Introduction
      Back to home
      1. Help Center
      2. eStore
      3. Introduction

      Quick Start Guide to eStore/ePayTrak - Part 2

      This is Part 2 of 2 of the Quick Start Guide. If you have not completed Part 1, go back before continuing.

      Part 2 covers the Catalog system. This is the area where you will create categories and products. It is not practical to cover every feature available in this Quick Start guide, but most items are covered in detail in other sections of these help topics. The catalog is comprised of two basic units, a category and a product. It is similar to the hierarchy structure on a computer. A category is equivalent to a folder and a product is equivalent to a file. You can have subcategories as you can with sub-folders on a computer.

      Catalog Menu

      Login to the Admin site and from the DASHBOARD you will see the top-bar menu items.  Hold your mouse over the Catalog menu item to view the submenu items available:

       

      CATALOG MENU ITEMS

      Browse: View and edit your catalog items by navigating the category structure.

      Browse Archived: View your Archived items.

      Search: Find and edit your catalog items with the search form.

      Find Kits: Search and display links to your Kit products.

      Product Templates: Create a template that can be used to collect data from a customer.

      Product Reviews - A seldom used featured where customers can review the products if enabled.

      Digital Goods: Submenu items include Manage Digital Goods, Search, Readme's and License Agreements.

      Orphaned Items: Will display products that are no longer assigned to categories.  Note: this is where un-archived items go from the Archive.

      Pricing Groups: Create multi-discounts for complex and irregular pricing structures.

      Venues:  If your school has more than one theatre or venue, it can be entered here. (Only applies if Ticketing function also purchased, normally done by EduTrak personnel.)

      Catalog > Browse

      To view your Catalog system, you can mouse-over the Catalog menu item and then select Browse.

      Click on it and you will see a page similar to the screenshot below.

      At the top level of your Catalog, you can only create new Categories. This is because each catalog item must be part of a category in order to provide a navigation system for your customers. Looking from left to right, the Catalog page has the following sections:

      • Select Category: This is a tree style navigation system so you can navigate your category structure.

      • Contents of Catalog: This is where you can view and edit the items in a particular category. Here you will see Subcategories, Products/Classes and Links. Features such as sorting, editing, copying, view state, move and delete are available here.

      • New Category: You can use this section to quickly create a new category.

      • Add Item: You can click on one of the objects available in this section to create a category, product, webpage, or link.

      • Search This Category:  A quick search form for your catalog. This is similar to the page Catalog > Search.  

      Before moving ahead to the product editing, let's go ahead and create a new category here.

      To Create a new Category:

      1. In the upper-right corner of the Browse Catalog page, you will see the New Category section.

      2. Enter a name for your category into the field provided. Here we used School Fees.

      3. Click the ADD button.

      4. Your new category will be displayed in the middle section, Contents of Catalog.

      To Edit a Category:

      1. Locate the Category in the middle section, Contents of Catalog. Below is a section of the 'Contents of Catalog'.

      2. Above, you can see 5 icons to the right of the Catalog name. The 'magnifying glass' is for Preview. The visibility status (currently Public, the globe) is the next one. Edit is the third button which looks like a blue note pad and pencil. The green icon is for moving the Category as you can not click and drag the item. The Red X deletes the entire Catalog and all of its contents. At the left, the green arrows allow you to move your categories up or down as you wish them to be displayed on your eStore/ePayTrak site.

      3. Click the blue edit button to edit the Category. This will bring up the Edit page for the category as shown below. You can change the Name of your Category in the Name box. You can add a thumbnail image for your category on this page. This is explained more in the Manage > Images and Assets section. You can add a Summary or a Description as shown below. The Summary page is displayed on the public site.

      4. Click the FINISH button on the bottom when you are done. (not shown)

      To Change the View State of a Catalog Item:

      When creating new Catalog items, they will be immediately viewable in your store. If you want to change the visibility status for an item, click on the  icon in the Contents of Catalog as shown below.

       

      You will then see the screen below:

       

      • Current Setting: This shows you the current visibility status for the catalog item.

      • New Setting: Choose the new visibility status. Public (shown to all users in store), Hidden (available through direct link only), Private (not shown in store). Choosing Private will make that product unavailable for purchase. It will also remove any items any of your customers might have stored in their shopping cart.

      • Include Contents : For categories, you can change the visibility status for all the catalog items within the selected category.  NOTE: this defaults to "Yes", meaning if left unchanged it will change the visibility status of all contents to the selected status when saved.

      TIP: While in the process of creating your school store, you can enable the Catalog Mode feature under Configure > Store. This will hide the 'add to cart' button for all  products, so customers can browse your catalog but are unable to purchase directly online while you work on filling out the catalog.

      Product Management

      One of the most important parts of a shopping cart system are your Products. 

      It is easy to view the product features by going to the retail side of your store. You can do this by clicking the STORE icon in the upper-right corner and finding the product. (You can also click the Preview icon, the magnifying glass, from the admin side to open a new tab and view the product as seen by site users.) When you are familiar with some of the product capabilities, let's continue by adding a new product of your own.

      To Add a new Product:

      1. Navigate to a category (in Catalog->Browse).

      2. On the right side of the page, look in the Add Items section:

      3. Click on the PRODUCT link/icon to view the Add Product page.  

      4. For now, just enter a product name and SKU, then click the Save button.  (This is recommended whenever creating a new product: complete this step, then edit after the product is Added.)

      5. This brings up the Product Details page of the product editing function, where you will see a variety of options in the left side menu.

      PRODUCT MENU ITEMS
       

      Product Details: The summary page for your product. This is where you would enter basic data and descriptions.

      Images and Assets: You can upload a new image or attach additional images to a product.

      Options and Variants: A product variant is a unique combination of options. Variants can be used to control inventory. Options can be used to display image swatches.

      Digital Goods: Attach an existing digital file to a product or it's variants.

      Kits/Bundles: A method of including several products into one product. Note: Variants can not be used in the kits/bundles arrangement.

      Volume Discounts: Attach an existing discount method to a product.    

      Pricing Rules: You can set multiple price points for a product based on date or member group.

      Similar Products: These are the products that are related, that should be highlighted in cross-selling scenarios.

      Product Accessories: Select the products that are used in up-selling scenarios during checkout.

      Categories: Select additional categories that should display this product.

      Product Template: Attach an existing product template. A product template can be used to gather information from the customer.

      Preview: Opens a new browser window so you can view your product as a customer would see it.

      TIP:  We recommend creating your Accounting and Department Codes in Configure-> Store before entering new products. This will save time in building your eStore/ePayTrak catalog.

      To Add Basic Product information:

      1. From the Edit Product page, click on the Product Details menu item.

      2. In the BASIC INFO section, add the product price. This is what you wish to display to your customers before any discounts or coupons.

      3. An additional field for Location is provided. Location is optional and provides your customer with extra search capabilities.

      4. If the Variable Price box is checked, the customer can enter their own price. This is particularly useful for a donation with no set price.

      5. Hide Price will present no base price in instances where Variants or Special Pricing allow for different pricing options without any default price.

      6. Require Valid Participant for Checkout will prevent checkout with the product unless the user selects a validated student on checkout with this product. This feature requires integration with EduTrakConnect for student data.

      7. Next is the Combine Like Items Cart setting. This setting governs how items can be combined in a cart. A customer can add multiple products for just one student/participant if this setting is checked. If you want a customer to select a student/participant for each purchase of the same product, then this setting should be unchecked.

      8. Show in mPOS allows the product to appear in mPOS as well as eStore (mPOS is our Mobile Point of Sale site, which is freely available with the eStore site).

      9. Single Purchase Per Student prevents the product from being able to be sold for the same student/participant more than once.  The user can purchase it again for a different qualifying participant, if needed.

      10. Click the SAVE button when finished interacting with this section.

      To Add Product Descriptions:

      In the DESCRIPTIONS section, you will be able to enter product information into any of the fields provided. Each field is described as follows.

      • Summary: A brief description of the product that can be used for the category listings or featured products (max 1000 characters).
      • Description: The standard product description. Enter plain text or use the built-in HTML editor or enter your own HTML formatted text (no limit).  Note: If you choose to have a description print on e-mail receipts, a shorter description works best.
      • More Details: If you want to include some additional product information, you can enter HTML into this field. When there is data in this field, a link to more details will appear next to the Description title (no character limit).

      Click the SAVE button when finished with this section.

      From the left-column menu, click the Preview tab to view your product as your customer would see it.

      To Change the Product Display options:

      1. In the DISPLAY OPTIONS section, you can change how this product will be shown to your customer.

      2. The Visibility choices are Public, Hidden, or Private.  (This feature was covered in the beginning of this document.)

      3. If you want this product to appear on the home page, as a featured product, then check Featured.

      4. Click the SAVE button when finished with this section.

      TIP:  You are able to import products in eStore/ePayTrak. If you have many products to create, importing an existing spreadsheet can save an enormous amount of time! Contact EduTrak support for help with this.

      To Add Tax and Shipping options:

      1. In the TAXES & SHIPPING section, you can add the information needed to calculate shipping and taxes.

      2. Change the Shippable option to 'Yes' so shipping rates are calculated on checkout. For digital delivery, you would use a Shippable option of 'No'. For items that are oversized or have some special shipping requirement, select 'Ship Separately'.

      3. Ship Cost is the field where you enter a flat price of shipping. If you enter a Ship Cost value in this field, you directly set the shipping cost. This field can be used directly in eStore/ePayTrak shipping and no other values will be considered or are necessary, such as weight and dimensions. This method is the simplest solution to set your shipping costs. This method is not appropriate for integrated shipping solutions (shipping through carriers using calculations determined by those carriers).

      4. If using integrated shipping, enter the product Weight in the units specified if you wish to use integrated shipping or shipping calculated by Weight and Dimensions.

      5. If using integrated shipping, enter the product Dimensions. It is not always necessary to enter product dimensions, however, the rates calculated may be more accurate if you do. If the dimensions are entered for large packages, the dimensional weight will be used if it exceeds the actual weight. Again, you will not need to enter dimensions if using ePayTrak simple ship cost method.

      6. If this product uses a different Warehouse, then select it here. A different warehouse will create a new shipment during checkout.

      7. If you have setup Gift Wrap, and want to offer gift wrap options for this product, select the gift wrap group here.

      8. If this product should be taxed, according to how you previously setup your tax rules, then select 'Taxable' for the Tax Code.

      9. If desired, enter the Cost of Goods. This information will appear in the Inventory Report, for example.

      10. Click the SAVE button when finished with this section.

      To Use Inventory Control for your product:

      1. In the INVENTORY CONTROL section, you will see fields for Min. Quantity and Max. Quantity. If desired, you may enter the minimum number of this product that a customer would need to purchase and/or a maximum number of this product that a customer can purchase in a single order. Leaving the default of zero in one of these fields means there is no setting for that field.

      2. To enable inventory control for this product, change the Inventory Tracking option to 'Track Product'.

        NOTE: If this product uses Options/Variants, then an additional selection for 'Track Variants' will appear. When tracking inventory at the option level, you will enter the inventory levels from the Options/Variants page instead.

      3. The Original Inventory field makes it easy to always know your beginning inventory levels.

      4. Enter the amount In Stock. This is the actual amount of product in your inventory. If desired, this can be shown to your customers.

      5. Enter the amount for Low Stock notification. When this level is reached, you will be notified with a Low Inventory e-mail (this requires additional set-up in Configure->Email->Templates).

      6. If you want to allow customers to purchase a product that has 0 (or less) in stock, then check the box for Allow Backorder (this is not recommended unless there is close tracking of the sales of this product and follow-up on these backordered orders). If you leave this box unchecked, then a customer will not be able to purchase an item that is not in your inventory. There is separate Wait List functionality in the Class Information section of the product as seen below.

      7. Click the SAVE button when finished with this section.

      When you are using Inventory Control, you can easily restock your inventory levels by going to Manage > Inventory. By default, any product that has met the Low Stock threshold will appear on the low inventory management page.

      To Use Wait List for your Product:

      eStore/ePayTrak also has Wait List capability. The product must have inventory enabled, and Allow Backorder must NOT be enabled to enable Wait List functionality.

      1. Set the product type in the dropdown in the upper right corner to "Advanced":
      2. Open the "Class Information" subsection.
      3. Check Allow Wait List. When the stock levels hit zero, your customer can click an available 'Wait List' button to join the Wait List.
      4. There is a very useful Wait List Management page that displays all customers who signed up for the Wait List, by product. For more information, search for information on this feature in the Knowledge Base.

      To Add Product Images:

      These are the steps to add a product image that has not been uploaded to the store. The Upload Image page will allow you to pick an image from your local hard drive and automatically resize it into three different images. When finished you will have a product icon, thumbnail, and standard size product image.

      TIP:  For best results, you should upload a .JPG or .PNG or .GIF image that is at least 500 pixels wide. You might need to resize your image with an image editor such as Photoshop if it exceeds 500 Pixels.

      1. From the left-column menu, click the Images and Assets tab.

      2. Click the UPLOAD IMAGE button.

      3. Click the BROWSE button to select a new image from your local hard drive.

      4. After selecting the image, click in the Save As field. This will automatically enter the file name of your image. You can change the file name if you want.

      5. It may be necessary to experiment with image quality percentages to obtain a reasonable file size and maintain image quality on-screen.

      6. Click the UPLOAD button and wait a moment for processing to complete.  

      7. When the upload of your image is complete, you will be shown the three image sizes generated for this product.

      8. If you have additional product images to add, just click the ADDITIONAL IMAGES button to upload them one at a time. You will be given the option to resize and adjust image quality, however, only one image will be created for each upload.

      You can also upload several images at once by going to the Manage->Images and Assets area. If you do this, then you can choose the Pick or Edit Images button from the Product's Images and Assets pages. We recommend uploading images from the Manage->Images and Assets area, because you have more control of where your images are stored.

      Summary

      This is the end of the Quick Start Guide. The Quick Guide is meant to be an overview of some of the features included in eStore/ePayTrak.  There are many more features to the site.

      So, just take your time to create a category structure for your store and start entering products. An organized and thoughtful layout will provide a better shopping experience for your customers (tip: we don't recommend using multiple nested layers of categories unless there are a great many products to each base level category). Remember that each page will have some on-screen instructions and helpful Tool Tip text. Plus EduTrak personnel are a help ticket away to help via phone or e-mail.

      CONGRATULATIONS!  You have completed the Quick Start Guide.