Store Creation and Maintenance
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Within the SoftCart "Store Manager" web interface, a simple instructional Store Creation Wizard takes you through the site building process step-by-step, using basic layout designs included with the program. The wizard helps you to create a few informative pages about your business and get you started with listing those first few items in the store.

The Store Manager is accessed through a web browser (such as IE or Netscape). This tool also allows you to manipulate product data in your store, such as product name, price, and description. You can even upload your preferred product image through the Store Manager interface.

You may access the Store Manager at any time during or after the initial store building process, maintaining your E-Commerce site at your convenience.

SoftCart Site Design Templates
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Customers using the E-Corp or E-Enterprise E-commerce plans may take advantage of various pre-designed templates for creating SoftCart-compatible web pages. These templates may be customized to incorporate the look and feel you prefer, or you may simply use the existing graphics and wording that is included with them.

Add/Delete Database Table Columns
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The SoftCart software includes a default text-format database with columns specifying various information about the products available in the online store. This database contains information such as SKU, product name, product description, price, category of the product, and product graphic (photo image).

The webmaster may edit this file to add additional columns or to delete columns of information that are not being used.

Product Categories
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The E-corp and E-Enterprise plans both support category creation. This means that your store may have several different categories for sorting out types of products that you offer.

For example, an online clothing shop might display the categories "Jeans" and "Sweaters". When a shopper select the "Sweaters" category, a list of sweater products of various styles is displayed.

Tax and Shipping
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Within the web-based Store Manager, the store merchant can specify different "zones" for identifying applicable tax areas and shipping allocations. 

Shipping can be defined in a number of ways: by price threshold (for example: orders totaling up to $19.99 will add $5.00 for shipping and orders totaling $29.99 will add $6.00 for shipping); by quantity (for example: 1-5 items accrues $5.00 shipping, 6-10 items accrues $10.00 shipping); or by weight-threshold (for example: $3.95 shipping applies to items less than 3 lbs, $7.00 shipping cost applies to items between 3-6 lbs).

Taxes may be entered as necessary according to the zones that are created. (For example: for a zone called "Texas" you may specify an 8.25% sales tax, while for another zone called "Outside of Texas" you enter 0 taxes.)

The E-Pro plan's version of SoftCart allows the merchant to create up to 3 different zones. Higher versions of the software allow the merchant to create as many tax/shipping zones as needed.

Real-time Processing with ClearCommerce
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The add on ClearCommerce module allows the merchant to process credit card transactions in real-time, using an automated authorization process. When a customer places an order, the credit card information is submitted through the payment gateway to contact the appropriate bank. Once the transaction has been approved, the funds are held in preparation for deposit to the merchant bank account.

Alternatively, some merchants prefer to use an offline processing method.

Offline Credit Card Processing
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Offline processing entails some labor on the part of the Merchant, but is easiest to adapt an existing business, and is generally more affordable for smaller Merchants. In this case, a business’s current credit card processor will suffice. With this method, the credit card information that is placed in the order is simply stored in the encrypted order logs for the Merchant to download at his/her convenience.  The software does not "talk" directly with the bank to pre-authorize the card; instead the Merchant downloads the order information from the website and uses their in-house credit card terminal to process the charges manually.