Help testing the eGift feature

Since paul created the thread about eGifts, there have been a bunch of new updates to this feature. Now we have a different flow, and we need to test that stuff extensively.

It all starts with the same thing as before - by clicking the "Buy this as gift" link:



When you click that, we used to show you some options. But now, it directly takes you to Paypal.

After you complete the payment on paypal, you will land on this page:




You can copy this link and send it to anyone you wish. OR, you can enter the email address of who should receive the gift, and the forum software will email the link to that person for you. If you wish, you can stay anonymous by clicking the checkbox, so the receive wouldn't know who sent them the gift.

Another beautiful thing about this is that you don't have to log in to permies to be able to buy someone a gift. So if you are reading this and don't have a permies account, you can still test this with ease :)/

The 21 podcast review of Sepp Holzer's Permaculture is only $1 now. This would be a good one test with.

Please test and reply to this thread if anything went odd.

For the next couple of days, I have made the following stuff just a buck for the sake of testing.  

permaculture playing cards as an ebook

21 podcast review of sepp holzer's permaculture

PDC evening presentation with Helen Atthowe


If the tests are successful, I am hoping that people will give gifts of:

All 8 of the Rocket Mass Heater DVDs as HD instant View

177 hours of Permaculture Design Course and Appropriate Technology Course


Please share the results in this thread.

I test-gifted the E-book PPC (Permaculture Playing Cards), and the 21 podcast salute to Sepp Holzer.

Everything appeared to work as expected on the giving-end of things: went to paypal, paid with paypal, came right back to permies to send the email. I like the bit about writing the link on a piece of paper and putting it in a stocking.  I've also received gift-receipt emails.

I can also confirm that the gift-giver cannot use the link: that 'error' message page was working too.

My sister and my girlfriend received these gifts, they'll let me know if there's any weirdness on the recipient-end of things.

Looks like it works pretty well with Helen's presentation!

Dave Dahlsrud wrote:Looks like it works pretty well with Helen's presentation!

Dave, my records show that you bought helen's presentation just as a normal, direct purchase, not as a gift.  

If you did buy it as a gift, then we found a bug in our stuff.   But I am seeing the other purchases as gifts.

I just purchased the Sepp Holzer podcast for a non-permies friend, but she's at work so I probably won't have a verification until after business hours.

I received the gift email quite promptly, and sent her the link in a direct email from me.

Very smooth transition to PayPal, and came right back to Permies.  Nice work!

I have already acquired access to all three test items (as rewards in Paul's kickstarters). In this case, the option "Buy it as a gift" is not being displayed to me, but it should be available (assume I want to give it to someone else).

I am trying to send the tiny download of 177 hours of stuff to some folks who will appreciate it. I clicked on it. I was sent to paypal. For some reason paypal decided to use my mastercard instead of my bank, which is the preferred. I corrected that and, it seems, I have purchased the download, the 150 dollar thing. However, when I clicked on it, I was informed that I had chosen to close my Permies account, which I had not done to my knowledge. I had to reinstate myself by subscribing to the monthly newsletter. Then I was led to another opportunity to go to your gift thread, which I did and where I am posting this not seeing any other place to get help.

I did not get a chance to send the course as a gift, and I also can't download it myself. Please help me complete this gift or at least download it myself.
Steve

Richard Gorny wrote:I have already acquired access to all three test items (as rewards in Paul's kickstarters). In this case, the option "Buy it as a gift" is not being displayed to me, but it should be available (assume I want to give it to someone else).

Richard, it should appear at the bottom of the thread - just above the "boost this thread" button. Do you see it?

Steve Leeper wrote:I did not get a chance to send the course as a gift, and I also can't download it myself. Please help me complete this gift or at least download it myself.

Steve,

What I can see from here is that you bought it for yourself. Did you click the "$150 via Paypal" link or the "Buy this as a gift" link?

Also, do you see a message which says "You now have access to the following hidden forums" on this thread?

Steve,

So you are saying that you intended to get the videos as a gift, right?

Did you click on the gift stuff, as indicated at the top of this thread?

Devaka Cooray wrote:

Richard Gorny wrote:I have already acquired access to all three test items (as rewards in Paul's kickstarters). In this case, the option "Buy it as a gift" is not being displayed to me, but it should be available (assume I want to give it to someone else).

Richard, it should appear at the bottom of the thread - just above the "boost this thread" button. Do you see it?

Thanks Devaka! Okay, it  was my mistake. I was looking in original post for each item. The bottom position is a bit hard to notice :) I should have read your instructions more carefully, apologies.
I have purchased playing cards pdf, all worked well - easy, smooth and fast. The recipient has received the link very fast.
The recipient must have an account on the forums in order to be able to pick up a gift. That limits "target audience" a bit.
I would add a short info at the start that the buyer will be asked for email address of the recipient on the next page, or something similar.

If I bought an egift of netflix, I think the recipient would understand that in order to redeem it, they would need to create a netflix account.

Hi,
I was planning to get it as a gift. When I clicked on it, I was sent to paypal. Then I just hit continue as I usually do with a paypal purchase. I did not notice an offer to buy it as a gift. I really don't know if it was there or not. I expected to get that offer before I went to paypal, but I see in your explanation that there was probably the offer there and I just didn't notice it. Is there any way to recover from this?
Steve

Steve, we can definitely recover - don't worry about it.

But I need to know how exactly this happened. Can you please tell me which link you clicked from the following picture? 1 or 2 ?

paul wheaton wrote:If I bought an egift of netflix, I think the recipient would understand that in order to redeem it, they would need to create a netflix account.

I have never used netflix, but for many ebook/music online stores it is not necessary to create the account in order to pick up a gift in a form of download. A unique download link is sufficient since it can be used only once.

If the gift was let's say a monthly membership to the site, that's another story, account is a must.

Anyway, the recipient has created the account and was able to download the pdf, all works fine.

Hi,
I never saw that screen at all. Under the list of things being sold for a dollar Paul or someone says that eventually he would like someone to send the courses as a gift. I just clicked on the course. Then I got a chance to click on a dollar amount. I chose 150 dollars -- both courses the tiny download. I clicked on the 150. That took me straight to paypal and I did not see any chance to say I am buying as a gift.

At the top of the thread for the PDC/ATC stuff is a table of shortcuts.  It gives people a clear idea of what options are available.  And each link is a link direct to purchase.  To purchase as a gift, the user needs to scroll down to the gift links.

It worked, I think I spent pie on the first try, and then paid the second try.

And I sent it as sabotage to a family member I am corrupting.

Worked for me.

I also tried to purchase one of the gifts on my phone, and Chrome did not recognize the gift link as a link at all, either in Mobile view or desktop view. (It acted like it was blue underlined text).

I'm guessing mobile is not in the purview of this update, but I thought I'd pass it on just in case.

Ash, any chance we can see a screen capture?

paul wheaton wrote:

Dave Dahlsrud wrote:Looks like it works pretty well with Helen's presentation!

Dave, my records show that you bought helen's presentation just as a normal, direct purchase, not as a gift.  

If you did buy it as a gift, then we found a bug in our stuff.   But I am seeing the other purchases as gifts.

Paul, so I totally screwed that one up, but I'm on a mobile device and going back through I'm not seeing the buy as a gift option on any of the links so it doesn't look like it works with my android phone chrome browser...

Dave, there is definitely an issue with the gift stuff on mobile view. Have apples for reporting it!

I just added some fixes to the mobile view. Gift stuff should work properly on mobile view now. Please test.

Looks like everything is working like a champ now!!

S.M. King wrote:I just purchased the Sepp Holzer podcast for a non-permies friend, but she's at work so I probably won't have a verification until after business hours.

I received the gift email quite promptly, and sent her the link in a direct email from me.

Very smooth transition to PayPal, and came right back to Permies.  Nice work!

She received the link and is downloading successfully - hooray!  And I found out that she is a lurking Permies member, lol.  How's that for *not* knowing everything about your best friend

I'd say the Gifting remodel is quite  success.  Thanks for the hard work.

From a tablet reading the email notice I came to this thread in guest mode, bought Helen's presentation which took me to PayPal, and when it returned here said I had to log on to continue. When I logged on, I'm back at the thread but no option to enter an email. I will try it again.

Edit: got the email with a link to the gift, so it did send it to me directly rather than giving an option to email.

Edit 2: Clicking the gift link takes me to this blurb: "This link does not work for you because you are the one created this gift. Instead, send this link to the person who should receive your gift, and they will be able to use it to gain access to "PDC evening presentation: Helen Atthowe's recent projects".

CAUTION: Once this link is used, it will never work again."

So after sending the link to another email, when I open it from the other email and I'm not logged into the site, it says I need to log in to see the content.

Paypal is blocked in Turkey, so not much help from my part as an international member.

Mark Tudor wrote:From a tablet reading the email notice I came to this thread in guest mode, bought Helen's presentation which took me to PayPal, and when it returned here said I had to log on to continue.

Are you saying that when you returned from Paypal, permies software said you need to log in?

Didn't it land you on this page?

s. ayalp wrote:Paypal is blocked in Turkey, so not much help from my part as an international member.

What might we add someday that would work for you?

Just tested it with Helen's video.

I tried opening the link while logged in and it told me I was not the one it was gifted to, which was true.
I tried to open it with my other account (to which I gifted the video) and it worked.

I received a receipt email to my main account and one to my test account with the link.

Seems to work well.

I clicked the link to the 177 hours and when it openined to PayPal it still listed the price as $125. - I did not proceed from there. I am going to try the eBook cards. Maybe I don't qualify? - eBook cards worked at $1.00

Devaka Cooray wrote:

Mark Tudor wrote:From a tablet reading the email notice I came to this thread in guest mode, bought Helen's presentation which took me to PayPal, and when it returned here said I had to log on to continue.

Are you saying that when you returned from Paypal, permies software said you need to log in?

Didn't it land you on this page?

That is correct, it didn't come to that page, more like the home page with a small text blurb showing instead of the recent threads, and the text said I needed to log in or register to view the content. When I logged into the site and then clicked the link again, it told me I couldn't look at the content because I was the one who bought it as a gift, which makes sense if the link only works one time.

I made a purchase on Paypal for the $1 Sepp Holzer podcasts, but haven't gotten the email afterwards with the link for it.  How long should it take?  Seems like it's been around 30 minutes by now. Thanks

Patty,
I can see that the payment has been processed, and you should be able to access the content now.

As for the emails, it should have sent an email to your Paypal's email address. Did you check your spams folder?

I get emails from you with a link in it. I go to the link and it brings me here, but I don't see a post related to my issue. How can I find out how to send the courses I bought as gifts?

Thanks, but, unless I'm looking right at it and don't see it,  I did not receive the with the link.  It comes in an email from Paypal, right?  It's not in SPAM, social or promotions mailboxes.  I have two messages from Paypal, neither has the link, but at least I know my Paypal email address is right.  Paypal Transaction ID: 9DA23475E7482733G

My recipient informed me that she received the gift (via email link) and it played just fine.

OT: She also told me that roughly seven minutes of the beginning of Helen's video were of her telling people to, "Hurry the f up, it was time to start," and that, "They didn't hurry the f up, so she started without them."