Run your online store on eCRATER

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Ranked #13,915 in Business, #205,353 overall

For all independent businesses, big or small.

With an free e-commerce tool like eCRATER, a lot of creative and determined individuals like myself have branch out and run our online businesses there. We learn from each others, overcome obstacles, celebrate our success, and cheer each other on in this ever expanding e-commerce landscape.

Contents at a Glance

Why should you open your store at eCRATER
1. eCrater provides free store hosting
2. Automatic submit to Google Product Search

3. Templates are clean and elegant
4. There is automatic inventory control.
5. Make it convenient for buyers

more...

Why should you open your store at eCRATER

Easy online tool that anyone can use

Many many years ago I created a an online store for my dad's jewelry business. I learned Dreamweaver in school and that is what I used to make the site from scratch. I took my own product photos, and integrated buy buttons from Paypal. I planned out categories ahead of time, and basically laid out the infrastructure for the whole thing. Fast forward to now, I moved the contents of that website and listed the products on eCRATER.

Why the change? On top of my head here's a list of attributes that I personally find appealing with eCRATER:

1. eCrater provides free store hosting

Yep, it is FREE.

eCrater.com is a free web store builder. It does not charge any money for listing products, nor does it charge any fees when an item is sold. This is good news for many small business, especially if you are just starting out. Lowered cost of operating a business allows you to stay competitive against the bigs guys.

2. Automatic submit to Google Product Search

Gain wider exposure for your products.

At eCrater, every listing is submitted to Google Product Search. When I made my first website, I used to write my own feed and do a manual submit every month to Froogle, which is now know as Google Product Search. In addition, all listings support Google Attributes, which are words that describe or details your products, and they make your listings much more searchable. Your products will have a much wider exposure if you use the power of Google Attributes and having rich keywords in your listings.

3. Templates are clean and elegant

And no HTML knowledge is required

As a designer, I am a control freak when it comes to aesthetic and looks. At first I thought it is a bit restricting when I found out that eCrater does not support any HTML. But the templates available are very clean looking, and there are enough color schemes for every type of business out there. The homepage layout is clean and concise, so your product and message are the focus when people visit your site. You can customize your store using your own images and written copy. Your "feature product" at the upper right corner changes every time anyone visit the home page, hence keeping the home page fresh. In the past, I used to manually change the picture of the product that I want to feature on the home page.

If you have beautifully photographed products and your copy writing is not too shabby, one can have a great looking e-commerce website. For example, this is my clothing store at eCrater.

4. There is automatic inventory control.

Managing your inventory made easier

There's no need to made duplicate listings if you have multiples of the same item. Just indicate the number of items you have when you list (inventory number won't show up on the live page). If something is sold, eCrater will deduct that amount from your inventory automatically, or hide that listing when your inventory is zero.

5. Make it convenient for buyers

Important informations are available at a glance

eCrater makes sure that each product page has all the essential information that all buyers wants to know when considering a purchase: shipping price and forms of payment accepted.

Shipping is necessary whenever you are shopping online. In order to find out whether the item listed is the best deal, shoppers needs to find out what is the final price is with shipping. eCrater makes sure you enter all shipping information on your listing. If you accept Paypal and/or Google checkout as a form of payment, eCrater makes sure that all buyers know that as well. It is important to make all purchasing information known right away so that buyers don't have to hunt down that piece of information.

In addition, communication between buyers and sellers are important. To make sure that sellers are not out of reach, an "Ask seller a question" link is displayed on all product pages. I used to code a form just like that in my old website. I recognized the importance of open easy communication, and eCrater acknowledges that too.

So how do I start?

Resourceful lens on eCrater

Starting anything new could be daunting, but many eCrater users here are super helpful. Here are some lens that explain in details on how to set up your eCrater store as well as ways you can promote your store.

Promoting your Shop with eCrater Widgets

Widgets are a fairly new feature from eCrater for promoting your products. Give them a try and get more exposure for your shop.

How to Start Selling on eCrater

eCrater.com is a free webstore service that is easy to set up and charges no fees for standard services. ECrater is easy to learn and is a perfect solution for anyone brand new to selling online but is also robust and efficient for experienced online...

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

My clothing store online

For an example of an eCrater store

Fides Fashion debuted in October 2007. Here you will find many well know brands names women clothing and accessories from department stores. Feel free to browse through the listings.

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Other eCRATER stores

If you run an eCrater store, add yours here.

You can expect great customer services from these fine people. Search though these stores whenever you are considering an online purchase.

(Reserve for eCrater stores only)

Run your online store on eCRATER

For all independent businesses, big or small.

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

Why should you open your store at eCRATER

Easy online tool that anyone can use

1. eCrater provides free store hosting

Yep, it is FREE.

2. Automatic submit to Google Product Search

Gain wider exposure for your products.

3. Templates are clean and elegant

And no HTML knowledge is required

4. There is automatic inventory control.

Managing your inventory made easier

5. Make it convenient for buyers

Important informations are available at a glance

So how do I start?

Resourceful lens on eCrater

My clothing store online

For an example of an eCrater store

Other eCRATER stores

If you run an eCrater store, add yours here.

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Please pick your widget size and display. Then click "Make the Widget" to get the code that's just right for you.

Voila: Just copy and paste this code into your own site. Have fun!

Oopsey! Please login to Squidoo in order to add this module to your lens.

eCRATER in the news

See what headlines eCRATER is creating

Inspiring books to keep us going

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Please pick your widget size and display. Then click "Make the Widget" to get the code that's just right for you.

Voila: Just copy and paste this code into your own site. Have fun!

Oopsey! Please login to Squidoo in order to add this module to your lens.

Great tunes I listen to while writing late at night

What are your favorites tunes to work to? Rank or add yours!

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Please pick your widget size and display. Then click "Make the Widget" to get the code that's just right for you.

Voila: Just copy and paste this code into your own site. Have fun!

Oopsey! Please login to Squidoo in order to add this module to your lens.

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