Getting Started
What does Open A Webstore.com do?
Open A Webstore.com is a hosted application that allows you to set up an online store to sell your goods. It lets you organize your products, customize your webstore, accept credit card payments through payment gateways, track and respond to orders — all without the hassle of running a physical store.
What doesn't Open A Webstore.com do?
Open A Webstore.com doesn’t handle any money or ship any packages for you. It does, however, integrate really nicely with services that do.
How do I install Open A Webstore.com?
There’s no installation required! We host Open A Webstore.com so you don’t have to worry about installing or upgrading any software. You only need a modern web browser such as Firefox or Safari and you’re ready to go.
What do I need in order to start selling?
You need:
- Something to sell
- One of our supported payment gateways to accept payments from your customers
- A valid credit card to pay for your online store
Can I use my own domain name with my shop?
Yes! This can be a great way to help Open A Webstore.com integrate with an existing site. Just get your domain registrar to point your domain to our servers, and your customers will enjoy a seamless integration between your main site and your online store.
Which countries and currencies are usable with Open A Webstore.com?
Open A Webstore.com is usable by merchants in any country and currency. However, we have more support for services, such as payment gateways, in some countries than in others.
Which languages are supported?
The administrative interface of a shop is in English, but the storefront, checkout, email communications of a store can be in any language.
Designing Your Shop
Do I need to be a designer/programmer to change my shop design?
Not at all! Open A Webstore.com comes packed with a wide variety of professionally-designed webstore themes and templates that you can apply to your store.
Accepting payments
What methods of payment can my customers use?
Open A Webstore.com integrates with many different payment processing services, and more are being added all the time. Just choose what payment processing service you want to use from our list then it is all set up.
What is a merchant account?
Every payment made with a credit card involves the transfer of funds to a merchant account, which a merchant (that is you) holds directly with a bank. The merchant has full responsibility for the transactions that occur with their account, and each bank has its own terms of service to which account-holders must adhere. If you want to accept credit card payments through your Open A Webstore.com store, you will need either a merchant account of your own or the services of a third-party payment processor like PayPal (see below).
What is a payment gateway?
A payment gateway is a service that authorizes credit card payments and processes them securely with a user’s merchant account. Often, a merchant account and payment gateway are set up in one process through the same company.
What is a "third-party payment processor"?
A third-party processor such as PayPal lets you accept online payments without a merchant account of your own. Instead, they let you use their merchant account under their own terms of service, usually with very little setup required.
List of Payment Processors
- Authorize.net
- Authorize.net Credit Card AIM
- Authorize.net Credit Card SIM
- Credit Card
- ChronoPay
- Cash on Delivery
- iPayment
- Check/Money Order
- NOCHEX
- PayPal
- PayPal Website Payments Pro (CA)
- PayPal Website Payments Pro (UK)
- PayPal Website Payments Pro (US)
- PayPal Express Checkout
- PayPal IPN
- PayPal Website Payments Standard
- PayQuake (Credit Card)
- PSiGate
- SECPay
- Sofort berweisung Direkt
- WorldPay Junior
- 2CheckOut
Can I accept funds manually?
Yes, absolutely. You can accept mailed cheques or money orders, direct bank transfers, or perhaps have an option to pay for an order in-store. Just give your manual payment method a name and an optional set of instructions for your customers, and they can select it like any other payment option.
Orders and shipments
What do I do when I get an order?
After you get a new order, check out the details screen for that order. If you need to get more information from your customer, you can send them an email right from within Open A Webstore.com using the convenient form. Then just package up the order, send it to the shipping address provided, then mark the order as shipped within Open A Webstore.com to keep track of things. If your payment processor is set up to separately authorize and then capture funds, you have control over how much money is transferred after the order is placed and you can follow best online business practices by only completing the transaction when you ship the order.
Can I get someone else to take care of shipping?
Yes! Open A Webstore.com can integrate with fulfillment services just as with payment gateways.
Your Account
How much does Open A Webstore.com cost?
We have two (2) packages for you to choose from in order to best suit the size and nature of your business.
How can I pay?
Open A Webstore.com accepts payment thru Bank Transfer, Credit Card or Paypal to pay for your online store.
How do I get billed?
After your 60 days free trial you are not automatically charged. Once you upgraded your Account to our one year service package, you will receive a billing statement thru your email.
