iPad Purchase Behaves Unexpectedly

Resolved suchipsa
(@suchipsa)

1 year, 8 months ago
Hi Matt,

Could you please tell me if this is behavior you would expect? I am using the free version of Pay for Post and WooCommerce. I put a link to the protected item (a webpage) in the purchase notes for the item.

1. User purchases a Pay for Post product using an iPad and Safari and Paypal
2. Because the payment approval to Paypal has a delay, the purchase notes generated right after the sale, during the browser session, do not show the product link. (This is a known WooCommerce behavior – WooCommerce checks to make sure the order has been paid for and is complete before outputting the purchase note.)
3. User goes to their Gmail app to look at their purchase receipt email and clicks on the product link
4. User is asked which browser to use to open the link, selects Safari
5. A Safari tab opens, User is sent to the “Restricted Content” page and told they don’t have access to the content they just purchased and need to log in.

Is this what you would expect to happen, and if so — is there a way around this? If the person logs in, and if they go to My Account>Orders and access the order, they can use the link found in the purchase notes to successfully access the protected webpage. It’s very confusing for them to make the purchase in their browser, go to the Gmail app for the link, go back to their browser, be told they don’t have access, then have to log in again and navigate to their Orders history to access the link. Basically it seems like iPad users will never be able to use the purchase notes link in their email receipt to access their content. Is that accurate?

Thanks for your help and insight.
- This topic was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by suchipsa.
- This topic was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by suchipsa.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

Plugin Author Matt Pramschufer
(@mattpramschufer)

1 year, 8 months ago

With those delayed payment gateways you are bound to run into issues like this. Or plugin does the same as the WooCommerce Order Notes, we check to make sure the order is completed before giving access.

Maybe others can chime in here as to some work arounds, but my suggestion would be to upgrade to an instant payment payment gateway or you could update your Protected Content message to include a note of if you purchased with PayPal it could take up to 7 days for your payment to clear, at that time you can access this content.

Thread Starter suchipsa
(@suchipsa)

1 year, 8 months ago

Thanks Matt. Changing to an instant payment gateway is not an option for us.

I think the deeper issue that complicates this is mobile device users who use apps to access email. I may be wrong, but even if the payment has cleared – if they are on the website and logged in, and if they leave their browser to go to their email app and then use the links in their Purchase Notes, when they are directed back to the website, the site will not “see” that they are logged in, so Pay for Post will not, and they will get sent to the Restricted Access page. Accessing links through emailed Purchase Notes won’t work for mobile users. It seems like the ONLY way for mobile users to successfully use links in their Purchase Notes is exclusively through My Accounts.

I have changed my Purchase Notes to direct everyone to go through My Accounts for links. Anyone whose payment hasn’t cleared will have a rough first time going back and forth, ad probably see the Restricted Access page, but once they learn to go through My Accounts it will be ok. That’s all I can think of to work around.

Plugin Author Matt Pramschufer
(@mattpramschufer)

1 year, 8 months ago

@suchipsa if they are using the same app/browser on their phone when they place the order and when they click the link in the email they should still be logged into your site which would give them access to the content. If for instance they purchased through the Chrome browser app, and then went to gmail app to check email then clicked on the link in the email, if that opens up safari and not chrome then the user would not be logged in.

Thread Starter suchipsa
(@suchipsa)

1 year, 7 months ago

You’re right. I think the best approach is to encourage doing everything through My Accounts.

Thank you for your advice.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘iPad Purchase Behaves Unexpectedly’ is closed to new replies.

Views