frequently asked questions...
Here you will find some answers to the most common questions we are asked about us and our services. If you have any questions that you do not find an answer to below then please contact us and we will be happy to answer them by email or give us a call on 01733 242544 for a chat.

Ecommerce store questions ...

Q) How long does it take to get the shop up and running for business?
A) Starter Stores take up to 48 hours from receipt of your payment and information. Custom stores take approx 1 week to go through the design process and then complete your store. However because of the way we book full projects like our custom design stores and ebay projects we are often booked up 2-6 weeks in advance (this does not apply to starter stores as they are guaranteed to be up and running within 48 hours of receiving the information we need from you).

Q) How do I pay?
A) Starter Stores require payment up front as the start and finish is no more than 48 hours from receipt of the information we need. Custom design stores require a 50% deposit to secure your project start date in our schedule. Once the store is complete and ready to go live we will send a further invoice for the remaining 50%. We accept payment by Paypal, credit / debit card, bacs and cheque.

Q) How much is VAT?
A) All prices for our services exclude VAT which is currently chargeable at 15% in the UK.

Q) Once I have paid are there any other costs to have my store running on the web?
A) No. The price gets you your store, configured, ready to trade on the world wide web for a period of 12 months. It doesn't costs anything extra to add products, send emails or use the functions of the site. After the initial 12 month period you will be charged £100 (starter stores) or £250 (custom design stores) annually to continue hosting and supporting your business.

Q) Won't paying by Paypal be a hassle for the customer as they will need to sign up?
A) No. The days when Paypal made customers sign up to pay for items is long gone. When a customer goes through checkout in your store it will take them to your summary page on Paypal's secure servers where they can check all their details, enter their credit card information and confirm payment. After payment is made they have the option of returning to your store or saving their information on Paypal to make it even quicker for them next time. If you would prefer to use a different payment provider please contact us to discuss, as the store can be integrated with all the major payment gateways once you have a bank merchant account..

Q) I am new to all this, can you show me the admin area so I can see how to make changes to my store?
A) We can go one better. Our demo store is fully functional and you are welcome to go into the admin area and test it out. We obviously want to manage who goes on, so simply email us for the log in details to the admin area. You can Visit our Ecommerce Demo Store front end to test it out from a customers point of view.

Q) What support do you offer?
A) We want you to get the most from your store. Let's face it the better you do the more likely you are to ask us add features and custom work to your store in the future. We offer full uk email and phone support before, during and after installation. We are also building a database of answers to the most common questions so you can get the answers with a click of the mouse.

Q) How much do you charge to make changes for us in the future?
A) Once we have completed a project, all of our customers are placed on a monthly account with us. If you ask us to do anything additional for you in the future we simply time the work undertaken and invoice you accordingly. We charge £30 per hour for adhoc work like this but this is charged by the minute, so if we spend 10 mins working on your site in a month then you will be charged £5 for that month. We are happy to cost up any work that you are thinking about upfront so you can be sure of the costs of making changes.

Q) Do you offer a monthly payment store?
A) No. Our starter stores are designed to reduce the initial costs of getting an ecommerce store online, but all of our packages require payment as a whole. We do not believe that £20 - £50 monthly fees to run your store offers our customers good long term value, as you will end up paying much much more than neccessary in the long run. Also you still have no ownership of the store if you stop paying, even if you have paid thousands of pounds over a few years period. We provide stores that are yours, you pay for them and so they are yours to do with as you will *please see our terms for details of the hosting requirements of the software licence.

Q) I like the idea of the starter stores but would like a few small additional changes made / some additional banner areas etc.. added. Can you do this?
A) Yes. We can do just about anything with them. The idea of the starter store was to keep things uniformed to take out the time and costs of bespoke designs / layouts. However we are open to suggestions to make minor changes to any of the starter store designs for you if you have a need for this for your business. There maybe a small fee required depending what the change was, but you will find we are more than willing to accomodate anything that helps our customers.

Q) I want to improve my EBay listing and shop as well, can we link the new store image to our EBay auctions
A) Yes. A professional image is so important on Ebay nowadays with so much competition for customer orders. So for those of you trading on Ebay why not give us a call to discuss creating a business identity that you can use through all sales channels.

Ebay template and store questions ...

Q) How long does it take to complete and Ebay project?
A) Ebay projects take approx 1 week to go through the design process and then complete your template / ebay store. However because of the way we book, we are often booked up 4-6 weeks in advance.

Q) How do I pay for my Ebay project?
A) We require a 50% deposit to secure your project start date in our schedule. Once the project is complete and ready to go live we will send a further invoice for the remaining 50%. We accept payment by Paypal, credit / debit card, bacs and cheque.

Q) What support do you offer?
A) We provide full written instruction to use your template and update your ebay store pages, but we also offer full uk email and phone support. We find that most customers can find their way around the step by step instruction but if you need us to help you through any part of the process then we are here to support you.

Q) Do you offer any discount if we want an ecommerce store as well as an Ebay project?
A) Yes, our Platinum package is our full Ebay services plus our premium online store. This package is discounted by £200 over the value of these services seperately.