Creating a virtual product

-- HikaShop version -- : 5.0.3
-- Joomla version -- : 5.0.3
-- PHP version -- : 8.2
-- Browser(s) name and version -- : Safari

Hi, I'm putting together my first Hikashop cart, so apologies if this is a basic Q.

I have a virtual product but cant easily see how to create - is it only available on the paid version of Hikashop? I managed to create a physical product fine and assign shipping to it, but just cant see how the download aspect works. Any help appreciated, TIA

Hi,

To distinguish between virtual goods and shippable goods, you can use the "weight" setting of the products. A product without weight will be virtual. A product with weight will be shippable.
Make sure that the "force shipping regardless of weight" setting is turned off in the HikaShop configuration so that when the cart of the user only has virtual goods, no shipping is charged and the shipping address is not asked.
Regarding the download aspect, it's easy. When you edit a product, you have an "Images and Files" section. In it, you can upload files in the Files area. These files will be available as a download to the customer after the purchase of the product, regardless of whether the product has a weight or not.
Note that for the download link to be provided to the user, the status of the order needs to be "confirmed". When an order is created, before the payment, the order's status is "created". Only after the payment does the payment plugin changes the status of the order to "confirmed", which allows the download of the files linked to the products of the order.
The download link will be available on the order details page of the order in the frontend, and in the order status notification email the user will receive after the payment.

Thanks Nicolas, brilliant!!

Hi,
I have an issue with virtual products.
I have added pdf documents to the images and files sections in the admin area (free for registered users, paid for guests). All works well.
As it's free, after finishing the login, and cart steps the order status become comfirmed and I can see the downloadable product on a "My orders" page.
But there is no link in the email the shop sending out.
Also it's sending 2 emails out, which is basically the same (the order created and confirmed).
Is it possible to send only the confirmed email and it should contain the link to the file?
As there is no COD or wire transfer options the orders always will be either confirmed or not finished.

Eg: emails not edited yet, so it's not because an override.

Thanks

Hi,

The download link should definitely be in the second email ( order status notification ). The download link should be near the name of the product in there. Could you please double check ?
The first email (order creation notification) can be disabled via the menu System>Emails.

Turned off the order creation notification, thanks for that.
The link definitely missing from the confirmed email. Still no modification in the template.

At the order statuses the download section is ticked at the confirmed and shipped statuses.
At the config I set the embed attachements option to no.

The file is downloadable from a menu item after login, but I would like to make it easy and download with just one click from the email.


Thanks

Hi,

I tried on my end with the embed attachments setting turned off and it works just fine. So I can only think that there is a problem with the settings of the product or file.
Could you provide a screenshot of the settings of the product in that order, and a screenshot of the settings of the file itself ?

Hi,
Just solved it.
When I set in the file popup the free download option to yes, then it's free, but not appear in the email.
But if I set it no, but the product price is 0 then it appears...not sure why is it like this, but for sure this is the case

Thanks

Hi,

If the file is "free download", then it appears directly on the details page on your frontend. The goal is to provide download links for the manufacturer specs and things like that. And usually, you don't want these in the emails.
If the file is not "free download", then it is provided to the user after the purchase of the product. The goal with this is to sell virtual products.

The price of the product has no link to this. However, if the total of a cart is 0, then no payment will be asked during the checkout, and if you have the "validate free order" plugin enabled, then the order will be confirmed automatically at the end of the checkout, and the confirmation email with the download links for not "free download" files will be included in it, as it would if the price would not be 0 and the user had paid for it.

Well, I didn't see the difference as there are conference and meeting tickets and there is no product page, just the list.
For some users with a membership it's free and tried to add a conference ticket for them for free. And I didn't see it anywhere.

Now it's clear how it works.