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eBay
Marketplace Manager Questions
PowerWebBuilder
Questions
PowerSoftCart
Advanced
Where
can I see previews or demos of PowerCommerce?
Click here for some
introductory information about PowerCommerce.
Click
here to view an example PowerCommerce web site.
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Can
I upgrade my current SoftCart store to the PowerSoftCart
version?
There is not currently an upgrade version of
PowerSoftCart available; if you wish to switch to
PowerCommerce's latest features, you will actually need to
rebuild your store within PowerSoftCart. Mercantec is
currently working on an upgrade version that will hopefully
be released in the near future to ease the transition.
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How
can I create more pages in PowerWebBuilder?
The free version of PowerWebBuilder (available to
all hosted accounts) limits
you to creating 3 pages. If you wish to create more pages,
you may opt to upgrade to another version for an additional
charge.
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Can
I take credit cards online with PowerCommerce plans?
If you have an E-commerce plan with
PowerCommerce, the
"PowerPayment" merchant payment center is included
with your plan at no additional charge. This allows
you to connect with a merchant account (either an existing
merchant account or a new one) and process credit cards.
More
PowerCommerce Information
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Can
I implement PowerCommerce into an existing site design?
Yes, there are a couple of ways you can achieve this. For
any custom design, it is very important that you back up
your current site design in case you might need to restore
certain look and feel aspects after a publish.
A
feature in PowerSoftCart allows you to create
"buy now buttons". This allows you to create
shopping-functional buttons that you can "plug in"
to an existing site design; each button is coded to add a
specific product to the cart. You still need to
generate the shopping pages (such as the shopping cart view
and check out forms) through PowerWebBuilder, so you
may need to create your own custom template so the look of
those pages is similar to your other pre-designed pages.
Click here to learn more about how to add
"buy now" buttons to your site.
One
method to accomplish this is to maintain your current web
site design for the informative/advertising web pages, and
then link to the template-based online store pages you will
create in PowerCommerce. By default, you are required
to create at least one page in PowerWebBuilder before you
can configure your products in the shopping area, but you do
not necessarily have to use that page. After you
complete the entire setup process, you may simply include a
link to the storefront (for example, a link called "Our
Store") and upload those pages to your web hosting
account. When the visitor clicks this link, they will
proceed to the shopping area and leave your other web pages.
Click here for the format of linking directly
to a product from a page that was created outside of
PowerCommerce.
Another
way to accomplish this is to create a new template in
PowerWebBuilder and copy the HTML code from your
pre-designed pages into the PowerWebBuilder template.
Once you have saved this template and uploaded all of your
graphics, you should be able to work with that template for
the pages you create in PowerCommerce (you can assign this
template to any of the informative or shopping pages).
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What
type of fees do I have to pay for my listing?
To create a listing you will only be charged insertion
fees. The actual amount that you will be charged for
the listing is displayed by clicking on the “Verify
Listing” button. If the auction is successful, then
you will have to pay closing fees based upon the closing
amount of the auction.
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What
types of listings are supported?
The
Marketplace Manager offers two types of pricing structures:
an auction listing with a starting/minimum price; and a
fixed (set) price.
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How
do I set a "Buy It Now Price"?
Unfortunately the Mercantec Marketplace Manager does not
offer the eBay feature of “Buy It Now” in an auction
listing. The only options to accomplish this are: 1)
do a fixed price listing at the price that you want to sell
it or 2) do an auction listing but specify the
starting/initial bid as the dollar amount of the buy it now
price that you are seeking.
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How
do I set a reserve for the item that I am selling?
Unfortunately the Mercantec Marketplace Manager does not
offer the eBay feature of “Reserve in an auction listing.
The only options to accomplish this are: 1) do a fixed price
listing at the price that you want to sell it or 2) do an
auction listing but specify the starting/initial bid as the
dollar amount of the buy it now price that you are seeking.
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What
are elements?
Elements are things that can be inserted on any page
in your website. Examples of elements include: text,
images, map, slideshow, etc.
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How
do I edit the text on any page in my website?
After you have logged in, you must click on the
PowerWebBuilder icon on the dashboard screen. Then you
must select the page that you want to edit by selecting
“Edit an Existing Page” from the PowerWebBuilder Main
Menu. Then select the page that you want to edit and
click on the “Edit” button. Once the page loads in
the editor, click on the text that you want to edit.
The text should become highlighted with a striped yellow
background and a toolbar. Click on the “Edit”
button on the toolbar to change the text. Once done,
click on the “Save” button.
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How
do I add new text to any page in my website?
After you have logged in, you must click on the
PowerWebBuilder icon on the dashboard screen. Then you
must select the page that you want to edit by selecting
“Edit an Existing Page” from the PowerWebBuilder Main
Menu. Then select the page that you want to edit and
click on the “Edit” button. Once the page loads in
the editor, select the “Text” element from the
“Standard Element” menu.
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How
do
I add new elements to any page in my website?
After you have logged in, you must click on the
PowerWebBuilder icon on the dashboard screen. Then you
must select the page that you want to edit by selecting
“Edit an Existing Page” from the PowerWebBuilder Main
Menu. Then select the page that you want to edit and
click on the “Edit” button. Once the page loads in
the editor, select the type of element that you want to add
from the Insert menu.
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How
do I rename a page?
After you have logged in, you must click on the
PowerWebBuilder icon on the dashboard screen. Then you
must select the page that you want to rename by selecting
“Edit an Existing Page” from the PowerWebBuilder Main
Menu. Then select the page that you want to rename and
click on the “Edit” button. Once the page loads in
the editor select the “Save As” option from the File
menu. Enter the new name of the page that you want to
use, select the page tape as web page, and click on the Save
button. Next click on the “Delete an Existing
Page” from the PowerWebBuilder Main Menu. Then
select the page that you want to delete (the original name)
and click on the “Delete” button. Click on the
“OK” button on the alert to delete the page. For
your changes to take effect in your live website you will
then need to publish your website by clicking on the
“Publish” icon at the top of the screen.
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How
do
I delete a page?
After you have logged in, you must click on the
PowerWebBuilder icon on the dashboard screen. Next
click on the “Delete an Existing Page” from the
PowerWebBuilder Main Menu. Then select the page that
you want to delete (the original name) and click on the
“Delete” button. Click on the “OK” button on
the alert to delete the page. For your changes to take
effect in your live website you will then need to publish
your website by clicking on the “Publish” icon at the
top of the screen.
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When
I try to delete an existing page, I see a message that says
there are no pages to delete.
Certain pages, such as the home page and shopping cart
pages, are required and therefore will not be available for
removal. If you do not want someone to see one of the
pages (such as the home page), you can remove that button
from the other pages so the visitor will not have a way to
navigate to that page. The key shopping pages, however
are required for a successful order placement.
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How
do
I move elements around on a page in my website?
After you have logged in, you must click on the
PowerWebBuilder icon on the dashboard screen. Then you
must select the page that you want to edit by selecting
“Edit an Existing Page” from the PowerWebBuilder Main
Menu. Then select the page that you want to edit and
click on the “Edit” button. Once the page loads in
the editor, click on the text that you want to edit.
The text should become highlighted with a striped yellow
background and a toolbar. With your mouse click and
hold down in the yellow highlighted area while you drag your
mouse to the area on the screen where you image to be
positioned. Once you let up on the mouse button the
element will be placed in that position where you moved it.
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How
can I change the look and feel of my website?
To quickly change the entire look and feel of your
website, you can select another template and assign it to
all of the pages in your website. After you have
logged in, you must click on the PowerWebBuilder icon on the
dashboard screen. Then you must select the new
template that you want to use by selecting “Assign
Template To Page” from the PowerWebBuilder Main Menu and
then selecting the page(s) that you want to modify.
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How
do I create a custom template for my website?
After you have logged in, you must click on
the PowerWebBuilder icon on the dashboard screen. Then
you must select the “Templates” option from the Site
Manager menu in the PowerWebBuilder Main Menu. Next
click on the link to “Create a New Template”.
Similar to creating a page, you can insert and position
elements in your new template. Once you are done, save
the template with a new name. To assign your new
template to be used by the pages that you created, select
“Assign Template To Page” from the PowerWebBuilder Main
Menu and then selecting the page(s) that you want to modify.
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Can
I
use Dreamweaver, Frontpage, ColdFusion, etc. to create
templates?
No. PowerWebBuilder is a standalone product
that is used to create website. You can however use
these additional product to generate some HTML code and
insert it through our HTML element.
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How
do I turn off the flash intro?
To not use a flash introduction you must select the
“No Flash” option from the choice list in the “Flash
Introductions” menu option from the PowerWebBuilder Main
Menu.
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Can
I edit the flash intro design in more detail?
The flash intro tools included within PowerWebBuilder only
allow simple edits to the text message displayed. There is
not a way for you to edit the look and feel of the Flash
movie in another way. For a more custom Flash
animation, you may create your own using Macromedia software
and upload your custom Flash files and pages to the web site
hosting account.
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After
I have added a couple of custom pages to the website, I
can't change the actual name of the page, so it appears as
"custom ####" on the website.
After you have logged in, you must click on the
PowerWebBuilder icon on the dashboard screen. Then you
must select the page that you want to rename by selecting
“Edit an Existing Page” from the PowerWebBuilder Main
Menu. Then select the page that you want to rename and
click on the “Edit” button. Once the page loads in
the editor select the “Save As” option from the File
menu. Enter the new name of the page that you want to
use, select the page tape as web page, and click on the Save
button. Next click on the “Delete an Existing
Page” from the PowerWebBuilder Main Menu. Then
select the page that you want to delete (the original name)
and click on the “Delete” button. Click on the
“OK” button on the alert to delete the page. For
your changes to take effect in your live website you will
then need to publish your website by clicking on the
“Publish” icon at the top of the screen.
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Why
don't the edits I saved to my page in PowerWebBuilder
show up on the web site?
After you have edited the page, be sure to click
"Save" in the File menu on the editing screen.
Then, you must "publish" the page to reflect the
changes on the live site.
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The
changes I made to my design template are not showing up
on the live pages.
After you have edited the template, make sure you
"Save" it (File menu), and then Publish it using
the icon at the top right corner. Next, go to the
option in the left menu for "Assign Templates to
Pages" and reassign that template name to the
appropriate pages in the site. Then, republish the
site by selecting the Publish icon again. This will
republish all pages to reflect the new template version.
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Why
aren't my Web Log edits showing up on the live site?
In
order for your posts to show up on the web site, you must
click the "Finish" button after editing the post,
then when you return to the edit screen click
"Save". Then, on the page editing screen,
choose File >Save to save the page itself, and then
Publish the site again.
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The
dates for my Web Log posts are displaying with strange
characters.
Sometimes
during editing, the dates on your blog posts might start
displaying with % symbols and other strange characters.
If this occurs, go back to edit the blog and update the
"properties" again. Make sure the format of the
date and time are selected to your preference, and then Save
the changes. Then, save and republish the blog page and the
dates should display properly.
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How
do I add in a direct link to a product page inside the
store?
To insert a link that will be used inside your
store in an HTML element, the syntax of the link is as
follows:
<a
href="SHOWITEM#/Site/Item-3.html" ITEMID="22">link</a>
Be
sure to replace the file name with the appropriate item and
the link with the appropriate text.
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How
do I add in a direct link to a product page outside the
store?
To
insert a link that will be used outside of your store, the
format of the link is as follows:
http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-local/PowerShopper.cgi/Site/Item-3.html?X+Dispatcher++ItemID=3
Please
be sure to substitute the base of the url with the
appropriate domain name or IP address for your account.
Also, substitute the Item number with the appropriate ID for
that product.
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How
do I delete a product?
You
cannot delete a product completely, but you can deactivate
it – making it invisible to shoppers. In
PowerSoftCart, select the Edit feature for the product you
are seeking to change, and uncheck the box for “active”.
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I
created other informational pages in another program
(not in PowerWebBuilder). Can I edit them in the
PowerWebBuilder like my shopping pages?
No, only pages created with a PowerWebBuilder template
can be maintained that way. You can create your own
template using the graphics and style you prefer, and then
create those same pages within PowerWebBuilder.
Otherwise, you must maintain them separately from the
PowerWebBuilder pages and link to the shopping pages
appropriately.
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Every
time I republish design changes in PowerWebBuilder my
custom-created homepage gets replaced with a redirect page.
How do I prevent this?
Since PowerWebBuilder is intended to be used as the main
editor of the whole web site, it usually assumes that you
are creating your homepage inside the PoweWebBuilder
interface and automatically load that default setting each
time you publish. If you prefer to use your own custom
homepage and link from that to the shopping cart pages, you
can edit a configuration file to prevent the
"auto-replacement" from occurring.
There
are two values in the Dispatcher.cfg file in the cgi-local
directory. They are:
SITE_DEFAULT_DOCUMENT_DIR=/merc/tharris/tharrisPrivateHtDocsDir
SITE_DEFAULT_DOCUMENT=index.html
These
control where a redirect page could be written to. You can
modify these values post installation to write out a
redirect page to something different.
We
recommend only advanced users to attempt these edits.
For less advanced users, we recommend trying to create your
own custom template within PowerWebBuilder using the same
elements and information from your previously created custom
pages.
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Do
I have to republish the web site every time I edit
shipping or tax information?
No, when you edit details like product pricing, tax, and
shipping, you should not need to "publish" the web
site design again in PowerWebBuilder. When you next
visit the web site, the changes should be reflected.
If they are not, try hitting "refresh" or
"reload" on your browser, or make sure you are not
visiting a bookmarked page with a previous shopper id in the
url. If this refreshing does not work, try clearing
your browser cache.
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How
do I get a special attribute to show up on my product's
page?
First, create the new attribute in the Attributes editing
area under Catalog in PowerSoftCart.
For
example, Bob created an attribute called "COLOR"
and specified all the colors available for his products:
Red, Green, White, Blue, and Pink.
Next,
go to the Item Editor and select the product you want to
apply the attribute to. Click on the Attributes button
below the product summary and select the attribute name.
If the attribute has several options, be sure to check all
options that are associated with that product.
For
example, Bob chose "COLOR" for his "Bob's
Band T-Shirt" product and then checked Red and Blue as
the available options. This means that the other
colors will not appear as options on that product's page.
Be
sure to save all these settings you change to reflect them
on the web site.
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Why
are there so many shipping charges in the shopping cart?
There are two places where you can specify shipping and
handling charges. First is the Shipping option in the
menu under Checkout Counter. This is typically used to
define standard shipping charges that are options for all
products in the catalog.
However,
you can also specify special shipping and handling charges
on a per product basis, by selecting the Shipping option in
the Item Editor. This is helpful if a certain product
has a special handling charge that other products don't
have. Or, if shipping is free for all items except
that one certain item.
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I
tried to edit the "order complete" page with
my own text but the changes are reflecting on the final
order page.
There might be more than one page called Order Complete in
your list of editable pages. Look for the one with the
"order id" element on it - this is the default
page that displays after an order has been placed. It
is advised to include some text that thanks the customer and
explains the emails they will be receiving.
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Can
I edit the text before the Order ID on the confirmation
page?
Yes, you can edit the Order Complete page which includes
this order id element. Select the order id element and
edit it. The next screen will allow you to customize
the text that appears before the order id. For
example, you can type something like "Your Order ID
IS:".
We
also suggest that you include another text element on the
page to explain to the customer that their order has been
successfully placed.
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Why
does my navigation bar look different on one of my
pages?
You probably edited the navigation menu directly on that
certain page, rather than making that navigation menu change
on the design template. If you make the change on the
Template and then follow the steps to save and republish,
the navigation menu changes will appear on all pages
assigned to that template.
Or,
you might have two or more different templates assigned to
different pages. Check the Assign a template to a page
to see what template names are specified for each page.
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What
do I do after the auction has closed?
Once the auction for your listing has closed, you should
login to PowerCommerce and select the Marketplace Manager
option. Locate the listing item associated with this
auction, and enter the winning bidder's email address and
final price. Once this information is saved, an email
will automatically be sent to the bidder. The email
will include a link to a shopping cart created for their
item in the online store. When the bidder clicks on
the link, they may proceed to checkout right away, or
continue shopping and add additional items into their cart.
The check out process will be the usual method for your web
site used by all other shoppers.
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How
can I add "buy now" buttons to my current site
design?
1) During your first visit to PowerCommerce, go through the
PowerWebBuilder process to select a template design for your
shopping cart and checkout pages. This process will
create a "home" page for you, but you do not have
to use that page if you decide to use your own pre-designed
page. The first visit usually takes you through some
first-time steps to enter in categories and products also.
2)
In PowerSoftCart, select Item Editor. Find the product that
you want to create a button for and click "edit".
Select "Generate buy now button", and a
window will pop up displaying the HTML code for that button.
Copy the entire code.
3)
Paste the code into the HTML of your pre-design page. Be
sure to place the button beside a description or information
related to that specific product.
4)
Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each product button that you want
to add to the site.
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