Many people who will read this are just looking at eCommerce
technology and wondering how it works. The decision to use a
particular vendor has not been made. So there is an obvious question.

What should you expect to accomplish by taking a test drive?

That is a good question and one you should have an answer for before
you start the test drive of a trial store. The other important
questions are:

 - What level of internet skill do I need?
 - How long will this take me?
 - What can't I do?
 - What should I accomplish?

If you are looking at the web site and considering starting a trial it
most likely means that you are interested in starting an online web
store or maybe you have one now that you want to improve. If you are
starting from scratch and have never done this before then it is a
really good idea to try out a few alternative providers and
technologies. Generally you can do that for free as with this web
site.

We know that some of you who start a trial have no intention of
starting an online store but that is OK. If you like what you see
recommend us to some friends.

If you think about this test drive just like test driving a car then
it might help with the right out come. Most of us before we go test
drive a car, know what the key features are that we want. If you have
a family of six you most likely will not buy a 2 door sports car for
your everyday vehicle. You will generally know if you want a 4 doors,
hatch or wagon. What engine size and power range. Is it to be
economical, can I tow a trailer, 4 wheel drive, 2 wheel drive, front
wheel drive? You also expect certain features like air conditioning,
stereo, CD stacker, reversing sensors, central locking etc. Finally
you also are probably looking for the right colour and trim.

If you can make a list of the key features that you want and as you go
through the trial of the online store either tick them off the list or
even better score them from 1 - 5 for comparison with other trials you
might start. If you do a little homework up front it can save you
heaps of time and give you a better result. One way you might do this
is to go to some online sites you know and like; and just list the
features you like. Remember of course if the site you use as an
example if Amazon or eBay then you might be disappointed those sites
cost 100's of millions of dollars to develop. So look for similar
businesses and maybe even competitors. Always aim on the high side of
functionality as it is easy to prioritise what you want and maybe add
new stuff later. However if the capability is just not available it
might not be easy to add on later.

What Level of skill do you need?

In order to get the most out of a trial with our technology you need
to have basic knowledge of a PC, internet browser, and some tools like
Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Notebook and Picture Manager. You do
not need to know HTML or be a web developer. This technology has built
it the capability to automatically create the right HTML and web pages
for you. Everything you have to do is done through you internet
browser and via the special Management Back Office of ePages and your
trial store.

How long will this take me?

You need to spend at least a couple of hours really using the trial
store Management Back Office (MBO) to understand what it delivers. If
you register for a trial and you receive the URLs to access the web
store and back office then that is just the first step. If you are a
"tyre kicker" then you get the links, take a quick look at the website
and never do anything else. What a lost opportunity.

We give you 14 days to spend as much time as you want with the
technology. In our experience that is more than enough time to fully
review all the features. If for some reason you can't get finished in
14 days contact us and we can either extend or renew the test drive.

What can't I do?

Not much really these test drives are the real thing. Just like that
drive around the block in the car from the dealer.
You can't really sell a product and collect money in the test drive.
There are some of the design customisation features that have been
disabled.

The Test Drive is done on our production system but in a special area
so that it does not impact our production customers. Unlike a test
drive of a car the store you get will never be reused after you have
finished and is deleted completely after 14 days.

If you buy a real store it will be commissioned specially for you to
your requirements and features.

What should I accomplish?

In a few hours you will get to see and understand most of the features
and facilities of the management back office (MBO) of an ePages web
store.

You should expect to achieve the following:

Set up all your contact details in the MBO.
Set up categories specific to your business
Add some products with your own images
Assign the products to categories
Set up a Product Type and create a attribute and product variation
Assign products to cross sell
Create a product bundle
Assign a promotional product
Export / Import products and categories to a CSV file and view in
Excel
Set up special pages:
Terms and Conditions.
About Us - Customer Information
Privacy Policy
Set up a payment method(s) so you can see how the check out processs
works
Set up a delivery method(s)
Set up email preferences and email events
Set up tax requirements
Pick a template and change templates (styles) to see different designs
on the website
Place an order in the website and view the order in the MBO
Register as a customer and view the My Account area
View a registered customers details in the MBO
Set up a simple Newsletter and assign to a customer
Set up a coupon campaign

These are just some of the capabilities but if you have completed all
the above then you would have seen and used all the 7 MBO Managers

Orders
Customers
Products
Categories
Design
Marketing
Settings