AFBuilder As An Ecommerce Website Building System

Please Note: This page is here to provide information about how AFBuilder may be used to customize an online store using the AFCommerce Shopping Cart, both the free and paid versions of AFCommerce will work with AFBuilder. To avoid any confusion, AFBuilder and AFCommerce are separate software packages, which means they work together perfectly, but both must be downloaded and installed separately. For more information about how and why this is done, please click here.

AFBuilder is the official website builder for the AFCommerce shopping cart. AFCommerce is one of the industry leaders in ecommerce online stores and can be completely designed and customized with AFBuilder. AFCommerce is a real world software solution with a huge list of features, and your customers will perform all tasks on your website without leaving your website, which is proven to increase sales.

AFbuilder allows you to have complete control of the look and design of your shopping cart without any knowledge of complicated programing languages. Most web design firms charge thousands of dollars for a custom ecommerce website, now you can do it yourself for less than $50. A person with no knowledge of HTML can design an ecommerce website that looks like it was created by a professional.

Use AFBuilder's advanced content editing system to manage the content of your website. It is a proven fact that the more content you have the better your website will perform in the search engines and now you can create new content and make updates any time you want! Now you can create an unlimited amount of pages to upsell your products without having to pay a web developer. Our Website builder will generate new pages for your shopping cart with the click of a button, and every page that you create will be perfectly integrated into your online store.

Control the look of your store by choosing from all possible AFCommerce page layouts. Each layout allow you to create a unique look for your website and online store.

Shopping Cart Features

• Web-based Administration AreaWhats this?Web based administration allows you to work on your online store wherever you have an Internet connection. There is no software to install on your desktop computer. You can administer the back-end and view the front-end results in real time. All of the features you see here can be easily managed through the AFCommerce Administration Area
• Secure, password protected administration area
• Shopping Cart tutorial, which walks you through the most aspects of our administration area
• Unique HTML Title Tag created for every pageWhats this?Each web page's title tag should be different on important pages, an automatic feature which will first add the product's name (on product pages), or category name (on category pages), and other similar pages to the page's title. Then it will use the normal title that you may set inside the admin area (once) to the title making it easy to add a unique, yet descriptive title to each page.
• All links have "title" tags
• Dynamically generated product pages from store's database
• Create an unlimited amount of tax rules
• Add, edit, delete products online
• Order confirmation emails are autmatically sent to store owner
• Create an unlimited amount of categories and sub categoriesWhats this?The AFCommerce system automatically creates your site's links as well as page structure. You can create an unlimited amount of categories and sub categories and they will automatically be displayed on your website.
• Choose from multiple default currenciesWhats this?AFCommerce allows you to select form multiple default currencies.
  
  
• Select pounds or kilograms as your default weightWhats this?
• Decide how many products will display per pageWhats this?This helps with page load time when you have a large number of products. A link to the next page will automatically be generated if a category exceeds the per page limit that you set
• Turn quick search feature on and offWhats this?The Quick Search feature will display a text area in your menu for customers to search by key word.
  
  
• Turn Advanced search feature on and offWhats this?The Advanced Search feature allows customers to search by key word, category, manufactures, and price range. When this feature is turned on AFCommerce will automatically display a link to the search page on your website
  
  
• Choose if you want to display a list of manufactures with links to there products in the navigation menu
• Add manufacture logosWhats this?
  
• Email / NewsletterWhats this?Keep in touch with consumers using our Newsletter system. Mass mail all of your customers or target a small group
• Turn the bread crumb feature on or offWhats this?This will display text links to the categories prior to the one the user is currently in. Once users navigate into a category, links to the path they have navigated will appear.
• Create promotional couponsWhats this?You can create promo codes that you can distribute so a customer can obtain a percentage discount if they have the coupon number.
• Decide if you want to have the shipping cost displayed separately or as part of the product price
• Choose if you want to display a shipping and refund policyWhats this?AFCommerce allows you to create a shipping and refund policy using the administration area. If you decide to display your shipping and refund policy a link will automatically be generated and displayed on your website with the text that you have entered.
• Choose if you want to display a privacy policyWhats this?AFCommerce allows you to create a Privacy Policy using the administration area. If you decide to display your Privacy Policy a link will automatically be generated and displayed on your website with the text that you have entered.
• Turn the wish list feature on or offWhats this?Customers can add a product to there wish list if they are not ready to make there purchase at that time. The product will now be stored in there account so it can be quickly located when they are ready to make there purchase
• Turn the rewards points feature on or offWhats this?Reward points allows the merchant to offer a loyalty system. The customer accumulates points by buying goods at your store. At some point the customer can redeem their points at your store.
• Decide if you want to display our currency converter
• Turn on our specials feature and all products you mark with special pricing will be displayed in there own category
• You can name the specials category anything that you would like
• Create a clearance discount that will give products of your choice an across the board discount
• Choose to have products that are placed on clearance displayed in there own category
• You can name the clearance category anything that you would like
• Create product bundles
• Choose to have product bundles displayed in there own category
• You can name the product bundles category anything that you like
• Decide if you want product bundles to display images, prices, captions, and/or descriptions
• Enable quantity feature and AFCommerce will track your inventoryWhats this?Manage your entire inventory through your online store. AFCommerce will display the total quantity of each item, decreasing inventory volumes when a product is sold. If a product runs out of stock it can automatically be removed from your website.
• Create an unlimited amount of tax rates based on States(USA) or Countries
• Turn the tell a friend feature on or offWhats this?Within each product display, customers have the option to email that item to a friend. This allows customers to do some marketing for you.
• Turn on the Best Sellers feature to have your top selling products automatically displayed in one category
• Turn on the Newest Products feature to have your recently added products displayed in the What's New category
• Block specific ip address from accessing your website
• Create an unlimited amount of countriesWhats this?AFCommerce has over 230 countries with there 2 and 3 digit ISO codes pre installed. If the country you are in, or a country that you would like to sell to is not listed, it can easily be added through the administration area.
• Disable or Enable the countries of your choiceWhats this?Afcommerce allows you to manually select the countries that can create accounts on your website. You can also disable all countries with the click of a button. This is helpfull for store owners that only want a few countries (or only one) to be enabled. Without this button you would have to disable each country that you didn't want to use, which could take a long time to set up. Now you can push this button and simply enable only the countries you want to use
• Member Search FeatureWhats this?You can search for a member by email address, last name, or member id number. The customers member id number is also now displayed on account.php inside the main AFCommerce directory, in case they need to identify themselves to you.
• Show Members Sorted Alphabetically By Their Last Name
• Show Members By Their Member Id (Low To High)
• Show Members By Their Member Id (High To Low)
• Show Members With At Least One Order
• Show Members With At Least One Item On Their Wish List
• Show Newest Members
• Product Options
• Create an unlimited amount of products
• Upload unlimited product images
• Product images are automatically thumbnailed and made into clickable links to the full sized imageWhats this?AFCommerce Creates all required thumbnails for you, all you have to do is upload your largest photo, and the system takes care of the rest.
• Choose how many product images will display per row
• Product image pop up autamatically sized to match the image sizeWhats this?The window that opens up when a visitor clicks on a product image is re-sized to the actual size of the image by first calculating the actual height and width of the image and making the window that size.
• Next and Previous image link displayed in the image pop upWhats this?When someone enlarges the primary image (on the main product page, getproduct.php), if you have uploaded additional images, there will be links inside the pop up window allowing your visitors to see the next and previous images through that window. So, for example, if you have 5 images assigned to a product, when someone enlarges your primary image, then can click around and see all the images for that product. Hard to explain, but it looks really nice, and makes the navigation on your site much better
• Select the size of your product image thumbnails
• Assign a product to multiple categoriesWhats this?Display your product in an unlimited amount of categories which means the product can be showcased under distinct multiple categories but still possess the same description and pricing
• Create an unlimited amount of product attributesWhats this?AFCommerce enables you to create product attributes for your individual products and adjust the price if a customer selects an option. For example a shirt, might be more expensive if the customer needs an x-large size. You can now add a drop down menu for the shirt that will allow the customer to select there size and AFCommerce will automatically adjust the price
  
  
• Change the sort order of a products attributesWhats this?This allows you to define the order in which product attributes are displayed on a products webpage
• Upload videos to display with your productsWhats this?This feature allows you to upload a video for a product with the click of a button. This video will then be displayed on that products webpage.
• Customize the size that the video will display on a products webpageWhats this?
• Add downloadable files to individual products for software, images, and music purchases
• Create special (On Sale) pricing for a product and choose a date for the special to expireWhats this?By creating specials for a product, your website visitors will see the original price of this item with a slash through it, and the new price next to it. The new price will be what is used by the cart and this special will expire on the date of your choice
• Create a unique reward points value for each product
• Add or Remove products without deleting them with our In stock/Out of stock featureWhats this?This gives you the option to hide your products from being viewed online when they are not in stock. This eliminates the need to manually remove products from your catalog every time it runs out of stock. You can also choose if you would like to hide or display out of stock products on your website.
• Hide or display out of stock productsWhats this?If you choose to display out of stock products customers will be able to view that products webpage and an OUT OF STOCK message will be displayed
• Automatically display relevant productsWhats this?AFCommerce will automatically find products with similar features and display them with other products. As an example, if a customer is visiting the product page of a diamond necklace, on that page you can recommend your customer to also have a look at other diamond necklaces. These relationships can be utilized to cross sell the products.
• Display the relevant products of your choiceWhats this?You can decide what products you think will cross sell well and have them display a short listing on a products webpage. AFCommerce even allows you to decide how much information you would like to display in a products short listing.
• Assign stock quantities to products and AFCommerce will automatically adjust the quantity when a product is sold
• Assign Manufactures to products
• Assign model numbers to products
• Shipping Options
• UPS shipping Whats this?This shipping method uses the UPS API to receive a shipping quote, in real time, directly on your website.
• USPS shippingWhats this?This shipping method uses the United States Postal Service API to receive a shipping quote, in real time, directly on your website.
• FedEx shippingWhats this?This shipping method uses the FedEx API to receive a shipping quote, in real time, directly on your website.
• Flat rate shippingWhats this?This shipping method applies a set amount for all orders, regardless of the dollar amount, weight, or number of products ordered.
• Set a per pound shipping priceWhats this?This shipping method calculates the shipping cost based on the weight of all products ordered. You must set a weight for each product in your store for this method to work properly.
• Set a per item shipping amountWhats this?This shipping method calculates the shipping cost based on the number of items ordered. If, for example, someone buys 10 items (including multiples of the same product), and you charge $1.00 per item, the total shipping amount would be $10.00
• Set shipping rate based on a percentage of priceWhats this?This shipping method calculates the shipping cost based on the amount of the order. If, for example, you charge 10% for shipping, an order of $100.00 would be charged an additional $10.00 for shipping.
• In store pick up optionWhats this?This option will only charge the customer the handling fee (if you have selected to charge a handling fee), and requires them to pick their order up at your store's location.
• Add handling feesWhats this?This fee will be charged to ALL orders in addition to the shipping amount calculated by any of the shipping methods above.
• Set shipping to be free if order total exceeds an amount that you set
• Select if shipping and handling is taxable or notWhats this?This option will charge tax on the shipping and handling fees. The same tax rate for the rest of the order will be charged at checkout with the tax rules you set up.
• Pre-Integrated Payment Gateways
• Paypal Standard
• Paypal Pro Direct
• Paypal Pro Express
• Authorize.net
• Authorize.net
• World Pay
• 2 Checkout
• Skip Jack
• Verisign-Payflow Pro
• Verisign-Payflow Link
• Check or Money Order
• Customer features
• Customers are given the option to subscribe to your newsletter when they create an account
• Tell a friend feature allows customers to easily notify friends of an item they might be interested in
• Customers can track there rewards point balance
• Customers can read and write reviews of products
• Customers can add products to there wish list for future purchaseWhats this?Customers can add a product to there wish list if they are not ready to make there purchase at that time. The product will now be stored in there account so it can be quickly located when they are ready to make there purchase
• Clickable bread crumb trail allows a customer to see what category they are in
• Customer can view all orders placed and view order status
• Customers can add comments to there orders
• The shipping address of an order can be changed at checkout
• Forgot password feature allows customers to create a new password for there account
• Customer can update their shipping addresses, change their password, view reward points balance.
• Currency convert allows customers to see there purchase total in multiple currencies
• Give customers multiple payment options
• Customers can use promo codes that you create for special discounts
• Contact Us page automatically displays the contact information of your choice and allows customers to email you directly
• Advanced Website Statistics Features
• Search Engines *Whats this?Shows the search engines that referred visitors to your site. Each search engine is only counted once for each visitor that it referred to your site. Search engines are grouped by engine name, not domains or URLs.
• Search Engines by Domain *Whats this?Shows the search engines that referred visitors to your site. Each search engine is only counted once for each visitor that it referred to your site. Search engines are grouped by domain name.
• Searched Keywords *Whats this?Shows the keywords that were searched from various search engine referrals. The keywords are grouped by whole search phrase and are case insensitive. For example, "Web Stats" and "web stats" would both be reported as "web stats"
• Searched Keywords (by Word) *Whats this?Shows the keywords that were searched from various search engine referrals. The keywords are grouped by the individual words in a given search phrase. For example, "Web Stats" would be reported as "web" and "stats"
• Search Engines by Domain *Whats this?Shows the search engines that referred visitors to your site. Each search engine is only counted once for each visitor that it referred to your site. Search engines are grouped by domain name.
• Referrers by URLWhats this?Shows the top referrers that sent visitors to your site. There is a one-to-one relationship between referrers and visitors, meaning that for each referrer count there is exactly one visitor. Referrers are grouped by URL, this includes the full address and query string (portion of URL after ?).
• Referrers by DomainWhats this?Shows the top referrers that sent visitors to your site. There is a one-to-one relationship between referrers and visitors, meaning that for each referrer count there is exactly one visitor. Referrers are grouped by domain. For example, the referrer URL http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&loe=UTF-8&lq=web+stats would be reported as www.google.com.
• Page Hits by FileWhats this?Shows the top pages viewed for your site. Page hits indicate page views and not unique visitors (ex: if a visitor views multiple pages or even the same page multiple times, each view is counted as a page hit). Pages are grouped by file, meaning that only the full path and name of the file is taken into consideration.
• Page Hits by TitleWhats this?Shows the top pages viewed for your site. Page hits indicate page views and not unique visitors (ex: if a visitor views multiple pages or even the same page multiple times, each view is counted as a page hit). Pages are grouped by page title. This report is useful if your site contains pages that serve up different content depending on the query string. Titles can be more meaningful and easier to look at then query strings.
• Page Hits by URIWhats this?Shows the top pages viewed for your site. Page hits indicate page views and not unique visitors (ex: if a visitor views multiple pages or even the same page multiple times, each view is counted as a page hit). Pages are grouped by URI. The URI is simply the page URL minus the domain portion, but including the query string.
• Entry Pages by FileWhats this?Shows the pages a visitor entered your site on. Pages are grouped by file, meaning that only the full path and name of the file is taken into consideration.
• Entry Pages by TitleWhats this?Shows the pages a visitor entered your site on. Pages are grouped by page title. This report is useful if your site contains pages that serve up different content depending on the query string. Titles can be more meaningful and easier to look at then query strings.
• Entry Pages by URIWhats this?Shows the pages a visitor entered your site on. Pages are grouped by URI. The URI is simply the page URL minus the domain portion, but including the query string.
• Exit Pages by FileWhats this?Shows the pages a visitor last visited on your site. Pages are grouped by file, meaning that only the full path and name of the file is taken into consideration.
• Exit Pages by TitleWhats this?Shows the pages a visitor last visited on your site. Pages are grouped by page title. This report is useful if your site contains pages that serve up different content depending on the query string. Titles can be more meaningful and easier to look at then query strings.
• Exit Pages by URIWhats this?Shows the pages a visitor last visited on your site. Pages are grouped by URI. The URI is simply the page URL minus the domain portion, but including the query string.
• Average Hits per Day of Week
• Average Hits per Hour
• Average Hits per Day of Week
• Average Hits per Month
• Average Visitors per Day of Week
• Average Visitors per Hour
• Average Visitors per Month
• Visitors by DayWhats this?Shows the number of visitors by day, with recent days first. Visitors represent unique visits to your site (ex: if a user views multiple pages, it will still only be counted as one visit). A row is shown in the report for each day in the selected time range.
• Visitors by MonthWhats this?Shows the number of visitors by month, with recent months first. Visitors represent unique visits to your site (ex: if a user views multiple pages, it will still only be counted as one visit). A row is shown in the report for each month in the selected time range. For example, if you select a "year" time range, 12 months will be shown
• Visitors by YearWhats this?Shows the number of visitors by year, with recent years first. Visitors represent unique visits to your site (ex: if a user views multiple pages, it will still only be counted as one visit). A row is shown in the report for each year in the selected time range.
• Visitor CountriesWhats this?Shows what country your visitors are from and how many visitors you receive by Country
• Visitor Operating SystemsWhats this?Shows the operating systems used by your visitors. Each visitor's OS is only counted once (ex: multiple page views by a visitor do not result in that visitor's OS being counted multiple times). When possible, the OSs are groups by major releases (ex: Windows 95, windows 98).
• Visitor BrowsersWhats this?Shows the browsers, grouped by major version number, used by your visitors. Each visitor's browser is only counted once (ex: multiple page views by a visitor do not result in that visitor's browser being counted multiple times). The browsers are grouped by major version number only (ex: Netscape 4.0 and Netscape 4.07 would both be reported as Netscape 4).
• Visitor Screen ResolutionsWhats this?Shows the resolution of the screen displays used by your visitors. Screen Resolutions are width x height in pixels. Each row in the report represents a unique combination of width x height.
• Visitor Screen Color DepthsWhats this?Shows the color depth of the screen displays used by your visitors. Color Depths are reported in bits. For example: 8 bits = 256 colors, 16 bits = 64,000 colors, and 24 bits = 16 million colors.
• Cookies SupportWhats this?Shows the number of visitor browsers that do and do not support cookies. Each visitor's browser (and hence cookies support) is only counted once (ex: multiple page views by a visitor do not result in that visitor's browser being counted multiple times). Cookies support only indicates that the browser supports cookies, and does not necessarily mean that the user has cookies turned on.
• JavaScript VersionsWhats this?Shows the supported JavaScript versions of browsers used by your visitors. Each visitor's browser (and hence JS version) is only counted once (ex: multiple page views by a visitor do not result in that visitor's browser being counted multiple times).