I created several packages (paid listings) on my website, as described in the tutorials. For my website, it is ideal if a user that did not log in yet can click on “Buy Package” and be taken directly to the checkout page, where I can then force the user to log in. The strange thing is that no matter the Woocommerce Accounts&Privacy settings, the user flow seems to be randomly changing. I mean, sometimes indeed a non logged in user goes to my homepage, clicks on a package, and is taken to the checkout just like I want.
Now suddenly most of the times the non logged in user clicks on a package and is redirected to the (Woocommerce) Cart page, which shows empty, with a button to “Return to shop”. This is totally unwanted. I kept trying without touching any other settings and without closing the browser or clearing cookies or anything, and again after a few tries it suddenly takes the user to the checkout page. And then I try again, and Cart page…
I have tried in different browsers, clearing cookies, restarting browsers etc.
My questions are:
I have seen discussions about this before, but it is now not clear to me if the default flow should or should not take the NON logged in user to the checkout page?
In case it should not, why is the user redirected to the Cart? Why is he not invited to log in then?
I want to advertise the packages in the homepage, so people can compare prices, and not show them only after adding a listing. I guess that is also the point of having a Hivepress block that can be used to display packages in different pages.
I have been testing a few hours longer. Now I consistently got redirected to the empty cart page, and never to the checkout. I have done the following steps:
1 Create a new package (leaving the rest as they were)
2 Go to the website as new user without login, click on Buy Package for one of the already existing packages: Redirected to empty cart.
3 Back to homepage, click on Buy Package. This time for the newly created one: Redirected to checkout (success!)
4 Logged in and bought new package
5 Logged out, closed browser
6 Opened browser, clicked on Buy Package (the new one again): Redirected to empty cart.
7 Tried with other packages: Redirected to empty cart.
8. Tried to clear Woocommerce cache. No effect.
It is as if after buying one package they are not available anymore for logged out users. Once logged in, you can still buy any package without issues.
Please disable third-party plugins and customizations (if there are any) and check if this issue persists. If you use a caching plugin, ensure that caching is disabled for logged-in users.
Also, please refresh the permalink structure How to refresh WordPress permalinks - HivePress Help Center
If there were no customizations regarding this, there should be a redirect to Checkout instead of Cart. Please try to click Create Pages in WooCommerce/Status/Tools.
I have the Litespeed cache plugin (came already with my wordpress). Caching has always been disabled for logged-in users. In general, the whole site works well with this plugin, except for the packages redirects. Indeed, it is the Litespeed plugin. I deactivated Caching in general in the plugin, and now it works and users are redirected to the checkout (deactivating the plugin completely also works obviously).
Maybe you can change the topic of this issue, but there are a couple other problems I encountered. Please keep in mind I DEACTIVATED the Litespeed cache plugin completely now:
A user can’t buy the same package twice. If a user decides for some reason to buy the same package again, he can do it, but it is not reflected in his packages list in his user account. So, he pays, but he does not get it.
I have Woocommerce configured as to NOT Allow customers to place orders without an account, or log in, or make an account during checkout. That is all disabled.
3a. When a NON-logged in user clicks on Buy Package, he is redirected to the checkout page, which will show a message that he has to be logged in to checkout. Once logged in, the details appear. If for some reason the user does not continue (Place order) and closes the window, the package remains in his cart, even after closing the browser. When this same user comes back the next day and changes his mind and wants to buy a different package, when he clicks on it as a NON logged in user, the checkout page (after logging in) will show this new package, and the package he left yesterday without paying. The user has NO option to modify the contents, so he has to buy both. This is obviously not ideal. Please note that I close the browser and clear all cookies, and there is no caching plugin.
3b. Note that if you log in BEFORE clicking on Buy Package, the process works perfectly. Even if the user abandons the checkout without buying the package, if the next day he logs in again BEFORE clicking on a package, only that package will show on the checkout This works fine (the cart is cleared if nothing is bought). Logging in BEFORE clicking on a package, always clears whatever was left in the cart and only adds the current choice.
For issue 1, it is resolved, but can you confirm that we should never use caching plugins then? This might affect website speed.
For issue 2, I think it is a small bug.
For issue 3a, I can do a workaround and add a link on the checkout page to go back to the cart so the user can modify the contents. But this in my opinion is not a correct user flow, since the cart page should actually not be visible for users and is a backend Woocommerce thing. It should always behave like in 3b. Is there a solution for this?
Please note that you should be able to purchase a package again only after the limit of the previous one has been fully used.
Most likely, this is the specific settings of your product, I recommend that you look at the WooCommerce settings in more detail, as our system should have a redirect to the checkout form, also, please check this topic Buyers UX issues in booking extension (cart) - #5 by Munchies4U
Thank you. I will try it, but it was tested for ListingHive. Can you confirm that it was tested with Rentalhive too?
Yes, that makes sense, but that is my point. Users still can buy the same package. To be clear, I am displaying the packages on offer on my homepage with the hivepress “Listing Packages” block. So they are always visible to all users, logged in or not. The problem is that a user with package A can log in and go to the homepage and buy package A again. He can then pay for it but he will not get it. This is the issue.
For example, if a user has a free package and he logs in and goes to the homepage, the free package option will display with a greyed out button saying “Limit exceeded”. This is good.
This is what is needed for paid packages too. That the button turns into something like “Current package” or something and become non clickable.
I am not sure if you tested what I explained. The link you provide relates to cart issues, which is not exactly the point. here step by step:
Woocommerce settings:
Redirect to the cart page after successful addition → Unchecked
Allow customers to place orders without an account → Unchecked
Allow customers to log into an existing account during checkout → Unchecked
Litespeed: disabled
Steps:
Create two packages, A and B
Insert Hivepress “Listing Packages” block somewhere on the homepage
Open browser. Do not log in. Click on Package A. You are redirected to Checkout.
Checkout page should display message that you need to log in
Log in → Checkout details display. Package A in the order details
Do not go further. Close the browser (situation: user had to leave quickly or changed his mind). Make sure cookies and all browser site data has been erased.
Open browser again (the day after if you want), or even use a different browser, and go to homepage. Do NOT log in
Click on Package B. You are redirected to checkout.
On checkout page, log in (with the same user as before)
Checkout details appear. But now you have Package A and Package B. You have no choice to remove any package. You can only buy them both, leave, or contact admin. All bad choices. This is the error.
As I said, if you log in BEFORE clicking on a package, none of this happens and the user flow works well. Nevertheless, like in problem 2 before, as a logged in user I can still buy package A again, even if I had it already. This should not happen either.
I hope you can reproduce the steps now and see if you get the same results
Please note that this extension works similarly on all themes. Yes, we tested it on RentalHive.
Thanks for reporting this, the bug is confirmed, and we’ll fix it as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, we are unfamiliar with WooCommerce customization, so we cannot provide more details. I recommend you check their documentation or support. Also, please check my last answer about disabling the cart.
On point 3, I am not customizing Woocommerce. I simply showed you settings so you can reproduce it exactly, but you can leave Woocommerce untouched if you prefer.
If you follow the steps 1 to 10 that I explain, you should get the same result (Litespeed deactivated). This should not happen
We went through the steps described in point 3 again and unfortunately could not reproduce the issue, we recommend that you try registering a new user and testing in incognito mode.