WebWidgets April Newsletter

In this issue of WebWidgets News, April 2007

Emma now has an Auckland number for support calls - 09 974 4301
Deleting Old Websites
Changing hosting plans and viewing your account history
New Banner templates
Page privacy and page hidden options
Repeating orders and retrieving old shopping carts
Updated Terms and Conditions
Don't refund overpayments from overseas (how the nigerian scam actually works)
Websites of the month

Emmas new phone number for support calls - 09 974 4301

Emma now has a VOIP (voice over internet phone) that has an Auckland local area calling code 09 974 4301. VOIP phones are great for people who work outside of the city free calling areas, and perfect for small home businesses who may want a number that is easily portable when they move to a new exchange. They also cut down the cost of toll calls.

How to delete old website spaces (or transfer to a new owner)

You can also now delete your trials and unused webspaces in the "Cancel Hosting" area. This will help make your life less complicated, and declutter the top combo box. You might find it helpful to change the name of each website in the "contact details" area of each website, so that you can tell the difference between an old website and a new website.

We note that the biggest cause of unused webspaces is from people not logging in before registering a domain. Please login to register your new domains on your existing website. If the domain is for a new website, then please when registering the domain, please use the same email address as you login with. This will ensure your websites are all available under one login.

Changing Hosting Plans

You can now change your web hosting plan in the "Pay my account" area of web widgets. Annual plans will save you about 13% over the monthly plans. You can also upgrade your hosting plan if your traffic is growing, or you want to access more features.

New Banner Templates

Please have a look at our great new website templates now available in WebWidgets. If you want to change your website template, click Design Settings, Change to new look and feel, then select a template from our updated range.

Viewing Account History

You can now view your account history at a quick glance, without needing to view every statement individually. Please go to the "Account History" area of web widgets. This summary report will show you your b/f balance each month, the total receipts/credits applied, your new hosting fees for the month, with separate domains and design fee columns, tax column, thus producing your final result. If you have a jump in your account balance you can't place, you should be able to find it here.

Paying Your Accounts

We have noted some issues with our ANZ egate process. Some of you are closing the payment window too quickly. You need to wait until after the ANZ thankyou message, wait for the redirection, until you see the Web Widgets thankyou message. If you don't see that message, it is likely we won't know you paid us without doing a manual reconcilation, which only happens occasionally. So please, on any website, not just ours, always let the payment process run its course. Thanks.

Password Protected Pages and Hidden Pages

We have changed the way hidden pages and password protected pages work. You can now add password protected pages that are visible from the main menu. When clicking on a password protected menu button for the first time, a member will need to login. After that, they can then navigate your site more easily. If you are adding a new page, and don't want everyone to see your password protected pages, then please use the option to hide it also. If you keep all your password protected pages hidden, then you will need to add 1 login form somewhere on your site. When undoing the hidden option, you should now do that from the "menu button position" option under the rename area. There is also a new hidden option if you want to hide a page from everyone including your members. We believe this change will ensure you can all achieve your desired ends.

Repeating orders and retrieving old shopping carts

If you have customers who make repeat orders alot, you will want to give them the ability to repeat orders or retrieve an old shopping cart. So long as they know their password, they can login to view or repeat an old order or retrieve a shopping cart. Please note: these features are only available to our ecommerce+ hosting customers and are available in the add pages, shopping cart alternative layouts. Please ensure you add password protection, as they won't work without it.

Updated Terms and Conditions

We have updated our terms and conditions document, please make yourself familiar if you havn't already seen it.
http://www.web-widgets.net/terms.html

Don't refund overseas bank payments! (its a scam)

Everyone has heard of the Nigerian bank scam, but probably most have never actually learnt how it works. If you are transacting with anyone overseas, you need to understand the issues. In the scam, they deposit a large sum of money into your account, your bank balance will show this balance as drawable funds within a week. Banks will automatically "clear" all overseas transactions and overseas personal cheques within a few days. But clear does not mean it has really cleared, it just means you can draw on the funds. In the scam, they ask you to refund a portion of their deposit back to them, but they still have up to a month or more (depending on their source country) to cancel their initial cheque or deposit. So in addition to whatever you refunded them, not only will the bank then reverse whatever initial funds they paid you, but they may also change the exchange rate on you, and charge you additional fees. So whatever you do, never trust a bank deposit from a stranger overseas (irrespective of the country), and definitely do not ever "refund overpayments". Just tell them to cancel the payment from their end. You should talk to your bank about what fees might be attached to your account in this instance, but these will be nothing compared with the possibility of being fooled into refunding through a reverse deposit. If you are regularly transacting with internationals, you might like to investigate the issue more with your bank for exact clearance times that you can trust.