CasperVend 2/Setup

About CasperVend

About CasperVend

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    1a) Link to features
    1b) Link to "what's in the box"

The Fine Print

Prerequisites

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The manual on this page assumes the following:

1. That you understand the setup processes behind web-enabled networked vending systems
2. That you understand debit permissions need to be granted in order for all scripted vendors to function
3. That you have at least one product to sell
4. That you have at least one promotional image for each product to sell
5. If your product is in multiple pieces (such as an outfit), that you have put the product in a shipping package of some sort.

If any of these concepts are unclear, or you have never extensively used a web-enabled networked vending system before, you should begin at the New User Quick Start instead, where the instructions are simplified and explained for people who are not as familiar with these concepts.

Terminology

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CasperTech (and thus CasperVend) does do a few things differently from other web-enabled networked vending systems. This manual uses the following terms that may not be used by other web-enabled networked vending systems:

• DropBox - This is your product server. Your packaged products go in here, and are delivered to your customers from here.
• Item - "Items" are the things you put inside your DropBox. "Items" can be your packaged products, informational notecards, landmarks, and so on.
• Product / Product Listing - These are created on the website using your items, and each listing includes information about your product including price and permissions. All product settings are on one page for ease of setup.

    -- Allowable vs non
    -- DMCA / Copyright

Your Account

Security Notes

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Protect your business by following these tips, and keep your account safe.

• Choose a password which is difficult to guess.
• Do NOT use your Second Life password.
• Do NOT use a password you've used with any other Second Life related service, such as other vending systems.
• Do NOT give your password to anyone!

If you have trouble coming up with a secure password on your own, you can use the Gibson Research High Security Password Generator.

If you need a "password keeper" utility on windows, you can try Password Safe

Creating Your Account

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Before you can begin setting up products on the website, you need to have a CasperVend account. If you already have one, just log in.

Otherwise, rez out a CasperVend vendor of your choice, and follow the instructions on the Creating Your CasperVend Account page.

Resetting Your Password

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See the section on Resetting your CasperVend Password

Upgrading your CasperTech products

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For information about how to upgrade your CasperTech products, see the Updating & Upgrading page.

Getting Set Up

Setting Up Your Dropboxes

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See the DropBoxes page for important details and instructions on setting up your DropBoxes.

Set Up Product Listings

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1. Click on the (C)asperVend logo in the bottom left hand corner of one of your vendors.
2. Visit the link that appears in local chat, and enter your password if necessary.
3. Now, click "Products" on the left hand side.
4. Click "+ List New Product" to create a new product.
5. Fill out details about your new product, then click Save.
6. Pay attention to any menu/popup messages you receive - they have very important information!

To see the product options at-a-glance, read the product options page.

If you are selling products that have a license the user needs to agree to, see the Product License page.

    a) Basic info
    b) Landmarks, notecards, etc
    c) Bot information

Product Permissions

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One of the things the website asks for when you enter your product details is "permissions". Please be aware that this does not actually change the permissions set to your objects, but instead the information about the permissions will simply be told to the customer as an advisory.

In addition, any products which are set to COPY on the website will be claimable by customers as a redelivery - so be careful when setting this flag. See the CasperVend_2/Redeliveries page for more information.

NOTE: The website cannot read or change permissions on anything you have in the dropbox. This is why it is CRITICAL to set your permissions properly on both your product AND the website.

• If you are selling items which are no-copy to you, the merchant, (such as breedable items) see the Limited Availability page.
• If you are selling limited edition items (limited number on the grid), see the Limited Edition page.

Set Up Product Variants (if desired/needed)

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    a) Useful for different color versions or different vendor pictures
    b) Pros & Cons of variants (stats, splitting off, etc) 
    c) Instructions

Configuring Single-Product Vendors

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For vendors which are designed to show only one product, there is a shortcut you can use to quickly configure them.

1. Rez the vendor
2. Grant debit permissions (the vendor won't function without them)
3. Access the vendor configuration page, by clicking the (C)asperVend logo in the bottom left hand corner of the vendor.
4. Look for the configuration option called "Single Product"
5. Simply switch the Single Product pulldown selector to the product you wish to show.

Configuring Multi-Product Vendors

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For scrolling, multi-product vendors, you need to create a full profile. See the Profiles & Groups page for more details and information.

1. Rez the vendor
2. Grant debit permissions (the vendor won't function without them)
3. Access the vendor configuration page, by clicking the (C)asperVend logo in the bottom left hand corner of the vendor.
4. Look for the configuration options labelled "Actions"
5. Under Actions, look for "New Profile", and click it.
6. Give your profile a name, and click "Create". You'll be taken to a screen with two white boxes.
7. Select a product from the left white box that you want to show in the vendor, and click the [-->] button. This will add the product to the profile. Repeat with each additional product you want in the profile. There is currently no way to select only several of the products. You can only move one, or move them all, nothing in between.
8. When you're done, click "Finish".

The profile will be saved and will be applied to your vendor within a couple minutes!

Turning a Non-Vendor Object Into a Vendor

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Caveat: This is NOT recommended for furniture that gets sat on - the vendor script will soft-reset anytime an avatar sits or unsits, since LSL sees it as a change in the linkset. We recommend the HoloVend expansion to display furniture instead. (If you purchased the Fat Pack, then HoloVend is already included.)

1. Take the vendor script AND "mapping" notecard out of the headless vendor into your inventory
2. Drop the script and notecard from your inventory into your product
3. Grant debit permissions (the vendor won't function without them)
4. Click the object, and select "Admin"
5. Log in to the website, if necessary
6. You will be taken to the configuration page for that vendor product
7. Change your options as desired
8. All set!

Set Up Multiple Locations, Fast

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1. "Take A Copy" of the appropriate vendors from your main store
2. Rez them at the new location
3. Slide into place
4. Done! Yes, it's THAT easy!

By taking copies of vendors you have already granted debit permissions to, you don't have to answer even more debit permissions windows at the new location(s).

More Vendor Configuration Options

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TBA

Vending Management

Transaction Logs

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This is a feature unique to CasperVend. Each inworld merchant sale notification message contains a link to a log of the transaction. This log (more specifically, the "giant wall o' text" below the summary) contains the details of what went on during each transction, so you can see where the trouble is. This lets you resolve issues instead of just wondering why a product didn't get delivered.

If the transaction log is confusing, you can read the transaction log analysis page for details.

Sales, Discounts and Loyalty Rewards

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   Setting storewide/gridwide sales

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Setting vendors on a gridwide/storewide sale - See Set All Vendors for Grid-Wide Sale.

At this time, you cannot set vendors on a per-sim/region basis with a sale, other than by doing so per-vendor, or if you have different profiles for different sim/regions, then on a per-profile basis.

   Setting discounts for everyone on...

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Specific profiles - See Setting Discounts on Profiles

Specific vendors - See Setting Discounts for Everyone on a Vendor

   Setting group discounts

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Group discounts may only be set on specific vendors at this time. For details and instructions, see Setting Group Discounts on a Vendor

   Price overrides (Set all things to one price)

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Specific profiles - See Setting Price Overrides on Profiles

Specific vendors - See Setting Price Overrides on a Vendor

   Discounts per individual

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Credit balance for specific customers - See Giving Individuals a Credit Balance

Discounts for specific customers - See Setting Discounts for Specific Customers

   Loyalty Rewards

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Setting Loyalty Credit - See Setting Customer Loyalty Credit

Setting Loyalty Discounts - See Setting Customer Loyalty Discounts

   Order That Discounts Are Applied In

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Customer discounts:

1) Customer discounts (i.e., if they got to a certain spending level)

2) Customer balances (i.e., spend x, get y store credit type balance)

CasperTech Fees, if applicable

3) Is it a free vendor? Then the free vendor fee applies.

4) Is it an affiliate vendor? Then the affiliate vendor fee applies.

Affiliate Gets

5) Affiliate commission

Partner Splits, if applicable

6) Vendor profit shares

7) Product profit shares, if applicable

You

8) Whatever is left

 a) Payments, Statistics & Sales Records
 b) Link to customers page 
 c) Link to profiles & groups page 
 d) Link to vendor discounts

Profit Sharing

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See the Profit Sharing page for details and instructions - you are able to do this on a per-product and/or per-vendor basis.

CSR Contact Points

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1. Go to the "Overview" tab on the CasperVend website
2. Add your CSR's account name in the CSR box
3. Click the "Save CSR" button
4. Done!

If you add just one individual's name, the message that gets sent to the customer will include a link to the CSR's inworld profile.

To add multiple CSR's, simply add all the account names, separated by a comma, in the CSR box. The message that gets sent to the customer will include ALL the names, but will NOT include any profile links.

   CSR limitations

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Currently, CSR's are ONLY a contact point for your customers (for tech support, etc.) - they CANNOT do anything with the products on your site. Redeliveries (when your products are copiable) may be handled with a redelivery terminal, which your CSR's can lead the customer to.

Managers in CasperVend

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Currently, there is no facility in CasperVend for managers that do anything with your products under their own login. For security reasons, we do NOT recommend sharing your CasperVend account passwords, as that gives unrestricted access to your products.

The managerial feature is slated to be added to the future version of the CasperVend website. If you wish to be notified when this feature is added, click the "Monitor" button on this ticket. Simply replying on the ticket won't keep you updated.

Additional Features & Options

Customer Updates

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   Redeliveries

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Included in all vendor packs is a redelivery terminal. In addition, each vendor has a "Redeliver" option on the popup menu when clicking the vendor. Customers may use these redelivery options to redeliver any COPIABLE item that you have marked as copy on the website.

It is ONLY the website option that controls this function - if you mark a no-copy item as "copy" by accident, customers will be able to redeliver it, even though they shouldn't, so be very very careful when setting up no-copy products.

   Sending product updates to customers

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See the Sending Product Updates page for details and instructions.

Gifting options

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    a) Direct gift (sent from the system) 
    b) Gift box (you get the box, you give the box, they rez it)

"Search" feature on vendors

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The "Search" feature on the multi-product vendors allows the customer to search within the products ON that vendor (searching what's in that profile) to see if anything matches the search term(s) they enter.

"Search" is a profile function - so if you have a profile set to a single-item static vendor, you will still have "search" as an option in the popup menu when clicking the vendor, even if you only have one item in the profile.

This feature, of course, has no impact on inworld SL search. You will need to set up your own keyword prims if you want to have any effect on your shop's ability to be found in the inworld SL search.

Expansion Packs & Promotional Tools

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 #) Expansion Packs & Promotional Tools