Not the most streamlined purchasing experience

[andrewducker]

Ages ago I discovered Smucker's Sugar-Free Jam. Which was awesome, because it didn't use maltitol, or any other sugar alcohol as a sugar replacement (they tend to give me an unhappy stomach), but instead used splenda, which doesn't seem to give me any negative side-effects at all.

Sadly, all of the places that imported it from the USA have stopped doing so, and nobody in the UK seems to be producing splenda-based jams.

Which is how I ended up buying Jon 'n Al's sugar-free jam. From New Zealand. Which, firstly, have the oldest looking website I've seen in quite some time, and secondly were being sold through Avidlite, who also have an ancient-looking website.

And when I actually bought what I wanted, it took me through a partner site (Sagepay, who seem to be part of the same Sage who do accounts packages, and were willing to let me pay by Visa, American Express, Paypal, etc.), and _then_ on to Paypal. So I got a receipt from Paypal telling me I'd paid, then from Sage, and then from Avidlite themselves. Exactly why I need three emails to let me know I successfully paid for something I do not know.

I'm sure the future was supposed to be better than this.

Comments

Yeah...

[meaningrequired.livejournal.com]

The future was meant to include replicators :(

[cosmolinguist]

You are buying sugar-free jam, something previous generations would've thought a meaningless phrase, from the other side of the planet. I'd say three e-mails is a pretty small blight on that future. :)

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Would diabetic jam not do?

[kiffkin.livejournal.com]

"nobody in the UK seems to be producing splenda-based jams"

Couldn't you try making your own? Importing jam from another continent seems pretty (read: extremely) excessive when it's something you can have a go at yourself without much hassle.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Oh I missed the Splenda based. I won't touch Splenda products, too many tales of possible carcinogenic side effects.

[andrewducker]

I can't find any studies showing it causes cancer in people. Got links?

[skington.livejournal.com]

Sage is involved in a process and you wonder why it's unnecessarily convoluted?

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

Sagepay is probably the most common payment gateway. I'm surprised you haven't used it before. It's used by most smaller online retailers because it doesn't charge a large monthly or annual fee. It also handles all the encryption and security requirements. Integrating that onto your own website is incredibly expensive - doable if you are Amazon but not going to happen if you are a small business processing a few transactions per day.

You wouldn't have been redirected to Paypal if you had just used a credit card rather than paying using your Paypal account.

[steer.livejournal.com]

Wow -- those are some ancient looking webpages. Quite appropriate for manufacturers of preserves.

[joexnz.livejournal.com]

Quite a lot of NZ is still on dial up, which probably explains the website.
They probably don't expect people in the uk to be ordering, I agree this is a touch excessive. So once you get a bread maker you'll be making this stuff at home???

[soon_lee]

"I'm sure the future was supposed to be better than this."

OTOH, you just bought jam, from New Zealand, using electrons!

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

Going off on the kind of post you hate..... [i.e. Andy has an issue, says "where can get X?" and people go off on "You need Y instead"] :-) :-)

Give up the bread (which as you know methinks is a good idea) and the need for jam disappears.... *

I like a bowl of fruit(berries/cherries etc) maybe with some full fat Greek yoghurt or cream. If you like mushy-ish, frozen berry mixes [defrosted!] are good, you can keep a good stock in the freezer and also are quite cheap...

Ditch the crutches of "replacements" and just dump the stuff that doesn't agree with you. Admit and embrace going against the grain - does it look like it's working out well for everybody else???

*OK, I am Scottish, I know there are porridge and tattie scone and sponge cake possibilities - but they are also on my list of "unecessary carbs"

[andrewducker]

It's not for bread. It's for awesome gluten-free crispbread things that Sainsbury's sell that are just delicious (and go well with a variety of things, but I love strawberry jam occasionally).

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

umm, Never mind me, I am on Planet Kirsty, where bread/crackers/muffins/teacakes etc. etc. are all one and might as well just not exist! Not for gluten-related reasons, just purely processed carb/grain in general not being something that agrees with me, and that I think are in any case totally uneccessary for pretty much anyone (and very probably, in any regular quantity, contributory to overeating issues/fat gain/blood sugar issues/diabetes etc...)

[andrewducker]

Yeah, I seem to be able to eat small amounts of gluten-free crackers and stop. If I couldn't stop after one then I definitely wouldn't have them in the house!

[meaningrequired.livejournal.com]

I am happy to spend a Sunday afternoon making jam, I've made it several times before and am happy to try a no/low sugar with splenda recipe!

http://www.food.com/recipe/no-sugar-added-blackberry-jam-with-splenda-94716

[andrewducker]

Looks staggeringly easy. Happy to give it a go!

[meaningrequired.livejournal.com]

The hardest bit is not cracking the jam jar with the incredibly hot jam.

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

I am going to make this

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/strawberry_freezer_jam.php

with the special needs kids I teach, so I don't have to risk boiling vats of goop and jar hassles with them (though jars in cold over that's set to heat to 100 works fine and, you can leave the jam a minute to go off the boil before you pour it in).

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

Just be aware that sugar is a preservative and with low sugar your jam won't last as log and will need fridged. But if it's tasty I suppose it won't last long anyway!