E-Commerce Setup and Management


The e-commerce portion of the administration tool allows you to put products in your catalog so that they can be sold on the Web.  There are many tools and features that allow you to do this.  Review bellow for a description of each section:


Manage Categories Section:
This section allows you to add, edit, and delete categories from your catalog (place on your web site where your products are sold). Categories group up products so that customers can quickly find what they are looking for. If you delete a category, all the products under that category are not deleted, but you will have to assign them to a different category under the "Edit Products" section in order to have them visible in the catalog.

Manage Products Section:
This section allows you to add, edit, or delete products from your catalog. If you delete a product it is gone for good, but if you set a product's status to "Inactive" then the product will not be seen from the website, but it will not be deleted from your catalog. To set a product to "Inactive" edit the product, and under the "Active Product:" section, set the drop-down to "No".

View Orders Section:
This section allows you to view orders that have been placed on your website. You can view them by date ordered, by amount of the order, or all of the orders at once. Once you have the orders listed, you will see all the collected information about the order, and will have the option to delete the order (which is permanent) or you can bring up the printable version, which creates a order that is print formated.

Shipping and Tax Section:
This allows you to set shipping and tax options that are appropriate to your needs. The tax is figured out based on your state, and a percentage that you set. The shipping is more complex, and can be setup to fit almost any need. See the Help under the shipping section for a more detailed explaination.

Real-Time Processors Section:
This section allows you to select which real-time credit card processor you want to use. You will need to have an account setup with these processors in order to use them. Or there is the "Regular SSL" option that doesn't use a 3rd party processor, but collects all the information from the customer locally.

Terms and Conditions Section:
The terms and conditions are displayed for the customer just before the final checkout is completed. It can be last minute details about the order, or simply the terms you have layed out for the order.

Check Statistics Section:
This section give full statistics about the visitors to your website. It gives visitors, page views, by date, and also tells ip and connection information. There is even a graphical representation of the hits to your website.

Turn E-Commerce Off Section:
Toggles the E-commerce on your website. You can turn it on and off without loosing any product or sale information, but it isn't recomened to click this button unless you are serious about turning the e-commerce off so that customers can't make purchases on your website.

Selling Products:

So, how do I get the cart setup so I can sell my first product?
The first step in selling a product is to create the category that the product will fall under. Go to the "Manage Categories" section, and click on the "New" button. Type in your new category name, and hit the "Add Category" button. Then, in the e-commerce navigation (at the top of page) click on the "Manage Products" section. Then click on the "New" button. This will bring you to the product setup page. Select the Category you want the product to fall under, and fill in the appropriate information for the product (name, sku, price, weight etc.) See help at the bottom of the "Add Product" for detailed information about each entry.

Once your first product has been inserted into your online category, you will be able to view it from your site by clicking on the "Shop Online" page. But, before you are ready to have someone purchase the product, you need to setup the checkout procedure to fit your companies needs.
1. Setup Shipping Options
-Choose the shipping method best fit to your needs. (see bottom of shipping page for details)
2. Setup Tax Options
-Set your tax rate, and the state that needs to have that rate calculated with the total.
3. Setup Your Real-Time Processor Options
-Choose how customers credit card information will be collected.(See bottom of processor page for details)
4. Setup Your Terms and Conditions (optional)
-If you choose to setup this section, the terms will be displayed on the checkout page.

That should be it. You are now ready to have customers come to your site and purchase your products.