Order Processing

How do I process subscription and classified orders?

To process subscription orders:

  1. Log in to your website by clicking the Login button at the top of your newspaper's homepage.
  2. From your Site Settings menu, click Subscriptions - Subscription Processing.
  3. You will be asked to log in again as you switch to a secure connection. Enter the same username and password as in step 1.
  4. On the Subscription Processing screen, by default you will be shown only the orders that have not yet been processed. The most recent orders will be at the top of the list.
  5. Additional details about a subscriber, including their e-mail address, can be viewed by clicking their name.
  6. For online subscriptions, each subscriber is automatically granted 30 days of access to the site upon submitting their order. This is the expiration date labeled Before. The After date is the expiration date that will be set once the order has been processed. If necessary, you can type in a different After date before you process the order.
  7. Before processing the order, we recommend charging the subscriber's credit card. If the card is declined, you will know to Cancel the order in the next step. At the very least, you should copy the subscriber's credit card information down because it will be removed from the server upon processing the order.
  8. Use the Pick Action menu to choose the action you wish to perform on the order. The choices are:
    • Process Order - In other words, Approve Order. The subscriber will receive an email saying that their order was accepted and the After expiration date will be applied.
    • Cancel Order - The order will be marked as canceled and the subscriber will immediately lose access to the protected areas of the website. The subscriber will receive an email saying that the order was canceled and to contact the newspaper if they have any questions.
    • Void Order - The order will be marked as canceled and the subscriber will immediately lose access to the protected areas of the website. The subscriber will NOT receive an email.
  9. Once you have picked an action for one or more orders, click the gray Process Orders button at either the top or bottom of the order list. This will run the chosen actions on all of the orders that you have marked.
  10. If you wish to view orders that you have processed or canceled in the past, you can check the appropriate boxes at the top of the order list and then click Filter. You can also search your orders based on the subscriber name by typing it into the search box and then clicking Filter.

To process classified orders:

  1. Log in to your website by clicking the Login button at the top of your newspaper's homepage.
  2. From your Site Settings menu, click Classifieds - Classified Processing.
  3. You will be asked to log in again as you switch to a secure connection. Enter the same username and password as in step 1.
  4. On the Classified Processing screen, by default you will be shown only the orders that have not yet been processed. The most recent orders will be at the top of the list.
  5. Clicking a person's name will allow you to send an email to that person, if necessary.
  6. Before processing each order, we recommend charging the person's credit card. If the card is declined, you will know to Cancel the order in the next step. At the very least, you should copy the person's credit card information down because it will be removed from the server upon processing the order.
  7. Use the Pick Action menu to choose the action you wish to perform on the order. The choices are:
    • Process Order - In other words, Approve Order. The person will receive an email saying that their order was accepted.
    • Cancel Order - The order will be marked as canceled. The person will receive an email saying that the order was canceled and to contact the newspaper if they have any questions.
    • Void Order - The order will be marked as canceled. The person will NOT receive an email.
  8. Once you have picked an action for one or more orders, click the gray Process Orders button at either the top or bottom of the order list. This will run the chosen actions on all of the orders that you have marked.
  9. Copy the text of the classified message and provide it to the proper staff member of your newspaper for placement in the next issue.
  10. If you wish to view orders that you have processed or canceled in the past, you can check the appropriate boxes at the top of the order list and then click Filter. You can also search your orders based on the subscriber name by typing it into the search box and then clicking Filter.

How do I update my subscription and classified order forms?

To update your subscription form:

  1. Log in to your website by clicking the Login button at the top of your newspaper's homepage.
  2. From your Site Settings menu, click Subscriptions - Subscription Form Settings.
  3. If you need to update your pricing information or form instructions, make the desired change in the Subscription Order Details field.
  4. If you wish to have order notification emails go to a new address, enter it in the Subscription Email Address field.
  5. If you wish to offer additional subscription length options, highlight the appropriate choices in the Subscription Lengths field. If you wish to highlight multiple subscription length options, hold down CTRL (Windows) or COMMAND (Mac) and click on each desired length.
  6. If you wish to offer additional subscription types, such as Print Only or Online Only, highlight the appropriate options in the Subscription Categories field. If you wish to highlight multiple subscription type options, hold down CTRL (Windows) or COMMAND (Mac) and click on each desired type.
  7. If you wish to offer additional choices on your form, such as a Senior Discount, you may type each choice into the Subscription Options field. Each choice should be on its own line. For example, if you typed "Senior Discount" into the field, it would show up on your order form as a checkbox that users could select.
  8. If you wish to allow additional credit card types on the order form, highlight the appropriate ones in the Acceptable Credit Card Types field. If you wish to highlight multiple credit card options, hold down CTRL (Windows) or COMMAND (Mac) and click on each desired card.
  9. If you wish to allow your potential subscribers to enter a subscription code in lieu of a credit card number (useful when offering free online subscriptions to your existing print subscribers), enter the code in the Valid Subscription Pattern field. This is an advanced feature, so please contact Our-Hometown if you have any questions.
  10. To save any changes made in the fields above, click Save Configuration at the bottom of the page.

To update your classified form:

  1. Log in to your website by clicking the Login button at the top of your newspaper's homepage.
  2. From your Site Settings menu, click Classifieds - Classified Form Settings.
  3. If you need to update your pricing information or form instructions, make the desired change in the Classified Order Details field.
  4. If you wish to have order notification emails go to a new address, enter it in the Classified Order Email Address field.
  5. If you wish to offer a selection of classified categories on your order form (such as For Sale, Help Wanted, etc), enter these options in the Classified Categories field, one per line.
  6. If you wish to offer a selection of paper editions (perhaps Tuesday Edition, Sunday Edition, etc), enter these options in the Paper Editions field, one per line.
  7. If you wish the form to ask for the issue date that the ad is first supposed to run, check the box for Ask for Date of Insertion. If your policy is to automatically insert the ad into the next available issue, leave this box unchecked.
  8. If you wish to allow a user to place the same ad multiple times in a single issue, check the box for Ask for Number of Insertions.
  9. If you wish to allow a user to specify the total number of issues in which their ad will appear, check the box for Ask for Number of Issues.
  10. If you wish to allow additional credit card types on the order form, highlight the appropriate ones in the Acceptable Credit Card Types field. If you wish to highlight multiple credit card options, hold down CTRL (Windows) or COMMAND (Mac) and click on each desired card.
  11. To save any changes made in the fields above, click Save Configuration at the bottom of the page.