How To Build Your Own Online Store At eCrater

eCrater is a 100% free Marketplace, and 100% free Online Store Builder.

Its true! Completely free with no strings attached and no fine print.

You build your very own online store, but it is a community marketplace as well.

They provide you with your very own URL. I have two stores, one is http://SalvageAdventure.eCrater.com, and my second is http://SalvageAdventureBooks.eCrater.com.

They provide you with everything you need to build and operate your store. Very easy, no expertise required.

They have a community forum, of very helpful and friendly people, where you can get help and answers to any questions you may have.

They have categories for you to select from so browsers in the marketplace can find your products, but in your store you name and choose what your categories will be.

They offer shopping cart, google checkout, and paypal options. Of course you can also choose other payment options you are willing to accept, such as money order and/or cashiers check.

You have options on how you will ship your orders, and how the customer will be charged for shipping. Included in price? No shipping fees? UPS or USPS? By weight? Many decisions to make. It truly is your store, with your terms.

Google feed of your products automatically.

Offers RSS feeds for every category page in your store.

When you go to http://eCrater.com you enter the Marketplace. This is where you will find all of the products that all of the member store owners have available for purchase.

At the top of the page you will see Categories, click on this to see a clear view of all categories and sub-categories available. The numbers you see are total amount of products offered in that category and sub-category. Find something that interests you and click on it. Now you can see all the products available in that category. All products are listed by the newest additions to stores first, then as you go through the pages the products have been in the stores longer. **Tip: When you are adding products to your store, it is important for you to choose the closest category for your product so browsers can find it easily.

Find a product you like and click on it. This takes you to the product page, take note of how it is designed, how this seller presents their product. On this page you are still in the marketplace, to see the sellers store, all of the products they offer, and how they operate their business click on "view store" to the right side of the photos. Notice the store opens up in a new window/tab, this is the sellers own store, you are no longer in the marketplace. Look at the URL, this is what your URL will look like, so when you are ready to sign up this will be your store/user name. You will want to give this a bit of thought. Click on About-Terms-Contact at the bottom of the page, and Categories-FAQ at the top of the page. Each store you visit will be different in these areas. Visit a few stores this way, pay attention to the layout of each one you visit, and how each seller is different in how they choose to operate their business. This will give you many ideas to consider when you are ready to build your own store.

Lets go back to the marketplace, click on "Community" and you will now be in the forum. This is where you go to get ideas, answers to your questions, and help if you need it. I spent a lot of time in the forum, reading and learning everything I needed to know to build my stores and operate efficiently. Take note, there is no way to get back to the marketplace from the forum. You will need to click your back button.

In the marketplace, click on FAQ for basic information about eCrater.

In the marketplace, click on About-Terms-DMCA- Contact-News to learn more about eCrater so you can decide if this is where you would like to conduct your business.

Are you an artist?

Do you make things?

Do you write ebooks?

Do you have a favorite hobby you love to do?

Do you practice "reuse" and have stuff you need to get rid of?

Do you have a brick and mortar store and want to expand?

Is there something you are passionate about?

There are so many things you can offer to the public, so many things you can do.

You have done your research and you are ready to start building your store.

1) You have product to sell.
**Tip: Consider following a theme with your product, that you can build your store around. A few examples would be, "Golf World" with everything golf, or "Magic Island" where magic tricks rule, or "Hamster Mania" small, but mighty.

2) You have decided on a great name for your store.
You have a product, a theme, and great name to go with it, all in a nice package ready to go.

To your left is a column titled "Navigation," find the section titled "texts & colors" click on "color templates." These are your choices. Highlight a button of your choice and click "update." Click preview to see if you like this color, if not go back to color templates and try a different color, always remember to click update.

**Tip: you can change your colors whenever you like, to keep your store fresh, or to follow holiday themes, or the seasons.

When you were touring the various seller stores in your research did you notice the banner at the top of each store?
If you clicked this it took you to the store home page. Some are the store name, and some are a cartoon or picture or......

In the "texts & colors" section, click on "upload logo."
When you are done "preview" your store to see if you are happy with the look.

Your home page image will be next.
This is located under your banner, on the left side of your store front page.

Upload the same way you did your banner.

The area you will be working in next is "edit texts."

This is your most important area where you will write your "home" page welcome message, your "about" section, your "terms" information, and your "contact" information.

Remember, this is your store and your business. Be clear in each area so there will be no misunderstandings with your customers later.

This area is completely up to you.

Some people use it because they are familiar with the type of questions their customers ask.
Some people do not use it. The decision is what you think is best for your business.

Wow, a lot of work and decisions to make.

How you prefer to ship your orders is a big decision to make. There are a few options to consider.

What type of items will you be selling?
What type of shipping service do you prefer?
Do you already have auto shipping set up with your Paypal account?

All of these types of questions must be addressed when you set up your shipping preferences.

What ever you decide on, be sure to make your shipping procedure clear in your "terms" area so the customer understands how you ship their order.

I use the USPS. Why did I choose this option?

1) Our neighborhood Post Office is next door to where I live, very convenient.
2) I enter the weight of each item I sell, when creating the product page, and the postage is automatically calculated by the choices the customer makes, easy.

**Tip: As a backup, I also filled out the shipping matrix because every once in a while the USPS site is down. If you get an order while the site is not operating properly, and you do not have the shipping matrix filled out then the customer will not be charged for shipping. This is not acceptable to me, due to my operating procedures, when a customer places an order I will process that order and have it in the mail within 24 hours after the order was placed. I will not contact the customer and tell them there was some type of mistake and they owe me more money. I feel this is not good business practice.

To set up the USPS shipping option: in your office go to "account" section and click on "options." At the bottom of the page check the box next to "enable USPS calculated shipping instead". On the left side are all the domestic and international services available. Highlight the service that you want to offer, click the "add" button where that service should show up in the box on the right. Keep doing this until you have selected all the options you will offer to the customer. At the bottom of the page click "update".
**Tip: If you change your mind on a selection, highlight it in the box on the right and click the "rem" button. Rem is remove.
**Tip: No mater how you choose to ship, protect yourself with each order by including Delivery Confirmation.

In the navigation column, under shipping & taxes, click on "shipping zones". Check each box for destinations you are willing to ship to. When you are done checking boxes, go down to the bottom of the page and click "update".

Thank you tagsforkids for your art work. Click on stamp to see more art from tagsforkids.

In your office, in the "basic set up" section, click "payment options".

Check each box next to the payment option you choose to accept. Fill in the information as requested.

When you are finished, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "update".
**Tip: You may want to explain your payment policy in your "terms" area so the customer has a clear understanding of what you will accept.

Each store owner has their own personal preferences and reasons why they choose those preferences.

In my store, I use paypal only. I have my reasons why. Many experienced store owners will tell you the more options you offer, the better chance you have to make a sale.

In your office, under "shipping & taxes" click on "US sales tax".

Check the box next to the state you will be collecting for, and enter the tax rate.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click update.

When your customer, from that state, places an order, the tax will automatically be added.

Orders: this is where you see the orders you have received. Click on the order to see the details.
**Tip: You will receive an email notice from eCrater whenever you get an order.

Global Editor: ????I do not know????

On-Hold: this puts your store on hold, no orders can be placed. Use this if you will be going out of town, or any reason you need to close shop for a while.

Bulk Lister/eBay Import: you can add bulk, and import from ebay. Requirements and help are there to assist you along the way.

Promote My Store: has good information to help you market your store and products.

Widgets: do you have another web site or blog? I like to use these widgets to promote my store and products.

Store Options:
Enable Inventory Control: you want to check this box if you have a limited number of items available for sale. In your product listing you put how many of that product you have available for purchase. eCrater's automated system counts down your orders until it reaches 0, then hides the product listing so there can be no over ordering. Always remember to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "update".

Set List View as Default: after you have added a few products to your store, check this box then preview your store to see if you like this layout or the original default layout. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "update". If you do not like the look, go back and un-check the box. Don't forget to click "update" whenever you make any changes.

Enable GBP Currency: check this box if applicable to you. Don't forget to click "update" before leaving page.

Enable Google Analytics: if this pertains to you. Don't forget to click "update" before leaving page.

Change Password: this is where you can change your password you use to sign in. Don't forget to click update.

Edit Account Info.: This is your private contact information, in case eCrater needs to contact you. It is important for you to keep this information updated. Don't forget to click "update" before leaving page.
**Tip: Many people are confused about the "e-mail for orders" area. This email is where you want your orders sent to, which can be different from the email you signed up with. Why? If you use paypal then the orders email must be the same as your paypal email. Also, for every new store you set up, you need to have a different email address for each store, but you want all of your orders from all of your stores to go to one email address.

Delete Account: no longer interested in having an online store with eCrater? This is where you delete your account.

When it comes to selling on the internet good quality photos are key to success. The customer can not hold the item in their hands and look at it, deciding if this is really what they want or not. Your photos serve this purpose. You can post up to 10 photos for each product listing. Make sure you take good quality photos, from all angles, just as if the customer were looking at it in their hands.

Written description of the item is also very important. Different people have various points of view, in this area, on how this should be done. I have learned when a person is shopping all they want are the detailed facts, not too much reading. Online shoppers rely on the good photos, and the basic information to make their purchase decision.

How will you separate your goods into categories? Categories make it quick and easy for your customer to find just what they are looking for.

What will you call your categories? You can be creative, but make it clear so your customer has an understanding of what they are doing.

Are you going to get creative and stick to your theme? You can have fun with this, or stick to the basic categories eCrater has set up.

Lets go into your store office and click on "categories". Click on "add new category" button. Enter the name of your first category.
**Tip: you have two choices on how you want to display your products on your stores home page. One is "featured" and the other is "random." You can only have seven featured categories on your home page at one time.

If you want "featured categories" on your home page, upload a featured product photo for this category. Click the button in the position you want this featured category photo, and click add. It may take a few moments for the photo to upload.
Repeat this step until you have listed all the categories you want to start with, along with featured category photos. Remember, only seven featured categories at one time. You can change them when ever you like.

If you want "random" only then you do not need to upload any photos in this section. Click the "none" button and add. Repeat this step until you have all of the categories listed that you want to start with.

Do you need sub-categories? Or will you be listing all of your products in main categories only?

If you will be using sub-categories, go into your office, click on categories. You will see a list of all of your categories you have set up so far. Click on the category you want to add a sub-category to. Click on the "add new category" button and add your sub-category title. Click add. Repeat as needed.

While we are here, when you are in your category list page, to the right you will see a pencil symbol. Click on this to edit your category information. The red X deletes the category. Do not delete until you have moved your products somewhere else. The green arrow means choose new root category.

When you are done with setting up your categories it is a good time to preview your store. Click around to see how it looks, if you want to make any changes, or if you are happy with what has been completed. I always do a preview of my store after any changes I make to be sure I like how it looks and to double check that I did not make any mistakes.

In your office, click "products". Click the "add new product" button. This is your product page, the page the customer clicks on to view your product. Everything you do on this page is important for marketing and selling the product.

This page is easy and self-explanatory. To the right of each section you will see question marks, these have good tips and instructions for that area.

Name: in this area you want to be as descriptive as possible for product search engines to lock on to your product. Use keywords, and model numbers. For example, little red truck toy, would be better described as Tonka Little Red Engine Truck Model A-123 Metal Toy.

Description: this is where your words sell your product.

Picture: if you will only have one picture for your product then you want to upload it now. If you will be using more than one wait until you complete this page before uploading your photos.

Price: this is the price of your product. You do not need to use dollar sign, just numbers.

Local Category: this is your category list. Choose where the product is to be listed under.

Global Category: this is eCraters main category. Try to choose the best one for your product so browsers in the marketplace can find it easily.

Global Sub-Category:

Show as Featured on the Home Page: on your home page, on the top right, you have an area to feature one product. Check this box for the product you want to feature at this time. This can be changed by un-checking the box at any time. Always remember to click the "update" button after you make changes to any of your pages.

Show as Featured in the Category: when you click on a category that category page comes up. This feature item is at the top of the page and is helpful when you have many products listed in your categories. Check this box if you would like this product to be featured in the category page.

Hide this product: this is used if your product is temporarily sold out, but more will come soon or for any other reason you may have to remove the listing from customers view.

Used Products: check this box if the item you are selling is used. If the item is new, do nothing.

Taxable: click yes or no button.

Qty: this is how many of the product you have available for purchase. Remember to enable "Inventory Control" in the Account Options area.

Weight: this is your shipping area. How will this product be shipped? Click the appropriate button. If your method is weight based put your number in pounds. 1/4 lb=0.25, 1/2 lb=0.50, 3/4 lb=0.75, 1 lb=1, 1 1/2 lb=1.50 and so on....

Fixed Shipping To: you put the actual price to charge in each destination box.

Click the "update" button. Double check everything to make sure you are happy with what you have done. If you make any changes, do not forget to click the update button.

Now add your photos, if you have not completed this step yet. See the tab at the top of your product listing? Click on the tab. Click choose photo and then click add. This will upload your photo. The first photo is always your default photo, but you will be able to move them around as you like. Repeat this process until you have all of your photos uploaded for this product.

When you are done, in your navigation bar click products, you will see your product you just listed and the default photo. Click on preview to see your store and how the product page looks.