FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

We know you probably have a long list of questions that you need answered because selecting a e-commerce solution can seem daunting. We've made it easy! Below you will find a list of common questions categorized by subject. Just click on the question and you will be taken directly to the answer. If you don't see your answer here, email us.

Answers

Pricing

Can I cancel at any time?

Yes. UltraCart does not require any long term contracts. Your account is billed on a month by month basis. If you cancel your service during the trial period then you owe nothing. After your trial period expires you will only be responsible for your final bill after you discontinue service. Usage of part of a month will constitute a whole month (for billing). You have nothing to lose so signup today!

Is there any limit to how large of a store I can operate?

No. You can have as many store items as you need. Most large stores with many items utilize our Catalog system.

How much does UltraCart cost?

UltraCart Merchants are charged on a monthly basis. The first billing occurs 1 month after the 30-day free trial expires. Your monthly fees are based upon the number of store items you create in UltraCart. Click on the "Pricing" link menu (above) to view our pricing structure. There are additional fees for those merchants that take advantage of our premium services, which is listed at the bottom of the pricing page.

Do You charge a percentage of each transaction?

No. UltraCart does not charge any per transaction fees. Some of our competitors want to charge you as much as 1.5% of each transaction on top of the fees you're already paying to the credit card companies!.

Hosting

Does UltraCart provide web hosting?

No, but we have associated partners that can provide you quality web design and hosting. UltraCart does not require an expensive hosting package. Most merchants are able to utilize a basic hosting package that costs between $5 and $15/month.

What Type of web hosting is compatible with UltraCart?

Any web hosting service is compatible with UltraCart. Since there is nothing to install on your web server it will work with any hosting company. Simply embed the buy item and view cart links into your website and you're ready to begin selling with UltraCart.

Do I have to install anything on my web server or run a database?

No. This is the beauty of UltraCart. Since UltraCart is a simple to integrate service, there is nothing to maintain. We operate all the complicated database servers, secure servers, etc. for you. There is no such thing as having to upgrade UltraCart. The software is constantly evolving every month. This means you will not have to find some IT guru that knows all about web sites to install and maintain your e-commerce service. This will save you thousands of dollars a year!

Set Up

How do I integrate UltraCart with my website?

As you configure your store items in UltraCart, our software automatically generates simple "buy item" and "view cart" links that you place on your webiste. It's that simple.

Will the checkout look like my website?

Yes it can. With our StoreFronts feature, you have complete control over the checkout look and feel.

Do I need an SSL certificate with UltraCart?

No. UltraCart utilizes a shared SSL certificate on .ultrastore.com by default. If
your store is large enough you may want to consider our custom SSL certificate premium service.

Can I integrate UltraCart into my existing website?

Yes, because UltraCart integrates through a series of simple buy item links and view cart
links you can integrate it directly into your existing website. This means that none
of your existing pages will change URLs. This is great for maintaining your search engine placement!

Can I transfer data into UltraCart from my existing e-commerce solution?

Yes. Contact UltraCart Support to discuss the process for importing your existing e-commerce history.

How long will it take to setup my store?

After you complete our very short signup, you can start right away with the StoreFronts system to
begin taking sales. You'll still want to find tune your configuration in the areas of
payment processing, and shipping calculation. Most simple plan 1 sites can be setup by a new
merchant in a single day. Have questions during the setup procedure? Our support staff is here to help you!

What will happen to my search engine listings if I switch to UltraCart?

UltraCart can integrate into your existing site. This means that none of your search engine
placement will be effected by switching to UltraCart. If you are using StoreFronts there are tools in place to map this content over to your new site.

Can I upload all my items at once with a spreadsheet?

Yes. We support importing CSV and XLS (Excel Spreadsheet) directly into UltraCart. You can map each
column for maximum flexibility during the import process.

Payment Processing

What if I'm a foreign company?

No problem, there are many merchant account providers that can issue foreign merchant accounts.
We recommend contacting your local financial institution. Once you obtain your merchant account
you can find a compatible payment gateway from our list of supported gateways.

Do I have to have a merchant account?

No, but to accept credit cards you will either need to use PayPal Web Payments Pro or Amazon Payments
Both of these services are the equivalent of a merchant account and payment gateway combined.

What if I already have a merchant account?

Then all you will need is a payment gateway. UltraCart recommends contacting PayJunction to obtain
a payment gateway.

Does UltraCart offer merchant accounts?

No. We do partner with other companies that provide these services. Please see our merchant accounts
page for more information about credit card processing providers.

What do I need to have in order to process payments online?

You should have at least one of the following: Both merchant account and a payment gateway or, PayPal Standard, PayPal Web Payments Pro, or Google Checkout.

What forms of payment can I accept?

UltraCart supports PayPal, Credit Cards, Checks, Draft Checks, Electronic Checkouts, Purchase Orders, COD, Wire Transfer, Saftpay, and Amazon Payments. Most merchants accept all four major credit cards and PayPal. If you're new to selling online then checkout PayPal Web Payments Pro. This single service will provide you with all four major credit cards plus PayPal during the checkout process.

Store Operations

Can UltraCart sell soft goods like PDF and MP3 files?

Yes. UltraCart is equipped to handle the sale of soft goods of almost any size. We routinely have merchants selling digital content such as MP3's, videos, and software that are several hundred megabytes in size.

If you're selling PDF files then we have a feature called PDF tagging that automatically embed's the customer's name, order ID, and email address on every page of the PDF in the margins. It's the ultimate way to protect your intellectual property from sharing without utilizing an expensive and cumbersome DRM service.

Does UltraCart support recurring billing?

Yes. UltraCart has the concept of an "auto order". If you're selling products like supplements that have recurring loyalty programs then we have the system for you! UltraCart can even handle free trials that enroll the customer in a recurring monthly shipment.

Does UltraCart offer Return on Investment (ROI) tracking?

UltraCart has integration with Yahoo, Google Adwords, Google Analytics, and many other popular conversion and tracking services. Instead of having to figure out how to embed convoluted javascript snippets into your receipt, UltraCart has taken care of the problem for you. Simply configure a single field with your account information and UltraCart will handle the rest..

How will I know how well my store is running?

UltraCart has over 20 different reports that you can use to monitor the performance of your sales.

How will I know when I get an order?

Each user of an UltraCart account can configure the email notifications that they would like to receive. Some merchants like to receive an email each time a sale occurs.

How can customers view the status/track their orders?

UltraCart will send each customer a shipment notification email when their order ships with an embedded tracking link it. The customer can click the link and will be taken to the shipper's website to view the transit details.

Does UltraCart integrate with QuickBooks? If so what version?

Yes. UltraCart has API level integration with QuickBooks through the free UltraBooks software. This free Windows application is easy to install and will allow you to import all your order information directly into QuickBooks. Ultrabooks supports QuickBooks 2010-2017 and any edition (Pro or better), including Enterprise edition. Unfortunaltey, QuickBooks Basic or Simple Start do not have the API support required to use UltraBooks. Contact Intuit about upgrading your version of QuickBooks.

Fulfillment Intergration

How does UltraCart streamline the fulfillment process?

UltraCart has over 30 different fulfillment houses that we are integrated with. This direct integration insures that your orders will be transmitted to your fulfillment partner in a standardized format. You don't have to worry about developing your own custom transmission interfaces. We've taken care of all the work for you!

A number of our fulfillment partners are also bidirectional interfaces. UltraCart transmits the order information and the fulfillment company sends back the tracking information and inventory levels. In this method the merchant needs to interact only with the UltraCart system when checking on the status of an order. Bidirectional fulfillment house integration is also very import when you're working with marketplaces such as Amazon.com that requires you to promptly return tracking information.

Already working with a fulfillment house that we do not support yet? Contact UltraCart support to discuss integration options.

International Merchants

Can I use UltraCart if I live outside the United States?

Yes. Although UltraCart has multi-currency support, as well as built-in multi-language support for the storefront themes. The majority of our merchants that live outside the US will utilize a third party fulfillment center to handle their domestic shipping to avoid higher shipping and customs costs.

Promoting Your Business

How does UltraCart help me get higher rankings in the search engines?

Most shopping cart services generate unfriendly dynamic pages that search engines basically don't like. Conversely, UltraCart allows for completely static pages on your website. Simply embed the buy item links and view cart links into your existing pages and you are ready to start selling with UltraCart. This means your existing pages in the search engine indexes will not be broken when you move over to UltraCart. Our technology allows for a dynamic catalog that appears just like regular static pages on your website. This includes the URLs not having any question marks or parameters on them; a very import feature for proper search engine indexing. We have merchants with over 50,000 pages indexed in Google (and we're not talking about the supplemental index!)

Can UltraCart help me sell my products?

Yes! UltraCart is integrated with Google's Shopping service as well as Amazon.com. These two very effective market places will help generate traffic and sales for your online store.

Shipping

What shipping software do you export to?

UltraCart is integrated with Endicia Dazzle, UPS WorldShip, and Fedex Ship Manager.

How does UltraCart calculate shipping costs?

UltraCart can calculate shipping four different ways: real-time, by order subtotal, by order weight, or by order item. The most popular form of shipping calculation is real-time. Our real-time integration with Australian Post, Canadian Post, FedEx, UPS, USPS, and Watkins allows for the most accurate shipping estimates possible. UltraCart can even handle oversized packages and multipackage orders properly.