With the holiday season approaching, this is the first of two code updates this month, bringing important features and enhancements to stores.

New Features:

Shippable Services: Stores can now create and ship services, just like any other product. Creating a shippable service is very similar to creating the default non-shippable service. This is done via the Dashboard > Commerce > Services > Add Shippable Service. Setting up a shippable service requires additional product information such as dimensions and weight and includes shipping-related options. Both shippable and non-shippable services can belong to the same service category. Stock management is configured under POS Stock Settings and Website Stock Settings

Fraudulent Order Management: Orders can now be manually flagged and canceled as fraudulent, even if the system hasn't automatically detected them. This option is available on the cancellation modal. Stores are encouraged to use this feature as marking orders as fraudulent helps improve the overall fraud detection system.

Pickup Only Option:  Books and book variations can now be designated for "Pickup Only." This setting is controlled by a checkbox located below the Custom Shipping Rate setting when editing a book or book variation.

Feature Updates:

Enhanced Book Details: Essential book details, including ISBN/SKU, binding type, and publication date, are now automatically included when books are added to product lists, events, and blogs. 

Unpublished Product Visibility: Store administrators will now see unpublished products highlighted with a pink background in product lists and event views. This is especially helpful if a product is unpublished after being added to a list.

Required Checkout Disable Message: Disabling website checkout now requires stores to provide a message to customers, a step that was previously optional. This required message will appear instead of the Checkout button when checkout is disabled. It is recommended to keep this message concise.

Manage Orders (BETA): The Manage Orders (BETA) feature, recently made available on all sites, is scheduled to replace the default Manage Orders admin view soon. Stores are advised to create shortcuts for this new view. Shortcuts to the BETA view will be distinguishable by having ‘BETA’ appended to the label.

Stock Location Information: The Admin order view page's Stock Information section now includes location details pulled from the stock file.

Shipping Method Restriction: A new condition allows shipping methods to be restricted only to orders where all items are currently in stock. When setting shipping method conditions, the new option ‘Contains ONLY explicitly available products’ is now available. If selected, the shipping method will only appear as an option when every item in the order has POS Stock or Website Stock.

Legacy Shipping Methods: Migrated sites (from the 1.0 platform) can now choose to hide "Legacy" shipping methods in their 2.0 admin views via Dashboard > E-commerce Setting > Shipping. This setting is disabled by default.

Gift Registry and Wishlist Enhancements:

• Owners and admins can now rearrange items in Wishlists and Registries.
• The term "Gift" has been removed from "Gift Registry" across the website where possible, allowing for broader use of registries.
• Consistent terminology for Registries and Wishlists will be maintained throughout the website, with any remaining inconsistencies addressed in the next release.

Bug Fixes

Manage Orders (BETA): Completed orders will no longer be visible when filtering by "Pending" and "Processing" order statuses.

This release focuses on incorporating member feedback and suggestions, along with critical bug fixes.

Feature Updates:

PayPal: To ensure eligibility for seller protection, PayPal orders will now include a shipping address. Shipped orders will include the customer's shipping address, while pickup orders will show the store or pickup location address. Gift registry orders where the owner of the registry opted for privacy will not display any address.

PirateShip & Stamps.com: Tracking number import now features improved file validation with clearer error and warning messages. Stores can now trigger shipment notification emails and fulfill orders simultaneously when updating tracking numbers.

Gift Registry & Wishlists: We've addressed several member suggestions for these features in this release, with more updates planned for November.

Gift Registry:

• The suffix "Gift Registry" has been removed from gift registry names, making it more versatile for other uses (e.g., teacher lists, book fairs).
• Store staff with "Manage Orders" roles can now manage gift registries, including viewing and downloading them.
• A link to the gift registry will appear below the order item title for items purchased from a gift registry.
• Tier 1 sites will no longer see any reference to Gift Registry, as this remains a Tier 2 feature.

Wishlists:

• Store staff with "Manage Orders" roles can now manage wishlists, including viewing and downloading them.
• Wishlist items can now be downloaded as a CSV file, a feature previously exclusive to gift registries.
• A link to the wishlist will appear below the order item title for items purchased from a wishlist.

Bug Fixes:

• Books marked as "Not For Sale" or "Removed from the website" will now consistently maintain that status. Previously, these books occasionally became available for sale if not visited for a couple of months.
• The "Catalog Sales Tracking Report" will now correctly filter by "Catalog Category."
• iMRCHNT Gift Card: The "white page error" that customers encountered when redeeming a gift card during checkout has been resolved. Customers can now successfully use gift cards for online orders, with real-time redemption at checkout.

This mini-release addresses bug fixes and resolves regressions from the previous release.

Key Bug Fixes:

• Checkout errors for international customers: Previously, international customers experienced checkout failures due to an issue with how state/province information was validated by Authorize.net. While Authorize.net uses a free-text field, IndieCommerce uses a dropdown. Mismatched data caused errors. To resolve this:
  • Errors will no longer occur if no state or province is provided, allowing the creation and reuse of new saved payment methods without this information.
  • An additional safety check has been implemented to prevent duplicate payment records if an order encounters an error and the customer refreshes the page multiple times.
• Loading of images for store merchandise: Previously, images uploaded to store merchandise (with or without variations) would not load fully. This issue has been resolved, and all images will now load completely.
• Wishlist and Gift Registry URLs: To prevent confusion where the unique character string in shareable wishlist and gift registry links was mistaken for a customer's name, letters will not be used. Numbers will be used instead.

Resolved Regressions from the September Release:

• Search functionality: Search will now work correctly on all search forms, including the header, optional search pane on the homepage, and search on browse category pages.
• Audio and eBook formats: Customers will now be able to purchase audio and ebook formats directly from the print copy's product page.
• Newsletter Signup: The signup form in the footer no longer requires customers to submit information twice.
• reCAPTCHA for Newsletter Signup: If reCAPTCHA is configured on the website, it will now automatically apply to both the newsletter signup form and the modal.

This update introduces new features, enhancements requested by our stores, and important bug fixes.

New Features:

reCAPTCHA for Newsletter Signup Forms: Enhanced reCAPTCHA support now extends to newsletter signup forms (both footer and modal options), providing protection against bots. Previously, this protection was limited to User Account Registration, Password Reset, Contact Us, and Guest Checkout. Configure this feature via Dashboard > Configure > Site Settings > General Site Settings.

Search In-Stock Books Only: Websites with uploaded on-hand stock numbers (POS Stock / LSI) can now offer customers a filter to display only in-stock books. This feature is disabled by default and can be enabled and customized from Dashboard > Configure > Site Settings > Book Search Settings. The filter will appear at the top of book search results.

Disable Checkout: Temporarily disable online ordering by toggling a checkbox. Customers can still add items to their cart, but the CHECKOUT button will be replaced with customizable text (default: 'Online ordering is temporarily disabled'). Access this setting via Dashboard > Commerce > E-Commerce Settings > Checkout.

Manage Orders (BETA) To Become Default: The redesigned Manage Orders admin page, previously in beta, is soon be the default. While visually similar, it boasts a new architecture for improved efficiency and future updates. The Manage Orders (BETA) tab will be visible on all sites. No action is required from stores at this time; further details on the transition will follow.

Feature Updates

Book Variations:

• 'Additional Information': Each book variation (e.g., a signed copy) now has its own 'Additional Information' field. This text defaults to the parent book's information but can be overridden. If left empty, the parent book's text will be used
• Orders for Book Variations: Order emails, invoices, and receipts will now include the custom SKU for book variations.
• Preference Field Titles: Preference field titles will display exactly as entered during creation (e.g., "Personalize or signature only?").

Message Center: All website admins can access the IndieCommerce Message Center on the admin dashboard (right side). This displays messages and announcements from the IndieCommerce team, with the newest messages at the top.

Shipping Solution Order Export: Order exports for shipping labels, which can contain numerous records, will now utilize Batch API for improved performance and reduced timeouts during downloads.

Content Scheduler: The content scheduler, which publishes/unpublishes website content at a specified date and time, now checks every 5 minutes (down from 15 minutes) for more precise scheduling. Minor delays are still possible. Scheduling options are available when creating or editing content like Pages, Blogs, Events, and Landing Pages.

Site Announcements: Site Announcements, designed for stores to post non-closable text at the top of the page, can now be restricted to the homepage only. (Alerts will continue to appear on all pages.) Configure via Dashboard > Manage > Site Alerts / Announcements.

Custom Footer: Stores can manage footer links with a custom footer option, offering four sets of links and an optional Upcoming Events block. Menu columns are better aligned with uniform spacing and fonts. Enable via Dashboard > Configure > Site Settings > Custom Footer Block Setting.

Bug Fixes:

Book Variations: A random "Product Page Text" appearing on book variations has been removed.

Restore Editing of Migrated Products: Store staff can now save edits to the description field of migrated products, resolving an issue on some migrated sites.

Store Pricing by Wholesaler Discount Category: The discount/markup percentage value should not be empty; 0 indicates none.

Order by SKU: Duplicate entries in the quantity column have been fixed.

Sales Summary by Year: A bug causing a 0 count for some months has been resolved.

Event Tag CKEditor: Table borders have been removed to match other content types.

Event Date & Time: Date and time alignment on mobile devices has been fixed.

Store Merchandise Search: Inconsistencies with search results for store merchandise have been addressed.

This urgent code update addresses critical issues with sales tracking from product lists and the events feed.

Bug Fixes:

Product List Sales Tracking: Sales generated from product lists will now be accurately attributed, even when the same product appears on multiple lists

Event Feed Formatting Fix: A formatting error in the event feed (available at /events/feed.xml), used by services like Shelf Awareness, has been resolved.

This brief release provides crucial fixes and updates like reCaptcha for combating bot activities, improvements to category pages and custom footer, additional reports and a couple of bug fixes.

New Features

reCaptcha: A new tool to combat bot activity on websites. The setup link for Google’s reCaptcha is located under Site Configuration > General Site Settings. Once the Site and Secret Keys are entered, reCaptcha will protect the following pages: User Account Registration, Password Reset, Contact Us, and Guest Checkout. 

Order of Payment Methods: Stores can now reorder payment methods on the checkout page (e.g., move PayPal above Pay At Store).

Feature Updates

Description field for Tags: An optional 'Description' field with basic editor options is now available for creating or editing Event, Staff Review, and Blog Tags. This field can display descriptive text (including images) on category pages and can be used internally to share tag purposes among staff.

'No Tags' filter: Event and Staff Review listing pages, as well as all order-related reports, now include an option to filter for untagged content.

Customizable Footer: Further improvements have been made to enhance the user-friendliness of the customizable footer. The custom footer can include up to 4 columns of left-aligned links with a heading. The Upcoming Events block can also be included. The custom footer can be enabled and configured from Dashboard > Configure > Site Settings > Custom Footer Block Setting.

Export Orders: Orders listed on the Manage Orders (BETA) page can be downloaded into a spreadsheet and will include the same columns as seen in the admin view. Manage Orders (BETA) will soon become the default Manage Orders page on all websites.

Sales Report by SKU: For orders of Book Variations, Services, etc., that gather additional customer information, all customer-provided details will be available in the Sales Report by SKU. This report is accessible under Dashboard > Commerce > Reports > Sales Report by SKU.

Password Reset: The password reset email and customer-facing message during password resets have been a source of confusion. The password reset URL will no longer be truncated in the email, and instructions and error messages have been modified for clarity.

Bug Fixes

Order number added to order emails to store: Order numbers, which were accidentally removed in the previous update, have been restored to store order email subjects. Their absence led to order emails stacking into one thread, making it difficult for store staff.

Import books for new categories: When managing Browse Categories, store staff can now create new categories and import books simultaneously without encountering a white page error.

Book and product title font in emails: Order emails previously had different fonts for book and product titles, resulting in formatting issues. This formatting discrepancy has been resolved.

This critical code update delivers highly requested features and important bug fixes, while also preparing our platform for the upcoming Drupal 11 upgrade. Here's a preview of what's included:

New Features

POS Stock and Website Stock: We're introducing "Website Stock" for managing inventory of non-book items online, similar to the "Stock" feature from the legacy 1.0 platform. This new option allows you to manage website-specific stock, differing from "POS Stock" (formerly "Local Store Inventory" or "LSI"). POS Stock is primarily used for books to synchronize in-store inventory with the website, but can also be used for non-book items.

Stores can now enable both POS Stock and/or Website Stock for non-book items. The primary selection is made under Fulfillment Settings (Dashboard > Commerce > Fulfillment Settings), with more granular control available at the product level. Please verify your selections by checking a few products on your site.

POS Stock (previously LSI)

• No functional changes in this release.
• Can be uploaded multiple times a day via FTP, Above The Treeline, or manual upload.
• Applicable to books and non-book items (e.g., store merchandise, non-shippable merchandise, services, book variations).
• Product availability on the website is determined by the uploaded LSI file and associated configurations.
• On-hand numbers are updated from the uploaded file and are not decremented as orders are placed.

Website Stock (New in this release)

• Exclusively for non-book items (e.g., store merchandise, non-shippable merchandise, services, book variations); not an option for books.
• Allows setting an on-hand stock number and a notification threshold for stores.
• On-hand stock numbers automatically decrement as orders are placed.
• When stock reaches zero, the product is marked "Out of Stock" (customizable message) and cannot be purchased.
• An email notification is sent to store staff when stock drops below a predefined threshold (thresholds can vary per product).
• Bulk upload is not currently available.

Book Variations with Additional Preferences: We've enhanced Book Variations by incorporating an important property from Service into it. This improvement facilitates use cases like School Visit Books and Author Signings by allowing the inclusion of preference fields in a signed book variation.

Feature Updates:

Order Confirmation Email to Store Admins: The order confirmation email for store staff has a slightly modified template:

• The order number now links directly to the order page on the website.
• The "Thank You" message has been removed.
• If the LSI file includes the store section for the book, it will now be included in the email.

Stores can disable these confirmation emails for store admins if preferred.

Editing Migrated Orders: Migrated orders can now be edited to some extent, streamlining processing and completion for stores. You can add or remove order tags, modify shipping addresses, and add shipping tracking numbers.

Bug Fixes:

Inventory and Order Management

• Accurate LSI Stock Display: Books reported in stock by LSI files will now display the correct availability message. This resolves previous issues where LSI books incorrectly showed "out of stock," and stock information was inaccurate in the Pick List and Stock table.
• Checkout: An issue resulting in missing order numbers during checkout has been addressed.

User Experience and Data Management

• Truncated Book Descriptions: Book descriptions on the search results page are now truncated to 300 characters. Truncation will not affect search results if it occurs mid-tag (e.g., `<pr>` or `<b>`).
• Improved Customer Email Validation: Validation for customer emails has been enhanced.
• Custom Sales Summary Report Accuracy: The Custom Sales Summary Report will now return accurate results when filtered daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.

Performance and Stability

• LSI File Uploads: Improved the reliability of manual upload of LSI files.
• User Account Bulk Uploads: Bulk upload of user accounts will now complete without timing out.
• Removed Double Spacing: Double spacing has been removed from Site Alerts and Announcements.

New and Updated Features

 Additional Search Form: A third search form option is now available for placement anywhere on the homepage, from below the header to just above the footer. This placement is adjustable by editing the homepage. This is a Tier 2 feature. The website design currently offers four header options with integrated search forms, plus a secondary search form for the homepage (mid-product lists) and browse book pages. 

 Manage Availability of Non-Book Products: You can now quickly remove the "Add to Cart" button for any non-book item (shippable/non-shippable merchandise, services, subscriptions, gift cards, etc.) by enabling the "Out of Stock" setting and configuring the "Button Label." This setting overrides Local Store Inventory preferences and "Always available for purchase" preferences, allowing for quick disallowance of purchases.

Site Alerts and Announcements: Enhanced text formatting (bold, italic, underline, links, numbered/bulleted lists, text alignment) is now available for Site Alerts and Announcements. Announcements have also been repositioned below the header (away from Site Alerts), given a white background, and a border to improve visibility. Stores are requested to edit and resave existing and future Alerts and Announcements with proper alignment. Dashboard > Manage > Site Alers / Announcements

 Staff Review Tags and Filter: Managing staff reviews is now easier with the display of review tags on the "Manage Staff Reviews" admin page and the ability to filter reviews by tags.

Date - 12 Hour Format: The date format across the site has been changed from 24-hour to 12-hour format.

 Event Carousel: Homepage event carousels can now be created for multiple event tags per carousel. Events in the carousel can also be limited to only those promoted to the homepage.

Gift Card Owner Distinction: A clear distinction is now made between the gift card "owner" and the administering staff. The "owner" (if applicable) is the customer who can redeem the gift card for online purchases, and their email appears in the "Owner" field. The email address of the admin or store staff who create, disable, or update transactions on gift cards appears in the "Created by" or "Transaction created by" field.

 Order Comment to Customers: The "comment to the customer" field within the admin view of an order now supports enhanced text formatting, including bold, italic, underline, links, numbered/bulleted lists, and text alignment.

Minor Updates and Bug Fixes

• The INL Logo is now correctly displayed on all book variation product pages, with or without the inscription field.
• Custom URL aliases are now validated to prevent the creation of multiple events with the same URL alias.
• Store merchandise can now be uploaded in bulk with up to 5 images per product. Image URLs for external sources should be included in the upload file.
• The Recurring Events feature has been updated to work with the Scheduler feature, which was added in the May 2025 code update to schedule publishing and unpublishing of content.
• For non-book products (gift cards, e-gift cards, donations, subscriptions), the minimum required image size has been reduced from 800px to 400px to improve product page layout.
• Order confirmation emails for orders created by store staff will now display the customer's name, not the staff's name.
• For the Manage Orders BETA, the Order Tag filter will stay col

New and Updated Features

Drupal Commerce 3.0.2 : The e-commerce platform for Indiecommerce 2.0 has been upgraded to the most current release, ensuring up-to-date functionality.

Bug Fixes

Sales Tax by State : The report used to determine out-of-state sales volume for nexus purposes now generates for various date ranges without timeouts
Orders with missing numbers : All orders will receive an order number immediately upon completion of the checkout process.

New and Updated Features

• Content Scheduling: Schedule the publishing and un publishing of Pages, Product Lists, Landing Pages, Events, Blogs, and Staff Reviews by specific dates and times via Scheduling Options in the right sidebar. Scheduling by date (and not date & time) is recommended for accuracy. 
• Daily Recurring Events: Create event instances spanning multiple consecutive days with the same start and end times. For example, an event from Friday to Monday can be set up to automatically generate individual event entries for each day. 
• Wholesaler Discounts: Expanded wholesaler discount pricing options now include 5% intervals (e.g., 30-34%, 35-39%) for more precise control over discounts and markups. This can be configured under Dashboard > Commerce > Fulfillment Settings > Store Pricing by Wholesaler Discount Category.
• Promotions & Coupons: Enhanced options allow for creating promotions and coupons that apply a fixed amount or percentage discount to either the cheapest or the most expensive item in an order. This can be set up in Dashboard > Commerce > Promotions & Coupons > Add Promotion > select Offer Type.
• Fraud Detection: Improved fraud detection now flags orders as suspicious if the IP address location doesn't match the shipping and billing addresses.
• New Reports:
  • Sales Tax by State: Identify out-of-state e-commerce sales volume to help determine sales tax nexus. This report is available under Dashboard > Commerce > Reports > Sales Tax by State Report.
  • Paypal Transactions Report: Reconcile daily Paypal captures and refunds with online Paypal transactions. This report is available under Dashboard > Commerce > Reports > Charge Report > Paypal Transactions Report.
• ShippingEasy Integration: Stores using ShippingEasy can now export order information as a CSV, upload it to ShippingEasy for label generation, and upload tracking numbers back to the website to update orders This can be enabled under Dashboard > Commerce > E-Commerce Settings > Shipping > Shipping Services. A ShippingEasy link will be added to the Manage Orders page.
• Gift Registry Updates:
  • Gift registry owners can now customize the subject and message of the email sent to recipients when sharing their registry link.
  • Site admins viewing wishlists or gift registries will see additional details (ISBN, Author, Price) for each item in the admin view, which is also included in CSV downloads.
• Custom Checkout Panes: Stores can now add up to five customizable checkout panes with Yes/No input options. This feature can be enabled under Dashboard > Commerce > E-Commerce Settings > Custom Checkout Panes > Additional Options.

Minor Updates and Bug Fixes

• Order Managers can now create orders for customers.
• Order Managers and Content Editors can update book / product stock directly on the product page.
• The title of catalog category pages will no longer appear multiple times when added to an existing catalog.
• The ‘Show Badges’ checkbox on catalog category pages now correctly displays badges (Preorder, New Release, Staff Pick, or Discounted) for books in the catalog.
• Tier 1 sites can flag individual books as signed copies via a checkbox in the Author section while editing the book.
• Order Activity entries are now sorted by Log ID to ensure proper chronological order.
• Conditions can be added to the Authorize.net Payment Method settings to allow or prevent credit card payments for specific order types (e.g., allowing credit cards only for US billing addresses).

Introducing Beta Features

A beta version of the redesigned Manage Orders admin page is being introduced for feedback. While visually similar to the current version, it features a new architecture for improved efficiency and future updates. Stores interested in being part of the beta testing group can contact staff@bookweb.org.