Permission before being allowed to purchase

[Snowgoat]

One of our products is psychological testing software, which can only be sold to approved health professionals or researchers, and cannot be offered on an open shopping cart system.

One solution to this is getting the customer to request prior approval to purchase and we then send them to a (non-public) shopping cart or, alternatively, supply them with an online invoice for secure online payment.

Another way might be to supply them with a code to enter the shopping cart.

Could anyone suggest a neater solution, preferably on an existing system?

 

[FreelanceSoftwareDeveloper]

What does the approval process look like, is it a manual review by yourself or is it automated based on some kind of registration numbers/name lookup?

 

[Snowgoat]

I'm afraid it's nothing simple like a membership registration no. with a professional body. Normaly it's a very short exchange of emails, which may include sight of a certificate, letter or proof of listing in a professional directory. It's totally different for each country.

So, in short, a manual, human, judgement.

 

[FreelanceSoftwareDeveloper]

I would say an online invoice with capability to take a payment would be the best option.

Is it a product the customer would by as a single item or would they also normally by other publically available items at the same time?

 

[Snowgoat]

Usually a single item, though there are repeat orders. We also receive them via fax and mail, which is normally a conventional purchase order, and makes it simple.

Yes, I think you're right - online secure invoice payment is probably the best way to go, and I think we may now have a solution to this besides PayPal.

 

[edmondscommerce]

I have a feeling we could do this with Magento using standard functionality

alternatively there are some extensions that look appropriate

http://www.magentocommerce.com/mage...1595/sitewards-business-to-business-extension

http://www.magentocommerce.com/mage...nsion/1964/magento-extension-shop-access-lock

 

[TotallySport]

Can i ask, if the purchase a one off purchase, never to be seen again? or do they need to buy updates, add ons, have payment plans etc, or additional software and support?