Set up a Yahoo! Store

So you are interested in setting up a Yahoo! Store? You came to the right place. Operating an online store on Yahoo! has many advantages over other shopping cart solutions. In fact, a Yahoo! Store is much more than just a "shopping cart"; that is why there are over 40,000 merchants running Yahoo! Stores today. With Yahoo!, you get reliable, fast hosting, complete back-end including credit card processing and detailed statistics, and with a correctly set up store, maintenance is a breeze. With a custom Yahoo! Store design, all you have to do is add your products (either manually or by uploading a simple spreadsheet) and you are ready to go. Contrary to some misconceptions, anything that can be done in pure HTML can also be done in a Yahoo! Store. And by correct coding, your store can be just as search engine-friendly as anyone else's web site. What's more, with Yahoo! Store's template language (RTML), even SEO (search engine optimization) can be automated and streamlined, so that you don't have to waste your time analyzing and tweaking your HTML code.

As a Yahoo! Store merchant, you also get discounts in the largest online shopping portal, Yahoo! Shopping.

To get started, read our Yahoo! Store Help page. Be sure to also read our info page, "Why use Yahoo! Store templates" comparing the two store setup methods offered by Yahoo!, the "template" way and the "store-tag way". There is a very brief (and well hidden) pdf available from Yahoo! for new store owners here: "Yahoo! Store Open for Business". Highly recommended. And to get an in-depth understanding of everything Yahoo! Store, download their free (300-some page) manual at "Yahoo! Merchant Solutions Getting Started Guide". Well, Ok, you don't have to read all that, but know that it's there if you need it.

If you don't have a Merchant Account and credit card processor, consider Capital Merchant Solutions. You will save a lot of money in processing fees over other processors such as Paymentech or Wells Fargo. It is to your advantage to shop around!

Finally, contact us and get a quote on building your Yahoo! Store. We at Y-Times have been building Yahoo! Stores since 1999, and we actually wrote the only manual available on Yahoo! Store's proprietary template language, RTML. As an online merchant, your online store is your bread and butter. With our experience of building, redesigning, or otherwise enhancing well over 400 Yahoo! Stores, you can be sure that your store will be set up correctly from the start.

How quickly can you have your store open? If you need it fast, consider our "Instant Yahoo! Store Template" offer. With that, you can have your store built within one business day. Then, all you need to do is complete your merchant setup (you need to have either PayPal, or a regular merchant account), load your products, and open your store (Yahoo!'s review process takes about 2 business days.) If you need a completely custom designed store, a typical timeframe for that is about 3-4 weeks. After that, you'll have a state of the art store custom designed for your particular business. To get a quote, click here.

And of course, if you have any questions, we are here to help. Call us at 707-237-7380, or email us at info@ytimes.info.