Introducing FluentCart 1.3.9 π
We just released another great update of FluentCart.
In this update, we have added a super nice API for developers, where you can sell your own virtual/ghost products (that are not in the catalog). A programmatic selling layer designed for products that do not fit into a traditional product catalog. Internally, we refer to these asΒ Ghost Products. (more details in the changelog and dev docs).
New Payment Gateway: Mercado Pago
FluentCart now supports Mercado Pago for one-time payments.
Mercado Pago is widely used across Latin America, and this addition makes FluentCart more accessible for stores serving customers in those regions. Buyers can complete payments using a method they already trust, without being pushed toward unfamiliar gateways.
New Gutenberg Block: Add to Cart Button
FluentCart now includes a Gutenberg block for adding products to the cart.
This block enables you to place add-to-cart buttons directly within the WordPress editor, without the need for shortcodes or custom HTML.
Other Features and Improvements:
- New Shortcode: [fluent_cart_checkout_button]
- New Shortcode:Β [fluent_cart_add_to_cart_button]
- Fix: Dashboard Styling Issues
- Security Improvements
Full changelog article: https://fluentcart.com/blog/fluentcart-v1-3-9/
I am super excited about our internal roadmap as we are going to push it further in every cycle. We will have some major upgrades in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
Thanks for the note. Do you have a public roadmap for FluentCart?
William BeemΒ We have. But we have many internal ideas as well.
Shahjahan JewelΒ Has the roadmap been improved visually recently? I just noticed that upsell+downsell is not on the roadmap anymore. Is this correct?
Shahjahan JewelΒ really curious why you don't eat your own dogfood for the fluentcart roadmap, using boards roadmap?
You guys are really pushing the limit, amazing updates
Mercado Pago β€οΈ Thanks!
Shahjahan JewelΒ I was hoping that the mobile issue for the instant checkout would be solved
Natascha VantuykomΒ Yes, we will have another update in the next few days.
Shahjahan JewelΒ it's a 5 sec fix and you guys could have easily included it. Literally just add a media breakpoint that changes the layout to a display:block for smaller screen sizes.
Amazing update. Congrats!
So happy for my folks in LATAM for the Mercado Pago integration.
You guys bring in weeks something that itβs still non existent in many other carts. Top!
Jorge de los ReyesΒ wait for the coming weeks!
Shahjahan JewelΒ I like the concept of the ghost products, but I'm not a developer, can you provide some step-by-step tutorials on how to create and use such a product, and how it works on the frontend?
Natascha VantuykomΒ This API is built for the developers or low code concept. This is the technical documentation: https://dev.fluentcart.com/modules/custom-product-selling
Shahjahan JewelΒ thanks, but I think this is over my head :-)
DUH - Somehow I missed the rollout of this feature (probably because it was my birthday week).
Original comment:
It would be nice if you could have secret products like a "hide from shop" checkbox or a "hidden" category. Not the same as a ghost product, but it would help me and I'm sure others out.
Sometimes we want to create a product that we don't want to be public, for example, our 1:1 clients or community members that get special perks (akin to secret courses in community), beta testing new products, creating special bundles, etc.
WendyΒ Perkins ShoefΒ you can set a product to 'private'
Natascha VantuykomΒ how did I miss that when it came out in December? I wrote so many workarounds for a site that launched in November.
Natascha VantuykomΒ Actually, I went back to update the website just now and I remember that i did try to implement it. It still doesn't work for what we need.
The services need to be hidden from the shop (separating products from services). But I need people to still be able to see the product when they get to it from the services section of the website. One of the service has two options: one time or monthly. The cart handles that easily, but if they go straight to the checkout page, the option needs to be selected and they can't change their mind in the checkout. It's just a little more friction (and dev time that the client doesn't want to spend on when the cart works exactly as it should ... and they are used to adding the shop items now).
Also, when it was private, we had issues with the other service integrating with Fluent Booking. The booking service requires them to select a booking time first and then pay for it. When it was private, it didn't work.
Since both were more hassle than hiding from the shop page, we went with some janky options that were quick.
Thank you for integrating Mercado Pago with FluentCart. I don't know of any other WordPress cart (besides Woo π€’) doing this at the moment, and LATAM is a massive market - this is awesome.
Glad I could help with the testing!
Lucas KichΒ Thank you so much for helping the team. π«‘
Any update on the Square integration? I have two clients waiting patiently.
I haven't read all the documentation yet but could the Ghost Product functionality work for allowing members to make donations in any amount? I assume some light coding might be needed.
Thomas OatesΒ thanks for this comment. You got me thinking about some possibilities now. I'm trying to have all purhcases go through FCart instead of some through FCart and some through FForms.
MercadoPago the best news of the year!! Thank you so much for enabling FluentCart for LATAM!! π
Excellent, I'm very glad you're focusing on Latin America. Mercado Pago is accepted in many areas, but there are still others to cover. Unfortunately for me (in Costa Rica), I'm still limited to using only PayPal. It has worked for me, and I can still use it as a payment method, but it would be much more appealing to use another system, such as BAC San JosΓ© or even Tilopay, which are available in my country. For now, I'll continue using PayPal and wait for another payment system that simplifies transactions and reduces their cost.
Gran noticia para LATAM!!
Ghost Products is an interesting addition, especially for those of us who sell services along with digital and physical products (and thus far have to label a Service product as one of those two things). Are there plans to elevate this beyond needing custom code to put it into action?
For example, integrating with Fluent Forms so that dynamic products like the examples in the blog post can be created.
By the way, if there's an existing best practice for service products, or for allowing clients to build their own a la carte services based on form-based choices, I'm all ears! :-)
Matthew SelznickΒ I still think we really need a third category (digital and physical to a side), called "Services".
I gave this feedback / ideas almost a year ago: https://community.wpmanageninja.com/portal/space/fluent-cart/post/services-in-fluentcart
It may be interesting to bring this conversation back now Shahjahan JewelΒ
And also, Matthew, you may find the feedback interesting. Do not hesitate to check Nelson's work either. He's actively working on custom add ons for service providers. And, from the post I shared, you may find how a customization with this add ons coud look like.
Agreed with Matthew Selznick Jorge de los ReyesΒ Looking forward to this becoming a native feature soon, so everyone can create ghost products easily. For our use case, integration with FluentForms is essential. We need to build a dynamic calculator where customers can customize their plan and see real-time price updates before adding to cart or checkout. Shahjahan JewelΒ
Jorge de los ReyesΒ I offer services and would like this category, also. Not that I'm afraid to mislabel a product.
Jorge de los ReyesΒ I went back and checked your post from a year ago -- you nailed it. Hopefully the issue gets more attention this time around -- or maybe the Ghost Products thing is a step in that direction? Only Shahjahan JewelΒ can say for sure..!
Matthew SelznickΒ happy to read that! There are a lot of service providers here in the community. Hopefully we would be able to see (sometime) an official pronouncement on this topic!
Jorge de los ReyesΒ Yes to all the things. Myself, and all of my clients are service providers. If the client also has products, then FCart is needed. Otherwise we still need to keep using Fluent Forms. But it sucks when both are needed because the dashboard/order is not clean (there are two separate areas for orders).
Iβd love to sale product links for like things like digtal templates/downloads. So I could sale direct link like in woo commerce to give direct access to members, for example digital canva templates or a Google Drive folder.
Well done Shahjahan JewelΒ and the team. Any plans on adding manual subscriptions. Thank you
This is wonderful news! Finally Mercado Pago π
Do you plan to integrate Mercado Pago into Fluent Forms and Fluent Booking as well?
How to disable the floating cart? @Shahjahan Jewel
Love the ghost products Well done Shahjahan Jewel πΒ now cant wait to see the Elementor integration π
Could you please let us know if integrations with PayU, Netopia Payments, or EuPlΔtesc are planned for future releases?
https://www.euplatesc.ro/
https://netopia-payments.com/
https://www.payu.com/
Nice work Shahjahan JewelΒ . You guys are on a roll!
The shadow products are very interesting, though probably too hard to use for most people. Will you consider building a UI later to help create and manage shadow products more easily? Your examples of selling gift wrapping and extended support packages are nice and setting those up via a simple UI may be in the realm of possibility?
Could we have to option to embed the button ? Thank
Shahjahan JewelΒ lΒ welΒ welΒ OMG thank so much, I really appreaciate, I have already notice that the account I was thinking I sent to you never arrieve, maybe a chat error or human error (from my part).
But really happy you did it Shahjahan JewelΒ , WE APRECIATE IT A LOT, I WILL START TALKING TO ALL FRIENDS over here so they start to using it.
PD: IF you are able to get SUBSCRIPTION, IT WILL A SUPER GOAL. But understand that MERCADOPAGO API is just conflicting.
Thanks again.
Gonzalo Cayo BejaranoΒ The team is working on the subscription as well.
Shahjahan JewelΒ If you did it, you win in Latam
Are there any plans or existing features to allow add ons to products? Looking to add this for a client who wants to add a meal deal product where they can select their sandwich, crisps and drink as free add on items. I can do variations but this does not work for what they need
Hi, the short code - [fluent_cart_products]. Can we get categorization in the short code where we can use that shortcode directely in our Divi Builder or Elementor Etc, like [fluent_cart_products category="category"] and [fluent_cart_products category="category1, category2, category3"] etc with other parameters and filtration so that we can use the same shortcode in our builder design so that we can create our own product pages with custom design, and add the filtration with desired categoreis?
Hi, the following are the addon features we are also looking for from the team,
1) Another feature missing from FluentCart is the tabular product description. The product short description is fine, but in the detailed description we need some additional tables which show more details like specification, features, etc. in multiple tabls whiere usersc can switch between to show the details instead of one lengthy content.
2) And also the product ratings with stars in it, show the total number of stars, out of the registered uses and from anonymous users' ratings of the products, same reporting for the same to see the most rated products, etc.
3) The product cart count in the header, icons show the number of carts in the header.
4) Discount / Offer seal or icon with text in the product image to show the trending products, or with offers or discounted products to attract customers.
5) Rating and product comments below every product, to enable or disable product-wise features.
Those are basic and wanted features for any e-commerce, right? Considered as the addon feature in the coming release, please.
Hello, can we get a FluentCart product carousel option or plugin, or a short code, in order to see the product carousel? Instead of seeing the product in a museum gallery or columns, we are expecting any way to make the product carousel with a button to add to cart or buy it. I believe this will be useful to others too and considered as addon feayture to FluentCart.
Suffian AhmedΒ two buttons are good. Add to cart , and buy now!
Ming XuΒ Yes, two buttons are easy to use by the end user, either buy now | add to cart or buy now | wishlist, etc. Buttoms configuration has to be controlled by the dashboard admin.
Are there any plans of making a more complex variable product ability? For example, I have a shirt that comes in various sizes and colors. As of right now I have to have a separate product for each color shirt.
Christopher SoldanoΒ Product customization is on my wish list, also.
Christopher SoldanoΒ yes we need this too !
I found an issue in the 1.3.9 production build where some assets are not loading because a slash is missing in the asset path.
Great addition, Shahjahan JewelΒ Β GhostΒ Products solvedΒ a real pain point for us.
We runΒ PIFster,Β aΒ community-driven charitableΒ giving platform builtΒ on WordPress +Β FluentCart. OurΒ coreΒ checkoutΒ isΒ Pay What You WantΒ βΒ donorsΒ chooseΒ theirΒ ownΒ amountΒ (one-time,Β monthly, or annual), and we processΒ it throughΒ FluentCart'sΒ StripeΒ integration.
BeforeΒ GhostΒ Products, we had to maintainΒ a dummyΒ catalogΒ productΒ with fixed-price variations,Β thenΒ overrideΒ theΒ price atΒ checkout viaΒ aΒ chainΒ of hooksΒ βΒ cartΒ fill,Β $_REQUESTΒ bridging, subscriptionΒ amountΒ overrides.Β It worked, but it was fragile and requiredΒ environment-specific constantsΒ thatΒ couldΒ driftΒ betweenΒ devΒ and production.
With Ghost Products (v1.3.9), we replaced all of that with a single filter hook.Β Our frontend buildsΒ anΒ instant_checkoutΒ URLΒ withΒ the donor's chosenΒ amount, and aΒ fluent_cart/cart/validate_custom_itemΒ handlerΒ setsΒ the title,Β price, and metadata. NoΒ catalogΒ products,Β no variationΒ IDs, no configΒ constants.Β One-time donations,Β subscriptions, and giftΒ cardΒ purchasesΒ all flowΒ through theΒ same cleanΒ path.
The result:Β weΒ deletedΒ ~1,400Β lines of integrationΒ code andΒ 4 entireΒ serviceΒ classes.Β SubscriptionΒ renewals continueΒ to work becauseΒ FluentCart replaysΒ storedΒ orderΒ itemsΒ βΒ theΒ ghostΒ product hooksΒ onlyΒ fireΒ onΒ initialΒ checkout. TheΒ wholeΒ migrationΒ tookΒ aboutΒ aΒ day.
ForΒ anyoneΒ looking to implementΒ PWYW,Β donation-based checkout, or any customΒ pricingΒ model withΒ FluentCart βΒ Ghost Products is the way.Β IΒ don't seeΒ "Name Your Price" onΒ the roadmap, but honestly, GhostΒ Products makesΒ aΒ dedicatedΒ PWYW featureΒ unnecessary. TheΒ hooksΒ giveΒ you fullΒ control.
HugeΒ thanksΒ to theΒ FluentCart team for shippingΒ this.Β It's a genuinely developer-friendly API.