Frequently Asked Questions about Shop Site

• What is ShopSite?
• Which ShopSite product is right for me?
• Does ShopSite run on my computer or on a server?
• Do I have to run ShopSite from your server?
• Will ShopSite work with my computer and browser?
• Will ShopSite work with my existing HTML pages?
• Can I build a mall using ShopSite, and share CGIs?
• Can I build an unlimited number of stores with one copy of ShopSite?
• Can I build my entire site with ShopSite?
• Do you have any reference sites?
• Are there any independent reviews of your products?
• Does ShopSite support real-time credit card verification and payments?
• Does ShopSite support PayPal payments?
• Why are ShopSite static Web pages better?
• Will customers have to see your logo on my Web pages?
• Are there any third-party add-on products for ShopSite?
• What does ShopSite Cost?
• Are there extra costs for any features or add-ons?

What is ShopSite?

ShopSite is shopping cart software which allows Web stores or catalogs to be easily built and maintained. ShopSite ensures that orders are taken and handled in a secure fashion by working with standard secure protocols such as SSL (Secure Socket Layers).

Which ShopSite product is right for me?

ShopSite comes in three flavors: Pro, Manager and Starter. For the small office/home office (soho) that has under 15 products and wants to experiment with e-commerce, ShopSite Starter is a good choice. The small business with over 15 products, or that wants a full store-generation and management system should look at ShopSite Manager. For the business with hundreds or thousands of products, or that expects high traffic volume, ShopSite Pro is the obvious choice. You can read about the features in all ShopSite products in the ShopSite Detailed Feature List. The feature list is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format.
 

Does ShopSite run on my computer or on a server?

ShopSite is a set of CGIs (Web server programs) that run on our server. You access ShopSite through your web browser (e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, etc.)
 

Do I have to run ShopSite from your server?

No. You do not need to install any software to use ShopSite as a merchant.
 

Will ShopSite work with my computer and browser?

Yes. Merchants and customers can access ShopSite from the computer of their choice. ShopSite uses standard Web protocols and works with browsers from Netscape, Microsoft and others on computers running Windows 95, 98, ME, or XP, Windows NT or 2000, Macintosh, and UNIX/Linux. Merchants should use a version 6.x or higher browser in order to utilize all ShopSite features. Shoppers can use earlier browser versions; they can even use Web TV to make a purchase at a ShopSite store.
 

Can I build my entire site with ShopSite?

ShopSite is primarily designed for building store pages, but some of our customers have created custom page templates and used ShopSite to build Web sites that are not commerce-oriented. They have used the custom templates and ShopSite's page database to create a content management system, which lets them easily update their site and publish changes.
 

Will ShopSite work with my existing HTML pages?

Yes, ShopSite has a feature called OrderAnywhere that allows "Add to Cart" and "View Cart" buttons to be inserted into existing HTML pages. In fact, using most HTML editors - such as Microsoft FrontPage - you can drag and drop the buttons from ShopSite's back office onto your Web pages.
 

Can I build a mall using ShopSite?

Definitely. ShopSite was designed to allow the sharing of the ShopSite program files. Each store has its own data, but shares a common set of program files (CGIs).
 

Can I build an unlimited number of stores with one copy of ShopSite?

You can share the same CGIs among hundreds of stores on one server, but each store needs its own valid license.
 

Do you have any reference sites?

We have hundreds of reference sites. You can read case studies from merchants explaining how they've used ShopSite to build their online stores, or visit our Marketplace to find more stores using ShopSite. Here's a selection of different types of stores using ShopSite software:

Hometime, the PBS TV show selling videos, blueprints, and other home improvement items.
Der Spielshop, a German store selling Legos.
The Getty Trust Foundation, a museum selling prints and artwork.
X10, the home electronics store.
Avia, the shoe company.

Are there any independent reviews of your products?

Yes, you'll find reviews by the following:

Shopping Cart Software Review has awarded ShopSite Pro their top award.
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, Web Commerce Today - "Version 7.0 includes substantial enhancements and demonstrates to me that ShopSite is on the improvement track again."
ISP Planet - "Version 7.0 of the ShopSite software, released on December 15, 2003, adds a swath of new features, but the basic goal remains serving all customers."
Web Marketing Today - "Ver. 7.0 is a major upgrade, since the Pro version includes customer registration. Customers can be assigned to groups and automatically get coupons when they log in. This makes the cart much more inviting to B2B sellers who have negotiated prices with various vendors." (subscription required to read the full review)
InfoWorld - "I tested the service as a merchant and found store creation and management to be quite simple. I did not have to download any software or engage in involved configuration."
PC Week - "businesses will find it an excellent choice for building anything from a simple catalog to a large online store."
C|Net - "ShopSite Manager is a relative bargain for companies with a lot of items to sell"
InfoWorld - "Administration, maintenance, configuration, and catalog management are all performed online using one of the cleanest and fastest interfaces that I have seen."
Computer Reseller News - "The nice thing about this product is that the customer can set it up and manage their Web site by themselves, if they choose,"
eWeek - "ShopSite's handling of product discounts, made it simple to quickly mark products as sales items."
Web Developer's Journal - "[the ShopSite team] has gone to such lengths to make an e-commerce site easy to set up that your mother can probably do it."

Does ShopSite support real-time credit card verification and payments?

Yes. We have tightly integrated real-time credit card processing in all ShopSite products with services provided by

Authorize.Net		Cardservice International/LinkPoint
Optimal Payments		Wells Fargo SecureSourceSM
Lynk Systems		Paymentech Orbital Gateway
NPC VirtualPAY		VeriSign
WorldPay		YourPay

We have even arranged for some partners to give special pricing to ShopSite merchants. Learn more about credit card processing in ShopSite.
 

Does ShopSite support PayPal payments?

Yes, all ShopSite products since version 6.2 have built-in support for letting customers pay through PayPal. Learn more about using PayPal with ShopSite.
 

Why are ShopSite's static Web pages better?

When ShopSite generates the store, it creates the Web pages so that they are always present on your site. These are referred to as static pages. Other commerce packages generate the Web pages on-the-fly. These are called dynamic pages. The advantages of static pages are:
 

1. Because they are always present, they can be indexed by search engines. A significant portion of customers find sites by using search engines. Dynamic Web pages generally cannot be found through search engines such as Alta Vista, Infoseek, HotBot and others. Note this information from Google, the leading search engine:

   "Reasons your site may not be included [indexed].

   Your pages are dynamically generated. We are able to index dynamically generated pages. However, because our web crawler can easily overwhelm and crash sites serving dynamic content, we limit the amount of dynamic pages we index."

2. Static Web pages are faster. When a customer clicks a link to a dynamic Web page, that page must first be created before the Web Server can send it to the customer's browser, which takes time. Static pages are ready to be served instantly.
    
3. Hosting companies prefer static Web pages because they use less resources than dynamic pages. With dynamic pages, a database is constantly being accessed for every customer wanting to view a page. This takes server CPU cycles and means that the frequently accessed pages cannot be store in 'cache' (memory) on the server or on the customer's local browser (on disk).
    

Are there any third-party add-on products for ShopSite?

Yes, a number of developers have created modules for ShopSite's large installed base of merchants. Click here to view some of these Add-Ons.
 

Are there extra costs for any features or add-ons?

All server-side features listed for each ShopSite product are included in the price of ShopSite - there are no hidden or additional costs for any ShopSite features. Merchants who use a payment processing service for realtime credit card processing pay those services separately, and any third-party add-ons are sold by their respective developers.