and egg. If we can understand what is needed, we can take a look at possible solutions. The merchandise I sell, I handle personally for shipment. I list the items, and they are available for purchase. When I sell an item, I check that I have received the payment. I take the name and address, write them on a label, and package the item. If it is something from a print-on-demand service, I take the postcode, and check that the address and name are correct before shipping. For me, commerce provides the transaction and sale of goods. I do not currently have it configured to send an email about the order, but this is something I should do. It seems that version 5 would not affect any of this. However, I am unsure if I will be notified by email of sales or see the notification icon within the ACP. I am also unsure if emails will be sent out to confirm a purchase. I assume they will, considering how purchasing renewals work. I am not in a rush to upgrade. Initially, I was not considering it, as I was unsure about what had been removed in version 5 and how the removal of plugins would affect things. However, I now want to try it out. Selling merchandise significantly helps me keep my site's costs manageable, especially with the cost of living. My main site has been running for 13 years, although other projects have not been as successful. As someone who started using the internet when forums were very popular and a great way to communicate online, I am keen to ensure my existing site continues. We are a very niche community, but I have always felt that we are better with Invision. @Gary has been a great help, and as a former employee, he is a credit to the Invision Community.
January 14Jan 14 19 minutes ago, Joey_M said: It seems that version 5 would not affect any of this. However, I am unsure if I will be notified by email of sales or see the notification icon within the ACP. I am also unsure if emails will be sent out to confirm a purchase. I assume they will, considering how purchasing renewals work. Yes, you can still get those notifications.