Selling Downloadable Items
with SmartCart
Downloadable products such as music, movies, software, games and ebooks are great items to sell online. Many are jumping at the chance of making digital products available for sale without the hassle and expense of shipping. Not to mention, customers love this feature because they can purchase the product and receive it in an instant! In this month's newsletter, we'll discuss the simplicity and security of selling downloads with SmartCart.
Activation
SmartCart Enterprise service provides the digital download selling feature. To start selling downloadable products, SmartCart Enterprise service is needed. In the admin control panel of your SmartCart account, click Digital Download Sales and turn the module on. This will activate the Download File field in the Inventory Manager, and also make the File Manager available for the downloadable files.
Payment Processing
You must use a real time, online payment processor with the Digital Download Sales feature. SmartCart is compatible with most online payment processors and these processors can be connected to your SmartCart account at no charge so all payments are processed at the time the order is submitted. When using PayPal to process payments, the PayPal Pro gateway is strongly recommended.
Adding Downloadable Products
When adding a downloadable product to your online catalog, open the Inventory Manager and provide the necessary product info. Near the ordering and pricing options you will find the area to post your downloadable files. To include the download info you will upload the product file to the server using the File Manager. Once the file has been uploaded, you can copy the file name and paste into the Download File field. The "copy and paste" method will guarantee that the file name is posted properly, as the file name is case sensitive. Preview then publish the product to the online catalog.
Ordering Downloadable Products
When a customer orders a downloadable product, the ecommerce system will not require the shipping information to be provided, unless there are products in the cart that require shipping. Upon submitting the order, the payment will be processed at that time. If the transaction is successful, the customer will be taken to their order receipt, where a link will be provided to the customer to download the file. If the transaction is not successful, the customer will be informed and the order will not complete.
File Security
The link to the downloadable file is temporary and will self-expire in 24 hours. The customer has immediate access to the product and can download the item the moment their purchase has been completed, but the access will only be available until the link expires.
Digital Download Sales FAQs
Can I manage my downloadable files with FTP software?
Yes, you can manage files and have access to more data storage by activating a Web Hosting account.
I need more hosting space for my downloadable files. Is this possible?
Yes, more hosting space is available by activating a Web Hosting account.
How much space is available in the Download File Manager?
The Download File Manager provides 100 megs of data storage for your downloadable product files.
My product file is not completely uploading to the File Manager. Why is this?
There is a file size limitation of 10 megs per file to upload files to the file manager. If you need to upload files larger than 10 megs, activate a Web Hosting account to upload and manage files with FTP access.
Import a Custom Template Into Your SmartCart Pages
SmartCart offers an easy interface for adding your own template to the SmartCart pages. The controls for the template display are located in the Edit Web Pages menu in the admin controls. If you are not familiar with HTML, an HTML editor is available to update the Site Header and Site Footer files that display respectively at the top and bottom of the catalog pages. Images within the template can be hosted in your SmartCart Image Manager or in a web hosting account anywhere. Always remember that when you are adding links or images within a template that the full URL path starting with the http:// must be provided.
Adding HTML Code to Template Files
If you have a custom web design that you would like to import into your SmartCart pages this is possible, but it may require a familiarity of HTML code. To import a custom design, the HTML editor must be switched off and the HTML code should be copied and pasted into the Site Header and Site Footer files. As always, a full URL path to the image files and links must be provided.
Templates with Side Columns
Some have wondered if it is possible to use a template that has a left or right side menu column. This is simple to do if you are familiar with HTML. If your template contains a left side column, the html coding for this will be in the Site Header. The main body of the page that contains the page content would display within an open table cell <td> or an open div <div>. This code element will be at the very end of your Site Header. The Site Footer would then begin by closing the open tag, </td> or </div>, whichever was used to contain the main content. Is your menu column on the right side of your main content? The menu coding will be posted to the Site Footer in this instance.
CSS and Style Settings
Style sheets and css that are programmed into the template can be included in the Site Header in <style> tags. The style of the content pages is manged with the Style Manager in SmartCart's admin controls.
Saving Templates and CSS
Once your template has been published, it is strongly recommended that you save your template and css. To save your template, click on the Template Manager and scroll to the bottom of the page to the Save Template area. Provide a name for your template and click Save. To save the corresponding CSS, click on Style Sheet Settings, scroll to the bottom of the page (left side), enter a name for your CSS and click Save. You may save several templates and css settings and can easily change the entire look of your online store by switching to the desired saved template and matching css style.
Template FAQs
I edited my template and now the page appears to be out of format. How can I fix this?
This can occur when you edit a pre-designed template with the HTML editor. Templates that contain a column along the left or right side need to have the html code edited and cannot be edited with the HTML editor. This is because the HTML editor has some auto-correcting features which cannot be applied to these templates. To edit these types of templates, or to import a custom template, turn off the HTML editor and work with the HTML code. To fix, you can re-set your template to the last saved version. If its one of SmartCart's pre-designed templates, you can make the same template selection and re-publish.
Why aren't my images appearing in the template?
This is usually due to the use of a relative path to the image instead of using the full URL path, starting with http:// or https://. The same consideration needs to be applied to links in the template as well.
Can I edit the menus in the SmartCart templates?
Yes, any of the templates that have the menu html code visible can be edited. If the menu html code is not visible, that particular menu cannot be edited.
I have a custom designed website, but I am unable to edit the HTML code to import the template into my SmartCart account. Can you help?
Yes, we offer a Template Integration Service for an affordable price.
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