THE OPTIONS THEME

eBusiness - Selling items on the internet

Generally there are two ways of designing a page to sell items over the internet.

  1. create a page with the items on it and import the necessary code from the service you are using, or
  2. use a specific page type designed for that purpose.
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Page Creation Methods

Page Creation Methods

Method 1: Importing The Code

Services like paypal and e-junkie allow you to create items to sell. They then generate small pieces of code that can be placed in a web page to create a purchase button. If a person clicks on this button the piece of code is executed and the item is purchased. If you only have a few things for sale or you want to update the details personally by using a Content Management System (such as Webyep) then this may be the method for you. However if you have lots of things for sale or you do not want to update the pages by yourself then it will probably be better to use method 2.

Method 2: Specific Page Type

At the present time there are only specific page types for Paypal (Rapidcart and Payloom) and Google Checkout (Googaloom). If you use another service then you should use method 1.

If you have a large number of items for sale then by using a page type specifically made for eBusiness you can dramatically increase the initial creation and publication speed of the eBusiness pages. This means that you can have your business up and going faster.

If you provide the details of the items for sale and all I have to do is cut and paste the text, pictures etc. then it will probably take 2-5 minutes per item to enter the details.
This means I can probably do between 12 and 30 per hour.

Discount Codes

Discount Codes

Many services (like Paypal and e-junkie) are able to provide discounts to your customers. They do this by generating a discount code. If a customer uses this code when purchasing an item then the discount amount is taken off the item. If you have lots of items for sale and want to reduce their price then this method can be a lot easier than going through each item and discounting it individually (only to reverse it when the sale ends).

Googaloom

Googaloom

Googaloom looks just like Payloom but for Google Checkout.

Payloom

Payloom:

Stacked Layout:

Products are displayed vertically. This layout has fewer items per page than the grid layout, however each item can have a much more detailed description.

This layout contains:
A thumbnail picture of the product
The name of the product
A description of the product
The cost of the product
The different product options (size, model, colour etc.)
A more details link that shows a pop-up screen with a long description of the product.
An out of stock notification
A view shopping cart button

Grid Layout:

Products are displayed horizontally as an icon and therefore displays more items per page than the stacks layout. A detailed description of an item is viewed by clicking on a link that opens a pop-up screen (click thumbnails to the right).

This layout contains:
  • A thumbnail picture of the product
  • The name of the product
  • The cost of the product
  • A view shopping cart button
  • A more details link that shows a pop-up screen containing:
    • A long description of the product
    • An out of stock notification
    • Different product options (size, model, colour etc.)

RapidCart

RapidCart:

RapidCart Icon
RapidCart is an very good electronic purchasing system. It looks great and has a nice animation when you purchase a product. Additionally you can view the contents your shopping cart at anytime (via a popup window) without having to go to the paypal website. This looks much more professional and speeds up purchases.

Some other features include:
PayPal
• 18 currencies support
• complete cart with taxes and shipping
• uses PayPal only for payment
Prices
• default tax rate percentage
• shows prices with or without taxes
• special price
• taxes and shipping
Compatibility
• works with Safari, Firefox and IE7+
• works with all official themes and most of 3rd party
Internationalization
• customizable decimal separator
• customizable labels
Updates
• Sparkle framework
• frequent updates for bugfixing and improvements
Effects
• cool effects when adding items or emptying cart
• on-the-fly quantity increase/decrease with automatic update
Cart
• AJAX cross-page cart
• saved in cookies
• no need for PHP or database
• customizable expiration
• customizable icon size
• 1-5 column layout
• automatic sidebar positioning
• full summary including taxes and shipping
• powerful customizable layout
• on-the-fly update
Products
• products management
• automatic icon scaling
• name, SKU, description
• additional options with automatic dropdown or text field creation
• price, special price for promotions
• taxes and shipping
• ”out of stock” option