The order form
How customers browse your store, choose a plan and place an order, and what controls what they see.
Customers order through your public store and a short review step. There is no separate form to build. What customers see comes from your products, groups, prices and settings.
The store#
The public store is at /store on your site, for example https://billing.example.com/store. Anyone can open it without signing in. Signed-in customers also find it under Order new services in the client area, where the page is headed "Order services".
The store lists products that are Active, set to Show in store, and have a price. Products are grouped by their product group, in the group's Order, with ungrouped products last. Each card shows the name, the cheapest price, the setup fee and any longer-cycle saving, a free trial badge when there is one, the first lines of the description, and a Choose button.
A product with metered usage shows "From" before its price and "plus usage" under it.
Prices are shown in the visitor's currency if they are signed in, and otherwise in your store currency. If nothing in the store is orderable, the page says "Nothing for sale yet".
See Products and groups for how to control each part.
The steps a customer sees#
A progress bar shows three steps: Choose plan, Review, then Pay (or Start trial when the product has a free trial).
- Choose plan. The product page shows the description under What is included, and a Billing cycle choice with a price for each cycle. Each option shows what is due today, including any setup fee and, once the customer is known, tax. If the product has a prompt such as "Domain name", it is asked here. Continue to review moves on.
- Sign in or register. A visitor who is not signed in is asked to sign in or create an account at this point. Nothing is billed yet. Registration can be switched off in Settings → General.
- Review your order. A summary shows the price, setup fee, tax and Due today, with What happens next. Press the order button, which reads Place order, pay and the amount, to confirm.
- Pay. Tidemark creates the invoice and takes the customer to it to pay. The service is set up as soon as the payment arrives.
If the product has a free trial and the customer has not used it before, step 3 shows Due today as zero and the button reads Start free trial. The service is set up straight away and the first invoice is raised when the trial ends. If the trial needs a saved payment method, the customer is asked to add one first.
If the customer's currency has no price for the chosen cycle and neither does the store currency, they are sent back to the store with a message that the product is not available for that cycle.
Terms of service#
If the server's environment sets BILLING_TERMS_URL, the review step shows "By ordering you agree to the terms of service" with a link to that address. There is no setting for this in the admin area.
What you can change#
| You want to | Do this |
|---|---|
| Hide a product without deleting it | Clear Show in store on the product. |
| Stop orders for a product | Clear Active on the product. |
| Change the order of sections | Change the group Order numbers. |
| Stop visitors creating accounts | Turn off Allow self-registration in Settings → General. Customers can still be added by staff. |
| Change the store heading | The heading reads "Services from" plus your Business name. Change the name in Settings → General. |
Staff can also add a service to a client by hand with New service under Services. That route creates no invoice. See Managing clients.