IndieCommerce

Sales Tax

For online sales in-state orders are taxed by default. Out-of-state orders are usually not taxed. However, if the store frequently ships orders to other states, it is important to know the Sales Tax Nexus rules for those states.
 

Affiliates

An affiliate program is a marketing tool that would allow approved participants to earn commissions by placing unique links on their website referring customers back to your website, increasing sales and traffic through your website. How does it work? Once you have accepted someone as an affiliate, they can set up links on their site that will drive traffic to your site. Customers who follow those links are tracked, and if a sale happens during that customer visit, the affiliate commissions are determined (In the end the store is responsible for paying the affiliates directly).

Browse Books

The Browse Book block, which can be found on the block administration page (Structure > Blocks), consists of every BISAC category available. Selecting a category changes the block menu and provides sub-categories within that category and updates the books displayed accordingly.

Example:

Embedding Video

In order to place a video on your website, the video must first be uploaded to a third party, such as YouTube*. You can then obtain an ‘embed’ code which can be placed on your website.

Reports

There are several reports available to you that you can use to gain insights into sales on your website, who is using your website and other useful information. You can use these reports as they are or you may customize them to suit your needs.

NEW: This document has been updated as of 7/19/2021 to reflect new Financial Reports that have been recently added. See below for more details. 

Navigate to: Store > Reports

Webforms

The Webform module allows you to collect information from site visitors. This module gives you the ability to create surveys, multi-page questionnaires, contest forms etc. Webform features a basic analysis of the results collected, which can be downloaded from the website.

NOTE: Webform will be enabled on IC sites upon request. Please send us a request from the Store Features page (Store > Configuration > Account Information and Preferences > Store Features).

Membership Subscriptions

CREATE A NEW PRODUCT CLASS

Navigate to: Store > Products > Manage Classes

  1. Fill in the ‘Add a Class’ form:
    • Enter the Class ID - Example: subscription services
    • Class Name - Example: Subscription Services
    • Description is optional
  2. Select ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page.  

You have now created the product class.

Authoring information is always set to be displayed on new product classes.

jCarousel

A collection of book cover images or custom product images can be displayed in the form of a carousel. In Drupal, a carousel is a type of ‘view’. The jCarousel module is enabled upon request. If you wish to create a carousel on your site, please contact us with a request to enable the JCarousel module.

Browse Book View

The Browse Book page is a collection of popular titles based on Ingram’s ‘desirability’ ranking. The collection is displayed using Drupal ‘views’. There is also the ‘Browse Books’ block which can be used to filter books based on their BISAC codes. Though displayed together when visiting the /browse/book page, the view and the block can both be used separately. 

IMPORTANT VIEW TIPS

Order View

 
The order view (Store > Orders) by default has the following fields:
 
  1. Search by order number
  2. Filter by status
  3. Apply button
  4. Display of:

MailChimp

This documentation was modified on 01/18/2018, to comply with the latest changes by MailChimp.

This provides an integration with MailChimp (an email delivery service) and makes it possible to create and send MailChimp emails directly from your website.

PREPARE TO USE THE MAILCHIMP MODULE

  1. Sign up for a MailChimp.com account
  2. Create your list through MailChimp

Stock

The ‘Stock’ module provides a basic stock tracking system for custom products. Store admins can set the stock level and a threshold for each product SKU. When the stock has decremented to the threshold value an email can be sent to the store admin. When the stock is depleted, the ‘Add to Cart’ button will be replaced with an ‘Out of Stock’ button. The stock count will be decremented as customers make purchases.

Conditional Attributes

Here is one example of how this feature might work on your website. A customer buys a custom product and would like to give it as a gift and include a gift message. On the custom product page, the customer is asked: "Is this a gift". If they select "Yes", a message dialog box would open for the customer to enter their gift message. If they don't select "Yes", the message dialog box would remain closed.

Custom Checkout Message

If you wish to display a special message to your customers at the end of checkout, a special message pertaining to their order, you may do so using ‘Rules’.

Example scenarios where a custom checkout message could be used:

Website Best Practices

Creating a leading website takes thought and planning, a site is typically considered successful if it is well designed, useful and in e-commerce aspects, lucrative. While different stores each have different website needs, there are some best practices that are global to all sites. In this guide, we explain those best practices and have broken them down into 4 categories:

 

Pages

About ABA

The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.

Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.

Contact

PRESS INQUIRIES: [email protected]

INDIECOMMERCE: [email protected]

ALL OTHER INQUIRIES: [email protected]

 

 

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