German translation for printable invoice - Bestellung vs Rechnung

Kess · #1 07-09-2012, 12:18 PM

Dear Ecwid German-speaking customers!

Not long ago we have received a request to change the title of the customer printable invoice from "Rechnung" to "Bestellung" for our customers to avoid legal issues - as far as we understand, according to German laws a document, that is printed before a customer receives the purchased goods, cannot be called Invoice (Rechnung) Please refer to this thread for details: http://www.ecwid.com/forums/showthread.php?p=49244

Now we're receiving requests from our customers from Germany, who ask us to rename the printable invoice title back to Rechnung.

Could you help us in this situation? Please share your ideas with us - which variant is better, and why? Your comments are greatly appreciated!

Pascal Winnen · #2 07-10-2012, 04:43 PM

Thanks Kess, if I understand the post in the thread you are linking to, the issue which was stated there is: when a customer placed an order and subsequently wants to print it, it says "RECHNUNG" (Invoice). the poster said it would be better to change it to "BESTELLUNG" (order) since that is what the customer wants to do at that point: print his/her order. I have no problems with that, although it's not a necessity for me. I am allowed to charge before the goods are delivered, so I need an INVOICE to do that. I would be surprised if that would be illegal in Germany, I have never heard of it before.

But if the shop owner opens the order and wants to print the invoice (to send it to the customer by email or add it to the shipment), it should WITHOUT A SINGLE DOUBT say INVOICE on the invoice.

I have to clarify to you that German is spoken in Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, regions in Italy, Rumania and Africa too. I am living and selling in Switzerland.

Thanks for the good work.
Pascal

Pet food2 · #3 07-12-2012, 05:45 PM

By 1st August Germany introduces the so called button law. This might make the task more complex. Law will require that the "order" (bestellen) button says "buy" (kaufen) or even better "buy at charges" (kostenpflichtig kaufen). The law requires to make it clear to customers, that if they buy something they have to pay for it. Sounds crazy, no? But unfortunately its reality. The law also requires that the amount of the order be displayed close to the button....

besteller · #4 07-12-2012, 06:13 PM

If products bought in an order don't have countless availability, aren't always in sync with your stock or don't have universal fit and customers don't pay online its likely you will occassionally change the order later after communicating with your customer. Thats why its great if the customer printed document is called Bestellung (order).

But as already mentioned above it realy makes no sense, that in the backend you have a button that says Rechnung drucken (print invoice) and then prints a document with a title Bestellung (order). If your application only has one data-dictionary field for both then you have to switch the single entry to Rechnung (invoice). And in this case, all users with a scenario like above need to adjust with the translation tool. Maybe not all your customers will make errors with that step like I did

Some explanations on your technical aspects may help to better understand, why this small correction of something that looks like a bug to me, seems to be complicated. Given the other post regarding that strange button law more flexibility might help in future revisions. But I hope that the correct wording for the invoices can be done much simpler. As Ecwid is pretty good this just would make it even greater! Thank you and your team.

Pascal Winnen · #5 07-12-2012, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pet food2

By 1st August Germany introduces the so called button law. This might make the task more complex. Law will require that the "order" (bestellen) button says "buy" (kaufen) or even better "buy at charges" (kostenpflichtig kaufen). The law requires to make it clear to customers, that if they buy something they have to pay for it. Sounds crazy, no? But unfortunately its reality. The law also requires that the amount of the order be displayed close to the button....

I'm aware of that, but that refers to the button BEFORE the order is placed, so let's not complicate matters further...

- What the customer does in the front-end, is printing an order overview, so it should be called "order" (Bestellung) or "order overview" (Bestellübersicht)

- However, what the shop owner does in the back-end, is printing an invoice or a duplicate as a packing list, hence it should be called "invoice" (Rechnung)

The wording should be different front-end and back-end.

Phil Dieker · #6 07-13-2012, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pascal Winnen

I'm aware of that, but that refers to the button BEFORE the order is placed, so let's not complicate matters further...

- What the customer does in the front-end, is printing an order overview, so it should be called "order" (Bestellung) or "order overview" (Bestellübersicht)

- However, what the shop owner does in the back-end, is printing an invoice or a duplicate as a packing list, hence it should be called "invoice" (Rechnung)

The wording should be different front-end and back-end.

This is not fixed yet.
From the backend it has to be "RECHNUNG". Otherwise everybody who uses this for invoice-printing will have problems with the invoices with germn tax-authorities.

Regards
Phil

Pascal Winnen · #7 08-01-2012, 05:59 AM

Dear ECWID team, when will this finally be fixed? This is a really easy one!! Thank you, Pascal Winnen

Kess · #8 08-01-2012, 11:26 AM

Thank you everybody for sharing your opinions on the matter. The question is under consideration of Ecwid developers at the moment, we'll keep you updated.

Pascal Winnen · #9 08-02-2012, 09:21 AM

Thank you Kess, the decision to print "order /Bestellung" on the invoice was based on the misinterpreted request of a single user in Germany; so I hope it will be an easy decision to change it back to the originally correct term "invoice /Rechnung" on the invoice soon.

Kess · #10 08-03-2012, 12:09 PM

Thank you everybody for your assistance!

We plan to release a hotfix on Monday, that will include the corrections.

There is one thing I should explain: unfortunately, there is no way to use different words for the printable invoices (customer and admin) _in_the_default_ translation. That is why we have made them both "RECHNUNG" by default.

And those of you, who need it to say "BESTELLUNG" in the _customer_ printable invoice (the one that your customers can print after they have placed their orders) can always do it for their storefronts with the help of Ecwid Translation Tool. As a result they will have "RECHNUNG" in the admin printable invoices and "BESTELLUNG" in the customer printable invoices.

We hope this solution suits everyone.