Online store, on your Website

Online Store

The first goal of your U3A website should be to get it up and running with visitors and members using it to see information such as membership, enrolment and classes on offer. As explained in the beyond basics section, the use of online forms allows members to complete class applications or membership applications from their home without the need to post or deliver completed paper forms to the office.

At this stage any payment for membership or classes still needs to be arranged as well as any manual checking processes regarding class quotas; that there are not too many members enrolled in one particular class.

This is where the next step can be taken with Weebly and your U3A website to include a store where membership and classes can be purchased online and controlled in regard to the quantity sold. Receipts are sent immediately, and payments are sent to the U3A electronically.

Note that the extensive and up to date details on setting up a store in Weebly can be found in the ecommerce help section.

The remainder of this section is a high-level overview of what a typical U3A online store could be in Weebly and what is needed to set one up, which is quite straight forward.

U3A Store Details

Setting up a store in Weebly is very straight forward and basically requires just your general U3A business details. All this is done through your Weebly main control page that you see when you log in.

Payments Setup

In order to receive payments electronically an account with a payment platform is required and in the example below stripe was chosen. This allows members or potential members to securely use debit cards, credit cards with options to use Apple Pay, Android Pay or PayPal. As indicated, there are different charges for each of the payment methods.

These charges were accurate at the time of developing the kit but should be checked at the time you are considering the possibility of a store.

Membership Examples in the Store

The store you create for U3A will consist of items that can be sold to members or potential members. The items have a name along with a picture, the price as well as a stock which is effectively a limit on the number that can be sold.

As you will see below the cost can be set to $0.00 for items that are free which can be events or special classes, or even all classes if that is the particular business model of your U3A.

​In the example there are 4 different types of membership that are available and again there is no limit on the number of types that can be offered to align with your business model of your U3A.

Class Examples in the Store

After memberships, classes would be the next item that could be sold to members in the members only area as explained in the beyond basics section. As you can see below each class can have its own price and also a limit that can be sold, referred to as stock. The stock limit ensures that you do not oversell a class, and the great thing is that Weebly is keeping count for you as the purchases are made so you can always see how many places remain avaialble.

If your U3A business model has free classes then the price can be simply set to $0.00 and the stock number would be set to the maximum class size. Weebly will manage the selling of free items, that is zero dollars at no charge to the member or the U3A.

Store Purchases

Examples

As items are sold, they appear in the Orders screen showing which member has purchased what item, the date and time of purchase along with the price they paid. This information can then be entered into a membership system if a membership was purchased, or class lists if a class was purchased. The membership system and classroom class list system is not part of Weebly.

​A fully integrated U3A management sytem is discussed further in the Business Management section of this U3A Website Kit.

Purchase Confirmation Emails

All purchases from the store generate an email confirmation / receipt to the member purchasing the item as well to a specified U3A staff, usually the treasurer, class co-ordinator or membership manager.

Refunds

Subject to your U3A business rules, should a paid class be cancelled, or a member advises that they cannot attend a class, then a refund is easily able to be applied through the payment platform which in this example is stripe.