Yahoo! Store FAQ
If you are a first-time Yahoo! Store
builder, you might have a few questions
or need help in creating and maintaining
the Yahoo! Store itself. Read through
the following section, where we answer
most common questions asked by people
trying to create and run their own
Yahoo! Stores.
Q: If I open a Yahoo! Store,
will I be in Yahoo! Shopping?
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A: |
Yahoo! Store merchants
have the opportunity to
join Yahoo! Shopping,
one of the Web's leading
shopping destinations.
For more info, see the
Yahoo! Shopping
Merchant Information
page. |
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Q: What do you do about
security?
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A: |
To help Yahoo! Store
builders with security
issues, Yahoo! uses
industry-standard SSL
encryption to scramble
credit card information
both on the way from the
shopper from Yahoo!'s
server, and from
Yahoo!'s server on to
the merchant. |
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Q: Do we have to sign a
contract with Yahoo! Store?
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A: |
When creating Yahoo!
Stores, you have to
agree to their
Terms of Service,
but you don't have to
sign up for a set period
of time. You can cancel
whenever you want.
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Q: Can we have create a
Yahoo! Store but still have
www.ourname.com as our address?
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A: |
Yes, many of our users
do. Yahoo! Store
includes an easy tool
that lets you register
your own domain name (ourname.com).
If you already have a
domain name, we can help
you transfer it.
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Q: How do the orders get to
us?
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A: |
There are four ways to
get your orders:
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1 |
Most users view
orders on the
Web: just go to
the Yahoo! Store
home page and
click on the
Manager button.
After entering
your password,
you'll be able
to view orders
over a secure
connection.
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2 |
You can retrieve
orders as
database files
in a choice of
common formats.
This lets larger
merchants feed
Web orders into
their existing
order stream.
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3 |
You can have
orders forwarded
by fax.
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4 |
If you have your
own secure
server, you can
have orders
posted to you in
real time.
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Q: Can we do online credit
card authorizations in our
store?
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A: |
You can process orders
online or through your
existing in-store
system, at your option. |
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Q: We do not have a merchant
account yet. Can you help us get
one?
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A: |
Yes, you can
apply online
through Yahoo! Store.
Your application will be
processed in 1-3
business days. If you're
accepted, your new
merchant account will be
hooked up to your store
automatically. |
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Q: Can we change a store once
we've created it?
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A: |
You can update your site
as often as you want,
from wherever you happen
to be. Some of our users
update their sites
several times a day.
While you're editing
your site, visitors
continue to see the
previous version, but
once you publish your
changes, the updated
version instantly
becomes visible. |
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Q: Can we get statistics
about what is happening in our
store?
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A: |
Yahoo! Store's
tracking tools
are regarded by most
experts as the best in
the industry. |
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Q: Do we need any special
hardware or software to use
Yahoo! Store?
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A: |
You don't need anything
more than you needed to
read this page.
The only software you
need is an ordinary
browser: Netscape
Navigator or Microsoft
Explorer. |
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Q: Will Yahoo! Store help me
to drive traffic to my site?
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A: |
Yes. To start with, all
Yahoo! stores are
ordinarily included in
Yahoo! Shopping, the
biggest source of
shoppers on the Web.
Sites built with Yahoo!
Store are also designed
for maximum visibility
to search engines, and
we automatically submit
your pages to all the
major search engines. It
works! In a test by
Internet World magazine,
a site made with Yahoo!
Store got more than
14 times
as many page views as a
one made with the number
two online store tool.
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Q: Will Yahoo! list my store
in the Yahoo! Directory?
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A: |
Yahoo! Stores should
submit their sites to
the Yahoo! directory for
review. If your site is
currently not listed and
you have not submitted
it already, see their
site submission
guidelines. |
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Q: Will anyone else have
access to our sales data?
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A: |
Absolutely not. Yahoo!
publishes aggregate
statistics, but they
never disclose sales
data for specific stores
without their prior
consent.
Yahoo! also understand
the value of customer
lists to direct
marketers, and their
policy is that this
information is your
property. They do not
sell customer names, nor
do they use them
themselves. |
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Q: Does Yahoo! accept
international stores?
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A: |
For the time being,
Yahoo! Store is unable
to accept any new
international merchants.
They are working on
policies and guidelines
which will allow them to
bring these merchants
online as soon as
possible. |
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Q: What kind of network
connection do Yahoo! Stores
have?
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A: |
Your site will have the
same network connection
as Yahoo! itself,
multiple T3s direct to
all the major backbones.
Yahoo!'s whole business
depends on the quality
of our network
connection. Now your
business can share it. |
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Q: What does Yahoo! Store use
as servers?
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A: |
The same kind of servers
we use in Yahoo!'s own
site: Pentium machines
running FreeBSD. |
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Q: What does Yahoo! do about
backups?
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A: |
Yahoo! backs up all the
user data every night.
With orders we don't
even wait till that
night: they are backed
up instantly.
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