******* May 16, 2009 - Custom Store is now live and available
******* beta testing for Custom Store is over.  Thanks everyone for having helped us test and providing us the invaluable feedbacks.


We've mentioned the upcoming custom store option for quite some time, and we would like to have a few sellers having an early access to this option for testing and feedbacks.

This option will be a fee based service, allowing you to customize stores and have your own domain.  The test period is free, and we would love to make sure that we provide a easy to use facility that fulfills the needs of sellers looking to build and grow a online business.

The facility will allow you to design your store from pre-made templates, or create your own templates.  You will have full access to html, enabling you to modify and customize your shop to suit your creativity.  

To start, if you have interests, or have any questions, please post it here for now.

Here are some basic info :

Does it support custom domain?
Yes - you will be able to have your own custom domain name.  So, access to this custom store will be http://www.your_name.com where your_name is whatever domain name you own.  You will need to purchase and own the domain name from a domain registrar.   Additionally, you'll need to be able to have the registrar provide you some rudimentary dns access so that you can forward your domain to www.silkfair.com .  More info on how to set up your own domain support in Silkfair is here http://www.silkfair.com/forum/thread/322

But I have a website already.  What does this mean for me?
Well, you might want to add listing and shopping cart functionality to your existing site if you don't already have it.  You can set up the custom shop here and set it up as http://shop.your_name.com, and have that integrated into your existing site if you are missing those functionalities.  

Can I change fonts, colors, graphics, html?
Absolutely!  You'll be given access to html pages, so, you'll have full control over the page design and layout.  

Can I add my own html pages and images that has nothing to do with Silkfair functions?
Yes.

Can I add widgets and snippets like Google Analytics?
Yes.

Will it have a Silkfair logo on the site?
No.  The only thing that we'll reference Silkfair is at the bottom of the custom store that will state "Powered by Silkfair" with a clickable link to http://www.silkfair.com.  It'll be unobstrusive.  The shopping cart checkout process will be on Silkfair.

Can I have my own banners and logos?
Of course!  That's the point.

Why does the shopping cart checkout process need to be on Silkfair?
Shopping cart checkout process is a secured encrypted transaction using a high-bit SSL encryption certificate.  The certificate is tied to Silkfair's http://secure.silkfair.com as the host, which is not possible to support any other hosts / domains.

Do I have to create new inventory to support the custom store?
No.  All the listings you have in Silkfair will be presentable in your custom store.  

What is the benefit of having my own custom store?
Well, you want something that's you own, right?  Don't you want to pour your heart and soul into something that is yours and worth your time?  

What has been stopping you from having your own online store?  Too much money?  Too much efforts needed to get set up?  

That's what we're trying to do to help you.  We're here to provide you with a way to get to your goal.

If you already have your own custom store, you may find it more cost effective and less resource intensive having one set up using Silkfair.

What is the benefit of having my custom store from Silkfair?
Silkfair is a new marketplace, but we're growing.  What we provide is a two-fold benefit to sellers.  You get your own custom shop, plus a shop in a marketplace, all with a single effort.  You'll have your own blog to help promote, and your own forum to help support your client base.  Additionally, Silkfair also handles GoogleBase submissions, and we don't restrict and tie you down.  You can import and export your listing/inventory, upload / download your store codes (html templates) which basically makes your store portable.  

But the biggest benefit - it'll be very easy to get started, and cost effective.

How much is it going to cost me?
We haven't finalized the fees yet, but it'll be substantially lower than any other options you find right now (maybe equivalent to buying us a cup of Starbucks coffee or a box of donuts a week).  The fee will be a subscription based fee, payable at the beginning of the service for the month the service is rendered.  So, for example, if you want the custom store, you'll activate the option, and Silkfair will be charging you a fixed monthly fee at the beginning of the service period every month until you cancel.  You'll be able to cancel any time.

Will I need to know how to program?
That all depends.  If you are happy with the templates that we supply, then it's a matter of a couple of clicks of buttons, and you'll be up and running.  

If you want more customizations and flexibility than what the templates provide, then you can tweak or make your own templates.  You can simply download one of the template, and then make changes, and upload it back as your own template set that's just for you.

Is there selling opportunities in this?
We also welcome creative designers and developers to make templates to sell to other sellers.  If you know of a few designer and developers, please spread the word and let them know of this opportunity.

So, what's next??
We need both sellers with programming capability and non-programmers to help with testing.  So, send an email to support@silkfair.com or post here, and we'll contact you to provide you with a passphrase to access the function.  Please keep in mind that your comments / feedbacks are very important to us.

Special note - the templates you'll find during the test period are not highly designed yet (not drop-dead gorgeous), and there may be some rough edges.  We won't be able to provide html lessons and guidance.  But we welcome all questions and will try to answer as best as we can.  The test period won't support the custom domain, and the test custom store will be accessible via a Preview button.