Zip. Zilch. Zero cost to you!

eCrater is a completely free marketplace not only for buyers, but also for sellers. Not only do you get your own store URL but have available at your fingertips, an easy to use website builder! No prior scripting or coding experience needed to succeed here.

The recipe for success requires only 3 ingredients in order to get things going: 1) quality products to sell in your store, 2) time to create and maintain your store, and 3) commitment to providing excellent customer service and to marketing your store.

History of Ecrater - Key Facts

Owner: Dimitri Slavov. A programmer by trade.

Vision: From the words of the owner - "I had a vision of a nice, clean marketplace - a place where buyers could easily buy and sellers would happily sell. I focused on that while building eCrater. "

The meaning behind eCrater's name:

The Birth of A Free Marketplace:

For more information, please see: here.

Ecrater is completely free for sellers. Come & explore this great marketplace!

Start selling on Ecrater with this FREE business card offer for new customers. Even FREE customized wedding stuff. Try it out now. We already have!

Now that you've signed up with Ecrater for a FREE store, sign up to promote your store for FREE too!

1. Compile a product list in a spreadsheet or Word document. Make sure to include these generic fields:
    a. Title
    b. Description
    c. Weight
    d. Price
    e. Quantity On-Hand
    f. SKU/ISBN/UPC etc. if applicable (may include your own inventory part numbers/codes)
    g. Location of your product photo
    h. Category & subcategory list - how many categories you will need for your store inventory

2. Research similar products online to come up with a competitive price

3. Create a meta description and a list of meta tags for your store. You will also need a Title Tag for your store. The Title Tag is displayed at the top of the browser when someone navigates to your store.

4. Jot down ideas for your "HOMEPAGE" introduction, "ABOUT US" page, "CONTACT US" page, "Terms & Conditions" page. For your FAQ page, consider what your customers may want to ask you or want to know about your store or your products. A list of 5-6 Questions & Answers would be a good start.

5. Decide on payment methods you would like to accept. Ie. Money Orders/Checks, Google Checkout, Paypal, etc. (We will explore these different payment systems in another lens!)

6. Create graphics for your store - logo banner, homepage photo, featured category photos (up to 5 can be displayed at a time)

     Note # 1: Home Page photos MUST be no larger than 175 x 196 px and must be in jpg, gif or png format
     Note # 2: Store logo/banner MUST be no larger than 250 x 68 px and must be in jpg, gif or png format

If you wish to use images which exceed these requirements and will therefore not display as nicely or correctly in your store, try using photo editors to fix them up before uploading them.

Simply go to eCrater and to sign up for an account.

Check out the Ecrater Community through their Forum. Know what the Ecrater sellers think about this free marketplace. Listen to their experiences. Learn what to expect.

After you log in, you will be taken to the welcome page where you will find your administrative tool for your store. Get acquainted with the Navigation for your Administrative Tool. There is not set rule on what to do first or last. But we will show you our own preference. We will break up the store setup into three parts as follows:

*NOTE: If you try to set up your inventory before you do the matrix and the inventory is made active, S&H will be free!

The Ecrater marketplace has a very simple, clean and easy to use interface. Here is your storefront. It consists of :

If you're creative, create your own store logo or banner!  Try out these FREE resources:
      1. - Cool Text is a free graphics generator for web pages and anywhere else you need an impressive logo without a lot of design work. Simply choose what kind of image you would like.     
      2. Banner Maker Pro - Create professional looking banner ads, web headers, buttons, animated gifs, logos, and Web graphics quickly with Banner Maker Pro. By using a wizard like interface, you can create great looking web graphics in just minutes.     
     3.  Banner Maker - Create Banners and Myspace Extended Network Banners     

Better yet, get an affordable and professional store logo and banner at a fraction of the cost right at Ecrater:
     
      1. http://dezigns.ecrater.com     
      2. http://brenbeads.ecrater.com     
      3. Or contact us if you like our designs and we will see what we can do for you at an affordable price!

Here is your standard category results page. Products are displayed in a very well organized table showing a product thumbnail, item description, price and a BUY NOW button.

Here is a sample of the product detail page. Another brilliant thing about Ecrater is that it allows you to upload as many as 10 product images per listing!!! So take advantage of it include photos of your product from different angles or placements.

Getting your homepage ready!

      1. Log into your Ecrater account
      2. Find the 'Texts & Colors' section of the navigation menu on the left-hand side
      3. Click on the "Color Templates" link
      4. In the main frame, you will see 7 different color templates you can choose from
      5. Decide on the color you want, and click on the template itself (DO NOT CLICK ON UPDATE YET)
      6. Viola! Now you are at the 'Update Home Page Image' page. See below picture. Remember where this home page image is situated? Upload the picture of your choice.
      7. After you are done uploading the home page image. Click on the 'CANCEL' button on the very same page. This means you are done with the image and do not have     to change it. Once you click on cancel, you are taken back to the 'Color Templates' page
      8. NOW, on the 'Color Templates page', click on the 'UPDATE' button to save and activate everything

Let's move on the store logo banner which will appear on the upper left hand corner of every page in your store.

1. Click on "Upload Logo" link on the left-hand side navigation menu.
2. In the main frame, you will see the option to browse for the banner on your computer
3. Click on 'Update' after you have located the image
      

Now you're done with the cosmetics part of your store setup. Next, we will head on over to your store policies and FAQ setup.

1. Click on "Edit Texts" link on the left-hand side navigation menu.
2. In the main frame, you will see all the various items you can customize about you and your store. Grab the notes that you had jotted down from the beginning to copy from
3. Click on 'Home'
       a. Enter your homepage introduction there. Ie. What you are selling, etc.
       b. Click on 'UPDATE' when you are done and you should be taken back to the "Edit Texts" page
4. Click on 'About Us'
      a. Enter information about your company. Ie. How long you have been in business, how it all started, etc.
     b. Click on 'UPDATE' when you are done and you should be taken back to the "Edit Texts" page
5. Click on 'Contact Us'
      a. Enter your contact information here
      b. Click on 'UPDATE' when you are done and you should be taken back to the "Edit Texts" page
6. Click on 'Terms & Conditions'
       a. Enter your T&C here. Ie. Shipping Policy, Return Policy, Payment Policy, Terms and Conditions for International customers, etc.
       b. Click on 'UPDATE' when you are done and you should be taken back to the "Edit Texts" page
7. Click on 'Title Tag'
       a. Enter what you would like to be displayed at the top of the browser when a visitor navigates to your storefront
       b. Click on 'UPDATE' when you are done and you should be taken back to the "Edit Texts" page
8. Click on 'Meta Description Tag'
       a. Enter a brief summary of your website.
       b. Click on 'UPDATE' when you are done and you should be taken back to the "Edit Texts" page
9. Click on 'Meta Keywords Tag'
       a. Enter keywords for your store separated by commas. Ie. Dolls, toys, etc.
       b. Click on 'UPDATE' when you are done and you should be taken back to the "Edit Texts" page

*NOTE : Thanks to the Ecrater administrators, there are quick tip reminders on some of these pages. Click on the Question Marks to read them!

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SHOPARAMA at SQUIDOO- Presented to you by Asaneagifts.com ! Bringing buyers and sellers into a single marketplace on Squidoo. Add your new store URL to our lens! And don't forget to rank the stars on it.

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