How to Set Up Contracts
The first in this group of three videos covering Contracts shows you how easy it is to set up your Contract.
View this Flash Video [5' 10]
Contract Settings Part 2:
This second lesson concentrates on the important "Marketing" section of the Contract settings page, where you can make your Contract ready for Affiliates and Partners to sell and include your product in XML feeds to trusted directory sites and the Plimus Marketplace.
You'll also find out how to cover all VAT issues in just two mouse clicks!
View this Flash Video [4' 36]
Contract Settings Part 3:
The third lesson covers Instant Notifications, Download Warranty, CD on Demand, File Uploads, Product License and Description texts.
View this Flash Video [7' 07]
Step-by-Step Tutorial:
1. Contracts
Contracts define the terms under which you customers purchase your offerings. They are akin to the price sticker on the car in the sales lot.
You can have many contracts for one Product, for instance, Mail Manager Enterprise and Mail Manager Home Edition.
There has to be at least one contract for each Product as customers buy Contracts and not Products. A contract is basically equivalent to a 'SKU'.
2. Each Product Generates One Default Contract
An initial Contract is automatically generated when a Product is created.
Click on the Full Version contract link to continue and edit your contract.
Note: If required you can create a new contract by pressing the "New BuyNow Contract" button.
3. Contract Set Up Page
This brings up the Contract General Information page -- a long detailed page with a number of different sections that affect the way you manage your sales through Plimus.
There is a separate settings tutorial for creating Subscription or Recurring Payment Contracts. Please review that tutorial if you wish to create a subscription offering to shoppers in order to generate recurring revenues.
4. Contextual Set Up Help Is also Available from the Plimus Go Guide
You can click on the Plimus Go Guide Arrow to access contextual help covering Contract Set Up from within the Control Panel.
5. General Information
(1) You can change the Contract Name but not the BuyNow URL which is the link to the order page (your BuyNow page) from which your clients can buy your Contract through the Plimus system.
(2) Press the Test BuyNow Flow button or copy and paste the address from the BuyNow URL link to view your order page.
(3) There is a link to a wizard to help you add BuyNow parameters (additional phrases which are added to the BuyNow URL to change its behavior) and to generate effective BuyNow buttons. These are covered in a separate lesson.
(4) A related image can be uploaded if required. This can be then be displayed on your BuyNow page when selecting your settings for that page.
(5) Use the pull down menus to define the appropriate Operating System and Categories of the item being sold. This information is very important if you wish others to locate and sell your products as Affiliates through the Plimus Marketplace, as these categories are reflected there.
6. Pricing
(1) Under Plan Type you have several options to choose from. You can select a One Time Charge or different recurring charge models mixed in with various free trial periods. In this example we will set up a One Time Charge.
(2) Set the relevant Price. You also have an opportunity to set fixed prices in other currencies rather than relying on dynamic price conversion in the More Currencies subsection.
Note: Setting fixed prices may require ongoing monitoring as exchange rates change over time.
(3) Allow Override Price generally relates to advanced dynamic pricing and auction-type contracts and so is not relevant for this tutorial.
(4) If you want to enable the use of coupons (recommended), you can choose to "Show Coupon Input Box" and this will display the coupon box on your order page. You can set up Coupons to activate a discount when the correct discount code is entered. You can also update the Coupon Prompt text.
Note: If you proceed to Coupon Set Up, make sure to first scroll down the page and save your contract settings.
If you prefer to set up a recurring payment or subscription-type contract there is a handy hyperlink under the coupon code section.
7. Quantity
(1) You can set a Minimum Order Quantity that might be more relevant for corporate purchasers. Default value is '1' which is appropriate for most contracts.
(2) Keep 'Allow Quantity Change' checked to let customers freely select the quantity they wish to purchase.
(3) Set up a Volume Discount if required. You will also need to create a Volume Discount template (not relevant for this tutorial).
Note: If you proceed to the Volume Discount set up make sure to save your current contract settings first.
8. Marketing
The Marketing section contains some of the most important contract settings. With just a few clicks you can make your contracts available to Affiliates and Plimus partner channels, including approved directory sites.
(1) Make your contract Available to Partners to that it can be sold by Affiliates. This automatically opens some additional input fields.
(2) Set Default Partner Commission - you can always override this for specific partners. Higher commissions help attract more affiliate marketers.
(3) Select 'Yes' to Auto Approve Partner requests to sell from prospective affiliates or 'No' to approve each manually.
(4) We recommend Publish in Plimus Marketplace so the contract can be included and seen by potential affiliates and partners.
(5) Allow Cross Vendor Sales by Partners to let other Plimus Vendors market your products alongside their own items by selecting 'Yes.'
(6) If you want only selected Partners or Affiliates to be able to sell your products then check the 'Restrict to select Partners' option. You will then need to send your affiliates manual invitations to sell this contract. This is useful in helping your restrict special higher commission terms to just your selected affiliates.
(7) Check the Plimus Feed Service option to include this contract in XML Feeds provided to Plimus-approved directory sites, and remember to set a relevant commission.
(8) Promotions Only - tick this if the contract is only to be sold as an add-on to another contract and not on its own. (This is an advanced setting - covered in a separate tutorial).
(9) Set Alternative Email Address from which a sales confirmation will be sent to your Shoppers. Choose an address you are comfortable disclosing.
Note: This setting will override the "From Email Address" define in your Order Confirmation Email.
9. Miscellaneous
(1) Use this dialog to set the dates this Contract should be active.
(2) If you are supplying ONLY digital goods or services then you are required to check the Electronic Delivery box.
(3) Check Include VAT in Price box if you would like all your customers, regardless of their location, to pay the same amount for our product. This will mean that you will bear any chargeable VAT amount instead of your customers.
(4) If you are shipping a physical product checking this box will allow your customer to provide a different address for shipping other than the billing address.
Note: For such goods you will need to uncheck the Electronic Delivery Only option.
10. Notifications
These settings keep you informed in real time about your transactions. They are sent for order confirmations, and also refunds, chargebacks and subscription cancellations.
(1) If you are able to accept Instant Payment Notification posts then select this option, insert the relevant HTTP address in the appropriate input field, and Plimus will deliver notifications directly.
(2) Click the link to access the latest Notification attributes and parameters.
It is possible to set up a specific IPN HTTP address for a contract, but in most cases it is simpler to set up a global URL for IPN notifications at the General Settings level that will become the default for all future contracts (unless overridden for an individual contract). A convenient link to General Settings is provided.
(3) You may cite additional Email addresses for receipt of automatic transaction notifications by Email. Add relevant addresses in the input field.
11. Extended Download Warranty
If you are delivering a download file to your customers through Plimus, the download link is available for 48 hours and 3 download attempts.
You can offer an Extended Download Warranty to ensure that your customers can download a copy of their software in the future. You have the option to offer this for this contract and as a default for all your products.
There is a minimum fee of $3.95 charged by Plimus to the customer.
You may also add a Surcharge for yourself or alternatively elect to absorb the base cost yourself and so offer EDW as a free extra for your customer.
12. Customer Login Credentials
This advanced facility is particularly useful for Subscription contracts as it offers a customer the ability to create a login account where they can manage their subscription account and future purchases.
If doing this you should remember to include the relevant tags in your Order Confirmation email set, so that your customers get the relevant username and password included in that mailing.
If you are able to accept Instant Notifications you can also set up an automatic notification process to be alerted when customer update their details.
13. Parameters Protection
This is a setting for advanced users and is fully covered in a separate tutorial which for future reference can be accessed here.
14. Optional Descriptions & Upload Customer File
(1) Complete the Optional Descriptions box to communicate additional information to customers.
(2) Paste in the text of your License Agreement here so that it is delivered to your customer as part of the transaction.
Use the Special Instructions box to notify Plimus of any additional matters we should be aware of.
(3) Make sure you SAVE all your changes by pressing the Submit button.
(4) Next if you need to deliver a software, game or digital file at the end of the sales process, click the end of page link to upload the file to the Plimus servers.
15. Add a Backup CD Offer for your Customers
After saving your Contract Settings and uploading a Customer download file, go to Related Files/URLs menu and click the CD on Demand link to offer your client a backup CD if this is appropriate.
This is a great add-on that your shoppers will appreciate. Click on the more information link as shown above for full instructions. There is also a separate tutorial covering this feature.
