SQUIDOO HOW TO: EZ 1-2-3 TO SET UP YOUR ECRATER STORE & START SELLING PART 2 & 3 - WELCOME TO ECRATER HQ

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!

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.

We will break up the store setup into three parts as follows:

What we will work on next is the infamous shipping matrix! Please bear in mind the following when working on the shipping matrix.

     a. it works best for items of similar weight
     b. the unit of measure is only available in "lbs"
     c. it is not possible to designate S&H rates per item
     d. ALL data must be entered manually at this time.

If the items in your store vary significantly in weight, it may be best to open another Ecrater store for each set of products so that the shipping matrix will work for all products within any given store. This is another GREAT thing about Ecrater. You have the opportunity to open multiple stores based on your needs! Totally free. Let's get started now.

      1. If you are not already logged in, log into your Ecrater account
      2. Click on 'Weight Scales' on the left-hand navigation menu
      3. In the main frame, you have 4 choices for your weight scale: small, medium, large, and jumbo. Choose the most appropriate scale for your products.
           a. Click 'Update' once you are done.
      4. Click on 'Shipping Zones' on the left-hand navigation menu
     

      5. In the main frame, you have a zillion choices for destinations you are willing to ship to. As you notice, if you wish to ship to the entire USA, then you must choose US-mainland (48 states), Alaska and Hawaii individually. Check off all the countries you would like to ship to. If you've never shipped internationally before, it's a great time to start now.
           a. Click 'Update' once you are done.
      6. Click on 'Shipping Zones' on the left-hand navigation menu

      7. Click on 'Shipping Matrix' on the left-hand navigation menu
      8. In the main frame, you will be able to enter the shipping prices you would like to set for each shipping destination based on the weight scale you had chosen. For example, if all the items in your store are lightweight and weigh about the same, treat each "lb" as if it was a single item. And enter the shipping price as if you were entering it per item.

Note 1: You MUST enter the shipping prices for EACH destination you are willing to ship to, individually. Row by row, column by column. If you leave any field out, it will be considered as free shipping!

Note 2: Friendly reminder that the last column, which reads as 16+ if you had chosen the small scale, will dictate the shipping price increase for every 2 lbs thereafter. In this case, for every 2 lbs above 16 lbs for any given order. So plan accordingly.

a. Click 'Update' once you are done.
      9. Click on 'US Sales Tax' on the left-hand navigation menu.
     

      10. In the main frame, you will be able to enter the state tax rates for each state accordingly. For any questions related to this issue, it is advised that you contact your account or local authorities for information.

Stamps.com - Eliminate trips to the Post Office. Print on envelopes, labels or plain paper. Make mail look more professional!

Endicia - Endicia Internet Postage is a service from Envelope Manager Software, a leader in desktop mail software, with over 20 years of experience in the postal industry.

Pitney Bowes - The Mailstation 2 Digital Mailing System is an all purpose meter for low volume mailing needs. And with ShipStream postage software you can send packages right from your PC.

USPS Click 'N Ship - No monthly fee is required to print labels or postage using Click-N-Ship.

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.

EShoparama - More Stores At Your Fingertips !

Welcome to eCrater Ground Zero ! "Links to special stores in the eCrater community , whats eCrater? Its a shopping site of small online biz , often diverse and special sellers of niche products and services ! eCrater stores are often run by Mom's and Pops , or young entrepreneurs. They often have special ,vintage ,hard to find grey market items. Or just have a great deal and want to unload things !"

CafePress.com Marketplace. - "In the CafePress.com Marketplace, a dynamic online retail experience, visitors will find over 150 million unique products created by members around the globe. No matter what your passion, there's a product for you."

Welcome to Businesses Growing Together. - Dedicated sellers check out this resource for your business needs. "A network of sellers who specialize in online sales and are dedicated to helping each others businesses grow by referring current customers to each other. Our high level of standards to join our network ensure that we only deal with quality sellers and this gives us the confidence to pass those sellers on as referrals to our customers."

Zazzle ! - What more need I say! Check out their Disney Collection & more !

Blujay! - "Welcome to blujay.com your 100% free online classified marketplace. All features of blujay are free for buyers and sellers always. No bait and switch."

Promote your Website with BidVertiser - Get $20 in FREE clicks.

Squidoo Directory - More Squidoo Shopping