How to Checkout on Our New Website!

So, we have a brand new website, provided by Square Up, who are a payment processor, we have the website for free and they take a fee for processing the payments. I find this a superb way for our business to work because it means we are not wasting money on monthly website fees, without knowing if we are going to make a sale or not and when we do make a sale, Square Up get paid. I think that is a realistic way for them to monetize their business, so that it is fair to them and fair to small business owners.

Whilst we are talking about business, if you do have your own small business and because of the situation with Coronavirus and having to shift your business online, I really do recommend Square Up, you can literally make your own e-commerce site and only pay for it, as a percentage of your sales.

If you would like to look into that, please use this link, which means that you will get free processing fees for a time and so will I, for referring you. Now, I must point out, that I'm not referring you because of the freebie but because it has really worked for me, the free processing is an incidental happiness that occurs if you use this link.

In the main, people have been finding the website easy and simple to use, once they get to know how it works and I have found it to be really helpful because, a lot of the time, when people are putting in their orders, the work is automatically done by the website, the stock levels, the payment and the organising the delivery, or Click and Collect time, which means I can juggle the home learning that I am doing with Elijah, far more effectively and it is better for our family, all round. More about that, here.

If you are using the website checkout for the first time, there is a bit of a learning curve. Several people, upon using it for the first time, have found it difficult to check out. Sometimes, they have tried late at night, not been able to do it and then they have tried the next morning and it has worked. Sometimes, they have chosen the Google Pay button, instead of the Checkout button and that has worked better for them, sometimes, they have found putting in a full postcode doesn't work, so they have just put in the first 3 digits. It is frustrating when you want to buy something from a local business ad you want to support them but you just can't seem to make that payment go through. Please don't worry, or feel embarrassed, it's not just you. If these were normal times, I would stand by your side and show you how it's done on a computer in our shop but the reason we need the website is because, this is our future and this is our new normal.

This is why I have written this article, to help you navigate your way through the Checkout section of our website.

How To Checkout on Our New Website!

First go to our website, here.

How do you find the products that you want?

1/ You can search for an individual item by clicking on the magnifying glass icon, circled in red in the picture below, to the top right hand side and entering your search term in.

2/ You can click on the relevant category on the list to the left hand side of the pictures, as also circled in red, in the picture below.

3/ You can browse through all pictures of the items and click on the ones you want, which gives you the opportunity to put them into your basket.

Once you have clicked on an item you like, to put it into your basket, select the green 'Add to Cart' button, circled in red in the picture below.

If you want to continue adding items to your basket, just look at the bottom of that section, underneath the Checkout Button and Google Pay Button and in blue, in small letters, it says, 'Continue Shopping', click on that. Keep repeating the selection procedure steps above, until you are ready to checkout and then select the green Checkout Button, circled in red, in the picture below. Then follow the steps outlined in the next section, 'How Do I Buy the Item or Items, that I have put into my Basket?'

How Do I Buy the Item or Items, that I have put into my Basket?

1/ To buy your item, or items, you need to click on the green 'Checkout' button, that has been circled in the picture beneath, in red.

2/ If you have continued browsing the products and you can't see the Checkout Button on your screen, you can get to it, by clicking on the trolly icon, in the top right hand corner. Circled in Red, in the picture below.

3/ Once you have clicked on the Green Checkout button, you will be taken to a section titled Secure Checkout.

4/ There is a subheading underneath that called, Your Details. (To the right hand side of the page you will see your Order Summary.)

5/ You will need to fill in all parts of the Your Details Section, taking special care the for the Phone Number part. Scroll down and select 'United Kingdom' for the Country Code, (If that is where you are ordering from) and then in the box for your phone number,
DO NOT write the first 0 of your number, as circled in the picture below.

6/ Click the Black Button that says NEXT.

7/ Please note, that if you are still on the Your Details section, then you have done something wrong, you'll need to scroll up and see if there is a message in red and correct what the message has highlighted.

8/ If you have done the last part successfully, you will then move onto the next section, this is called Store Pick Up, as shown in the picture below. Details are given about how to pick up at our shop. You can keep the default time you are given, or you can select another later time, by clicking on 'Schedule for Later'. The dot is beside the one that is selected.

 9/ Look further down that section and you will find the black button with NEXT written on it, in white, select that button. This is circled in red, in the picture below.

10/ That will bring the next section up, which is pictured below, called Payment Information.

In this section, if there is just one digit wrong, or one space, in the wrong place, the transaction won't go through. So, you have to really double check everything that you enter.

 11/ First you'll have to enter your credit or debit card number, that is the long number across the middle of the card. Just type one number in after the other, no spaces. (The website will automatically put the spaces in for you)

12/ Then you will have to enter the expiry date of the card, don't mix this up with the date of issue and make sure you have written the exact digits on the card, otherwise your transaction will not be successful. (The computer will put in he forward slash)

13/ You will then have to type in the CVV number. This is the last 3 digits of the number printed in black on the back of your card, on the signature strip. Get them right, otherwise the transaction won't go through.

14/ Next you will have to enter your postcode, this has to be the same postcode as the card is registered to, otherwise the transaction will be unsuccessful. You will have to make sure that you type in the first digits and then leave a space and then type the following digits. The postcode BA4 5AS, for example needs a space between the 4 and the 5, if you don't leave a space, the postcode won't be accepted.

15/ Then you will need to enter your billing address, make sure the postcode matches the one you have written by your card details and has the same space in between.

16/ Then you will have to enter your phone number. Again, you will select the United Kingdom in the scroll down menu and only write your number, without the leading 0, otherwise, it will not work and you will get an error message.  The photo below show the correct format for how to write your phone number.

 17/ Select the Black Button that says 'Next'. It will bring up the Review & Submit Order section, as shown by the picture below.

 18/ You'll notice that you can write me a note, you don't have to but you might need to if you have already ordered and you want to add this order to another order you are due to pick up, or if you can't make that time, or if you want to ask about another product. That kind of thing.

19/ You might want to save your information for a faster checkout next time, or you might want to do the same process that you have here because a faster checkout involves a code getting sent to your phone and you might not like it.

20/ There is a big black button at the end of this section which says Commit to Buy, click on that and your order should go through.

21/ You will definitely know if your order has gone through because there will be a confirmation screen that pops up. It looks like the picture below. It starts off with 'Your Order has been received'.

22/ It tells you when your order is due to be picked up, the pick up location and even has a link to directions.

24/ You will probably receive an email and/or a text message confirming your order too.

25/ If you don't get the above message, then your order hasn't gone through and you need to scroll up and down the page you are stuck on, to find an error message written in red.

26/ If, however, you don't consider technology your strength and you have managed to follow these instructions and you have persevered, then congratulations and you definitely deserve to get your order! WELL DONE!

Please let me know if you have successfully ordered using these instructions, I'd love to know. I'd also love to know if there is anything I should amend in these instructions.

Thank you for your time and effort in doing this.

Karen.

An Open Letter to Emma and the #LoveYourDoorstep team in #Enfield

Pathway towards Gentleman's Row, Enfield Chase.

Dear Emma and the +Love Your Doorstep team,

I am writing to let you know that after the ups and downs of the last few years, I have had a complete change of heart and would please like the opportunity to be an Lyds business.

Firstly, I would like to apologise for comments I have made, that I felt were my true opinion at the time but have caused upset and grief for you. I did not intend this at all and I am truly sorry. Having been off work for a while, due to illness, has given me plenty of time to mull over things and just two weeks after making some more negative comments about Love Your Doorstep in a Facebook conversation, I have looked at myself and the situation and I would dearly love to make amends and try to heal the hurt that I have caused. I really do not want to leave this mess behind in my life, please allow me the opportunity to make it better again.

It was the Facebook post that got me thinking. The negativity of the post made me intrigued, so, I checked your website and twitter feed and my opinion has changed. I can see that you have developed the business into so much more than a Facebook group.

It took me a long time to get used to the changes in the group in the beginning and it clashed for me that it was a free community and then changed into one where you had to pay to join as a business. But actually, Emma, you have created a visionary and completely new business model. I've been doing a lot of thinking. I think you have had to put your foot down and create strong boundaries because it is easy for friendship, kindness and business to get all mixed up. Like if people come into my shop, start chatting, don't want a coffee but are just saying 'hello' as a friend, taking my time and energy away from when I'm working. I feel I want to give stuff to them because they are my friend but on the other hand, if I run my business like that, I won't have one.I didn't really get this for ages, until there was some distance between myself and Enfield.

Your Twitter feed is strong and you have worked hard in building up strong links within the Enfield community, such as with the FSB, Enterprise Enfield and so on.

I have always respected your talent and vision, Emma but I found the new changes and rules very difficult, I can be fairly rigid in that respect due to my asperger way of thinking.

I think when we are angry, or emotional, we react rather than respond and I've been reacting all over the place.

Looking again at Lyds from a distance, it is incredible what you have done. The designs are really slick, the website works well on my phone, I love the shopping campaign stickers and the blogging area on the website is cool too. I have to say, I really have changed my mind.

Last year, I had too much Lyds from friends all over my timeline, I felt strangely emotional about posts where Lyds showed a film at The Dugdale Centre and about when they went to parliment. I felt left out and pissed off. But it was Lyds that did that work, not me and looking back on it now, I think I was upset because I was jealous. I didn't realise at the time.

I was so emotional and upset with all the posts, I then decided to delete any of my Facebook friends that were too enthusiastic about Lyds, to preserve my sanity, I deleted all of the enthusiastic ones and that felt better, until I realised that I had hurt some of them. The whole thing has been very difficult for me. I even started not to enjoy the Ideas Station, my social media workshops for women because every time the question would come up about whether I thought Lyds was good or not, I'd try to go for a bland, 'I wouldn't use it for my business but it does work well for other businesses', approach. Or the 'If you're not good at social media, it could be good for you.'. Or 'I don't recommend it but some businesses love it.'. I could never get away with a brushaway comment, to avoid my discomfort. The rest of the meeting would sometimes dissolve into a heated debate about Lyds and not about solving social media problems. It was embarrassing and took the motivation away for me to continue.

Now, I want to support what you are doing. Maybe some people will find that inconsistent, maybe hypocritical but I am proud to admit, actually, I am wrong I've made lots and lots of mistakes. Yes, I have changed my mind. I want people to know because this has been such a public affair and I want to help to heal the hurt.

People have seen me as one of the biggest ringleaders of the 'we don't like lyds' brigade.......I didn't want to be that. Emma, you and your team are running a never done before concept business, I had no patience and didn't make allowances for the learning curve involved.

The comments I made on Facebook two weeks or so ago sound bitchy, when I reread them, at the time they felt honest and truthful.  However, having taken another look, Lyds is actually something that is working well in these extremely difficult economic times and I realise there is a core of businesses who are repeat customers because it works.

I didn't even realise that you have a job board, I have a part time job that I would love to advertise on there.

I've made a lot of mistakes in dealing with this situation and it's all been fairly public. I am not afraid to say, my attitude has been wrong.

It is time for me and others in our community to give you, Lyds the respect that you deserve.

I am all for campaigning and for economic justice and have changed a few negative things in the world. Lyds is not a negative, it doesn't need a campaign against it, however inadvertently that situation has arisen and it doesn't need an emotional response.

If you don't want our business, I don't blame you but I just thought it fair to publicly share my change of heart.

I hope that together, we can build bridges, not walls.

I am very, very sorry for the way that I have been and I really would like the opportunity to support your concept, if you can ever, please forgive me.

Yours Most Sincerely and Hopefully,
Karen Mercer. xxxx

24 hour SHOCK Cash Mob!

I have heard reports that the landlord of Sheels Bookshop in Lancaster Road, has put the rent up by 50%, forcing this Enfield business to relocate to Hatfield instead. We can now see for ourselves that the changing face of the High Street is not just because of changing shopping habits but also the greed of some landlords in keeping rents artificially high in these hard economic times. 

SHOCK Cash Mobs are a small drop in the ocean to help local and independent businesses, just as the BBC Reporter suggested when I was interviewed on TV about this community initiative.

I feel Landlords need to be forced by law, to take responsibility for their community, or even supported by grants and special initiatives to enable them to have filled shop spaces and a fair income in exchange. I don't know what the correct approach would be, as I have never been a landlord, so I need landlords to connect with me and share with me their ideas. After all we are all in this together. Communities are becoming fractured by our broken up High Streets, drastic action and innovation needs to happen now! 

In the meantime, please join me in an online SHOCK Cash Mob for Sheels Bookshop, just over 1 year after the one we did to them in 2013! 

So, for 24 hours from 9am, Tuesday 3rd June to 9am on Wednesday 4th June, pop into Sheels and spend a tenner or more on books! 

Or go online and order.

Or phone up and order.

Please comment to tell me that you are going to do it. Then please tell me when you have actually done it! 

So, who's in? Xxxxxx