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September 30th, 2009

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Editing Products

To Create a New Product

  1. On the left hand side, click the Products Tab.
  2. On the right side of this screen, click the Add New Product button.
  3. On this page, you will see a listing of the existing products on the left.  Begin to add your product’s information in the form on the right side of the screen:
    1. Product Name – Displayed at the top of the product, and used to generate the product link
    2. Stock Keeping Unit : Stock number
    3. Price: Price including change: e.g. 10.00
    4. Sale Price: If product is on sale, (optional)
    5. Description: Full description – include anything you’d like, click the “Visual” Tab at the top right to add rich text, links, bold, additional product images, etc.  To add a product thumbnail here:
      1. Resize your image to create your thumbnail.
      2. Upload your thumbnail to the Media Gallery.
      3. Get the link to the image file.  (In the media gallery, mouse over the image, click “View”.  Then click the image again to get the file url)
      4. Click the Image icon (looks like a tree, located on the 1st row, right)
      5. Paste the file url in the url field.
      6. Click insert.
    6. Additional Description: This is only displayed if the customer clicks on the product name (it is not displayed on the product listing page)
    7. Categories: Used to group products.  In some cases, there will be one category (e.g. “Featured” or “All Products” which is displayed on the cart home page)
    8. Tags: Additional descriptors for the products (include product materials, or item type, anything that a user may search for to find your product – tags are usually 1-2 words max)
    9. Price & Stock Control: Self explanatory, I usually don’t change these.
    10. Shipping Details: Define here if you would like to override the system-wide shipping settings.  (Set the system shipping under Products -> Settings -> Shipping Tab.  More on Shipping below)
    11. Variations: Any product variations e.g. Color, Size, etc.  **Important** If you change your pricing, you must set the pricing for each variation individually as well. See Variations section below.
    12. Advanced Options: I usually don’t change this section at all, you can if you’d like take your product offline by clicking the “No” next to publish.
    13. Product Images: Click the “Select Files” button, then browse to your product image – the system automatically creates a thumbnail for you.  If you want to change the thumbnail sizing, etc – mouseover the thumbnail and click the Edit link.  If you need additional thumbnails, you will need to insert them into the description (above).  To insert an image in the description, click the image icon (looks like a tree).  You will need to use a thumbnail, or smaller version of your main image.  How to resize images.
    14. Product Download: Useful if you are selling online downloads (music, videos, e-books, etc)
    15. Click the “Add (or Edit) Product” button when finished.

Ordering Products

To order your products (for your customers to see), You need to determine which category you are viewing.  For the main page it may be the All Products category, or Featured, etc – but ordering happens on a per-category basis.

  • Under the Products Tab – click Products.
  • In the left-hand column, (your products list), click the category name that you would like to order.
  • On this page, if you mouseover the product image, you will see cross arrows – click and hold the product image to drag the product up or down the list – then let it go and the ordering will be updated (for that category)

Product Categories

The system allows you to set a category for each product. You will have the following setup:

  • Product Group contains / Product Categories contains / Products

In most cases, you will have only one product group, and multiple categories within it.  However, the system lets you setup as many groups, and categories within categories that you would like.  For bigger stores you might have Mens as one of your groups, then your categories might be shoes, pants, hats, then you’d have products within each category.  The one thing to note: in most carts we will use a category called “All Products” which is displayed on the cart home page.  It allows us a way to customize the home page how we need.  To change the categories:

  • Go to Products -> Categories
  • Select the group you will manage e.g. “Apparel” (in smaller carts this would be the only group you’ll use)
  • You will see the categories under this group in the box on the left.
  • You can edit those, or create a new one by clicking Add New Category to the “Apparel” Group link
    • Name: Category name
    • Description: Displayed below the category name when on the category page.
    • Target Markets: I usually don’t change this.
    • Presentation Settings: Sometimes when listing the categories, you can choose to display thumbnails for each category.  This is where you change that thumbnail.
    • Click the Add Group button when finished.

Shipping

Go to Products Tab -> Settings -> Click on Shipping at the top.

General Settings

Turn Shipping – On.  Set your base zip code if you will be using ups, or usps.

Shipping Modules

Flat Rate: One set price for all orders.
Weight Table: If you are basing your shipping costs on weight (the weight of each product is set when editing the products)
Table Rate: Allows you to set price based on amount purchased.  Higher purchase price = higher shipping, etc.

To enable any of these methods, click the checkbox next to the shipping type, then mouse over the name, and click the “Edit” button.  The column at the right will load with data.  Enter your pricing costs in this table on the right.

Taxes

Go to Products -> Settings -> General Settings.

  • Set your Base location to USA, then set your state (once your country loads the states).
  • Once this loads, you will see Tax Settings, click the link that reads “51 Regions“
  • Enter your tax per state if desired here.

Variations

Each product can have differences in their options, sizing, colors, etc – this is referred to as variations in the WP eCommerce shop. To update variations:

  • Goto Products -> Variations
  • Create a New Variation:
    • Name: the name given to the variation, shown to the customer (e.g. Size)
    • Values: the possible options (e.g. Small, Medium, Large)

Customizing Emails

When a purchase is made an automated email is sent to the customer.  To edit that email:

  • Go to Products -> Settings -> Admin.
  • Scroll down to the Custom Messages section.
  • The Purchase Receipt is the email sent to the customer when purchase is made.  Change the text in the box as you see fit.  You can use variables provided to display the customer’s name, or the product purchase information within the email.

Terms & Conditions

If you want your customers to first agree to the Terms and Conditions before making a purchase:

  • Go to Products -> Settings -> Admin.
  • Scroll down to Terms & Conditions section.
  • Enter anything you’d like here regarding shipping, store policies, etc.
  • The customer will have to check the Agree to Terms & Conditions checkbox before purchasing.

Additional Help, Links