Reference Guide

Miva Merchant has three types of admin users: Administrators, Managers, and ordinary admin users. Please note that these users exist in the admin interface and are not related to customer accounts in your on-line store.

• Administrators have access to all admin features in all stores.
• Managers have access to all admin features in the store where they are the manager.
• "Ordinary" users have privileges that you can limit by creating a Group and then assigning the user to that group.

Defines the time a shopper's basket can be left without any action (store browsing, additions, removals, changes of quantity) before it expires. The default is 60 minutes. In builds before PR8 update 4, the max Basket Timeout was 1440 minutes (24 hours). In builds after PR8 update 4, there is no limit on the length of the timeout.

Just like in a brick–and–mortar store, items that are in shopping baskets are removed from your inventory. Sometimes customers may leave their baskets without checking out. If enough products accumulate in abandoned baskets, it can appear that your store has run out of them. When the basket expires, you can return the items to inventory by deleting the basket (see To Delete Expired Shopping Baskets).

To determine the right time limit for your store, consider the impact on your inventory levels of having items left in abandoned baskets and the potential for your customers to be interrupted (by a phone call, for instance). You want to avoid appearing to be out of items that are simply tied up in forgotten baskets and avoid frustrating shoppers by deleting their baskets while they are still browsing in your store.

Expired baskets should be deleted regularly. Note that order numbers are never reused, even from expired baskets.

Specify the sales tax method to use in the store

Please use this feature with caution. Typically, you will make a selection when initially setting up your store and then never change it. If you select a different way of calculating sales taxes later, any changes you have made, including customized tax rates, or tax settings that vary by product, will be lost.

The standard options are:

The Canadian Value Added Tax module enables you to configure the Canadian VAT module to calculate Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) on shipments from a Canadian store to a Canadian Customer.

Note: the Canadian VAT module does not calculate Provincial Sales Tax (PST).

Canadian VAT

The Canadian Value Added Tax module enables you to configure the Canadian VAT module to calculate Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) on shipments from a Canadian store to a Canadian Customer.

Note: the Canadian VAT module does not calculate Provincial Sales Tax (PST).

European VAT

The European Value Added Tax module lets you specify the ship-to countries where VAT should be charged, to specify one or more VAT rates, and to assign rates to each product in your store.

Shopper Selected Sales Tax

The Shopper Selected Sales Tax module lets you configure sales tax options that shoppers can select from a drop-down list during the checkout process.

State Based Sales Tax

State Based Sales Tax enables you to assign tax rates for one or more states. If an order is being shipped to one of these states then the assigned rate will be applied to the order, otherwise no tax will be charged.

Generic VAT

The Generic Value Added Tax (VAT) module gives you the ability to configure tax rates on a per-product basis. You can add a tax rate to as many products as you wish. You can also specify tax rates at any time from the product screen.

Third-party modules supporting other tax methods may be available. If one of these is installed in your store, that option will be available along with those above.

After you have selected a tax module, that module name will appear as a link in the top section of the Edit Store screen.

Currency Formatting

Select the appropriate currency formatting option from the drop-down list. The choices are European, generic, and U.S. currency formatting.

European Currency Formatting

Select this option to use one country's currency, and also to display the converted value in Euros.

When you select this option, a new tab, European Currency Formatting, is added at the top section of the Edit Store screen. Click that link, and configure the following settings there:

Currency Symbol

Enter the symbol or abbreviation to use for the country's currency. For instance: DEM, FRF, Before Amount, or After Amount.

Specify where the currency symbol should be located, relative to the value.

Thousands Separator

Enter the symbol that will appear between groups of digits in large numbers. For instance, the digit grouping symbol here is a comma: $2,646,200.00

Decimal Symbol

Enter a symbol to go between the whole and decimal parts of the currency value. For example: 178.00

Conversion Rate to Euros

Enter a multiplier to convert the currency to Euros. Remember to update this conversion rate regularly, so your pricing will remain accurate as currencies fluctuate.

Before Amount, or After Amount

Specify where the currency symbol should be located, relative to the value in Euros.

Primary Currency

Either the country's currency, or Euros, will be displayed in the store as the primary unit of currency, with the other being secondary. Select which to use at the primary currency in your store.

Enclose the Secondary Currency with

Select or specify the symbols to surround the value of the secondary currency.

Generic Currency Formatting

Use this option to customize all aspects of displaying your currency. When you select this option, a new tab, Generic Currency Formatting, is added at the top section of the Edit Store screen. Click that link, and configure the following settings there:

Currency Symbol

Select the list option, and choose one of the symbols from the list, or select Other, and specify any symbol.

Positive Currency Format

Specify where the currency symbol should be located, relative to the value. The position of the currency symbol, indicated in the listed choices by a square placeholder symbol, can go before or after the number, with or without a space between the symbol and the number.

Negative Currency Format

Specify the appearance of negative currency values. The position of the currency symbol is represented by a square placeholder symbol. Formats are similar to those for positive values, but with the addition of parentheses and/or a negative symbol.

Digit Grouping Symbol

Enter the symbol that will appear between groups of digits in large numbers. For instance, the digit grouping symbol here is a comma: $4,356,500.00

Number of Digits in Group

Select the number of digits to go between each grouping symbol. In the example above there are 3 digits between each comma.

Decimal Symbol

Enter a symbol to go between the whole and decimal parts of the currency value. A period is used in this example: $99.95

Number of Digits after Decimal

Select the number of digits to be displayed after the decimal symbol. In both of the above examples, the number of digits after the decimal is 2.

US Currency Formatting

Formats the currency as standard US currency with a dollar sign, commas at thousands, and two decimal places for cents. No currency link is displayed at the top of the form.

Character Set

Set this to match the character set that you want to use in your store.

Require Tax

Select Require Tax to specify that tax must be calculated for all orders placed in the store. The resulting amount can be zero but the calculation must be performed.

Allow Modules Used by Store Morph Items to be Uninstalled (Not Recommended)

When you install a module, the module may add references to itself in template code. You can also manually edit template code to reference installed modules. When you uninstall a module, some modules can remove both types of references: the references that were added when the module was installed, and other references to the module that were added manually.

If you enable this feature and then uninstall a module, you are giving the module "permission" to automatically remove all references to itself in template code. There are two problems with this:

• Not all modules have the ability to perform this "automated reference removal". All Miva Merchant modules can do this, and some, but not all, third party modules can.
• When the module deletes references that were added manually, there may be unintended consequences for your page layout code.

For these reasons this feature is not enabled by default. If you remove a module, it is recommended that you manually inspect any template code that might have referenced that module and manually remove the references.