<![CDATA[VirtualBarter]]> <![CDATA[Change Log]]> As we continually implement many small enhancements and tweaks to the vBarter software, the Change Log provides details about noteworthy fixes, modifications and enhancements. Check back often to review the Change Log, as new enhacements and fixes will periodically be added to the top of each list.

Last Update: 5/11/2012

Enhancements...

  • On the Manage Members page in manage.vbarter.com, a next and previous button has been added to the member's detail page so that you can view numerous pages of member details without having to go back to the Manage Member's page each time.
  • When entering a new listing in the marketplace on the member site as well as in manage.vbarter, the length of the Item Name and the Short Description have been increased to allow for more room, while not affecting the page display format or the daily new listing email.
  • When entering a new listing, users can now select multiple categories for the listing to appear in, so when searching for a product or service listing, more offers will display.
  • On the Manage Members page in manage.vbarter.com, additional navigation filters have ben added to view selected number of members, next and previous page, as well as All members.
  • On the Item Manager page in manage.vbarter.com, the column headers are now clickable to resort the item list.
  • The Items display in the Item Manager have been separated into Local and Global. By selecting the appropriate link on the sub-menu you can view Local items (listings in your exchange) or Global Items (listings from members in other exchanges that your exchange is linked to). You can also check the Hide box on any Global Item Listing to hide the listing from displaying in your exchange.
  • Added 1099b trade sales details on the bottom of member's December and January statements, as well as added a new link on the Exchange tab to Send 1099b total sales details to members by email.
  • A free mobile app branded with your logo, that enables members to view their account balance, post a sale, view the marketplace and member directory, is now available to all exchanges with Pro level and above subscriptions.

Fixes...

  • When using the action button to post a payment by check, the description on the member's statement now displays Check instead of EFT.
  • Fixed the issue with certain browsers not being able to delete Inbox messages.
  • Corrected certain drop down slection boxes that were not in alphabetical order.
  • Modified the database query on certain reports that were taking too long to display.
  • Fixed the issue in Content Manager where some exchanges weren't able to change the images on the Featured Stories.
  • Added payment chargeback details in the transaction history on member's statements.
]]> <![CDATA[Change Log]]> As we implement many small enhancements and tweaks to the vBarter software each month, the Change Log will provide fixes, modification and enhancement details to exchange administrators.

2011-12-01: The application to send reminder notifications to admins or a member's broker that hasn't been working properly for some exchanges, has been fixed.

2011-12-01: The latency issue that caused a delay in displaying an exchange's statement in the vBarter network when clicking on View Statement on the Exchange tab, has been fixed. The occasional temporary system freeze-up due to this issue has been eliminated.

2011-12-02: A view statement link has been added to the CH tab. Therefore, exchanges with Network or Clearinghouse level versions of vBarter can now not only view statements for transactions in and out of their individual exchanges on the exchange tab, but in and and out of the network or clearinghouse on the CH tab as well.

2011-12-02: We have added a live chat button to www.virtualbarter.com as well as to www.support.virtualbarter.com. Starting next week, you will be able to chat with sales and support personnel in real time to get quick answers to questions or issues. If there isn't an agent available, you will have the opportunity to send a message.

2012-01-04: We have added a QuickFind to Add Broker to make it easier when selecting member accounts to convert to broker accounts.

]]> <![CDATA[vBarter Software Update]]> There were numerous software updates and enhancements over the past six months. Many of the enhancements provide for optional features such as API communication between different software applications, mobile phone apps, an Android app, and an iPhone app. 

Following details several of the more notable system enhancements...

vBarter's API server has several new API's that can enable exchanges to add members, query member information, post transactions, get account balance data and more from other software applications and websites. Exchanges desiring custom applications, specialized marketplaces or marketing websites can use these APIs to integrate vBarter functionality into other websites.

Exchanges with Pro subscriptions and above now have a mobile optimized website branded with your logo. Members can login, view account information, post a transaction, search the member directory and view latest marketplace offers with any browser software on any smartphone.

On the Content tab, you can now add video code from You Tube or any other video hosting site to display a video on the home page instead of the about text. 

On the Manage Members page, a new QuickPay icon was added to the Action Buttons to post the receipt of a payment by check or cash from a member. Posting a payment updates the member statement as well as batch processing.

On the Manage Members page, a new Referrals icon was added to the Action Buttons to easily send referrals to members. Simply click the hand icon to select the members and categories that you want to refer to a member and click Send. The member will receive an email with the contact information of all of the referrals you selected grouped together by their business categories.

On the Items tab, we have separated local items (items listed by your exchange members) from global items (items listed by members of other exchanges that your exchange is linked to). You can also filter individual global items that you do not want to display in your exchange by checking the box in the global item manager.

It is now easier to send mail to one or more members, or one or more vBarter alliance exchanges. Simply use the Send Mail app on the Mail tab to send an attractively formatted email branded with your logo to members or exchanges.

All email correspondence and system notices are now sent with the exchange administrator's email address in the From field so that members can reply to emails and notifications. In addition, the emails and templates have been updated.

Watch for addtional updates coming soon...

]]> <![CDATA[VirtualBarter Launches Enhanced Support Suite]]> Welcome to the all new Support Suite featuring news, an article knowledgebase, real time chat with barter professionals and support personel, and a support ticketing system to get answers to your questons, and resolutions to technical issues.

Be sure to check back often to find new tips and ideas. Subscribe to the news feed to get notified about the latest updates by email. And, enter any questions or software issues in the ticketing system for fastest response.

]]> <![CDATA[May vBarter Software Update]]> May Software Update: v4.41

Several enhancements, fixes and new features have been added to the vBarter software to improve the member experience, increase trade velocity and provide new prospective member contact management. Following are the details of new features:

Rollovers - Mouse rollovers have been added that display a small pop-up with member contact info, which makes it faster and easier to provide a member with contact info for another member. You'll find the pop-ups when you place your mouse cursor over the Company Name on the following pages: Manage, Quick Find (results) and Referrals.

Join Form - The display time for the Join form on your member site, that had to load thousands of member categories, has been cut in half.

Reports Fix - Added a filter to exclude Closed Accounts, so that the Member Reports results no longer includes any closed accounts.

Activity Log - Added a new report that displays Login Activity for members, brokers and Admins. The Activity Log report displays the contact info, login and logout times so that you can view which members are logging on to your online exchange.

No Item Listings - Added a new report to the Miscellaneous link that displays members that have not listed an item in your online marketplace. This is an ideal report to view which members do not have any trade offer listings, and to easily click on the Members Name to send them an email suggesting that they add their trade offers to the marketplace in order to get more sales.

Add Account - You can now add a Member to your exchange in manage.vbarter.com. Just click on Add Account on the Members tab to display the Join form.

And, as a reminder for exchanges not using Prospecting CRM yet... added in April:

Prospective Member CRM: A new App will be added to the vBarter software this week to provide contact relationship management for prospective members that enter their email address and contact info on your home page requesting additional information. The new CRM App can be accessed by clicking on Prospective Members on the Member Tab. You'll find all of the action buttons you are accustom to using for Member management, such as Notes, Reminders, Additional Contacts, Business Categories and Referrals. And, when a prospective member is ready to become an active member in your exchange, simply click on the button to convert their prospective account to an active member account, add the additional required information and click save.
]]> <![CDATA[April vBarter Software Update]]> April Software Update: v4.4

Several enhancements and new features have been added to the vBarter software to improve the member experience, increase trade velocity and provide new prospective member contact management. Following are the details of new features:

Auto-size images: To improve the look of the marketplace, all images uploaded with items will be autosized to the appropriate size, so item offers with oversized images will no longer distort pages in the marketplace.

Enhanced footer: In order to remain in compliance with new MasterCard and Visa regulations, two new pages for Privacy and Cancellation & Refunds Policy, and the ability to manage the content on the pages from the Content tab in http://manage.vbarter.com have been added to the footer of all vBarter exchange sites.

Browser Title bar: The browser title bar has been changed from the page's url to the name of the page to provide for better SEO and also to minimize the display of vBarter branding.

1099b Reporting: New filter settings have been added to the 1099b Reports to reduce manual editing and simplify eFile reporting.

And, for exchanges with Pro and above subscription levels...

Prospective Member CRM: A new App will be added to the vBarter software this week to provide contact relationship management for prospective members that enter their email address and contact info on your home page requesting additional information. The new CRM App can be accessed by clicking on Prospective Members on the Member Tab. You'll find all of the action buttons you are accustom to using for Member management, such as Notes, Reminders, Additional Contacts, Business Categories and Referrals. And, when a prospective member is ready to become an active member in your exchange, simply click on the button to convert their prospective account to an active member account, add the additional required information and click save.]]> <![CDATA[March vBarter Software Update]]> March Software Update: v4.3

Several enhancements and new features have been added to the vBarter software to improve the member interface, increase trade velocity and provide mew member referral communication. Following are the details:

Statements: A Print button has been added to the statements on both the member site and the manage site. Members and admins can now display and print or email a "printer ready" individual statement.

Member Login: Two additional login and password fields have been added for each member so that each account can now have up to three different logins. Ideal for an account owner to provide login access to bookkeepers, barter account managers, etc.

Online Marketplace: A new screen display has been added to the marketplace. When a member clicks on a sub-category on the buy page, the display now includes a thumbnail image, and additional details about the item offer including the quantity available, the price, the location and the expiration date.

Gateway Account: VirtualBarter now offers exchanges an additional Gateway option as an alternative to Authorize.net, with its own NMI processing gateway to automatically process member fees to credit cards or checking accounts. Features include automated processing, virtual terminal, recurring transactions, ACH charges to checking accounts and full reporting at pricing approximately 30% less than authorize.net.

And, for exchanges with Pro and above subscription levels...

Referral App: A new App has been added to the vBarter software to easily send referrals to members who request contact information for a member or members that provide the product or service they are looking for. Admins and brokers can select one or more member referrals from the member list, filter by a category to display only the members that fit the filter criteria and then click a button to email the referrals to members. The new Referral App can be accessed by clicking on the third Action button on the Manage Members Page. Be sure to click the Action button for the member you want to email the referrals to. Complete details and instructions to use the App can be found on the VirtualBarter Wiki under the Member Referrals topic.
 ]]> <![CDATA[Enhancement: Member Statements]]>
We have modified the from email address and the subject for monthly statements so that the statement now comes from your exchange's admin account email address rather than a vbarter system email address.

Members can now reply to the email, and their email will be sent to your admin account's email address. 

]]> <![CDATA[Enhancement: Multiple Logins]]> We added an enhancement to vBarter that enables each member to have more than one login and password for their account. This new features enables the possibility for each account to have multiple logins, such as a login for the owner, a different login for the bookkeeper, etc. so that different people in a company no longer have to share the same login.

Additional logins are managed by the exchange admin on the Manage Members page, where you can add up to two additional logins and passwords for each member.
]]> <![CDATA[Enhancement: From email address]]>
In addition, we modified the text of the welcome email to make it more user friendly. We are working on modifying the application code for other emails, so that they too will display the from address of the exchange' admin.
]]> <![CDATA[Join Form Modifications]]> ]]> <![CDATA[FYI: Refund / Cancellation Policy Required]]> Pursuant to most credit card merchant account guidelines, if you charge an enrollment fee to join your exchange:
  1. The fee must be detailed in your trading rules
  2. You must detail your Refund / Cancellation policy in your trading rules.
FYI, you can modify your trading rules anytime from the Content tab at http://manage.vbarter.com.
]]> <![CDATA[Issue: Credit Line Request]]>
We are aware of the issue and are working on a fix. As this is a complex issue, it may take longer than usual to correct the problem.

Update 12/4/2009: The Credit Line Request notification has been fixed. When a member requests a credit line or credit line increase, the exchange admin will receive a notification in their Inbox.
]]> <![CDATA[Enhancement: Batch Fee Processing]]> If you typically uncheck "charge credit cards" when doing the monthly processing, and are doing a batch process several days after sending statements, if members had trade transactions posted to their account between receiving a statement and the day you did a batch process, the cash fee amount charged in the batch process was the total fees due on the date of the batch process rather than the fees owed at the close of the previous month and therefore, did not match the cash amount due on the statement.

As most exchanges seem to not process cash fees on the same day they do a month end process and send statements, we made a change to the batch processing routine.

An additional column was added to the batch processing application so that the Batch Processing page now displays not only the Current Cash Due today, but also the Month End Cash due. When you click the Process box, when the application modification will be completed, the batch process application will automatically process the Month End Cash due amount if you do not enter a different amount into the Amount Box. Check back the end of November for News detailing the completion of the modification. Should you prefer to process the Current Cash Due amount, you can simply check the Process box and enter that amount, or any amount into the Amount box and the routine will charge the amount entered into the box instead of the Month End Cash due.
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