Selling 101: Q&A for Serious Sellers

[regic]

[quote author=chiquita link=topic=7416.msg43729#msg43729 date=1171470921]
Questions: Yes they will be lame. OK when TT installs the Zen Cart, or another cart, what does that mean? In other words what happens after it is installed. How do we access it to set it up. Do you access the control panels from your dot.com address?[/quote]

You can access the Zen admin panel through your browser at yourdomain.com/admin/.  To modify the template you could download/edit the files via FTP or the file manager in your hosting panel.  There's a demo of ZenCart's admin here (username: admin password: demo)

http://demo.opensourcecms.com/zencart/admin/login.php

How do you get to your admin controls on your site when it is hosted? I see that TT does provide a tool to help create the website pages, so how do you access those tools?

You can access all of your hosting account's tools through your account control panel.  There's a demo of the control  panel here: http://www.tuliphosting.com/?action=cp_demo

[Platzki]

Ohhh.... I like this thread!  I sell on Etsy, eBay, eCrater and Blujay.  I am also active with Google Adwords and Microsoft AdCenter pay-per-click advertising.  So I'm here to help anyone who has questions... 'cause Lord knows I still have a million!!

Great idea TT'ers!  This'll be the new hangout!!  LOL

[O~Romeo~U~Suck]

I sell on 6 different sites, have 3 web pages, (2 given to me), I list on google something or other, Craigs list, yahoo auctions and guess what I know? NADA. I'm also signed up for something Deals and have never listed. I haven't been selling for even a year yet, so I'm clueless. I have no idea how to get to the nitty gritty of real selling. How to get people TO my sites/stores and have them interested. Just because I've listed in many places doesn't mean I know anything. Anyone can list, that's the easy part. I REALLY don't know anything. (I'm gonna drive you guys crazy with questions!) *lol*
RSS feeds. What the heck IS that and how exactly do I go about doing it? I think it's something to get traffic to your stores, but when I try it, it all looks greek to me.
Wholesalers...when I look online for one, how do I know who is legit? I found this one company, OMG I love their stuff! It requires a 300.00 order the first time, and at least 150.00 every order after that. Plus when you first order, you have to fill out a credit app and give them your EIN number or some other number I forget the initials of. I know that's a tax thing. I checked them out with the Better Business Bureau, there was nothing on them. Is there another place to check them out at? I haven't bought wholesale yet, but I'm seriously thinking about it. Are they looking for perfect credit? Is there a "heres your first clue" type of thing to watch out for if you order wholesale?

[thentavius]

Most places usually ask for your state tax ID or reseller's permit number, not your EIN number (which is your federal tax ID). They shouldn't need your EIN number.

We collect only the state tax ID from wholesale customers. Of all the places we do business with (wholesale), which has probably been 50 places in the last 4 years, not one required an EIN.

Someone else out there may have more info on this.

[regic]

RSS feeds. What the heck IS that and how exactly do I go about doing it?

RSS Feeds Info:
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...136.0.html

Click on the orange icons on TT's board/category indexes to see what an RSS feed does.
example RSS feed: http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...ction=.xml

If you list on a venue you might already have an RSS feed.  Etsy, Blujay, Ecrater have them.

[FineThings4U]

How effective and/or important are meta tags?  Some have told me their time has passed.  Other feel they are very important.

[regic]

[quote author=FineThings4U link=topic=7416.msg43793#msg43793 date=1171548634]
How effective and/or important are meta tags?  Some have told me their time has passed.  Other feel they are very important.


[/quote]

They no longer help your search rankings the way they used to but you can still use them (especially the meta description tag)  to increase the likelihood of a searcher clicking through to your site.

Read the article here:
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...352.0.html

[chiquita]

What is a script, a mod, and what is API (I have seen this for the USPS shipping calculator and Paypal API)?

[regic]

[quote author=chiquita link=topic=7416.msg43870#msg43870 date=1171596813]
What is a script, a mod, and what is API (I have seen this for the USPS shipping calculator and Paypal API)?

[/quote]

A script is a software program.  SMF (the forum software TT uses), osCommerce, and ZenCart are scripts.

A mod (modification) is software code that adds additional features to a script.  The tags and shop on TT are mods.

API stands for application programming interface. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Api
The USPS and PayPal APIs allow 3rd party developers to write scripts that can access/transmit data to the PayPal and USPS websites.

[O~Romeo~U~Suck]

Do any of you know anything about this site? http://www.20m.com/
I saw someone talking about it on blujay and I'm wondering if it's an ok site.