E-sales: Shopping for Software

• Introducing E-sales
• Ordering Software
• How can I pay for software?
• Delivery

On April 5, 2004, the ACCC switched our software sales and distribution to a Web site with a format that many of you are familiar with-- an online store with a shopping cart and check out.

The site, http://e-sales.accc.uic.edu, is restricted to current UIC faculty, staff, and students. To access it, you must first log in through Bluestem authentication using your UIC netid and ACCC password. After you log in, e-sales automatically detects your status as faculty/staff or student and displays only the software that you are allowed to purchase, given your status.

What software is available?

All the software that we have had available for sale or that we distributed on the Web or via FTP is available on the e-sales site. Of course, the software that was distributed at no cost before can be "purchased" at no cost through e-sales.

There are four different ways to find the software you can purchase. On the main page of the e-sales site (figure 1), you can find software by title, by product category, by publisher, or by operating system. Or you can simply perform a search to find what you are looking for.

The main page also has links to many popular software items. Click on one of the pictures of the featured products to be taken directly to that product's page.

Figure 1: E-sales Main Menu Notice from the locked padlock in the lower right corner that e-sales is a secure Web site.

How do I get more information about a particular product available on this site?

After you find the software you are looking for through one of the methods described above, click on the software's name and you will be shown the product's page (figure 2).

Figure 2: Eudora's Product Page Click the View Product Details button for more information about the software, including product description, licensing restrictions, support, upgrades, manuals (often links to manuals on the Web), and file size. There is also a link to installation instructions. Click Add to Cart to purchase the software even if the software is free.

From this page, you can click on the View Product Details button to obtain more information, including product description, licensing restrictions, license duration, version, support, upgrades, manuals, and file size. The link for installation instructions is also available from this page.

E-sales keeps a record of the software you purchase and marks the titles of that software with a red flag.

Each product's page also includes the available delivery options, i.e. either download the product or pick it up. Pickup sites are coded -- either BGRC for Benjamin Goldberg Research Center on the west side of campus or SEL for Science and Engineering Labs on the east side of campus. Some products, such as SPSS, allow you to purchase additional licenses if you already have the media and you want to install the software on another machine. Others, such as Eudora, which has only one delivery method, will already have that button selected (figure 2).

Once you have selected the software that you would like to purchase, click on the Add to Cart button (figure 2).

At this point you will be presented with the standard End User License Agreement. In order to to continue, you must agree to its terms. In addition, some software titles, such as SPSS, require that you also agree to a separate license agreement.

Once you get to your shopping cart, you can edit the quantities purchased for each item in your cart or you can remove the item altogether. Items you have previously selected but have not yet purchased will remain in the shopping cart until you purchase or remove them.

From the shopping cart, you can click on the Continue Shopping button to purchase more items, or on the Checkout button if you are done selecting your software.

Can I download software and distribute it to others in my department?

No. Licensing for the software that we distribute requires that we know who will use the software to download it. Another reason that the individual who will use the software must purchase it for himself or herself is that they have to agree to the software licensing agreement; you cannot agree on his/her behalf.

You can pay for software that you are purchasing for personal use with a credit card (figure 4). P-Cards may not be used for this purpose. If it is a departmental purchase, you can charge it to the appropriate C-FOAPAL account. Please note that for now, you will still need to send in a voucher via campus mail. Some of the software has a cost of $0. If all the software you are purchasing totals $0, you will not be asked to enter your credit card or C-FOAPAL account information.

You can only select one method of payment for all the software you are buying, so if you need to pay for some of the items with a credit card and some with a C-FOAPAL, you will need to purchase them separately.

Please note that purchases paid for with a credit card are subject to sales tax (figure 4).

Figure 4: Entering address and credit card information on the e-sales Billing Information page

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When you select the software to purchase, you will have an option to specify whether the software pickup will be in BGRC or SEL. Other software titles, Eudora, for example, are only available for download from the site (figure 3).

Figure3: Eudora's E-sales Download Page Notice that the page gives instructions and tips for people with various types of connections.

Downloads Off Campus

One added benefit to the e-sales site is that because the purchases go through Bluestem authentication, we can allow for distribution of software to machines off campus (figure 3). Please note that some restrictions still apply as to which software can be installed on home machines. When you select a piece of software, you should check in the software product details to see whether you can use it at home.

Comments are welcome; please send
them to Rima Patel, software@uic.edu