CartXpress User’s Guide

CartXpress Powered by osCommerce is an online shop e-commerce solution. It features “out-of-the-box” installations that allow storeowners to set up and maintain online stores with very little effort. Having osCommerce powering CartXpress provides you with an open e-commerce platform, which combines the best in open-source solutions.

The open-source aspect of osCommerce allows you to be part of an online community of people, who share the same goal of improving your ability to get your products to your customers in an efficient and easy manner. It also allows you to create a presence that will encourage customers to return again and again.

This guide is intended to just “get you started” using CartXpress. It is recommended that you print out this guide and use it as you go through the basic process of setting up an online shop. As you go through the process, you will notice many advanced features which will enhance your online presence. These features are documented in the CartXpress Powered By osCommerce Reference Manual; as well as on osCommerce’s support site. The Reference Manual and osCommerce support site are just a link away; feel free to make use of them as you delve deeper into the osCommerce experience.

Before you can start using CartXpress you must make sure that you have it installed in your Control Panel. To do this, click on your CartXpress icon:

Upon clicking on the icon, the screen below will be displayed, click on Install osCommerce, a message stating that “your request was submitted to the server and the operation will be completed within ten minutes” should appear.

Go back to your Control Panel, wait ten minutes and then click on the CartXpress icon again. You may also refresh your screen to go back to the Control Panel. The following screen should now appear.

From this site click on Login, you will be directed to the osCommerce home page below:

For a detailed explanation of all the features on this page, see the CartXpress Powered By osCommerce Reference Manual or osCommerce Support Site.

To begin putting your store together click on Configuration. You will be prompted for your User Name and Password. These should be the same User Name and Password you used to get into your Control Panel.

The first page you will be sent to is the My Store page. This is where you will determine the fields shown on the following screenshot.

It is beneficial for you to fill out this form now, as it will give you a basic outline of what you want your site to contain to follow as you go through this guide. To edit the fields click on the (i) symbol next to each field. The fields are listed below:

• Store name- The name of “My Store”.
• Store owner- The name of “My Store” owner.
• Email address- The email address of “My Store” owner.
• Email from- The email address used in (sent) emails.
• Country- The country orders will be shipped from.
• Zone- The zone “My Store” is located in.
• Expected sort order- This is the sort order used in the expected products box.
• Switch to default language currency- Automatically switch to the language’s currency when it is changed.
• Send extra order emails to- Sends extra order emails out.
• Use search engine safe URLs- Allows you to determine if you want to use search-engine safe URL’s.
• Display cart after adding product- Allows you to determine if you wish to display the cart each time you add a product.
• Allow guest to tell a friend- This will give each guest the option of telling a friend about a product.
• Default search operator- You may determine the default search operator from this field.
• Store address and phone number- The address and phone number you wish to use for the store.
• Show category counts- Show recursively how many products there are in each category.
• Tax decimal place- Pad the tax value a chosen number of decimal places.
• Display prices with tax- Determine whether you want the prices shown to have tax included or not. These are just the basic configurations that you need to get started. More advanced configurations are listed below. Once again, you may find more information on these configurations in the CartXpress Powered By osCommerce Reference Manual or by clicking on the osCommerce Support site. However, you may want to work your way through this guide and go back to these features later, when you wish to make your site more advanced.
• Minimum values- Length for first name, last name, etc.
• Maximum values- How many address book entries a customer may have, how many special products may be displayed, number of orders in an order history, etc.
• Images- Width and height of images, headings, sub-categories, etc.
• Customer details- Set values on customer details such as gender, date of birth, company, state etc.
• Shipping/Packaging- Set details for country, postal code (zip), weight, etc.
• Stock- Check stock levels, allow checkout, re-order etc.
• Cache- Set up a cache (a fast storage buffer in a CPU).
• Email Options- Determine what email options you want your store to have.
• Download- Determine what download options you want your online store to have.
• GZip Compressor- Determine if you wish to enable GZip, and at what level.
• Sessions- Set up advanced values for online sessions, such as determining IP address, User Agent, etc.

After setting your basic configurations, go through and start setting pages in your store. To do this, you will want to make use of both the osCommerce File Manager and the Catalog section in Administration listed under Configurations. To access the File Manager go back to where you logged in from your Control Panel. In the top left hand corner you will see osCommerce File Manager, click on it.

Clicking on osCommerce File Manager will open the file manager shown below:

This is where you will start seeing what your store will look like, you may flip back and forth between the File Manager and Catalog section in Administration; or click on Online Catalog from many of the pages you will be working with.

As mentioned earlier in this manual, many of these fields are advanced and this guide will simply go through the basic steps. For more details on the advanced features, see the CartXpress Powered By osCommerce Reference Manual or the osCommerce support site.

From the File Manager you will be able to view the following:

• account information-Information about a customer’s account with your store.
• contact us-A page that will allow customers to contact your store.
• index- The entrance to your store.
• login- Where customers log into your store’s site.
• forgotten password- Information about what to do if your customers lose their password
• product review- Allows you to place reviews of products on your site.
• write product reviews-Allows customers to write and send you reviews of your products.
• shipping- This is where you may list your store’s shipping options.
• conditions- This is where you list your terms of usage information.
• cookie usage- Information on your site’s use of cookies.
• shopping cart information- Information on how to use your site’s shopping cart.
• logoff- This is where a customer logs off your site once they have finished shopping in your store.
• product information- This is where you change and update information on your products
• product review information- Allows product review information to be entered.
• new products- This is where you add products you wish to be categorized as “new” to your store’s site.

You may eventually wish to get familiar with, and use all of the above features to produce your site; but to get your site up and running you should concentrate on the following features.

• login
• password forgotten
• product information/index
• new products
• shopping cart information
• payment
• shipping
• log off

To start off your store’s website, it is probably best to begin at the beginning, or at least your customer’s beginning, the login section. This is done in the login.inc portion of the File Manager.

The login.inc portion of the File Manager is important even to the most basic online commerce site, as it allows customers to begin shopping in your store. To begin enter information in the following fields:

• Navbar title- This is the portion of the page that tells the customer where they are at in the site. May use default setting.
• Heading title- This is the title of the heading, for example in the screenshot above it says “Welcome, Please Sign in.” May use default setting.
• Heading new customer- This is the heading above where new customers sign in.
• Text new customer- This is the text a new customer will see, informing them they will move through the site as a new customer.
• Text new customer introduction- This is the text new customers will see inviting them to log into your store’s site.
• Heading returning customer- This is the heading above where returning customers sign in.
• Text returning customer- This is the text returning customers will see when they log into your store’s site.
• Text password forgotten- This is the text you will use to inform customers on what to do if they have forgotten their password (you will need to do more with this below in the password forgotten section).
• Text login error- This is the text you will use to inform a customer that have made an error in logging in.
• Text visitors cart- This is the text you will customize for a visitors shopping cart. Once you have filled out all of these fields, click Submit. Your browser will automatically go back to the File Manager.

Many of the fields above will have default settings you can use. Once you fill them out, you need to fill out the fields in the password forgotten inc. section shown below.

The following fields need to have information entered in them, so that customers may retrieve their password information.

• Navbar title one-This is the navigational bar that tells the customer what part of the site they are at.
• Navbar title two- This is the part of the navigational bar that tells the customer they are in the Password Forgotten section.
• Heading title- This is the title of the main heading of the page; for example, in the screenshot it is I’ve Forgotten My Password!
• Text Main- This is the text you will use to inform your customers about what to do if they have forgotten their password.
• Text no email address found- The text you will use to inform your customers that you were not able to find their email address while searching for their password will be entered here.
• Email password reminder subject- This is the text you will put in to have the customer come up with an email reminder.
• Email password reminder body- The body of the text of the reminder email.
• Success password sent- This is what you send out when you find the password. Once you have filled out all these fields, click on Submit.

Now you can start entering products into your online store. To do this, you will be working with the index and product information sections of the File Manager; as well as the Catalog section osCommerce Administration. The index section of the File Manager is called index.inc.

From this page you are able to determine the look and feel of your entrance page. By going to the Text Main heading on this page, you may enter text that will welcome your customers to the site. Once you have done this, click Submit. Once you have clicked Submit your browser will automatically go back to the File Manager. To see if the heading is the way you want it, click on index.inc again, the screen should refresh with your new heading. For example, in the screenshot above the “Welcome to Weiner Dog Stuff” was set in the Text Main field. For information on what else is covered in this section, check out the File Manager section of the CartXpress powered by osCommerce Reference Manual, or osCommerce’s support site.

Once you have determined how you wish to welcome your customers to your site, you will need to determine what products you would like them to see. To do so, go back to Administration, (you may need to re-login) and click on Catalog.

This section will allow you to add or edit the following:

• Categories/Products
• Products Attributes
• Manufacturers
• Reviews
• Specials
• Products Expected

For now you should concentrate on Categories and Products.

To add a new category, click on the new category button. A new box will open as shown in the screenshot below:

Enter the name of the category and an image to display for it and click on save. If you wish, you may go back to the File Manager index.inc and see if it looks the way you want it to on your site.

Any new categories that you have added should now appear in the Categories section of your welcome page.

To add products to your site, click on the new product button. This will open up the page shown below:

To enter a product, you must fill out the following fields:

• Products Status- In stock, or out of stock.
• Dates Available- Click the arrow and a calendar will appear; choose the date from the calendar.
• Products Manufacturer- Pick the name from the drop-down box that appears.
• Products Name- Enter the name in whatever language you wish it to appear. To choose the language, find the country’s flag that corresponds with it. For example, to
• enter a name in English, enter it in the field that appears next to the British “Union Jack” flag.
• Tax Class-This is a drop-down box with the choices of none and taxable goods.
• Products Price (net)-
• Products Price (gross)
• Products Description- Enter a description of the product in this field; the language you will use is once again determined by a country flag, i.e., the Union Jack for English.
• Products Quantity
• Products Model
• Products Price
• Products Image- You use the browse button to search your computer for the image file.
• Products URL- Do not enter http:// in the field, start with www. Once again, choose the language by the country flag.
• Products weight-

Once you have entered all the information, you may preview the products placement on your site by clicking on Preview.

If you are satisfied with the products placement click on Insert.

Follow the directions above for each product you wish to enter. To preview the finished product go back to your File Manager or click on Online Catalog.The new products should now appear on your site.

Once you have set up most of the products and categories you wish to have in your store you may want to classify some products as “new products”.

To set products as new products, go to the products_new.inc section of the File Manager. For each product you wish to appear as a new product fill in the following fields:

• navigation title
• heading title
• text date added- The date the product was added.
• text manufacturer- This is information you wish to add about the manufacturer.
• text price Once you have entered all the information above, click Submit. Repeat this process for each product you wish to appear as new.

The next thing you need to determine is what information you wish to tell customers about your shopping cart options.

To inform your customers of their shopping cart options, as in the above screenshot, go to the File Manager and click on info_shopping_cart.inc. Fill out the heading and sub-heading fields and you will personalize the descriptions of your shopping carts, to say whatever you wish them to say.

To make sure that your carts, or anything else that you have added up to this time, is correct go back to Administration and click on Catalog. This will give you the oppurtunity to make sure your site is looking the way you want it to look.

To track your customers and orders go back into the Administration site and click on Customers. This will open up the following page: From this page you will have the option to edit your customers information. To do so, click edit, and fill out the following form:

Once you have entered all the information, click update. You may also delete the customer’s information from here; as well as keep track of all their orders, and send them email.

You will also need to set up payment methods for your site’s store. Log in to Administration and click on Modules. This will open up the Payment Modules

From this module you may install, remove, or edit the following payment gateways. Click install next to the (i) by any of the payment gateways to install it:

• Authorize.net- Click edit to enable the authorize.net module, to enter a login name (you get this from Authorize.net) enter your transaction key (you get this from Authorize.net), enter your transaction mode (testing or production), Transaction method (credit card or e-check), customer notifications, payment zone, set order status, set order of display. Click update for the changes to take effect, and click remove to remove the Authorize.net option.
• Credit cards- Click edit to enable the credit card module and accept credit cards. Split credit card email address, select a payment zone, set order status and sort order of display. Click update for changes to take effect. Click remove to remove the option to accept credit cards.
• Cash on delivery- Click edit to enable the Cash on Delivery module, select the payment zone, set order status, and sort order of display. Click update for changes to take into effect. Click remove to remove the Cash on Delivery option.
• iPayment- Click edit to enable iPayment option, enter your iPayment account number (you get this from iPayment), your iPayment user ID (you get this from iPayment) your iPayment user password (you get this from iPayment), select the currency you wish to use with iPayment (either US Dollar or the Euro or both), set your payment zone, set the order of display. Click update for these changes to take effect. Click remove to remove the iPayment option.
• Check/Money Order-Click edit to enable the “make check payable to” message; as well as the “your order will not be shipped until we receive payment” message, enable check/money order module, payment zone, set order status, set order of display. Click update for changes to take effect. Click remove to remove the check/ money order option.
• NOCHEX- This requires GBP (Great Britain Pound) currency. Click edit to enable the NOCHEX module, to list the email address you use for NOCHEX, to select a
• payment zone, to set order status and set order of display. Click update for changes to take effect. Click remove to remove the NOCHEX module.
• PayPal- Click edit to enable the PayPal module, email address, select the currency you wish to use for credit card transactions, select a payment zone, set order status, set order of display. Click update for changes to take effect. Click remove to remove PayPal option.
• 2CheckOut- Click edit to enable the 2Checkout module, enter your login/store number for 2Checkout (you receive this from 2Checkout), determine your transaction mode (test or production), merchant notification (should 2Checkout email a receipt to the store owner), payment zone, set order status, sort order of display. Click update for changes to take place. Click remove to remove 2Checkout option.
• PSiGate-Click edit to enable the PSiGate module, enter your PSiGate merchant ID (get this from PSiGate) transaction mode, transaction type, credit card collection, payment zone, set order status, and set order of display. Click update for changes to take effect. Click remove to remove the PSiGate module.
• SECPay- Click edit to enable SECPay module, SECPay merchant ID (you receive this from SECPay) transaction currency, transaction mode, payment zone, set order status, and sort order of display. Click update for changes to take effect. Click remove to remove SECPay option.

To add shipping information, go to Administration and click on Shipping under Modules.

From this module you will be able to install, edit, and remove the following. To add any of the shipping modules, click install next to the (i) by each name:

• flat rate- Click edit to change the option to offer a flat rate, shipping cost, tax class, shipping zone, and sort order. Click update for any changes to take effect. Click remove to remove the flat rate option.
• per item- Click edit to enable item shipping, change the shipping cost, handling fee, tax class, shipping zone, and sort order. Click update for any changes to take effect. Click remove to remove this option.
• table rate- Click edit to enable the table rate method, to change the charges on the shipping table, to determine the table by either size or weight, handling fees, tax class, shipping zone, and sort order. Click update for changes to take effect. Click remove for table rate option to be removed.
• United Parcel Service- Click edit to enable UPS shipping, determine UPS pickup method, determine whether or not you want UPS packaging, if it is a residential or business delivery, the handling fee, tax fee, shipping zone, and sort order by display. Click update for the changes to take effect. Click remove for the UPS option to be removed.
• United States Postal Service-To use this feature, you need to have an account with the United States Post Office. To set up this account go to www.uspsprioritymail.com/et_regcert.html

Note: The US Post Office expects you to use pounds as your measurement of weight.

Once you have this account set up, click on Install. Once the account is set up and the module is installed, click on edit to enable US Post Office shipping, enter your USPS user name and your USPS password (these were given to you when you set up your account). You may also determine which server to use (test or production), determine the handling fee, tax class, shipping zone, and sort order. Click update for changes to take effect. Click remove to remove the US Post Office as a shipping option.

• zone rates- Click on edit to enable the zones method, determine the tax class, and sort order; as well as zone countries, shipping tables, and handling fees. Click update for the changes to take effect. Click remove to remove the zone rates option.
• low order fee- Allows you to determine if you wish to add a few to low orders, click on install and then click yes or no. If yes, determine the fee and click update.
• shipping- Click edit to determine if you wish to display the order shipping total and sort order; to determine if you wish to allow free shipping, or give free shipping for orders over a certain amount, or to a set destination. Click update for changes to take effect. Click remove for this shipping option to be removed.
• sub-total- Click edit to determine if you want to display sub-total and sort order. Click update for changes to take effect. Click remove to remove sub-total option.
• tax- Click edit to determine whether or not you wish to display the order tax value and sort order. Click update for the changes to take effect. Click remove for this option to be removed.
• total- Click on the (i) to determine whether you want to display the total order value and sort order. Click on update for any changes to take effect.

After setting up the payment and shipping modules, you will also want to set up the Order Totals module.

Once you have finished setting the modules for payment, shipping and orders you will want to leave a customized message for your customers when they log out of your store. To do this, go back into your File Manager and click on logoff.inc.

Enter what you wish to say in the Text Main field.

Now that you have made it through this User’s Guide, you should have a very basic online shop. CartXpress will allow you to grow this site into as big or small of a store as you wish. Feel free to read through the CartXpress Powered by osCommerce Reference Manual and visit osCommerce’s Support Site, both of which can be reached by the links in Administration, and will assist you in the future and continued growth of your e-commerce presence.