Help, FAQ's, Tips and Information for Buyers and Sellers.

If you have a specific question to ask us please use our contact us page and send us your question.

 

 

 

Q: What is the eTown Shopping site all about?

A: eTown Shopping is the development application and part of the mission and dream of creating a national and international shopping center that offers all the best features available online today for shoppers and sellers.

The Mission of eTown Shopping is to provide an affordable place for small business owners, small manufacturers and creative businesses to market their products and services within a typical small business budget without having to sacrifice the big business marketing and development standards. This development site has taken over 10 years of research and 1 year of application development to reach this point.

We are small business and will remain small business in our efforts to keep in tune with others. Customer Service is the main focus and keeping ahead of any new developments in marketing.

Q: Do I need a Membership Account to Shop and Buy?

A: No. Not at all. We used our Membership Sign up during our development phase to control access to the check-out system. Today we have two basic check-out processes. You can sign up and become a member which will save your information to our server or you can skip the membership sign up and go directly to the order process.

Memberships do offer shoppers some great advantages. We run internal sales, auctions, raffles and some stores offer buyer reward points that can be used as a discount on your next purchase.

We want every shopper to feel safe and in control of your personal information. This is why we allow you to select the type of check-out you would like.

Q: Do you save Personal Information online?

Two Part Answer: A: Yes, If you sign up as a member we keep your personal contact information online so you can order products or services quickly and easily from any of our stores and merchants. You can always update your account by deleting your personal information at anytime. The only items that can not be changed are your email and username. Everything else can be removed by you after your order has been completed.

NOTE: No Financial or Payment information is stored on our services. We use off site processors like PayPal that offer better security then any company in it's class.

A: No personal information is stored if you select not to sign up as a member. Your order information will remain as part of the merchants online accounting and invoicing. But at no time will any payment information be stored on our system or by any merchants on our hosted websites.

Q: How do you process payments?

A: eTown Shopping does not directly process payments of any kind for sales of items by merchants online in our shopping mall.

Each merchant has their own payment processing and most all will be using PayPal when it comes to processing your Credit Card Orders. Other payment methods that the merchant offers can be seen on the products detail page or in our view shopping cart page.

Q: Do you have a Secured Connection for Members and Check-out?

A: Yes, every time we ask for personal information or private information you will be linked by 128Bit SSL connection. This is standard in the industry and we strongly suggest you not use any check-out or even shopping cart that isn't 100% protected by a valid SSL connection.

Q: How do I buy something listed in the shopping mall or stores?

A: Part of creating online shopping malls and stores is to create a very easy way of buying products from the store.

When you browse our shopping mall or any of our merchants storefronts you'll see that you are always 2 clicks from adding a product to your shopping cart.

View the products details by clicking on the product link. If the product is in stock and available for sale you will see a "Buy" button just under the Unit Price section just about the Detailed Description.

So you don't spend time looking for a "Buy" button that isn't there let me explain when you wont see a buy button of buy option on a product.

If the product is a new listing and the price hasn't been updated or added you will not see a "Buy" button.

If the product is Out of Stock, Sold Out or Back Ordered you will not see a Buy button.

If the Merchants Store has been canceled or paused for vacation you will not see a buy button.

Q: How do I ask a question about a product or listing?

A: You can ask the seller a question by visiting the products detail page. Below the description you will find a small form that will send directly to the seller your question.

Email Manager: This emails your question directly to the stores manager which might not be the same as the mall manager.

Always ask your questions directly to the store owners.  

Q: How to I track my orders?

A: eTown Shopping Mall offers two methods of tracking your orders.

  1. Membership Sign In Order History
  2. Order ID Username and Password Access.

Members will only need to login to their account and click on "Order History". You will be able to communicate internally with the merchant and track your package online.

If you do not wish to become a member you will receive an email with a link to view your order status. This link will remain active until your order page is removed by the merchant. You will be sent via email your Order ID and Order Login Information.

Q: Who do I contact if I have questions about my order?

A: Always contact the merchant. Your order confirmation will supply you with the merchants contact information. This may only be an email address while some will supply full address and telephone numbers.

If you have a question about a store merchant in our shopping mall always contact the Mall Manager at eTown Shopping by visiting the contact page at eTown Shopping.

Q: Are all my purchases in the mall and stores secure?

A: Yes, during your check-out you will always be under our Secured Server Connection. SSL is what the industry calls it for short.

Once your order has been completed we will leave a copy online for 30 days then remove it as our personal security practices for our shoppers. If you have questions about your order or have an issue with the seller we will leave your order online until the issue has been resolved.

If you have accepted your product and everything is fine you can email us before 30 days to have us remove your order and all personal information. We normally do this 30 days after you have confirmed receipt of the product anyway.

Q: Why can't my friend that lives out of country visit the same stores I can?

A: Some merchants have selected to use our Geographical Location Smart Connection Applications. This restricts visitors and shoppers to only in country shoppers. Normally this is associated with the merchants terms of sale and for those merchants that do not ship internationally.

If you have someone in country that was not able to view a specific merchant look at the bottom of the page to see the merchants sales regions. If your friends country is not listed they will not be able to access the site.

Q: Do you have a catalog of all products listed that I can order?

A: Yes, and we will be sending out or electronic version to all members that would like to keep up with our merchants specials and seasonal sales.

We also have 2 planned print versions to start this fall. Be sure to look for eTown Shopping and for the southern USA we have a shopping journal that is going to shake the Bayou up! Stay tuned.

Q: Do you have User Agreements, Terms and Conditions and Policies online?

A: Yes, eTown has it's User Agreement, Terms and Policies online just as every merchant will have their Privacy Policy, Shipping Policy, Return Policy and other policies like a true online business.

You will find these policies linked or displayed in the product details page and also at the merchants store online.

Additional Links for User Agreements, Terms and Policies.