***BUY NOW***

Through the process of updating, I found even more import shortcuts.  I now have most of the products online.  There are some things not yet on board, such as the “Accessories” category (includes, tubing, wire, glue, tools, etc.) and all of the Superior Props items.  These still need to be loaded, but first logical categories need to be created.  It’s not a big issue, just part of the process.

Shipping has always been a bugaboo and I am still on Flat Rate.  I’ll be looking into that more in depth since I now have rough weights and dimensions on each product.  In theory, that means the system should be able to calculate a closer price to the cost.  That would be nice, since sometimes the flat charge is less than actual cost – and sometimes vice-versa.

As I said – the store is up and running. Orders have been placed (and even some have been fulfilled).  So have at it, whenever you like.  I will still be learning this interface (like how to create orders for people), so that will take some time.  I do know that some Product Descriptions got truncated, so those will need to be fixed.  If your having issues navigating or find problems, contact me and we will figure it out.  If there is something you want to see online that used to be there, contact me and we will see about getting it up there.

Anyway, I can now get back to filling some older orders, cutting some kits, finishing some models and so on.

Notice I am now saying “restoration” and not “failure”.  We are moving beyond the failure into the new store.  And, it’s moving along.  I am able to batch upload Product Names and Descriptions that I can extract from the old site.  During the upload, I can set price and category.  These are much easier to do on a spreadsheet than on each individual product page.

But I learned that I have to do it in small sections.  Because, then I have to go into each individual product page, set things like product dimensions – and photos.  If I did 500 at once, I’d never be able to make sure all were logged correctly.  So, it is slow and steady.

I’ve now got just over 100 products in the store.  As I load, I am trimming my products, eliminating ones that I no longer sell (or no longer want to sell).  This was coming anyway, as suppliers dry up.  This will streamline your experience – and mine.

Last evening, I received my first order from the new store!  So, YES, IT WORKS!

To see the store, click the SHOP item on the right end of the top menu bar.  That will show a page of the different categories (if they have items in them).  Or you can just jump right to the specific category you want on the SHOP BY CATEGORY on the menu on the right SIDE.

As you can see, it is a fully integrated shop.  If you are having problems, let me know what they are and I will see if I can track them down.  As one person already observed: now the store and blog appear properly on small screens (like phones and tablets).  That’s an improvement right there.  I paid for a “responsive” site back when, but it was only partially realized.

I’ll be packing some orders this morning, and then back at the tedium that is reloading the products.  Onward and upward!

Re-store-ation (haha) is underway.  It is and will be a slow process.

Background:  My site has two parts – a blog and a store – and these required two separate systems (WordPress and Zen Cart).  A couple of years ago, I paid (good money) to integrate the two.  What I wanted and what I got were two different things and both the blog and the store were compromised.

A couple week ago, I did some background system upgrades a) because it is always a good idea and b) I wanted to use a cloud system so I can access some of my files (not store related) if and when I am on the road.  Well, it appears that this upgrade action broke some of the implementation that I paid for and some store items became un-orderable.   You could go to the details page, but you couldn’t add the item to your cart.

I tracked the problem to an issue with the template – the “look and feel” of the site.  Of course, this template was part of the custom integration that I paid for.  I tried to fix that myself.  I installed some templates to see if they would allow the site to operate.  Well, due to the poor nature of the integration, modifications had been done to root (basic system) files, not directly associated with the template.  My actions of simply loading new templates overwrote these files and my site broke immediately.  Because I did not know which files were replaced, I could not undo what I had done.  I did try doing a file roll-back from the host provider to files dated a week ago (that should have worked) but it didn’t do anything.

So, I gave up.  The blog (WordPress) portion of the site was still accessible.  I started researching how I can integrate sales into WordPress (what I paid for a couple years ago) and I think I found a solution.  I hope it is robust enough to handle what I want – which really isn’t much, but I have over 500 ACTIVE items for sale I will have to enter most of the information individually.  I can still access the administrative back end of the old store, so I can export my products and I can import in batch, but each item needs individual attention after that.  It is a time consuming process.

You can start to see the results.  In the upper right corner of the page, you can see new items on the menu bar:  SHOP and CART.  These are part of the new store.  On the right side menu, you can see the new menu section SHOP BY CATEGORY and you will see categories and sub-categories popping up in there as time goes by.  I am going slowly, but stuff is getting there already.  I believe the purchase process is in place – so the store is LIVE, just not full of products, yet.  Bear with me and we will get there.  And I will finally have an integrated store that I wanted a long time ago.