Hi!
Meet a new big release—CS-Cart and Multi-Vendor 4.5.1!
The new version fixes issues and brings new features. This time, we focused on Multi-Vendor: added an automatic vendor payout system and incorporated new cool demo data. CS-Cart got improvements, too: promotions aren’t reapplied on order editing now.
Here are some details on the new stuff.
Multi-Vendor Improvements
When working on version 4.5.1, we tried to make it easier for store owners to work with vendors. Here’s what we did new to Multi-Vendor:
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- Implemented an automatic vendor payout system. This feature works through PayPal Adaptive Payments: when a customer pays for the order, PayPal Adaptive divides the income between the marketplace owner and the vendor. No more manual payouts! NOTE: after the upgrade, you need to install the PayPal Adaptive Payments add-on in Add-ons → Manage add-ons → Browse all available add-ons.
- Revamped the Vendors → Account balance page. Now we call this page “Accounting”. It now has more detailed statistics: transactions, balance withdrawals, money stats on every order, and more.
- Added new demo data. To make the testing of new functionality easier and more vivid, we have improved the demo data that you can install during Multi-Vendor installation. The new demo data includes 12 vendors (previously there were only 2), about 5,000 products (less than 300 products before), the relevant information on the new Accounting page, and more.
No Automatic Reapplication of Promotions on Order Editing
CS-Cart has a flexible promotion system. You can give discounts on certain products, offer free shipping on orders, coupon codes, gift certificates, and more. When a customer places an order that falls under the existing promotion rules, the promotion is applied to that order.
Also, an admin can edit customer orders in the admin panel: edit the payment info, prices, taxes, and other details.
In earlier versions, when an admin edited an order, promotions were reapplied to that order according to the existed promotion rules.
We received some complaints about it, so now automatic reapplication of promotions is disabled on new installations. When you upgrade from the earlier versions, you’ll have to disable it manually in the config.local.php file.
PayPal Payment Method Settings
We’ve rearranged the settings of payment methods that use PayPal processors.
If you use PayPal Standard Payments, you can now choose, which status an order will get initially, right after a customer submits an order and proceeds to the payment page.
Google reCAPTCHA as the Primary Means of Anti-Bot Protection
As you may remember, spambots could bypass the old default CAPTCHA. So, we introduced the Google reCAPTCHA add-on in the previous version.
Starting with the new version, we have totally removed the old CAPTCHA and the Settings → Image verification page. All the relevant settings are now in the Google reCAPTCHA add-on. It is now the only default means of the anti-bot protection.
Find all other changes in the changelog.
How to Get Version 4.5.1?
There are two ways as always:
- If your upgrade subscription is still active, check the available upgrade on the Administration → Upgrade center page in your admin panel. During this first week of the release, we’ll be distributing upgrade packages in batches, so as not to overload our servers. After the first week, we’ll open the upgrade distribution fully. So if you don’t see the available upgrade in your Upgrade center now, check for it later. If your upgrade subscription has expired, extend it for another one year.
- If you’re about to open your first online store, download the installation package, install it on your server, and buy the license.
We hope that you’ll like version 4.5.1. Please let us know what you think—as usual, we’re looking forward to your feedback in Help Desk or our forum.
Report any bugs to our bug tracker and we’ll deal with them.
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