Tutorial 2.1: Ecommmerce product advanced options

This tutorial deals with 4 advanced product sections in eCommerce -> Products -> products details. These sections are Electronic Product, Miscellaneous, Product Dimensions and Inventory Control.

Electronic Product

Also, referred to in this wiki as e-product. This is the product in electronic form, which can be any computer file format e.g. video (mov, avi, mpg etc.), audio (mp3, wav, wma, etc.), image (jpg, gif etc.) and any other computer format. E-product can only be a single file. If you need to sell multiple files you have to create an archive and distribute those files in the archive.

When you tick the E-Product checkbox additional fields will reveal. Here is the explanation of these fields:

• File Name - it will display the name of the file that's currently stored in that product
  • Upload - this link will pop up the Upload Manager which will allow you select and upload the file you are selling
  • Download - this link allows you to download the file onto your hard drive.
• Limit location of downloads
  • Original IP Address - If this option is selected the system will only allow the download from the IP address the purchase was made from
  • Any IP address - will allow download from any IP anywhere
• Limit number of downloads - with this field you can set how many times the file can be downloaded.

Inventory Control

Here are the explanations of the options inside inventory control and the way they work and the way they can be used. For most online shops inventory control will not be required. From time-to-time however you will need to track inventory for products.

• Control Inventory - this checkbox allows you to enable or disable the inventory. If you have an unlimited number of this product in stock you should leave the inventory disabled, otherwise you should select this option and enter the number of products you have in stock into the field below. The system will subtract the products from the total and update it every time the product is sold
• In Stock - displays how many products there are left in stock
• Can Pre-Order - This option goes hand-in-hand with the \'Control Inventory\' option. If \'Can Pre-Order\' is enabled then when a product runs out of stock it can still be purchased by customers. The \'On Order\' value indicates how many items are on back order.
• On Order - On Order serves two puposes. Firstly you can display it on your online shop. Secondly if you choose to use \'Can Pre-Order\' this value is automatically incremented when this item runs out of stock to indicate how many are on back order.
• Re-order Threshold - the system will notify you when the number of products in stock drops to this level
• Hide if Out of Stock - the product will be removed from the live website if this option is selected

Product Dimensions

Product dimensions must be entered if you are using integrated shipping. Integrated shipping function sends this information to the courier and post services such as FedEx, USPS, Aust. Post and those services send back the corresponding costs.

These can also be used in custom shipping options. You can setup the shipping options yourself where the system will apply the correct option according to the product dimensions. For more info on shipping see Tutorial 2.2: Configure my shipping options

The options below are displayed in inches and ounces for United States websites and in grams and milliliters for the rest of the World.

• Product Weight in Grams - the weight needs to be in grams only for integrated services. For custom options you can use kilograms or even tonnes. It really depends on what type of products you are selling.
• Product Width in MM - these fields also don't have to be in millimeters if used in custom shipping.
• Product Height in MM
• Product Depth in MM

Miscellaneous

These are the miscellaneous options which you can select. Here are the detailed explanations of what they are:

• Capture Details - Select this option if you want your customers to provide specific details or instructions for a product when purchasing it. This option will display a text box for the customer to enter instructions in when viewing the details of a product in your online shop
• Gift Voucher - You can make this product a gift voucher. When a gift voucher product is purchased, the customer is prompted to forward this voucher to another customer who can then use it to buy more products from your online shop.
• Enable Drop Shipping - By enabling drop shipping you effectively rely on 3rd parties to fulfil and ship this product when it is purchased from your online shop. When using this option you must also choose a Supplier for this product.
• Exclude From Search Results - If you select this option then this product will be excluded from the site search feature built into this system as well as from the sitemap.xml file submitted to the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Live.
• Supplier - Choose a supplier that you source this product from. Setting this value is useful for when you report on your sales to see which supplier products are most popular.
• Commission Payable % - The commission percentage number is stored for each product in an order. If you have to pay commissions to suppliers for selling their products then setting this number allows you to run reports that calculate the final amounts for you.
• Cycle Type - Use the Cycle Type if you want to create recurring orders. This only works if you are using a Payment Gateway which supports this feature - for recurring billing support see HERE. An example of how this works - when a customer purchases a product with a monthly cycle type, the system will setup an order which recurs every month and automatically uses the customer's credit card details to process subsequent payments. If a customer purchases products with different Cycle Types then the system will create a recurring order for each cycle.
• Tags - You can provide one or more tags for this product in order to enable customers to find it more easily via the Product Search module.
• Custom Fields - You can use these fields to store anything related to the product and then you can display that value in the Small and Large Product Layouts.

• Tutorial 2: Setting_up_your_online_shop
• Tutorial 2.2: Configure my shipping options
• Tutorial 2.3: Configure my payment gateways
• Tutorial 2.4: Customize my ecommerce look and feel including products, catalogs, shopping cart and invoice layouts
• Tutorial 2.5: Advanced ecommerce options includes upselling, cross-selling, bulk discounts, product grouping
• Tutorial 2.6: Applying Tax Codes
• Tutorial 2.7: Offering Discount Codes
• Tutorial 2.8: Offering Gift Vouchers
• Tutorial 2.9: Setting up Affiliate Programs