Shopping Cartwith Photos

[Bellemom]

I'm stumped.
I'd like to upload several dozens of photos onto my website and then give viewers the possibility to download a photo BUT pay for it via paypal or something like that.
What kind of software do I have to use and how do I incorporate it into a lightbox without having to manually add a paypal button to each and every photo?
Thanks for your help!

kind regards
Bellemom

[Karen Mac]

Re: Shopping Cartwith Photos

Yes.. thats how you would do it if you are using bv to create your site.

Karen

[Bellemom]

Re: Shopping Cartwith Photos

Um Karen.......that's how you would do it? but you don't say what 'it' is :( and I don't know how to incorporate paypal within a lightbox if thats what you mean.
Thanx

[Karen Mac]

Re: Shopping Cartwith Photos

No.. you put up the picture and then put the description and the paypal button under it. You dont need to incorporate paypal buttons.. you either use bv's or copy and paste them from paypal.

Or.. you use shopping cart software thats integrated with paypal and auto generates the buttons.. .like soho

Karen

[pioneerVicki]

Re: Shopping Cartwith Photos

Bellemom,
You need a cart that lets you do downloads. I think you'll find most do. I do downloads on my aboriginal site (in signature). I use the free Mals cart & it has worked perfectly each time I've made a sale. I have a sample of the photo with masking in a light box on my site, so customers can get a good view of what they're buying. You basically need to do 3 things. Read & follow the BV instructions of how to put a downloadable on your site. Follow the instructions your cart gives of how to set your downloads up. In the case of Mals I have to put a code for each photo download in set-up area of the cart. If you are using paypal as your processor you need to be certain to set up your paypal account so that it will take customers back to the site after their payment has been approved - Mals gives very specific instructions as to how to do this - so they can get their downloads. One tip too, if you're not sure if you've got everything working correctly, put a photo on with a price of say 10c, buy it yourself, then put the price up to what it usually is.
I don't know if you can do downloads with the standard Paypal cart as I haven't used it. Most of us use another cart (some of which are free) because they offer a little more flexability. The maximum number of downloads you can have with a free Mals account is 50. A paid cart which is only about $9 per month lets you do 400? If you were planning to sell a huge number of downloads there are sites that spe******e in handling downloads that you can join. They handle payment & do the dowloads for you via a link from your site.
Incidently you don't usually put a buynow button on a photo; (though it could look quite striking) certainly not one in a lightbox, With a Mals cart you put html code in an html box along (or underneath) each photo which among other things this tells the customer what they are buying like quality & price. Most other carts are product based so you load the product information in according to instructions. Personally I like the Mals cart for photo & art sites as it allows so much more flexibility than most other carts. I understand that there are some paid cart that are extremely flexiable as well. Are you selling other products besides downloads? Downloads have no shipping cost; most other products do. Make sure any cart you pick can handle your differing shipping needs before you spend timing setting something up.