(*) Titles are sold at price listed

Common Question Contents

• Site Security
• Creating an Account
• Logging Into Your Account
• Adding Items to the Shopping Cart
• Changing Items within the Shopping Cart
• Selecting a Coupon
• Checkout Process
• Searching for Products
• Browser Compatibility

Site Security

Intercontinental Subscription Service makes every effort to make certain your information is secured and kept confidential. To prove this we've signed up with the industry leader in security, Verisign, for our security level for protecting all pages that could have confidential information (Account Creation, My Account, Checkout, etc.).

In addition to using the most secure and trusted SSL certficate we also utilize a program called Hacker Safe which tests our site daily for vulnerabilities so that we can further say our site is secure. This program tests for every currently known vulnerability and adds new ones as they come out.

With both of the above programs we can say with confidence that the efforts and safe guards to protect your information is being done with extreme due diligence.

Creating an Account

Creating an account is a requirement to do purchases on the site.

Notes:

1. This isn't a requirement for viewing the products that are on the site.
2. If you don't have an account you may still add items to your shopping cart. When you do create an account eh information will automatically be transferred to your shopping cart when you log into the system.

To create an account on the system do the following:

1. Click on the  on the left side of the screen or the top right hand corner of the page
2. Fill in the required information
   1. Required
      1. First Name
      2. Last Name
      3. Telephone Number
      4. Username
      5. Password (and the confirmation that must match)
      6. Email Address
   2. Optional
      1. The "Group Purchasing Member or Association Member Identification Code (if applicable)" is an optional component and is how we can tie your account with an account that has a group purchasing contract with us.
         1. Notes
            1. If you don't have your GPO number and believe you should you can contact your corporate office or call ISS at 800-824-6247 for assistance.
   3. Click on the button at the bottom of the form when you're done
   4. You will be informed your account has been created and will now be able to log into the system
      1. Notes:
         1. If the Username is already used you will be informed that the username is already used and that you need to choose a new one. Enter a new username and re-enter your password and repeat step 3 above.
         2. If the Password and the Password Confirmation do not match you will be informed and asked to re-enter this information. Upon re-entering this information continue to step 3 above.
         3. If you entered a Group Purchasing Member number and it doesn't match one that is already in the system you will be informed and can either correct the member number or remove it and continue onto step 3 above.

Logging Into Your Account

After you have an account created in the system going forward you can log into the system so that you can place orders, review past orders, submit support incidents, etc.

To do this do the following:

1. Click on the on the left side of the screen or the top right hand corner of the page
2. Fill in the required information
   
3. Click on the button at the bottom of the form when you're done
4. If the information you entered is succesful you will be redirected to the Products page so that you can immediately start ordering products
   1. Notes:
      1. If you enter an invalid username and/or password you will be informed and asked to enter the information in again.
      2. You will also see that your name and username is now showing in the upper right hand corner of the screen showing that you're logged into the system.

Adding Items to the Shopping Cart

Adding products to the shopping cart is fundamental in any e-commerce system and where you'd like to purchase products. Whether you're on the homepage, products page or other areas of the site you will notice an icon that says . This icon is all that is needed to add an item to your shopping cart.

When you click this button the screen will reload and you will notice on the left side of the "Cart Summary" (image to the right) at the bottom of the navigation menu that your magazine has been added.

If you wish to change the items within your shopping cart or are ready to check out and make your purchase you can click on the button on the left side or on "View Detail" of the cart summary page at teh bottom of the navigation menu.

Changing Items within the Shopping Cart

When you're ready to checkout, make changes to your shopping cart you will click on either the button on the left side or on "View Detail" of the cart summary page at teh bottom of the navigation menu. When you click on the Checkout/View Detaial button you will see a screen similar to the one below.

Description of the Shopping Cart layout

1. Quantity: This is the quantity of the magazines that are set to be ordered for the specific magazine.
2. Magazine Name: This is the name of the magazine along with how many issues that you're purchasing
3. Magazine Code: This is a unique identifier for identifying the specific magazine that you're purchasing.
4. New /  Renewal: States whether the magazine is a new purchase or if you're renewing (extending) an existing subscription.
5. Unit Price: This is the web site cost of the magazine and isn't the cover price that is listed on the magazine cover.
6. Savings: This is any savings that you're entitled to either via a coupon, online discounts from the magazine publisher, discount from a Group Purchasing Member discount, etc.
7. Subtotal: The Unit Price minus any Savings will be the Subtotal of this individual magazine purchase.
8. Delete: This will remove the magazine from the shopping cart.
   1. Note: You may also change the quantity to 0 (zero) and clicking on the
9. Gross Total: A summary of all the items within the shopping cart that before any additional charges/discounts.
10. Less Publishers Offer: Any special discounts that the magazine publisher is currently offering.
11. Less Coupon Savings: If you're using a coupon and the coupon needs to apply a discount the information will be shown here.
12. Sales Tax: If we're required to charge sales tax for your billing address this will be listed here.
13. Shipping/Handling: If there are any shipping and/or handling charges for the magazines/products you've purchased this will be shown here.
14. Technical Journal Service Fee: If you've purchased any technical journals which require any special fees this will be separated and shown here.
15. Total Due: This is the final total of what you need to pay based on the information from above.
16. Total items in shopping cart: This gives you a total of the quantity of the items that are within your shopping cart.

There are two areas you can update on the shopping cart. The first is the quantity and just need to fill in the information the quantity of the magazines you want (e.g. 1, 2, 3, etc.) and the click on the button. This will update the quantity and the prices on the cart.

 The other area you can update is to remove the item from your shopping cart. This can be done in one of two ways. You can change the quantity to 0 (zero) and click on the button which will remove the item from your shopping cart or on the right click on the word and the item will be immediately removed from the shopping cart.

Once you're done making your changes you can either , , or if there are coupons that are available to you.

Selecting a Coupon

At times we will run specials for individual group members or visitors to the site. If we have such a special running for you at the top of the page it will state that "You have 2 coupons available for use. Click here to see the coupons that are available to you.". These coupons may or may not be available to you and will look somewhat similar to the one below.

 

1. To add a coupon to your order you can either click on the "Click Here" to attach coupon or the button within the shopping cart.
2. To attach the coupon that you want click on the button.
   1. When you click on this you will be immediately sent to your shopping cart so that you can immediately see the savings if you've reached the required number of magazines for the coupon to be effective.

Checkout Process

When you're ready to checkout, make changes to your shopping cart you will click on either the button on the left side or on "View Detail" of the cart summary page at teh bottom of the navigation menu. To proceed to the checkout process and purchase your products/magazines do the following.

1. Verify the items within your shopping cart
2. Click on the button at the top/bottom of the shopping cart view
   1. Note: You'll be directed to a new page that shows at the top the summary of the items within your shopping cart (read-only view)
3. You will now need to fill in the following information
   1. Bill To
      1. First Name
      2. Last Name
      3. Email Address
      4. Phone Number
      5. Street (1 of 2)
      6. Street (2 of 2) - this is optional
      7. City
      8. State
      9. Postal Code
   2. Ship To
      1. First Name
      2. Last Name
      3. Email Address
      4. Phone Number
      5. Street (1 of 2)
      6. Street (2 of 2) - this is optional
      7. City
      8. State
      9. Postal Code
   3. Gift Information
      1. Is this a gift (yes or no)
      2. Gift Comments - only needed to be filled in if this is a gift
   4. Payment Information
      1. Payment Type - how are you paying for this
         1. Notes
            1. The credit card information below is only needed if you're paying with a credit card.
      2. Card Number
      3. Card Expiration
      4. CVV Code
      5. Card Holder Name (Exactly as on the card)
   5. Comments / Questions - this goes straight to your assigned sales representative and any questions, comments, suggestions, etc. can go here and they'll make certain that it gets handled for you. This will also show up on your invoice as well.
   6. After everything is filled in you will click on the button at the bottom of the form
      1. You will then be directed to a page informing you that your order has been put in the queue and also will allow you to view a summary of your order.
         
      2. If you wish to view your confirmation click on the button and you'll see a simplified version of your invoice you just made.

Searching for Products

Trying to find your products is easy to do. Any magazine/product in the system can be searched for by filling in the search information on the left side of the screen (image to the right). You don't need to type in the information exactly as the system will do what's called a wildcard search.  The system will search the magazine/product name and the description of the magazine/product. If the information displayed in the search results are displayed on the screen they'll also be highlighted so that you can more easily see the information on the screen.

Browser Compatibility

With dozens of web browsers out on the Internet we've opted to standardize on the two main browsers on the Internet. These being Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Both are great web browsers and will display correctly on our site. We watch and keep track of the browsers that access our site and will add full support if it's already not there for any browser that consistently is over 10% of our visitors. We check the browser types that visit our site each week and make certain that what we're presenting to you will show consistently.