This tutorial will walk you through the setup of your VirtueMart Shopping Cart, ongoing management, and advanced administration accessed via the VirtueMart administrative interface.

I. Shop Configuration

The Configuration Panel is the most important part of VirtueMart. It can be accessed via "Admin" -> "Configuration".

Note that the configuration panel can be accessed by users with permissions "admin" only (by default).
You can access the different parts of the Panel by clicking on the Tab Headings.

Global I

Global I

Shop is offline?

Here you can switch the shop from Online to Offline mode. In offline mode, the offline message is displayed instead of the product pages. This means the whole shop section isnt usable for customers. Administrators won't see the shop too.

Use only as catalogue

Hides all "Add to Cart" buttons.

Show Prices

When enabled, product prices are displayed. (useful when using "catalogonly" functionality. Note that you can't hide prices from unregistered users to show prices only to registered users. Either ON or OFF!

Membergroup to show prices to

default:"Public Frontend" Here you can decide which membergroups of your site are allowed to see product prices.

Show "(including XX% tax)" when applicable

When checked, users will see the text "(including xx% tax)" when prices are shown incl. tax.

Show the price label for packaging?

Use "price per packaging" label?

Show Prices including tax?

Sets the flag whether the shoppers sees prices including tax or excluding tax. When enabled prices are displayed like "X.XX (including XX% Tax)"

Use silent (hidden) user registration?

When enabled, users don't need to fill in a username and password for a new account. Instead the email address is used for the new account and a random password is generated. The registration details are mailed to the customer.

Virtual Tax

This determines whether items with zero weight are taxed or not. Tax mode This determines which tax rate is taken for calculating taxes. Either Ship- To-Address based or store/vendor address based.

Enable multiple tax rates?

Check this, if you have products with different tax rates (e.g. 7% for books and food, 16% for other stuff).

Discount before tax/shipping?

Sets the flag whether to subtract the Discount for the selected payment BEFORE (checked) or AFTER tax and shipping.

Enable Coupon Usage

If you enable the Coupon Usage, you allow customers to fill in Coupon Numbers to gain discounts on their purchase.

Customer Review/Rating System

If enabled, you allow customers to rate products and write reviews about them. So customers can write down their experiences with the product for other customers.

Ask for Bank Account data?

Check if your customers shall have the ability to provide their bank account data when registering to the shop. This is useful if you have set up Payment Methods like Bank Account Transfer.

Customers can select a state/region?

When enabled, your customers are presented a drop-down list with states where they can select one.

Must agree to Terms of Service?

Check if you want a shopper to agree to your Terms of Service before registering to the shop.

Agree to T.o.S. on EVERY ORDER?

Check if you want a shopper to agree to your terms of service on EVERY ORDER (before placing the order).

Check Stock?

Sets whether to check the stock level when a user adds an item to the shopping cart. If set, this will not allow user to add more items to the cart than are available in stock.

Show Products that are out of Stock?

Let's you decide wether Products that are out of Stock are displayed or hidden (only available when Check Stock is enabled).

Enable Affiliate Program?

This enables the affiliate tracking in the shop-frontend. Enable if you have added affiliates in the backend.

Caution

The Affiliate Program doesn't fully work. It must be completed in future versions.

Order-mail format:

This determines how your order confirmation emails are set up:
• as a simple text email
• or as a html email with images.

ENCODE KEY

The secret key for encrypting payment account data like credit card numbers and storing them encrypted in the database.

Allow Frontend-Administration...

...for non-Backend Users?

With this setting you can enable the Frontend Administration for users who are storeadmins, but can't access the Mambo Backend (e.g. Registered / Editor).

Path and URL

Caution

Remember to change these settings before moving to a new site / domain!

SECUREURL

Example: https://www.mydomain.com

The secure URL to your site. (https - with trailing slash at the end!)

Caution

Be careful what you fill in here - Mambo has problems with Shared SSL Domains. When switching to another domain during Checkout, the session gets lost and the customer would have to login again!

HOMEPAGE

Example: shop.index
This is the page which will be loaded in the frontend by default.

ERRORPAGE

Default: shop.error
This is the default page for displaying VirtueMart Error Messages.

DEBUG ?

Turns on the debug output. This causes the DEBUGPAGE to be displayed at the bottom of each VirtueMart page. Very helpful during shop development since it shows the carts contents, form field values, etc.

Site (Display & Layout)

VirtueMart makes use of the Joomla/Mambo Templates' CSS. It uses the Standard-CSS Classes defined for Mambo like sectiontableheader, sectiontableentry1, sectiontableentry2 and so on. You'll find some rows that are not CSS colored. These ones can be changed by Search Color 1 and 2.

Display

PDF - Button

Show or Hide the PDF - Button in the Shop Frontend.

FLYPAGE

default: shop.flypage

This is the page used for displaying product details when no special flypage is set.

Note

You can change the Flypage for each category in its category form!

Category Template

default: browse_1
This defines the category template for displaying products in a category when no special template is set. You can create new templates by customizing existing template files (which reside in the directory COMPONENTPATH/ html/templates/ and begin with browse_).

Note

You can change the Category Template for each category in its category form!

Show Page Navigation at the Top of the Product Listing?

default: checked
Switches On or Off the Display of Page Navigation at the Top of the
Product Listings in the Frontend.

Show the Number of Products?

default: checked
Switches On or Off the Display of Products in a Category right behind the Category Name like "Power Tools (3)".

Default number of products in a row

This defines the number of products in a row. Example: If you set it to 4, the default category template will display 4 products per row.

Note

You can change the Category's Number of products per row for each category in its category form!

"no image" image

default: /ps_image/noimage.gif
This image will be shown when no product image is available.

Show footer "powered by..." ?

Displays a powered-by-VirtueMart footer image. Give credits back to the author!

Design

Add-to-Cart Button Style

Here you can choose out of different images for displaying the Button "Add to Cart".

Tip

You can customize this list by creating your own template images, renaming them to something beginning with add-to-cart_ and putting them into the directory /components/ com_virtuemart/shop_image/ps_image/.

Dynamic Thumbnail Resizing?

If checked, you enable dynamic Image Resizing. This means that all Thumbnail Images are resized to fit the Sizes you provide below, using PHP's GD2 functions.

Tip

You can check if you have GD2 support by browsing to "System" -> "System Info" -> "PHP Info" -> gd.

The Thumbnail Image quality is much better than Images which were "resized" by the browser. The newly generated Images are put into the directory /shop_image/prduct/resized. If the Image has already been resized, this copy will be send to the browser, so no image is resized again and again.

Thumbnail Image Width

The target width of the resized Thumbnail Image.

Thumbnail Image Height

The target height of the resized Thumbnail Image.

SEARCH COLOR 1

default: #f9f9f9
Specifies the color of the odd numbered rows in a result list.

SEARCH COLOR 2

default: #f0f0f0
Specifies the color of the even numbered rows in a result list.

Shipping

In the Shipping section you can select one or more of the provided Shipping Modules.

Tip

You can configure Online Services (like UPS® or Intershipper®) in "Store" => "List Shipping Modules" => Service Name. Other Shipping methods like Standard Shipping or Zone Shipping must be configured through their own administrative interface: "Shipping" => Shipping Rates / Shippers or "Zone Shipping" => "Zone List". The Free Shipping module can be configured by amount only in the Store Form.

The selected Shipping Module will list all available Shipping Rates on Checkout.

Note

If you want no Shipping Rate Selection, you must select "Disable Shipping method selection" AND a checkout process (next Tab) which doesn't include Shipping Method selection.

Checkout

Enable the Checkout Bar

default: Enabled
Check this, if you want the 'checkout-bar' to be displayed to the customer during checkout process ( 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 with graphics).

The selected process will be the unique Checkout Process for your whole Store.

Downloads

Enable Downloads

Check to enable the Download Feature. Only If you want sell downloadable goods

"Enable download" Status

value: can be some Order Status (not cancelled ;-)).
Select the order status at which the customer is notified about the download via e-mail.

"Disable download" Order Status

Sets the order status at which the download is disabled for the customer.
DOWNLOADROOT The physical path to the files for the custumer download. (trailing slash at the end!)

Important

Must be a physical path, no URL.

Caution

For your own shop's security: If you can, please use a directory ANYWHERE OUTSIDE OF THE WEBROOT

Download Maximum

Sets the number of downloads which can be made with one Download-ID for one order.

Download Expire

Sets the time range in seconds in which the download is enabled for the customer. This range begins with the first download! When the time range has expired, the download-ID is disabled.

Tip

86400s=24h

Getting Started

To access the configuration of VirtueMart, select "Components | VirtueMart" in the mambo administration interface.

If you see the VirtueMart "Welcome" page when you log into your mambo site admnistration interface, click "Go Directly to Shop".

Navigating to the VirtueMart admin interface will bring up the "Store: Summary" page.

You may also access this page from within the VirtueMart interface under "Store | Summary"

Store Setup

To begin setting up your store, select "Store | Edit Store" from the VirtueMart admin interface.

The information from the Store Information form is displayed in various locations on the shopping site. This is your store's primary identity - essentially a specialized "master" vendor.

Store Information Form Fields

Full Image

Required
Displays the currently configured store logo.

Upload Image

Optional
Browse to your company logo. This will be uploaded when you click on the "Save" icon.

Currency

The Store's global / default Currency

Minimum Purchase Order Value

This is the amount which is the minimum Order Value for Checkout.

Minimum Amount for Free Shipping

This is the amount, from which on Shipping is free.

Currency symbol

This is the currency symbol which will be used when displaying prices.

Decimals

Number of decimals.

Decimal symbol

Can be somethin like . , or empty.

Thousands separator
Positive format

Display Order / Style for positive numbers.

Negative format

Display Order / Style for negative numbers.

Description

This is your Store's Description which is shown on the page
shop.index.

Terms of Service

This is the complete text for your Terms of Service that is displayed to the customer.

Store Name

Required
The name of the Store.

Store Company Name

Required
The name of your company.

URL

The Store's Internet Address.

Address 1

Address Line 1

Address 2

Address Line 2

City

The City where your Store is located.

State/Province/Region

The State / Region where your Store is located.

Country

The Country where your Store is located.

Zip/Postal Code

The ZIP of your Store's location.

Phone

Your Store's Phone Number

Last, First & Middle Name

The Name of your Contact Person.

Title

The title of the Contact Person.

Phone 1 & 2

Your contact's Phone number.

Fax

The Fax number for the Contact.

Email Address

Primary store contact email address

Click on the "Save" icon. Now you're ready to begin adding Categories, Products and Manufacturers.

Countries, Currencies, Modules

Managing Countries

>> to be written <<

Managing Currencies

>> to be written <<

VirtueMart Modules

>> to be written <<

Manufacturer Administration

Manufacturers are associated with products, providing web site, contact, and descriptive information. Each product that is created is associated with a Manufacturer.

For stores where manufacturer information is not necessarily relevant, a default manufacturer is created upon installation.

It is not necessary to create manufacturers prior to creating your catalog. Products can be re-associated to manufacturers after all the product records have been created. However, creating the manufacturers first can save a lot of extra work if you already know that you will be using this information.

Manufacturer Categories

Manufacturer Categories are used to group Manufacturers into different categories.

Adding Manufacturer Categories

VirtueMart creates the manufacturer category name "-default-" upon installation. It is not necessary to change this.

To create a new manufacturer category, select "Manufacturer | Add Manufacturer Category".

Manufacturer Category Form Fields:

Category Name

The name of the Manufacturer category.

Category Description

A description of the Manufacturer category (optional).

Click on the "Save" icon. You will be redirected to the "Manufacturer Category List" page, showing the "- default-" category, and the new category you just entered.

Editing Manufacturer Categories

To edit an existing manufacturer category, select "Manufacturer | List Manufacturer Categories" in the Virtue-Mart admin menu. This will return a list of existing manufacturer categories.

Click on the name of the manufacturer category you want to edit, make any necessary changes to the fields (listed above), and click on the "Save" icon.

You will be returned to the Manufacturer Category List.

Deleting Manufacturer Categories

Before deleting an existing manufacturer category, all manufacturers associated to that category must be removed through either deletion or re-association to a different manufacturer category. VirtueMart will not allow the deletion of a manufacturer category while manufacturers still exist for that manufacturer category. See below under "Manufacturers" for information on re-association and deletion of a manufacturer.

Once the manufacturers have been removed, select "Manufacturers | List Manufacturer Categories" from the VirtueMart admin menu. Click on the name of the manufacturer category you want to delete. In the Manufacturer Category Form, click on the "Remove" icon. Click "OK" to confirm that you are sure you want to delete this category. You will be returned to the Manufacturer Category List.

Note that the manufacturer category you deleted is no longer listed. To recover this record, you must create a new manufacturer category, and re-associate any manufacturers that belong in that manufacturer category.

Manufacturers

Adding Manufacturers

To create a new manufacturers, select "Manufacturer | Add Manufacturer" in the VirtueMart admin menu.
Edit the following fields in the Manufacturer Information Form:
Manufacturer Name The manufacturer's name or company name.
URL http://www.example.com
The manufacturer's fully qualified web address.
Manufacturer Category The manufacturer category this manufacturer will be associated with.
Email The manufacturer contact's email address.
Description Information promoting or about the manufacturer.
Click the "Save" icon to create your new manufacturer.

Editing Manufacturers

To edit an existing manufacturer, select "Manufacturer | List Manufacturers" to see a list of all manufacturers.
You may also get to this screen by clicking on the linked text, "Manufacturer List", in the Manufacturers column on the Manufacturer Category List screen.
Click on the name of the manufacturer you would like to edit, or click on the linked text "update" in the Admin column - either will take you to the same Manufacturer Add Information form. Make your changes in the Manufacturer "Add Information" form (described above), and click on the "Save" icon. You will be returned to the Manufacturer List screen.

Deleting Manufacturers

Before deleting an existing manufacturer, all products associated to that manufacturer must be removed through either deletion or re-association to another manufacturer. VirtueMart will not allow the deletion of a manufacturerwhile these child records still exist for that manufacturer. Once these child records have been removed, select "Manufacturer | List Manufacturers" to see a list of all manufacturer. Then click on the name of the manufacturer you would like to delete. In the Manufacturer Add Information form, click on the "Remove" icon. You will be returned to the Manufacturer List screen. Once this manufacturer has been deleted, it is removed from the system. To recover this manufacturer, you must re-create the manufacturer information, and re-associate all appropriate products.

Product Administration

VirtueMart offers the ability to categorize products not only by vendor, but also by product category. Product categories may also contain subcategories enabling storekeepers manage their products in as much detail as possible. Because products and product categories are associated to a particular vendor, it is important to create your vendor records before creating the product and product category records. When creating your product records, it is important to make a distinction as to whether the product that is being created can be uniquely identified by its nature or name (e.g. Compact Disks, Video Cassettes, Books, etc.), or is one of many similar items that are uniquely identified by their attributes (e.g. Apparel, Furniture, Automobiles, etc.). The reason this distinction needs to be made, is because the methods for creating, editing and deleting differ for each. Items require the creation of Item Attributes, but products do not.

Product Categories

Adding Product Categories

VirtueMart includes the ability to associate products to product categories and subcategories to enable better site management. To create a new product category, open the Product Category Form: "Products" => "Add Category".

Product Category Fields

Publish?

Used to specify whether the category will be published on the site.

Category Name

The name that will be used to identify the category.

Category Description

The description that will be displayed for the category.

ListOrder

The Place of this category in a list with other categories.

Parent

The parent category with which this category will be associated. If the cate- gory is to be a top level category, leave the Parent drop down list with the Default Top Level selected.If the category is to be a sub category of an existing category, choose the appropriate parent category from the Parent drop down list.

Category Browse

Page Example: browse_1
The template file for displaying the products of this category in a list.
Show x products per row The number of products per row when displaying products of this category.

Note

The Browse Page usually has to be adjusted when the number of products per row has been changed.
You can use browse_2 for 2 products per row, browse_3 for 3 products per row and so on (maximum per default: 5).

Category Flypage

Syntax: shop.flypage

This is the template file for displaying the Product Details of a product in this category. You can create your own templates by modifiying existing templates (in the directory /html/templates).
The file for preparing the display of the Flypage is / html/shop.product_details.php. Some of the details that you can't find in the Flypage template can be found there.

Note

You should leave this field empty when you're not sure what to fill in.

Editing Product Categories

To edit an existing product category, you have to access the Category Tree: "Products" => "List Categories".
Now click on the name of the product category you want to edit to display the product category entry form for that product category. Make your changes and click the Save button at the top of the form to update the product category.

Deleting Product Categories

Before deleting an existing product category, all sub categories associated to the product category must be removed through either deletion or re-association. VirtueMart will not allow the deletion of a product category while subcategories still exist for that product category. Once all subcategories have been removed, access the Category List via "Product" => "List Categories". Either you click on the Trash Bin icon in the last column of the category you want to delete OR you click on the name of the product category that you want to delete to display the product category entry form for that product category. Then click on the Delete button at the top of the form to delete the product category.

Warning

This will delete all Product Entries for this Category. When the Products is assigned to this Category only, it will be deleted completely.

Products

Adding/Updating Products

To create a new product, click on "Products" => "Add Product" to display the product form. Complete the product entry form and click the Save button in the top right corner to save the new product.

When Updating a product, just click on the Product Name in the Product List to display to Product Form of that product.

Product Form

Publish?

Used to specify whether the product will be published on the site.

SKU

Means Article Number. Stock keeping unit ( SKU) is an identification, usually alphanumeric, of a particular product that allows it to be tracked for inventory purposes.

Name

The name that will be used to identify the product.

URL

A URL that can be displayed with a product. Usually used as a link to the product vendor or manufacturer.

Category

The product categories with which this product will be associated.

Vendor

The vendor with which the product will be associated.

Manufacturer

The manufacturer with which the product will be associated.

Retail Price

The price for the default Shopper Group. Just fill in a decimal number. Select the Product Currency from the drop-down list at the right.

VAT ID

The ID of the tax rate that will be applied to this product. Here you can select a specific tax rate for this product. If you don't want that this product is taxed, fill in a zero weight at "product weight" and Disable "Virtual Tax".

Short Description

The short description that will be displayed on the browse (overview) page for a category or search result.

Flypage Description

This is the details description that will be displayed on the Flypage (=details page) of this specific product.

Quantity in Stock

The current quantity in stock for the item. Used for shipping and inventory purposes.

Availability Date

When the current quantity in stock is available for distribution. Used for shipping and inventory purposes.

Availability Text / Image

This is used to display it on the product details page. E.g.: "48 hrs." or "On Order". Alternatively you can select an availability image from the drop-down list below.

Tip

You can use your own images here! Just copy them to the direcory /shop_image/availability and then you can select them here.

On Special? (Featured?)

Used to indicate whether there are any specials running for the product.
When checked, this product will be displayed on the "Featured Products Module".

Discount Type

The type of special being run on the product. Select a discount from the discount list. When there are no discounts, create one using the Product Discont Form.

Advanced Attribute List

Syntax:
Size,XL[+1.99],M,S[-2.99];Colour,Red,Green,Yellow,ExpensiveColor [=24.00];AndSoOn,..,..

Adds easy attributes to the product. These are attributes which can be selected by a customer. This does not create items for each attribute value! If you want to check the stock on each item (e.g. green, red and black TShirts... use the Attribute Form to add Attributes and after that Items for each Attribute Value using the Item Form.

Custom Attribute List

Syntax: Attribute1;Attribute2;Attribute3

Adds custom attributes to the product. These are attributes which can be selected by a customer. This does not create items for each attribute value! If you want to check the stock on each item (e.g. green, red and black T-Shirts...use the Attribute Form to add Attributes and after that Items for each Attribute Value using the Item Form.

Length

The length of the product. Used for shipping purposes.

Width

The width of the product. Used for shipping purposes.

Height

The height of the product. Used for shipping purposes

Unit of Measure - Dimensions

The unit of measure used in determining the LWH of a product. Used for shipping purposes.

Weight

The weight of the product. For shipping purposes.

Unit of Measure -Weight

The unit of measure used in determining the weight of a product. Used for shipping purposes.

Important

Allowed UOM are po / pound(s)
kg /kilogram(m)(s)
ou / ounces
lb / LB

Downloadable Product?

When this is a downloadable Product (a file...), just check the box and fill in the File Name (without path!) OR Upload a File.

Filename

Here you can specify a Filename for this product. The file has to be uploaded manually via ftp!

Upload a file

Here you can upload a file.

Important

The Filename (previous Field) overrides this Field!

Thumbnail

A thumbnail image that can be displayed along with the product.

Full Image

A larger image that can be displayed along with the product.

Note

If you have enabled Dynamic Thumbnail Resizing, the Thumbnail here won't be automatically created from the Full Image!

Now you're done. Just click on "Save" and you're Product Add / Update Results are shown on the next page:

Deleting Products

To delete an existing product, click on "Products" -> "List Producs" at the top of the VirtueMart Administration pages to display a list of product categories. Now click on the Trash Icon in the row of the product you want to delete and confirm that you "want to delete this record".

Product Attributes

Adding Product Attributes

To create a new product attribute, click on "Products" => "List Products" to display a list of all products. Then click on the name of the product for which the attribute is being created to display the product entry form for that parent item. Then click on the "Add Attribute" button on the top of the screen. A new window will open displaying the attribute entry form. Complete the attribute entry form and click the Save button at the top of the form to save the new item attribute. Next, you need to define the new attribute for the items. Click on the name of an item to display the product entry form for that item. Populate the new item attribute field in the product entry form and click on the Save button at the end of the form to save the new item attribute definition.

Product Attributes Form Fields

Name

The name used to identify the attribute.

Number in List

The order in which the attribute is listed.

Editing product Attributes

To edit an existing product attribute, click on "Products" => "List Products" to display the list of products. Then click on the name of the parent product for which the attribute is being edited to display the product entry form for that parent product. Then click on "Products" => "Current Product" => "List Attributes" in the top menu. A new window will open displaying a list of product attributes assigned to the product selected. Click on the name of the attribute you want to edit to display the attribute entry form for that attribute. Complete the attribute entry form and click the Save button at the top of the form to update the item attribute.

Deleting Product Attributes

To edit an existing product attribute, click on "Products" => "List Products" to display the list of products. Then click on the name of the parent product for which the attribute is being edited to display the product entry form for that parent product. Then click on "Products" => "Current Product" => "List Attributes" in the top menu. A new window will open displaying a list of product attributes assigned to the product selected. To delete an attribute, click on the Trash Bin icon in the last column of the row of the attribute you want to delete.

Items (create Child Products for Parent Products)

Going back now to offering variations on a product: If you want to offer a fixed list of variations for your customer to choose from, rather than allowing them to pick and mix attributes as they please, you need to create some ‘items’. Note: These are different from the content ‘items’ in Mambo itself. An item in VirtueMart is a pre-defined variation on the main product. In order to create an item, you have to set up at least one attribute first. Hence, it is only after you have added an attribute that the ‘New Item’ toolbar button and its related menu option appear.

Adding Items

To create a new item, a parent product must exist / be created first. When completing the form, keep in mind that the product information, product dimensions, and product images entered here are the ones that will be displayed initially for all items. Once a specific item is selected by the customer, the product information, product dimensions, and product images for that item will be displayed. Next, the attributes that will be used to identify the items need to be created. Open the Product Form of the Parent Item you create in the first step.


Click on "Add Attribute" and a new window will open displaying the attribute entry form. Complete the attribute entry form and click the Save button at the end of the form to save the new item attribute. Once all item attributes have been defined, it is time to create the individual items (=child products!).

Click on the Add Items button on the left side of the screen to display the product entry form for the specific item. This form is the same as previous product entry forms only the vendor and category fields have been populated for you, and item attribute fields for the attributes you have defined are now available. Complete the product entry form and click the Save button at the end of the form to save the new item.

Editing Items

To edit an existing item, open the product List and click on the "Item Information" Link behind a Product. You will be presented a List of all Child Items of that product. If you want to make changes to a specific item, click on the name of the item you want to edit to display the item entry form for that item. Make your changes and click the save button at the end of the form to update the item. Click on the Return to Parent Product link at the top of the page to edit another item.

Deleting Items

To delete an item, List the Product's Items like in the previous section. Then click on the basket at the end of the row of the item you want to delete. If you want to delete all items, you must delete each item before deleting the parent item.Once all items have been deleted, click on the Delete button at the end of the product entry form of the parent item to delete the parent item.

Product Discounts

Discounts in VirtueMart must be created in the Product Discount Form before being able to assign a Product to a specific Discount.

Caution

When updating a discount, your changes apply to all products which are assigned to this discount.

Adding / Updating a Discount

Go to "Product" -> "Add/Edit Product Discount".

Now fill in the details for this Discount Record:

Discount Amount (required)

This is the amount of discount you want to have subtracted (added) from the product price.
Has the syntax: 000.0000 (no comma!)

Discount Type (required)

The Discount Type specifies how the amoung is handled: either as a percantage or as a total amount. If you select "Percentage", the amount will mean that you give a Discount of XX % to the Product Price. If "Total" is selected, the amount will be substracted (added) from the Product Price.

Start Date (optional)

By clicking on "..." you can specify a date from the calendar, which will be the first day, the Discount is calculated and shown to the customer. The Start Date is no must. You can also only have an End Date or leave this field blank when this discount shall begin instantly.

End Date (optional)

If you have specified a Start Date, you'll surely want an End Date - that would be something like "Sale". So click on "..." and specify the last Day of the Sale from the calendar. You can also only have an Start Date or leave this field blank when this discount is not limited.

When you're done, don't forget to "Save" your information.

Deleting a Discount

You can easily delete a discount. Note that this removes the Discount from all products which are assigned to it.
Just go to the Product Discount List

and click on the Trash Icon of the row of the Discount you want to delete at the right side of the List. Confirm that you "want to delete this record" and done.

User Management

VirtueMart comes with an extended User Management compared to Mambo's User Management Features.

Important

Always use the VirtueMart User Manager for Adding / Editing and Deleting Users to / from your CMS site! If you use CMS's built-in User Manager you will run into troubles because important database entries are not created for such users. So for the other case: When you delete Users with the Mambo User Manager from the site that have been added with the VirtueMart User Manager, you will have a lot of useless database entries.

VirtueMart also provides the ability to create any number of addresses for a particular user. Not only can a user have separate bill to and ship to addresses, but addresses for home and business as well.

Shopper Groups

VirtueMart offers the ability to not only manage users by vendor, but also by shopper group. This enables storekeepers to create shopper groups for whatever need (e.g. site access, customer rating, etc.). These shopper groups can then be used to provide special services, discounts, or access to a specific group of users. Because users and shopper groups are associated to a particular vendor, it is important to create your vendor records before creating the user and shopper group records.

5.7.1.1. Adding a Shopper Group
5.7.1.2. Managing Shopper Groups
5.7.1.3. Deleting Shopper Groups
5.7.2. Users

Order Administration

Your shop is online, your catalogue is bursting at the seams, you’ve run all of your payment processing tests, and you’re ready to go live! Well, maybe not quite. You need to know what to do when those orders come flooding in. When someone orders a product through your VirtueMart website, a record is created in the system with the details of the order.

The order record has a ‘status’ to indicate where the order is in the stream of events – for example, whether it has been paid for, shipped, or cancelled. The actual values you use for status are up to you, but by default you are given status values of Pending, Confirmed, Cancelled, Refunded, and Shipped. If you want to define your own status values, you can do so by selecting ‘List Order Status Types’ from the ‘Order Status’ sub-menu of the ‘Orders’ menu.

To view all of the orders in the system, click on ‘List Orders’ on the ‘Orders’ menu. This takes you to the Order List which is illustrated in the next figure.

The Order Status List

<< Order List>>

When you click on an order number, you are given the full details of the order as shown in the next figure. You also have the ability to scroll through all of the order details using the ‘prev’ and ‘next’ links at the top of the page. The rest is up to you!

The Order Details

Vendor Administration

Warning

THIS PART OF VirtueMart STILL IS NOT COMPLETE. IT'S NOT RECOMMENDED TO USE THIS FEATURE.

Vendors and Vendor Categories represent the top most tier of VirtueMart administration. Through vendor administration, the store keeper is able to manage products, users, and orders by vendor or supplier.

<< [TODO - heirarchial drawing] >>

For simple stores where there are only a few products offered, vendor administration is not necessarily needed, but for larger more complex stores, such as an online mall, vendor administration can be essential. Since all products, product categories, users, and orders are associated to the vendor record, establishing the vendor and vendor category structure is the first step to building the online store. Note that it is not necessary to create the vendor categories first. Vendors can be re-associated to vendor categories after all the vendor records have been created. However, creating the vendor category records first can save some extra work if you already know how you want to categorize your vendors.

Vendor Categories

Vendor categories are a way to classify the types of goods and services that vendors offer on your site. For example, you may have an online mall for buying and selling furniture. You may want to create vendor categories such as "Antiques", "Office Furniture", and "Patio Furniture". Note that a vendor on your site can only be associated with a single vendor category, so it is important to use categories that are broad enough to represent the shopper's choice of storefronts. For example, "Antique Furniture" and "Vintage Clothing" would not be broad enough categories if you have a vendor that sells both types of items. In this case, you might want to use "Antiques" as your vendor category.

Viewing Vendor Categories

[TODO: access the vclist]
[TODO: search]

Adding Vendor Categories

VirtueMart creates the vendor category name "-default-" upon installation. It is not necessary to change this unless you choose to fully utilize the vendor category functionality. To create a new vendor category, select "Vendor | Add Vendor Category" from the VirtueMart admin interface.


This will bring up the Vendor Category Form.

Vendor Category Form Fields

Vendor Category Name

The name used to identify the vendor category.

Vendor Category Description

The description of the vendor category.

Click on the "Save" icon.

You will be redirected to the "Vendor Category List" page, showing the "-default-" category, and the new category you just entered.

You may also add a new vendor category with the Vendor Category Form by clicking on the "New" icon
from the Vendor Category List Screen.

Editing Vendor Categories

To edit an existing vendor category, select "Vendor | List Vendor Categories" in the VirtueMart admin menu.

This will return the Vendor Category List screen (shown above).
Click on the linked text showing the name of the vendor category you would like to edit to bring up the Vendor
Category Form.

When you have finished making changes, click on the "Save" icon.

You will be redirected back to the "Vendor Category List" screen.

Deleting Vendor Categories

In older versions of VirtueMart, all vendors associated to a vendor category had to be removed or re-associated to a different vendor category before VirtueMart would allow deletion of the vendor category. This is no longer the case. In VirtueMart 1.2b3, if you remove a vendor category all vendors in that category will be reassigned to the "-default-" vendor category that was created upon installation. You can then reassociate the affected vendors if needed, as described below under "Vendors". There are two ways to delete a vendor category. The first way is to access the vendor category record by clicking on its name in the "Category Name" column of the Vendor Category List.


This will bring up the Vendor Category Form.
Click on the "Remove" icon.

You will be redirected back to the "Vendor Category List" screen.
The second way to delete a vendor category is from the Vendor Category List screen. Click on the trash can icon in the "Remove" column next to the name of the vendor category you would like to delete.

Click 'OK' to confirm deletion of this category.

When you are ready to proceed, you may easily navigate to the vendor list by clicking on the linked text "list" in the "Vendors" column of the Vendor Category List.

This will open the Vendor List page.

Vendors

Vendors are the main organizational factor in VirtueMart. Products and product categories, billing options, etc. are all configured per-vendor. Upon installation, a global, default vendor is created. This special case cannot be deleted, and is managed separately via the "Store | Edit Store" menu option. If you are running a shopping site for a single vendor (for example, if you are the only vendor that will be offering products in your store) then there is no need to create additional vendors. If, however, you will be running an online mall site that will be host to several vendors, then create one vendor account for each storefront owner.
It may be worth noting here that you should not confuse vendors with manufacturers. A single vendor may have a different manufacturer for each product that they offer. If the person supplying the products on your site will be managing their own shipping, etc., then they are a vendor. If you will be managing these aspects, then the supplier is a manufacturer. (See Manufacturer Administration for more information on that topic).

Adding Vendors

To create a new vendor, select "Vendor | Add Vendor" in the VirtueMart admin menu. Edit the following fields in the Vendor Information Form:

Full Image

Required
Displays the currently configured store logo.

Upload Image

Optional
Browse to the vendor's company logo. This will be uploaded when you click on the "Save" icon.

Currency

The vendor's global / default Currency

Minimum purchase order value

This is the amount which is the minimum Order Value for Checkout.

Minimum Amount for Free Shipping

This is the amount, from which on Shipping is free.

Currency symbol

This is the currency symbol which will be used when displaying prices.

Decimals

Number of decimals.

Decimal symbol

Can be somethin like . , or empty.

Thousands separator
Positive format

Display Order / Style for positive numbers.

Negative format

Display Order / Style for negative numbers.

Description

This is the Vendor Store's Description which is shown on the page
shop.index.

Terms of Service

This is the complete text for your Terms of Service that is displayed to the customer.

Store Name

Required
The name of the Vendor Store.

Store Company Name

Required
The name of the vendor company.

URL

the vendor's Internet Address.

Address 1

Address Line 1

Address 2

Address Line 2

City

The City where the vendor is located.

State/Province/Region

The State / Region where the vendor is located.

Country

The Country where the vendor is located.

Zip/Postal Code

The ZIP of the vendor's location.

Phone

The Vendor's Phone Number

Last, First & Middle Name

The Name of the Vendor's Contact Person.

Title

The title of the Contact Person.

Phone 1 & 2

Vendor's contact's Phone number.

Fax

The Fax number for the Contact.

Email Address

Primary Vendor contact email address

Click the "Save" icon to create your new vendor.

Editing Vendors

To edit an existing vendor, select "Vendor | List Vendors" to see a list of all vendors. You may also get to this screen by clicking on the linked text, "list", in the Vendors column on the Vendor Category List screen.
Click on the name of the vendor you would like to edit, or click on the linked text "update" in the Admin column - either will take you to the same Vendor Add Information form. Make your changes in the Vendor "Add
Information" form (described above), and click on the "Save" icon. You will be returned to the Vendor List screen.

Deleting Vendors

Since vendors represent the top most tier of site management, deletion of vendors should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
Before deleting an existing vendor, all products, product categories, users, and orders associated to that vendor must be removed through either deletion or re-association to another vendor. VirtueMart will not allow the deletion of a vendor while these child records still exist for that vendor.
Once these child records have been removed, select "Vendor | List Vendors" to see a list of all vendors. Then click on the name of the vendor you would like to delete. In the Vendor Add Information form, click on the "Remove" icon. You will be returned to the Vendor List screen.
Once this vendor has been deleted, it is removed from the system. To recover this vendor, you must re-create the vendor information, and re-associate all appropriate product categories and products.

Tax Rates

VirtueMart has some tax calculation configuration capabilities. Details on configuring tax calculations on your site can be found above under "Configuration".
There are two Tax modes available in VirtueMart: Based on vendor address and Based on shipping address. Depending on which option you select, you should configure Tax Rates for the locale of each vendor as entered in the "Vendor Information Form" (described above), or for each country or state you plan to have customers from (that you wish to calculate taxes for).

Adding Tax Rates

To add tax rates, select "Tax | Add Tax Rate" from the VirtueMart admin menu. This will bring up the "Add Tax Information" Form.

Add Tax Information Form Fields:

Tax Country

The country this tax rate will be applied to, determined by either the vendor or the purchaser's shipping address.

Tax State or Region

The State or Region this tax rate will be applied to. If there is no region listed for the country you are configuring a tax rate for, select the "Non-USA / Non- Canadian / Not Listed" option.
If you don't need a state, but need more than one Tax Rate for a country, just select some "dummy" state for each Tax Rate for that country.

Tax Rate

Example: 0.0825
The tax rate, as a decimal value. For example, 8.25% would be entered as 0.0825

Click on the "Save" icon to add your new Tax Rate information.

Editing Tax Rates

To edit existing Tax Rate information, select "Tax | List Tax Rates" from the VirtueMart admin menu. Click on either the linked text in the "Tax Country" or the "Tax Rate" column (both will take you to the same record).
Next make changes to the Tax Country, State or Region, or Rate fields as needed, and click on the "Save" icon to save your changes.
Tax Rate changes will be placed into effect for all purchases moving forward.

Deleting Tax Rates

To delete an existing Tax Rate, select "Tax | List Tax Rates" from the VirtueMart admin menu. Click on the linked text in the "Tax Country" or "Tax Rate" column to edit the record. Click on the "Remove" icon. You will be returned to the Tax Rate List. Alternatively, you may pull up the Tax Rate List by selcting "Tax | List Tax Rates", and click on the trash can icon in the "Remove" column next to the record you would like to delete.

Shipping Modules

Standard Shipping

It is wise first of all to think about how you will charge for postage and packing. The easiest way is to have a fixed shipping price for all of your products, but this is not always practical – especially if your products vary greatly in size and/or weight.
Not only do you need to think about shipping rates, but also shipping methods. Will you offer more than one shipping method – eg. next day delivery as well as standard? DHL as well as Royal Mail? Even if you decide to only use one company for all of your shipping, you still need to tell VirtueMart about it. To set up a new ‘shipper’, select ‘Create Shipper’ from the ‘Shipping’ menu. This takes you to shipper editor, shown in figure 17.

List order is just a numeric value which is used to sort the shipper names, so enter 1 for the shipper that you want to be listed 1st, 2 for the one you want to be listed 2nd, etc. When you have added the shipping companies you want to use, you need to configure the shipping rates. You can set up different rates for different service levels (eg. next day, two day, first class etc.) or according to the weight of the shipment. You can also select whether to add VAT to the shipping rate or not. All of this takes place in the Shipping Rate Editor – see next figure. To edit or delete existing shipping rates, select ‘Shipping Rates’ from the ‘Shipping’ menu.
<< The Shipping Rate Editor >>

5.11.2. UPS Shipping
5.11.3. Intershipper Shipping
5.11.4. Zone Shipping

Payment Methods

The area of payment processing can get a bit complicated, and it might be best to leave this to your web designer to sort out if possible. If you are able to use one of the payment processing companies that are already supported by VirtueMart, it will make life a lot easier (you will need to sign-up with a payment processor yourself – the program won’t do that for you!). You can see the options available by clicking on the ‘List Payment Methods’ icon on the store summary, or by selecting ‘List Payment Methods’ from the ‘Store’ menu.

Payment Method Overview

It is possible to create a new payment method (there is a ‘New’ toolbar button), but you may to hack the Virtue-
Mart code in order to make use of it (not for the faint-hearted!) The configuration options for each payment method are different – depending on what is required by that payment service provider. Usually your payment service provider will give you some kind of code, key, or user name which needs to be entered in the Payment Method Editor.
The Payment Method Editor consists of 2 tabs – the first of which you will probably not need to touch. The next Figure shows the 2nd tab (‘Configuration’), which varies depending on the payment service provider, and the example shown here is for WorldPay.

Add and Edit Payment Methods

Some payment processors will allow you to specify a script to be run on successful completion of a payment.
Such a script could be used to automatically update the order status in VirtueMart so that you don’t have to manually tie up all of your online receipts with your product orders.
Another advantage of this process is that when you're selling downloadable files, you don't have to set the Order Status that enables the Download (this sends out the Download-ID email) manually. This is done automatically by the script.
See the Section "Pre-Configured Payment Methods" for more details on specific payment gateways. Other payment service providers may use different methods of automatically notifying you when a payment is received. Again, it is probably easiest to get your web designer to sort out the requirements for this, but if you need to do it yourself, check with your payment service provider as to what their requirements are. Often, automatic notification is referred to as ‘IPN’ or ‘Instant Payment Notification’.

Pre-Configured Payment Methods

VirtueMart already comes with several Payment Modules that allow accepting payments from customers after a short time for setting them up with your Account Details.

PayPal

www.paypal.com
PayPal integration is made using a Webform that transfers the customer to the PayPal site.
This payment method allows automatic Order Status Updates. There's a file in /administrator/ components/com_virtuemart/ which is called notify.php. You will need to enter the appropriate URL (web address) for the script file in PayPal’s control panel. When a customer finishes the Payment, the PayPal server connects to this script on your server. When the transaction AND the payment have been successful, the order status is automatically updated to the status you have set in the PayPal configuration form.

Worldpay

www.worldpay.com Worldpay integration is made using a Webform that transfers the customer to the Worldpay site.
Allows automatic Order Status Updates. There's a file in /administrator/ components/com_virtuemart/ which is called worldpay_notify.php. You will need to enter the appropriate URL (web address) for the script file in WorldPay’s control panel. When a customer finishes the Payment, Worldpay copnnects to this script on your server and when the transaction AND the payment have been successful, updates the order status.

authorize.net

www.authorize.net
This payment module uses the authorize.net AIM method, which means that the customers stay on your site and enter all Credit Card details. When the order is being completed, the Payment Module connects with authorize.
net and tries to initiate the Money Transfer using the Payment Details of the buyer and your account details that you have set up in the configuration panel for authorize.net.

2Checkout

http://www.2checkout.com
This payment module acts very similar to the PayPal Payment Module: It transfers the customer to www.2Checkout.com where all payment details can be entered. After that the customer is directed back to your site. But before you must make the following steps:

1. Fill in your details for 2Checkout in your Shop, "Store" => "Payment List" => "2Checkout".
   For the field Secret word just choose a secret word (without spaces!! max. 16 characters), fill it in and keep it in mind.
2. Login to your 2Checkout account at www.2checkout.com.
3. Go to the section called "Look and Feel".
4. Fill in "https://YOUR_JOOMLA_URL/2checkout_notify.php" into the fields Approved URL and Pending URL
5. Fill in the secret word from Step 1 into the Field Secret Word.
6. Move the file
   YOUR_JOOMLA_PATH/administrator/components/com_virtuemart/2checkout_noti fy.php to
   
   YOUR_JOOMLA_PATH/2checkout_notify.php
   
   (means into the Mambo root)

When those steps have been completed, you can use 2Checkout with automatic Order Status updates on your site.

eWay

www.eway.com.au
This payment module implements the eWAY XML Payment Solution.
The customers stay on your site and enter all Credit Card details. When the order is being completed, the Pay- ment Module connects with the eWay gateway and tries to initiate the Money Transfer using the Payment Details of the buyer.

Paymate
...

eProcessingNetwork.com

www.eProcessingNetwork.com
See section "authorize.net".

NoChex
...

PayMeNow
...

Reports

VirtueMart comes with a basic and self-explaining Report Module. It allows you to view the product sales of a specific time range.