- How does Wicked Plum compare to other e-commerce options for crafters?
Wicked Plum is a standalone shopping cart software for your website, which makes it much more comparable to Zen Cart, Big Cartel, or Pappashop than 1000 Markets, ArtFire, or Etsy. This allows you the freedom to run your own site by your own rules – other than some basic terms related to hosting, we place no requirements or restrictions on how you run your shop.
- How does shop marketing/promotion work?
You can market your shop in any way you’d like – through business cards/promotional materials, advertising on other sites, guest blogging, etc. Wicked Plum comes with some built-in marketing tools, like mailing list/newsletter management, and we expect to add more tools in future releases to help you promote your shop. While we do intend to add a directory of shops using WP, our goal is to focus on keeping the software functional and easy-to-use, so that you can focus on selling and promotions.
- Where are all the instructions?
We’ll be adding more tutorials and videos over the coming days and weeks as we spruce up the beta documentation (and our video editing skills). Have questions or want to see a rough cut? Let us know.
- Where can I see Wicked Plum in action?
We’re in the process of putting together a demo store where you’ll be able to get a feel for how the cart system works and have plans for a showcase of shops running Wicked Plum. Until then, you can visit the sites of our initial beta users, Om Shanti Handcrafts and A Beaded Affair, or our jewelry store, Sweet Tarragon. To be notified when the demo store and showcase are up and running, please sign up for our newsletter.
- I am not a tech-savvy person. Is this for me?
Yes! If you’ve ever used a blogging service, or even used word processing software, the interface will be familiar to you. Take a look at our demos to see how easy it is to manage your inventory.
- I currently have another online store.
Can I move my inventory to my Wicked Plum shop?
At this time, there is no automated way to import your inventory. If you’d like us to handle the manual import for you, we’re happy to do so. Pricing varies depending on inventory size – please contact us for details.
- Is this an advertising-supported service?
No – in fact, you can run your own ads if you’d like. The only mention of Wicked Plum on your site will be a link in the footer.
- What if I need a special feature?
Send us your feature idea, and it may make it into a future release. If you need something sooner, contact us about pricing for custom development.
- Will this work for digital downloads? I’d like to sell music/ebooks/electronic art.
We don’t have the capability for automatic digital downloads yet, but it’s something we hope to have in a future release.
- Can I get one of your free designs in a different color?
Quite possibly! If it’s blue and you want it to be red, or purple and you want it to be green, let us know, and we can most likely release another version of that design in the colors you’re looking for.
- Can I change my shop design if I don’t like it?
Absolutely. Right now, you can change your theme by contacting support; we have an in-dash theme switcher planned for a future release so that you’ll be able to change your design to any of our free designs as the mood strikes you.
- What if I want a custom design?
We can certainly help there, whether you need a completely custom design or would like to tweak one of our existing designs. Visit our pricing page for more information.
- Can I use my current blog theme as my shop theme?
Possibly. It will require some customization, and not all themes will qualify, but we’re happy to take a look; drop us a line with your current blog address or theme name.
- Can I update my blog from the same place as my shop?
Yes; your blog and shop are all rolled into one, and the interface is the same.
- Can I cancel at any time?
Yes! If you’re paying month-to-month, you can cancel at any time – please email us with your desired cancellation date (and your new host name if you’ll be transferring your domain). If you’ve paid in advance, you can also cancel at any time, but you will not be refunded for unused time.
- I have my own hosting account. Can I still use Wicked Plum?
Not at this time. In the future, we plan to offer a developer package that will allow you to install the software anywhere you’d like; be sure to sign up for our newsletter to get notifications of new releases.
- I want to be able to fiddle with everything. Is this for me?
Probably not. In order to keep the interface as user-friendly as possible, access to code is limited. In the future, we plan to offer a developer package that will allow you to change anything you’d like; be sure to sign up for our newsletter to get notifications of new releases.
- I’m stuck. What now?
If the Knowledge Base and Tutorials haven’t held your answer, contact support, and one of us will get back to you.
- How do you process payment?
Wicked Plum does not process payment for you. We used Mal’s E-Commerce as a secure shopping cart to pass the customer’s payment information along to your chosen payment processor. PayPal is the most common choice for payment processing; we also recommend Propay.
- I have an existing blog. Can I move those posts to my new shop blog?
Yes; most blogs can be imported, including posts, images, links, and comments.
- Can I run ads on my blog, shop, or both?
Absolutely, and you can have different ads on your shop and blog, or in only one place or the other. The space is perfect for Project Wonderful ads, for instance, or for links to your favorite shops.
Wicked Plum - Surprisingly Sweet eCommerce
