OS Commerce Tutorial

1. To add a new category
2. To add a new product
3. To edit a product
4. Sending out a newsletter
5. Creating Specials
6. Associating a product with more than 1 category
7. Making changes to payment options
8. To create different options for products eg small, medium, large
9. How to delete an options for products eg red, green, blue

1. To add a new category:
- Login.
- After you login you will see a page that looks like this:

This step shows how to add categories that will contain the products you will be selling through your store. NB: There is a great an online demonstration on how to do this here: http://www.2serveu.net/osCommerce/tutorials/osc_addcategory.htm
a) Under ‘Catalog’ click on ‘Contents’ from the administration index page.

You will be taken to a page where your categories are being displayed. You will be able to edit or delete an existing category, or add a brand new one after clicking the respective button.
b) Your screen should now look similar to this:

c) Click on

d) To the right of the page fill in the details. You only need to fill in the fields that are next to the English flags…unless you are planning to make your site multi lingual which is a big job.

e) Where is says ‘Sort Order:’, enter the number of where you want the category to appear. So if you want it to appears second within the list of categories, enter ‘2’. If you want to appear fifth within the list of categories, enter ‘5’.
f) Under Category Name, next to the English flag fill in the name of the category.
g) Where it says ‘Category Image’ you can upload an image that will be associated with your category (this is optional).
h) You may have other fields such as Header Tags Category Title, Header Tags Category Description, Header Tags Category Keywords, Header Tags Categories Description.
i) Header Tags Category Title: Enter in the name of your category.
j) Header Tags Category Description: Enter in a description of the category using as many keywords that relate to that category, as you can. Keywords are words that you want that page to be found for eg if you are selling dog products and you are creating a category for fog collars then keywords would be: dog collars, dog collar, leather dog collar, leather dog collars. NB you paste this within 2 fields.
k) Header Tags Category Keywords: paste in the keywords eg dog collars, dog collar, leather dog collar, leather dog collars
l) Click on save.

m) Your new category should appear in the list of categories.

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2. To add a new product:
NB: There is a great an online demonstration on how to do this here: http://www.2serveu.net/osCommerce/tutorials/osc_addproduct.htm

a). From the blue screen (below), under ‘Catalog’ click on ‘Contents’.

b) To the left of each the category name there is a picture of a folder:
c) To select the category that you want to put the product in, click the .
d) Click on


e) Your screen should now look like this:

f) Fill in each field. It is fairly self explanatory.
g) You only need to fill in the fields next to the English flags unless you are planning to make your site multilingual which is a big job.
h) Date Available (YYYY-MM-DD): If your product is in stock and available now, then leave this field blank. If not then enter in the date when your product will be available for shipping.

i) Product Description: Paste in your products description. It should be a thorough couple of paragraphs containing lots of keywords (keywords are words that you want your products to be found for when someone types them in to google eg if you are selling pot plants you would have: pot plants, pots, plant.)
j) Product Title Tag: You just have to copy and paste the title of the product.
k) Product Description Tag: paste in your products description again.
l) Product Keywords Tag: paste in your description and then delete all except for 3 or 4 of the most important words for your product eg if you were selling pot plants you would have: pot plants, pots, plant
m) It is important to enter a very large number into the ‘Products Quantity:’ field other wise the customer will get a message saying that the stock is running low or out of stock.
n) Some of the fields are very important. ‘Products Model:’ is very useful for when you receive the order form. ‘Products Model:’ helps you know exactly what product your customer has purchased.
o) Some of the fields are not compulsory. For example, ‘Products URL:’ is optional.
Another example is ‘Products Weight:’ which is optional but helps to determine the cost of delivery. Weight is measured in KG so 1/2 a kilogram would be 0.500
p) Press

q)
r) If you are not happy with the ad, press and make changes. If you are happy with it press

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3. To edit a product:
1. From the blue screen (below), under ‘Catalog’ click on ‘Contents’.

2. To the left of each the category name there is a picture of a folder:
3. To select the category that you want to put the product in, click the .
4. You should see the list of products within the category.
s) Select the product you want to edit by pressing the symbol to the right of the product. Once you have selected the product there should be a symbol to the right of the product.
t) Make any changes you want and click
u) . If you are happy with it press
v) If you still want to make more changes press the ‘Back’ button.
w) You may want to move the product out of a category and into a different one. To do this simply select the product and then click move.

x) You may wan to include the product within more than one category. To do this simply select the product and then click copy to.

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4. Sending out a newsletter
There is a great an online demonstration on how to do this here:
http://www.2serveu.net/osCommerce/tutorials/osc_newsletter.htm

Click on "new newsletter" to make a new newsletter.
Choose Newsletter in the drop down box to send a regular newsletter.
Choose product_notification in the drop down box to notify customers of products.
Choose a title and type your message in the content box.
Click save.
This will take you back to the original page with your newsletter listed.
Click the "lock" button on the right.
Now, you can edit, delete, preview, send, or unlock your new newsletter.
For the product_notification newsletter click send.
On the next page choose the products on the left and transfer them to the right box.
Click submit.
Any customer who has asked to be notified on all products or certain products will be
sent an email.

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5. Creating Specials

Setting up special prices (discounts, etc.) is easy with osCommerce. The discount of a products can be listed as a percentage of the regular price or by an amount off.
To create up a special item, please go to the Catalog and select the Specials link in the leftmost column.

Then, click the 'New Product' button under the special products list.

On the next screen choose your product from the drop-down box, put a special price. This
can be a percentage (10%) off or it can be a reduced set dollar amount like 10.00.
If you enter a new price, the decimal separator must be a '.' (decimal-point), example:
49.99.

The only thing left to do before inserting your new special item is the expiration date which determines when the special runs out. This means you can have the product on sale for 1 month, then after 1 month it goes back to full price.

The new special item will immediately be included in the specials list.


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6. How to associate a product with more than 1 category

a) From the blue screen below, under the heading ‘Catalog’, click on ‘contents’.

b) From there you should see your list of your categories.
c) Click on the folder icon next to the category that contains the product that you want to associate with a second category.
d) The list of products should appear. Click on the product that you want to associate with a second category.
e) Once the page refreshes click on the 'copy to' button which is in the top right hand corner of the screen

f) Once you click this the page should reload and should now have a drop down menu that contain all the categories within your store.
g) Underneath the drop down menu is 2 radio buttons. You should leave it selected on ‘Link product’.
Click the copy button and you’re done.

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7. How to make changes to the payment options of oscommerce
a) From the blue screen below, under the heading ‘Catalog’, click on ‘Payment’.

b) You will see a list of payment options. Click the payment option you want to edit.
c) When the page refreshes, click on the edit button. Doing this will open up the settings for that particular payment option.
d) From here you can turn it on or off by clicking the true or false radio button.

You can also make changes to particular parts of the information that are within the fields.

When you are finished click on the update button, and the page should save the changes you just made.