Order Confirmation Email ?

[FearTheHands]

Bill

Thanks for the reply & for clearing certain things up.

My webhost is simply com or 'namesco' (names.co.uk) as they are now called - they do not provide an smtp server with webhosting unless you specifically buy it as an extra, which is more than likely what I will have to do

I am currently using my ISP's SMTP server which works fine with another email address/domain also hosted on namesco but not with this particular email address/domain, which makes things even more perplexing!
It will also alllow me to use a virgin net account to send mail, but not actually any account from the same domain actinic is hosted on ...

The SMTP server I am currently using is 'outmail.f2s.com'

Hopefully someone can say whether or not I need smtp from my webhost or not

[wjcampbe]

Hmm, just looked up the names.co packages, and they offer outgoing smtp server only if you use them as your ISP....??

[Mike Hughes]

From the sound of the problem and the error message I would guess that your ISP isn't allowing the outgoing email through because it isn't coming from that domain (hence the 'relaying denied' message and why it allows it through if you use your ISPs user name).

I really don't understand why namesco doesn't offer smtp support, especially as they advertise support for actinic (you aren't using their most basic package are you which doesn't support actinic according to them?).

I'm not sure there's a good solution here. If it was me I'd change to a host who does support smtp but the only other options I can think of are:

1. Change your email address to the one you use with your ISP.

2. Try Normans sendmail modification to the script. This does work, but your host has to support certain features and you have to redo the mod every time you upgrade the scripts.

Mike

[FearTheHands]

OK, it appears to be working to a degree using my ISP's SMTP server

When someone places an order a notification email is received:
"A new catalogue order has been received at your web site since you last downloaded."

But an automated email is not sent either to the buyer nor the email address supplied in Business Settings>Ordering>Email - despite 'Send me an email when I have an order to download' & 'Send receipt email to customer' being ticked

This should happen automatically & not rely on me downloading the order & manually sending out the order ?

[Mike Hughes]

The notification email is the one from 'Send me an email when I have an order to download' being ticked.

The customer email should be sent automatically as you ticked the 'Send receipt email to customer' box.

This should also be sent to the email address you entered in 'Business setting > ordering > 'send receipt email copies to'.

So everything at that end seems to be set up OK.

There are still a couple of things to resolve.

1. The customer email and copy only get sent if the customer proceeds to the receipt page. If they go off to another site from the payment page then it isn't sent.

2. If you're using your ISPs smtp server then a good way to check that it's allowing emails to go to an external address is to select an order and send one of the standard emails to an external email address of your choice. i.e. try sending something via actinic to a hotmail address or similar. Are there any error messages and does the email arrive?

Mike

[FearTheHands]

Ther are no other error messages in actinic, the email does arrive if you send it via actinic. I can send receipts etc from the Orders tab without problem

From what I understand from actinic support, this is sent via your local PC though as opposed to from the webserver when a customer orders ?

In my actinic error log ( http://www.eurocardplayer.net/acatalog/error.err ) it shows an authentication error trying to send SMTP mail

I am still awaiting confirmation or denial that I can gain access to an external SMTP server from the webserver from my hosting co

[FearTheHands]

According to my web hosts support:

If the external mail server allows the connection then it will work. However, you should be using "localhost" as the smtp server for Actinic

Is this correct ?

[Mike Hughes]

'localhost' will work with your hosts smtp server if they've set it up that way.

The problem is that you say they won't let you access it without paying extra?

Mike

[Mike Hughes]

And just to clear up the other point. If you can send emails from actinic on your PC then your email setup is working. Actinic on the PC uploads the email to the server and sends it from there.

We've gone through pretty much all the options to see what the problem is.

1. You have the right boxes ticked.
2. You've setup your email address in the 'send copy to'
3. You can send emails from within actinic on your PC.

So everything seems to be setup and working OK.

As I've said before, the order email is only sent if the customer goes to the receipt page after paying. Why not try another test as everything seems to be working OK.

Mike

[Spark]

Sorry - quick question (I hope):

Think I've got all boxes checked correctly with regards e-mail notifications.

(1) When an order is placed using Nochex, I get both the receipt & order to download e-mails (2) when an order is placed using Paypal, I get notification of payment from Paypal so know that an order is ready to download but no receipt or order to download notifications (3) I've just set up a new merchant account with Velocity, so far I don't get a receipt, order to download e-mail or an email from Velocity to say that a payment has been received (though when I download authorisation codes etc are there).

Is there any way of making sure that customers go through the receipt page regardless of which PSP they choose?

Thanks

[Bruce]

Spark,

The reason for you not receiving the mails when a purchase is made on paypal or the other PSP, is because the customer is not going through to the receipt page on your store. Hitting the done button at this stage triggers the sending of the 'receipt' and 'you have an order to download' mails.

You will have to check the setup on paypal and velocity to see if you have the button asking people to go back to your store displayed more prominently, or change the wording to encourage them to return to see the receipt page on your store.

Kind regards,