Need input from international users!

[Matt B]

I have a number of ecommerce sites that are increasingly gathering international buyers. I have been reading many of the comment forms and trying to have the sites changed to accomodate international users.

I know that US-based sites have a reputation of being unfriendly to int'l users, so I thought a string based on user input and frustration would help everyone.

What are things that designers and programmers should implement into ecommerce sites that will make it more friendly to an international audience?

I am aware of the zip code v. postal code and not forcing a character limit. Anything else?

Thanks all.:cool:

[Matt B]

anyone? anyone?



For all the "Ferris Buehler" fans . . . :D

[Blue]

I've gotten complaints about having "United States" as the default in the "Country" field of forms.

I'll try to thimk of some more. :)

[Matt B]

Yes, I think that other countries see the US as "snobby", so I can see where that could be perceived negatively.

[peter_d]

Often forms prompt for which State you live in
All prices quoted in US dollars
Prohibitive shipping costs/no international shipping options

Those are my personal gripes :) On the upside, at least US sites offer e-commerce services. Smaller countries enjoy far less online choice.

[metastones]

I live in and trade out of South Africa.

As an aside it was an exercise in sheer determination to get this going and my hosting, cart and payment gateway all came from other countries.

Just make it easy for us to buy. The Zip code is a real issue.
Take a hard look at shipping options for your international buyers.
Oh and whether it is a blessing or a curse remember there are lots of us out here who Paypal deem unfit to deal with:)
We do however have lots of plastic like visa and mastercard.

And don't forget our max bandwidth is 33.6

Penny


http://www.metastones.com (www,metastones.com)

[sanity]

That pretty much sums up what we were saying in PM Matt. 8)

One suggestion could be to check out a few international order forms to see what's different. I can PM you a few we've done that I think are pretty good.

Sophie

[ihelpyou]

hey Sophie, could you pm me also with those? Tankie. :)

[sanity]

Done Doug :D

Sophie

[sanity]

Matt I had another thought.

Keep in mind that the dd/mm thing is different in many countries. This is important for credit card expiry dates. It'd be better to do a drop down of months (not numbers) then year.

Soph

[Matt B]

Thanks Soph,
Yes, send me those forms as well. I would be very intersted in taking a look.
I never even thought about the CC expiry date.

33.6 (Ouch!) You have a lot more patience than I, Penny. Welcome to the forums!

[highman]

One other thing which annoys me, not really a web form thing, more a US / rest of world thing..... if you are selling electrical goods, will they work in other countries?

[kneelsit]

..... if you are selling electrical goods, will they work in other countries?

Good point, Here in Oz our standard voltage is 240v. while I believe U.S. uses a 110 volt standard. Means having to muck around with a transformer.

My biggest gripe, however, with the U.S. sites AND companies is this stupid, ridiculous, nonsensical, inept, arse-up backwards practice of writing the date for documents as Month/day/year.
instead of Day/Month/Year OR if they must write it backwards Year/month/day.

Was that contract signed on the 3rd of April ? or was it actually the 4th of March ?

Was this a practice started by crooked, greedy lawyers as a further method of confusion for clients?? :mad:

[highman]

Yep I agree, to everyone out there...

today is the 27 June 2002 = 27/06/02

and everything should be 240 volt and everyone drive on the left please :)

[Matt B]

:green:

I now direct your attention to the correct date on the left side (oncoming traffic side) of this post. 06-27-02

:D

[highman]

:D lol.... never noticed that!

doug get the date in the correct format please

and while were at it can everyone set their clocks to the same time and all start using euros

[Matt B]

and all start using euros
speaking of which - are there any euro <-> dollar conversion programs out there? Or any currency conversion tools for use on websites.

Would that be a good service to offer?

[highman]

here you go http://www.xe.com/ucc/

and yes it is something that any ecom site should offer, from that link above you can create a little pop up for your site linked from the shopping cart

[kneelsit]

..... if you are selling electrical goods, will they work in other countries?

Good point, Here in Oz our standard voltage is 240v. while I believe U.S. uses a 110 volt standard. Means having to muck around with a transformer.

My biggest gripe, however, with the U.S. sites AND companies is this stupid, ridiculous, nonsensical, inept, arse-up backwards practice of writing the date for documents as Month/day/year.
instead of Day/Month/Year OR if they must write it backwards Year/month/day.

Was that contract signed on the 3rd of April ? or was it actually the 4th of March ?

Was this a practice started by crooked, greedy lawyers as a further method of confusion for clients?? :mad:

[Matt B]

Thanks Highman. I'll check it out.

How did Greg's post get posted twice?

[kneelsit]

Sorry about that double posting guys.

It seems that my original reply went up O.K. but the form was still sitting there for some minute or so - as if I still needed to hit the submit button. (which I did) :o:

But seriously guys/girls, Do you not agree that this pernicious practice of writing month/day/year is highly confusing ??

[highman]

But seriously guys/girls, Do you not agree that this pernicious practice of writing month/day/year is highly confusing ??


yep, esp when sql and servers get involved.... aghhhh

[Matt B]

I sympathize with your frustration, Greg.
But, here is a question.

Ultimately, I want to make my sites better for international visitors. However, 70%-80% of visitors are still from the US. So, my dilemma is to find the point where I am not taking away familiar items for the majority of visitors in order to appease the smaller portion.

[sanity]

Done Matt! (The PM I mean. :D )

I guess for the date you could always write the month in letter format, ie Aug. At least that would remove the problem and still cater for all.

The currency converter highman suggested is great. I'd definantly have this on the site.

Cheers,
Soph

[ihelpyou]

hey Greg, you asked about the date?

DONE.



:cool:

[Blue]

hey Greg, you asked about the date? DONE. Sheesh, now this old dog's gonna have to learn a new trick. :cool:

[Matt B]

Now that is Service!

When I was in the Army all written dates had to be formatted this way: 27Jun02. That actually resolved alot of confusion

Anything else we can change while Doug is in the mood?

[ihelpyou]

What about the time?

It could be:

21:50

instead of 9:30 pm

[Matt B]

What about Greenwich mean time - isn't that the standard?

or even Zulu time.....:D Actually, I think Zulu time is based on GMT.

[kneelsit]

HJi Matt,

You might like to check this out:-

www.worldtimeserver.com


I use it on my site to save me getting hauled out of bed at 3.a.m. MY TIME to try and take a phone order from U.S. or Africa etc.
It's rather hard to stay bright and cheerful when this happens.

:D

[highman]

Hey Doug nice one with the date! :cool:

Yep im all for the 24hr clock, bit more 21st century dont ya think?

[Daminc]

Hi people,

Although I use day/month/year format all the time I found this a bit of a problem when I came to sorting out some of my folders:

I labeled my documents: Case study/date/subject

When I tried to sort them using the date (I have collating the information for about 8 months) I found them sorting into:

01/01/2002 = 1st Jan 2002
01/02/2002 = 1st Feb 2002
02/01/2002 = 2nd Jan 2002
etc

Putting them in the american form, with the month first, would sort the problem out but its just too weird:confused:


Wish you all good health and happy trading:hi:

[ihelpyou]

Yeah, it seems most program will sort things that way.

btw highman, we are now showing the times in 24 hour format. :) Just to see how it goes and if we like it or not.