A response that's not responsive.

ALL things in time will become responsive. That is just the way of the web these days. I predict that in a about 10 years, we will be building 3D interactive websites.

This all takes time, our developers can only type so fast.

Futurology is fun - as a hobby.

But developers who want to make money will listen to what their customers are actually asking for.

Larry, I'm not sure whether your response is meant to be humorous or is just an underhanded remark, but I can sense your frustration. I'd like to help a little, so let me say the things that CC staff won't, because they are professionals and value you as a customer. I'm just a user of their software.

I've watched CC implement simple updates within days -- literally. On the other hand, coupon codes is not a simple update. Changes that seem simple to non-programmers are only that way because Coffeecup makes their software easy to use. From a programming perspective, coupon codes are not just a blank that gets added at checkout.

Coupon codes require a whole set of programming to make them operate, because you are going to want to be able to enter your coupon codes and how much the discount is for each one. In addition, you are going to want to be able to have coupons based on flat rates, based on percentages and probably 3 or 4 other options. In addition to your ideas, they are going to have to consider the ideas of all the other users who want to be able to use coupon codes. And all of these programming changes affect various other areas of the programming too so that means CC has to take more time to update the many parts of the program that are affected.

Once they have programmed all the needed parts and gotten them working, they test them. Once those bugs are worked out, the software then is beta tested. In addition to the testing, the software has to be examined for usability and simplicity so that just about anyone can use the software without having programming knowledge. All this would take months to complete before the software would be released. People would then begin asking for tweaks, changes and enhancements.

In the meantime, CC has to pay their bills. Based on a 5-day week, there are 2080 work hours in a year. I'm just guessing here, but let's say that it just takes 3 months to get everything fully done for the coupon codes. That's 520 man-hours of programming for one person. Most programmers I know make $125+ per hour, but let's say that CC's programmers are just $75/hour. That's $39,000 to make an update that most users want for free. Let's say it's a simple job and only takes 1 month (approx. 160 hours). That's still $12,000 in cost.

So do you want to pay $12,000 so you can have coupon codes?

Very well said Brian! I never understood the concept of free updates for life. Everything costs money one way or the other.

I doubt if this one feature would be so expensive to implement.

Add a checkbox to the General Shop Settings Screen (if checked then use discount feature) and a field next to this (to enter the active code) and another field to enter the percentage of the discount. (If you want to get more sophisticated you can add a date for the code to expire or categories of items for it to apply to - but these additions are not essential.) Then add a field to the checkout page, which - if correctly entered by the customer - causes the correct percentage calculation change to the subtotal field. Voila! This is an addition that does not involve any structural changes to the program and should not be such a big deal.

I purchased and began using Shopping Cart Creator Pro only because I was assured by Coffeecup that this feature was forthcoming. But it never came. I am very disappointed. A discount code is pivotal to email marketing. Offering,a 10% discount by means of a new discount code is a reason to send out monthly emails to past customers, in order to stay in touch with them. Since I am using the Coffeecup program sales have plummeted. I would not have minded paying more for the program originally if it had this feature. And I still would not mind paying (a modest charge) for an upgrade that has this feature (not $12,000 of course).. .

Here's a very easy workaround for you. Create a separate password-protected area of your website. Add a discount to whichever products you want and publish the cart to that space. So now you have two carts, one main one and one with the discount. The password is the discount code.

I used this method very successfully with a client a few years ago.

I think many others use that method too Brian.

Actually, from the beginning the Shopping Cart was not a professional cart, not even full fledged amateur cart. Some aspects of the cart are and were top notch. But CC did not completely think out and provide, not even with endless "soon" by the company and the myriad of hype supporters on the forums, anything but a hobby shopping cart. I doubt that they ever will, even if "responsive" in the next iteration.

The only complete package in my opinion that CC has provided from the very beginning is the HTML editor. I have used it from the very first available and love it. Another great package has been the Color Schemer. CC has produced many software packages over the years, many of them faddish, almost all useful tools at the time, but most not completely full fledged. But at the prices offered, and, up until the last couple years, their updates for free, when they did appear -- who's complaining.

What I guess I am saying is that when you purchase a CC package you will get a fully operable, easy to use software package designed for the most part for non nerd consumer use with the Top Notch of industry support. It will not, with the exception in my opinion - HTML Editor and a few others, and it looks like RLMP - be 100% latest bells and whistles and will have limited updates but will receive above norm support and provide a useful product for those of us who can not program (write the code) for all those little additions we all love.

My five cents, and, I stand by it.

TomH

You could also use the Form Builder and add a form with the discounted product. This way you could use a regular expression to control who gets the discount.