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Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

Last post 07-12-2009 10:01 PM by washington678. 12 replies.
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  • 11-23-2008 6:06 PM

    Coffee [C] Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

    Shozammers,

    We are looking into Shozam features to help you sell more, easier and faster using your galleries. We want your feedback surrounding this type of new development. This should be of interest to anyone who has Shozam Business Edition or who has an interest to sell and make money through Shozam galleries. Let us know if you have any feedback on these issues you want us to consider.

     

    BACKGROUND - 2 E-COMMERCE METHODS

     

    Method 1: Use Sell Tab (Step 2 of Shozam)


    As you know, you can use Shozam to create shopping buttons in your gallery. As long as you have a PayPal Business or Premier account, all you need to do is enter a few options (Sell tab in Step 2 of Shozam) and Shozam can propagate shopping buttons across all your selected images (or "products"). Then, once a Payer makes a purchase from your online gallery, you get a PayPal notification. You review that notification and then you fulfill it. This gives you the flexibility to sell anything you like but also puts the burden on you to fulfill the purchase.

     

    PROs
    You set your options in the Sell Tab and Shozam can automatically propagate the PayPal shopping buttons to all selected images in the album you are editing. No need to enter the information again for each image/product

     

    CONs
    Shopping buttons are limited to the functionality provided by PayPal, meaning you just get notified when a purchase is made and then it is up to you to make sure it is fulfilled. If you sell digital products (e.g. high-resolution files of your images or e-books in PDF format) you will need to email the Payer a link or attachment to the digital file. If you sell physical products (e.g. prints, framed posters or other goods such as jewelry or crafts) you will need to produce, package and ship the product to the Payer or enter an order for it with a third party provider which can do it on your behalf.

     

    Another CON we want to address the way PayPal buttons are generated is to allow options for your products to appear as just one shopping button with drop-down option lists (rather than one button for each button)

     

    - OR -

     

    Method 2: Use HTML Tab (Step 2 of Shozam)


    You can go beyond just PayPal to a more feature-rich e-commerce provider and use it to create shopping buttons and functionality they provide. Typically such a provider would be able to generate for you HTML code which incorporates all the functionality needed for the shopping button. You would then copy that code and paste it into your gallery (HTML tab in Step 2 of Shozam).

     

    PROs
    You can have the order be fulfilled automatically by that third party. If you sell digital goods, they would automatically be able to send to the Payer a secure digital link to the digital file you are selling. If you sell physical products, they would automatically produce, package and ship the product to the Payer (which works great for drop-ship products or photography related products like prints, framed posters, printed T-shirts and mouse-pads, etc.)

     

    CONs
    You would need to create a separate button for each product you sell and then copy/paste into the HTML tab in Step 2 of Shozam for each corresponding product/image. If you have hundreds or thousands of products/images, this would be a tedious process. Also, if you have digital products or physical ones that rely on a digital image (like prints and posters) you would need to provide that third party with where the original high resolution image is. Doing it for hundreds or thousand of images/products will be tedious as well.

     

    PRACTICAL SCENARIOS

     

    1 - Sell physical products only produce


    If you sell one-of-a-kind items like custom jewelry or crafts, your prices may differ with each piece and likely would create your buttons one-by-one. When a Payer completes a purchase, PayPal notifies you of the completed transaction and you fulfill each one by hand. No further automation may be needed in this scenario.

     

    WAYS TO IMPROVE
    You could benefit from a way to organize your “pricelists” so you can more easily apply them to specific product items in different albums or galleries. Also, if you sell items that may have only one “image” but come with several options, beneficial would be to have Shozam arrange all those options in drop-down lists on the page with only one shopping button, rather than a button for each possible option.

     

    2 - Sell physical products others can produce for you


    If you are selling physical products that are standardized, with set prices that apply across your products/images, you would benefit from integration with a 3rd party provider which can automate not only delivery but also producing and packaging the product. This would be the case if you have a photography (or artwork such as painting) related gallery. A third party provider can produce, package and ship for you small prints, large framed prints, imprinted T-shirts, mouse-pads and the like.

     

    WAYS TO IMPROVE
    You could benefit from tighter integration with a provider that produces these types of products so once a Payer buys something, the order will be automatically processed and fulfilled by that provider. If you have specific providers you would like to see integrate with Shozam, please see this related forum post. This integration would allow you to simply fill-in your settings one time, rather than doing it for *each* product/image. Hopefully this simplification would be able to happen in Shozam as well as in the 3rd party provider’s interface.

     

    3 - Sell digital products


    If you sell digital high resolution files of your images (or any other types of downloads such as e-books as PDFs), you will need to send to the Payer (likely in email) the digital file. You would benefit from an automated way to deliver this. Note that you CAN currently do this using a 3rd party provider (such as E-junkie or PayLoadz). You sign up with them and create a shopping button for each product you want to sell. They provide you the HTML code for the button and you simply paste that code on the HTML tab in Step 2 of Shozam. However, if you have hundreds of products/images, it would be tedious to create a separate button and copy/paste from the provider into Shozam. Also, you would need to tell the provider where your digital files are so they can use them for automatic delivery. If you have many products, similarly this would be a tedious process.

     

    WAYS TO IMPROVE
    You could benefit from a tighter integration between Shozam and a third party provider (such as E-Junkie or PayLoadz). This integration would allow you to simply fill-in your settings one time, rather than doing it for *each* product/image. Hopefully this simplification would be able to happen in Shozam as well as in the 3rd party provider’s interface.

     

     

    GIVE US YOUR INPUT!

    Please provide your feedback with any details you may want us to consider on these areas of improvement or additional things we may have missed. Help us make Shozam work harder for you and your business!
    Razvan Neagu
    Shozam Web Gallery Generator
    Executive Team
    • Post Points: 80
  • 11-29-2008 7:11 AM In reply to

    Re: Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

     Because of my plans to sell digital and physical products I welcome all the above well thought ways to improve.

    One suggestion: because there is a limitation of the amount of html which can be typed in the html box, I would love to see a lenghthier form.

    Paul

     

     

     

    Paolo
    Filed under:
    • Post Points: 5
  • 12-09-2008 8:39 PM In reply to

    • jmooney
    • Top 200 Contributor
    • Joined on 12-10-2008
    • Posts 4
    • Points 50

    Re: Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

    I use the same sell buttons over and over and need to apply them to new gallaries as they are added and also to new albums that get created.  It is unbearably time consuming to have to enter each button over and over.  There needs to be some sort of Global Settings feature that allows your preferences to be set and  to be carried through from one gallery or album to another.  As of yet I have been unable to find where to make those universal settings.

    A drop down with different sizes and prices would sure be nice!!

     

     

     

    • Post Points: 20
  • 01-05-2009 5:58 PM In reply to

    Re: Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

     

    jmooney:
    A drop down with different sizes and prices would sure be nice!!

    You can now create and use secure PayPal buttons with drop-down options...

    Create the button using PayPal Button Designer at:
    https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_button-designer

    Then you paste the resulting code in the HTML tab in Step 2 of Shozam.

    For now, you either need to create a new button code for each image/product -OR- create one code and then tweak it for each image/product by adding a little snippet that has some unique identifier. We hope to provide some new features in the future so this is done automatically by Shozam.

    For more on how to do this, see the new related post at:
    http://community.shozam.com/forums/p/1171/4059.aspx#4059

    Razvan Neagu
    Shozam Web Gallery Generator
    Executive Team
    • Post Points: 5
  • 02-16-2009 7:06 AM In reply to

    Re: Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

     Selling digital products with instant downloads is what I want to do. Currently I am experimenting with a third party program called SmartDD, this allows you to generate a "Paypal Buy Now" html button code for each product, but it takes a heck of a long time to generate a button for each image, paste in the html and then test it. The one good thing about the SmartDD script is, once you have purchased it, any profits you make are yours with none going to a third party digital download link provider. The presentation of Shozam is wonderfull, its so easy to produce a professional looking web site in a couple of hours, its just a real pity that its so long winded to use it to make some cash "hopefully". I would like to see digital downloading included in the program in some way.

     

    • Post Points: 20
  • 02-16-2009 1:38 PM In reply to

    Re: Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

    Can you post two example scripts, for two different products (or Shozam images). I would like to see if the difference between them could be resolved by a find-and-replace action. For example, if all you have is a line in the script identifying the ProductID, which may be the Shozam image filename... Shozam may be able then to apply that one script to all images (products) with the one change being that it would replace for each, the value of the Product ID with the respective image filename.

    Razvan Neagu
    Shozam Web Gallery Generator
    Executive Team
    • Post Points: 20
  • 02-17-2009 6:42 AM In reply to

    Re: Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

    Now that seems like an interesting solution. All the product details are contained in a SmartDD Mysql db which have to be entered manually in two places. Under the "Inventory" tab you enter: Product name, Selling Price, Digital Download or Physical Goods tag, Real location i.e you have to upload to a "digital download location directory" the zipped files ready to be downloaded, and optionally a downloadable file name (if you do not wish the actual file name to be seen by the purchaser before downloading).

     Under the "Item" tag yo are able to select the "product" from a list (from details entered under the inventory tag). Here again you enter the currency type, selling price (again?), shopping cart provider (either Paypal or Clickbank) and a few other "housekeeping" items such as what email(s) to want sent etc. Once you have saved these details you are presented with a list of "Items" with a number of options: Amend, View, Manage Images, Code Generator, Remove.

    The code generator options are: Price Widget 2 examples of code below:

     "Please note: In order to use the price widget, your sales page must reside on the same domain as your SmartDD installation and must have a .php extension.

    Add the following line to the very top of the page. Note: If you want to use the price widget more than once on a page, you should only include this line once"

    <?php include("/home/photosof/public_html/smartdd/pricewidget.php");?>


    "Wherever you want to include the item description, put the following line:"

    <?=PriceWidgetGetDescription(7);?>

    "Wherever you want to include the item price, put the following line:"

    <?=PriceWidgetGetPrice(7);?>

    Another example of the price widget script is:

    <?=PriceWidgetGetDescription(6);?>

    <?=PriceWidgetGetPrice(6);?>

    There are also options to generate code for Paypal and Clickbank buttons as follows:

    Select Live or test mode

    Select button style, there are 8 to choice from

    Give commission to the referring affiliate

    Add the following line to the very top of the page. Note: If you have more than one item on the page, you should only include this line once

    <?php include("/home/photosof/public_html/smartdd/saleshelper.php");?>

    Add the following line to the very bottom of the page. Note: If you have more than one item on the page, you should only include this line once

    <?php include("/home/photosof/public_html/smartdd/saleshelperbottom.php");?>

    And her is the code for two different products using the same button style and "Live" selected" and give commision deselected.

     <form method="post" action="http://photosoffood.co.uk/smartdd/paypalredir.php">
    <input type="hidden" name="aid" id="aid" value="6"/>
    <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/x-click-but03.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Buy now" title="Buy now"/>
    <img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_GB/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1"/>
    </form>

    And

    <form method="post" action="http://photosoffood.co.uk/smartdd/paypalredir.php">
    <input type="hidden" name="aid" id="aid" value="7"/>
    <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/x-click-but03.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Buy now" title="Buy now"/>
    <img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_GB/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1"/>
    </form>
     

    Does that help, is it of interest. Of course I would like to be able to use the price widget but an not sure which files(s) to rename to ."php" if any, at least that what the documentaion says I need to do, I quote " To make this(price widget) work, you need to rename your web pages extension to .php." an an example is given. As I understand it using the price widget means you can easily display and change the product price and description in the admin panel of Smartdd.

    Hope that helps

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    • Post Points: 20
  • 02-28-2009 9:35 PM In reply to

    • Tom Purse
    • Top 10 Contributor
    • Joined on 03-24-2007
    • Washington
    • Posts 573
    • Points 7,595

    Re: Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

     I would like to see an option added to the e-commerce function of Shozam. I know a lot of people who sell things on POD sites like Imagekind, CafePress, Printfection and others. In place of the PayPal button I'd like to see an option added where you could pick either to buy through Paypal or put a link into the same area of the gallery that could link to their CafePress or other product. Possibly much like using the links tab but be able to create a button and put it in the same place as the PayPal button.

    "welcome to my world"
    http://www.northwest-scenescapes.com
    Photographing the Pacific Northwest one step at a time
    • Post Points: 20
  • 03-01-2009 1:32 PM In reply to

    Re: Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

    Tom, you can do this now using the HTML tab; create any button taking you to some external page. Some of these fullfillment providers also provide button HTML code for the products you have listed with them. Otherwise you would have to create your own button HTML.

    The single drawback is the lack of automation in applying one code for all your images, like our Sell tab does for Paypal integration. To automate this, Shozam would need to know how to modify the code so it is correct for each image. Each provider does things differently. We approached Imagekind (now part of CafePress) to create such an integration but could not work out a way to automate it. So for now you would need to get the HTML for each item from the provider and then paste it in the HTML tab in Step 2 for each respective image in Shozam.

    We could have a way for Shozam to do a find-and-replace on some prototypical piece of code, for example searching for product id and replacing it with the image filename. This is basically how the Paypal code gets applied accross several images. The tricky thing is differernt providers use different identifiers and not neccesarily the image filename. For example, imagekind uses some random string for each of the products/images users put in their accounts and not tied to the image filename. So there is no practical way for Shozam to know the correct string for a specific image in Shozam.

    Razvan Neagu
    Shozam Web Gallery Generator
    Executive Team
    • Post Points: 20
  • 03-01-2009 1:40 PM In reply to

    • Tom Purse
    • Top 10 Contributor
    • Joined on 03-24-2007
    • Washington
    • Posts 573
    • Points 7,595

    Re: Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

     Thanks Razvan. I am on Imagekind and on Zazzle. I know they have some very strange URL's to products and images. I think what I'm after is placing the link (by button or a text link "Buy now" or something similar) in the same area the  Paypal button would be. Maybe I misunderstand where it would appear using the HTML tab. I'll just play around with it and see what happens.

    "welcome to my world"
    http://www.northwest-scenescapes.com
    Photographing the Pacific Northwest one step at a time
    • Post Points: 5
  • 03-01-2009 1:44 PM In reply to

    • Tom Purse
    • Top 10 Contributor
    • Joined on 03-24-2007
    • Washington
    • Posts 573
    • Points 7,595

    Re: Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

     My bad. LOL, I was thinking the HTML in step 5, not step 2. That would work fine for what I'm doing.

    "welcome to my world"
    http://www.northwest-scenescapes.com
    Photographing the Pacific Northwest one step at a time
    • Post Points: 5
  • 06-01-2009 11:04 PM In reply to

    • aramirezl
    • Top 50 Contributor
    • Joined on 06-10-2007
    • Mexico City
    • Posts 16
    • Points 215

    Re: Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

    Well, I have had any problems selling thru Shozam. Digital media as you said, I send it directly to the customers email and thats it. Creating buttons from paypal is easy, yet it can be difficult for those who don't do HTML and scripts, but they provide a better control of multiple prices for the same picture (for example) somthing that Shozam, doesn't do.

    But for the inexperience ones, Shozam is a fast run to e-commerce.

    -ANTONIO-
    • Post Points: 5
  • 07-12-2009 10:01 PM In reply to

    Re: Provide input on new features for Shozam's ecommerce capabilities

    Thanks for sharing. It's great

     


    taux pret auto

    • Post Points: 5
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