If you want to use the inventory control module, you will need to change a setting in your Mals cart.

Keep in mind that the inventory maintenance revolves around the HTTP Call feature of Mals. Some payment systems, such as LinkPoint, Mirapay, Netbanx, Nochex, PayByCheck and PSIGate (see Mals-E for a list), do not utilize the HTTP call feature and therefore will not work with OptionCart's inventory maintenance system. PayPal users will require a payment fix to use the inventory system.

If your payment system is supported, you will first need to add your OptionCart finish script to your Mals-E site as described below:

• Log in to your Mals-E account.
• Select "Cart Set-Up".
• Select "Remote Calls".
• Add the page www.yoursite/finish.php, where you replace "yoursite" with your actual site name. ie.) If your site is windywillows.com, use www.windywillows.com/finish.php.
• Do NOT add the http:// part.
• Do NOT select "Debug mode".
• Save your configuration.
• Create a test order, ordering a product that has inventory quantities, to check the system. You should receive an email within five minutes that gives you information about the quantities that were sold.

Please make sure that you do not add the "http://" part in the finish page listing at Mals, and be sure to add the page as described in your return message from OptionCart. Note that there is about a 5 minute or so delay between the time that an order is placed and the updating of your inventory quantities.Mals-E Cart Changes

Please note that because OptionCart uses Mals, a third party service, for the shopping cart functionality, there is no way to guarantee inventory limitations. OptionCart does stop a person from ordering more than is available via inventory quantities, but the person can still update the quantities within the cart.

If you want to stop someone from updating the quantities in the cart, you can use the following modification:

1. Open the order.php page in the main directory of the site.
    
2. Find the following line:
   $gotolink .= "&qty=$qty";
    
3. Just underneath that line, add the following line:
   $gotolink .= "&noqty=2";
    
4. Save the order.php page and reupload to the site.

This change will show a check box instead of a quantity text box after someone places an order. Therefore, the customer cannot change the quantity after it reaches the cart.

Please keep in mind that this will not stop someone from placing an item in the cart, going back to the catalog, and placing the item in the cart again. Because Mals adds new quantities together instead of overriding them, there is no way to stop this. But with the above fix, customers at least won't be able to change the quantities themselves through the cart.

PayPal Setup

If you want to use PayPal with your Mals site and handle inventory control, use the following instructions. (A special thanks to Jackie from Karp Styles for the tip!).

1. Create a Thank You Page

• Create a web site page called "thankyou.htm".
• On this page, type out the following text:

  Thank you for your payment. Your transaction has been completed, and a receipt for your purchase has been emailed to you. You may log into your account at https://www.paypal.com to view details of this transaction.

• Save this page to your web site.

2. Update Your PayPal Account

• Access your PayPal account and select the My Account tab.
• Click the Profile subtab.
• Click the Website Payment Preferences link in the Selling Preferences column on the right.
• Click the Auto Return On radio button to turn on Auto Return
• In the "Return URL", enter the web site of the page you created in step #1. (Note: Mals does not require you to enter a thank you page here - but if you plan to use PayPal outside Mals, you will need to add this page.)
• Save the auto return variables.

3. Update Your Mals-E Account

• In your Mals-E account, select the "Cart Setup" link.
• Select the "PayPal" link under "Payments".
• Enter your PayPal email address under the account ID.
• Select the currency if needed.
• Under Thank you page, select "Return the customer to the cart's Thank you page. See the notes above...".

Once you have updated your accounts, when a customer makes a purchase and pays via PayPal, they will automatically be taken to the Mals-E cart finish page, or to your thank you page if they didn't go through Mals to purchase your products.

IMPORTANT: Make sure that in step #3 you have selected the "Return the customer to the cart's Thank you page. See the notes above..." link (the second radio button). Do not add the thank you page you created in step 1 or choose any other radio buttons. The "Thank You" page you created in step 1 is ONLY used for payments that go through PayPal but not through Mals.

Alternate PayPal Integration

NOTE: If your orders are not tracking properly, there may be a connection error. You can try this alternate method of taking PayPal orders to ensure that the system works with PayPal orders:

1. First, take off your PayPal address in the "PayPal" setup through Mals.
    
2. Go in to the "Payments" area of Mals, and set "PayPal" as an "OTHER NON-SECURE PAYMENT".
    
3. Now access the "Currency and Cart Messages" area of Mals. Under "EXIT MESSAGE - UNSECURE PAYMENTS", type the following: 
   
   <a href="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=youraccount
   &item_name=Order+{shopperid}&amount={amount}">Click to Complete Order</a>
   
   where your account info is your PayPal email address and the @ is replaced by %40. For example, if your PayPal account is payments@mysite.com, you would use:
   
   <a href="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=payments%40mysite.com
   &item_name=Order+{shopperid}&amount={amount}">Click to Complete Order</a>
   
   You can modify this link by replacing "Click to Complete Order" with other text as desired.

Note that this message will appear for any non-secure payment, such as a check or money order payment. If you accept other non-secure payment types, you may want to replace "Click to Complete Order" with "Click to Finish PayPal Orders".