JessesGadgets.com update: More items posted...Froogle listing etc...

Now that the functionality of JessesGadgets.com is done my focus has shifted to listing gadgets on the site and on Froogle. Since JessesGadgets sold an item with Google Checkout it's now listed as a "Google Checkout Store" on Froogle which will give the site a little credibility. JessesGadgets is also indexed by Google so our search rankings are improving daily which is great!

I added a few more items into the gadget database this weekend. Hopefully I'll have a bunch more up there soon. Jesse started to write blogs on the JessesGadgets blog site. Things are progressing very nicely. Look out for some "homegrown" web gadgets, like my Rent Calculator program, which will be posted on the site in the coming weeks.

JessesGadgets.com is live!

On January 17, 2007 JessesGadgets.com made history by going live. All of the test items have been removed and I put up the "Production" Google Checkout form. As of right now there's only one item for sale (my old portable MyFI XM radio.) I'm going to post a bunch of items this weekend. Once we make our first sale we'll be listed as a Google Checkout store in Froogle!

Google Checkout: $10 for signing up

Google is giving Google Checkout users $10 to spend by March 31, 2007. Sign up at the link below:
http://www.google.com/checkout/signupbonus_google.html.

Actually wait a few days until JessesGadgets.com is live and use the credit towards a"JessesGadget."

Jesse's Gadgets Ready for Production

I made a few touch-ups to the checkout process and the Blogger feed and now JessesGadgets.com is ready for production. I changed the customer experience slightly to a smoother checkout process. I'm basing my changes on the assumption that each user is only looking to purchase one item at a time. After an item is added to the shopping cart the user is redirected a page which lists the items in the shopping cart. The user can either checkout (using Google Checkout) or continue shopping. I was able to get this functionality working using forms that posts hidden values to a php page which updates the shopping cart. I also added some text next to the "View Cart" link on the main page which shows the # of items currently in the shopping cart. This week I'm going to delete all of my test data and load some "real" gadgets that we're going to sell. Once I do this I'll switch out of the Google Checkout Sandbox environment into production. At that point JessesGadget items should be searchable in Froogle (and Google Base once I add them.)

JessesGadgets.com: Google Checkout Customization Fun

Earlier this week I was having issues with Google Checkout. I couldn't get a dynamically created shopping cart to work with the PHP function which creates the HTML form which gets posted to Google Checkout because of the way the sample PHP functions are designed. The checkout function creates HTML to display a form with a Google Checkout image. This form includes a bunch of hidden values which are necessary to process a checkout request. To fix my problem I changed the PHP checkout code so basically everytime a user adds an item to a cart just the hidden form with hidden values is generated. This form is then posted to Google Checkout using JavaScript when a user clicks on the Google Checkout icon. Pretty clever no?

Update:Jesse's Gadgets.com Checkout is working

First of all I would like to say I love PHP/MySQL. It may not be great for enterprise level solutions but for most of the things I've done, it's been simpler with PHP. Database queries are done with much less code and hassle than ASP.NET. I've got Google Checkout working now for JessesGadgts.com My next step is to integrate the Jesse's Gadgets blog into the site as a sidebar and try to get Jesse's face and personality mixed into the site.

JessesGadgets.com (formerly JessesJunk.com)

Update-I purchased JessesGadgets.com since Jessesjunk.com was already taken. I'm planning on making a simple PHP/MySQL e-commerce site to sell my old gadgets using Google Checkout to accept payments and Jesse Lubin's likeness and amiable personality to market the site. Contact me if you have any old junk to sell. The first item to go on the market will be my Delphi MyFi portable XM radio. Check JessesGadgets.com soon for updates.

Google Checkout

I FINALLY got Google Checkout working the way I want it to on The People's Ticket and it's actually a really great tool (ironic that I mastered implementing Google Checkout the day there was an article about how great Google Checkout is on the cover of the Business section of NYTimes . When a customer purchases tickets Google Checkout sends a few notifications including a new order notification and a notification indicating the customer's credit card is chargeable. This is key to the functionality of The People's Ticket as tickets aren't actually released to the customer until after their card has been charged.