shopping cart software

  1.   store setup
        a.   do you have all your categories and products up ?
          Make sure you have all the links working properly on your store connecting products with their categories etc. Try
             to make your site easy to use for your customers and state your company policies clearly if need be.
            * More information on categories & subcategories
            * More information on products & inventory
        b.   do you have a contact page ?
          It is important for your customers to contact you if they have any questions. An easy to find contact page might be
             a good idea! You can use your website text area to create an article. Use the url from that article to link to your store.
            
        c.   customization ?
          Volusion's software is customizable, and gives you HTML and ftp access. You can choose to use one of our free templates,
             create your own design, have Volusion design a custom site for you or integrate Volusion software into an existing website.
             In addition you have access within the admin section to change colors site wide on a real time basis.
            
        d.   do you have your email accounts setup ?
          Go to http://my.volusion.com and log into your account. (The login here is what you originally created when signing up)
                   1. Click email on the left side of the page
                   2. Click "Mailboxes" to add email accounts or "Aliases" to add alias accounts.
                   3. For an email account, add the email name, password and full name. For an alias account, add the email name and then
                       the full email address(es) to which the emails should be forwarded.
                   4. Click "Add Mailbox" or "Add Alias", depending on which you are creating.

            Some mailboxes/aliases you might want to create are customer service, support, bounced and sales.
                  
            To access the email accounts, use http://mail.yourdomain.com and log in with the email address and password you've
            created. You will only be able to access your mail accounts AFTER your site is live.

            * Make sure you have your email accounts listed in SETTINGS >> CONFIG VARIABLES >> EMAIL VARIABLES in
              your admin panel.
            *The POP3 variables for your bounced email account is required if you are going to be sending newsletters. You will input
             the bounced email account you just created at my.volusion along with the password you created for that account. The
             server field will most likely be filled with "mail.yourdomain.com".
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  2.   merchant account
        a.   do you have a merchant account ?
          Volusion Merchant Services provides online site owners with a low-cost, all in one online merchant account and
             gateway solution. Accept credit cards for payment directly on your site, and then have those funds placed directly
             into your bank account!
             
             
            If you decide to use a third party merchant account from the integrated gateway list, you can review the gateway setup
            instructions at this location within our Knowledge Base: Click Here
          b.   do you want to offer optional methods ?
            If you do not wish to process credit cards through your online store or you wish to offer additional methods of payment,
            you have a couple options to offer:
            Paypal Basic
            Google Checkout
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  3.   SSL

       a.   do you have an SSL ?
          For safe credit card transactions, all ecommerce sites must have a valid SSL and they must also be PCI compliant.
             Volusion is proud to provide a secure low cost SSL, and a network that is 100% CISP certified!
             * If you will be offering Google Checkout, they too require your domain to have an active SSL.
              
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  4.   shipping
        a.   make sure the shipping methods you wish to use are active and applied to states/countries.
        b.   do you have countries/states active and applied to your methods ?
          c.   do you want to receive LIVE rates form shipping carriers ?
   
for shipping setup help, see this manual page
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  5.   states/countries
         
        a.   what countries/states do you want active to make purchases ?
          In Your admin panel navigate to SETTINGS → COUNTRIES (or STATES). Make sure you activate the countries you want to be
             able to purchase from your store.

             *There is no reason to delete countries to which you do not wish to ship. Simply uncheck the ACTIVE checkbox

        b.   do you want to charge tax to any states ?
         In your admin panel navigate to SETTINGS>>TAX to setup. You can add a tax by state or zip code if necessary for your store.
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  6.   marketing
        Create a promotion to attract customers! Some examples of possible promotions are listed below:
          a.   free shipping promotion
             In version 5 there are two ways you can offer free shipping. One is to setup free shipping for all orders over a certain dollar
             amount, or you can offer free shipping by coupon code.
          b.   site wide discount
          c.   buy x get y free
            
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You are now ready to GO LIVE!
For information on how to make your domain live click HERE

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