Hello iCrafters!
It's official! With today's release of the Shopping Bag feature, iCraftGifts.com has publicly launched! We invite everyone to browse the site, and start scooping up some of the goodies you've had your eyes on. Please note that the Shopping Bag icon at the top right-hand corner will continue to show "0 Items in your bag" regardless of how many items are in your bag. This is a small glitch that will be worked out in the coming week, but we didn't feel it was important enough to delay launching the Shopping Bag. Now is the perfect time for Creators to review their shipping and return policies to ensure that shoppers don't encounter any issues with their orders. Especially important to note is that your "Combined Shipping Rates" are set correctly, you have addressed any issues with taxes / customs, and that your return / store credit policies are communicated on your Creator Exhibit page.
Whether you are a Creator or a shopper, you will be able to keep track of items which you have purchased and sold under the "My Account" area under "My Purchases" & "My Sales". Creators who are not using PayPal are encouraged to track their sales, and make note of when payments are received by purchasers. When you have received payment, and "release" a sale in your "My Sales" area, an update gets sent to the shopper's "My Purchases" page showing that payment for the item bought from you has been received. So please be diligent in updating the sales status of orders. We don't want buyers thinking their payments never made it to you. Creators who use PayPal will soon have this feature automatically track their sales. This update should be completed within the coming days.
We are now ready to begin our marketing campaign to attract shoppers to the site. We have various marketing channels / activities planned, including:
- issue press releases to local, national and international media outlets
- execute mass marketing campaigns through various channels (print, mobile, web, co-promotions, etc.)
- engage in social media network marketing (i.e. Facebook, MySpace, etc.)
- replacement Engine Optimization and Search Engine Advertising (i.e. Google)
- regular product submissions to Google Base through XML Feeds
This is just the start. The creative minds at iCraftGifts.com will be continuing to add more features and functions aimed at helping Creators and shoppers alike. We plan on investigating more payment options (i.e. Google Checkout), photo applications, online classes and tutorials, and much more. We will continue to reach out to you, our iCraftGifts.com community for your feedback, content and ideas. Thank you to our wonderful Creators for their trust, support and patience. We're embarking on a fantastic journey, and are so happy each one of you is along for the ride! If you have any questions, please send us a note at
Service@iCraftGifts.com - we're here to help!
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