First of all, there are A LOT of options for online invoicing, both free and paid. Most companies, such as FreshBooks, offer a professional commercial invoicing system, but impose strict limitations on their free offering. Such limitations usually manifest themselves in the number of invoices you can send each month, or in the number of clients you can manage. While imposing limitations for a free product in order to urge customers to upgrade to a paid offering is understandable, some companies impose such strict limitations as to render the free offering practically useless. You mean I can only manage two clients and only send three invoices each month? Ridiculous.

On the other hand, there are a few companies that offer free and unlimited invoicing tools. All of the options listed below are completely free to use and impose no restrictions on the number of clients you can manage nor on the number of invoices you can send each month.

1. Billing Boss – https://www.billingboss.com

Billing Boss is rare in that it is one of the only online invoicing programs that does NOT have a paid commercial upgrade. As of now, Billing Boss only comes in a free variety, and what you get for a grand total of $0 is surprisingly complete.

Billing Boss offers:

• Unlimited invoices and clients
• Multiple currencies
• E-mail support (send invoices directly to clients)
• Full PDF support (send attached PDFs to clients automatically)
• Unbranded e-mails
• Data sharing (add a partner or bookkeeper)
• HTTPS support (log in here)
• Payment recording
• The ability to accept payments online via PayPal or their own payment services
• Support for taxes, discounts, and your own logo
• Mobile-friendly site (iPhone and Google G1 support)

In short, Billing Boss offers features for free that would cost a monthly subscription payment with most other companies. It’s my favorite online invoicing tool that I’ve found so far, and it handles my meager needs with aplomb. I wish it supported Google Checkout in addition to PayPal, but it’s hard to complain about such a complete feature-set.

The only other feature that I haven’t found yet in Billing Boss is support for recurring invoices. That said, Billing Boss is the most complete and feature-rich FREE invoicing tool that I’ve seen so far. View a video tour.

2. Invoice Journal – http://www.invoicejournal.com

Like Billing Boss, Invoice Journal is one of those rare programs that exists only in a free flavor; no commercial upgrade is available. Unlike Billing Boss, Invoice Journal is the creation of a single developer (as far as I can tell) instead of a large company. The application is still in active development, but is quite powerful already.

Invoice Journal offers:

• Unlimited invoices and clients
• Multiple currencies
• E-mail support (send invoices directly to clients)
• Unbranded e-mails
• Payment recording
• PayPal support
• Support for taxes and discounts
• Custom templates

Invoice Journal is nice, but certain features are more difficult to use than other programs. For instance, you can add a custom logo to your invoices, but you must first create/modify a custom template, then upload it to the server before you can use it. The silver lining is that Invoice Journal is rather powerful, but may take a little longer to get up and running than one of its competitors.

There are a few missing features that I’d love to see integrated, such as HTTPS support and an easy way to grant access to partners or other staff. Still, I welcome another completely free invoicing tool to the arena.

3. CurdBee – http://www.curdbee.com

CurdBee offers both free Standard and commercial Pro accounts.  The interface is impressively slick and easy to understand.

CurdBee (free) offers:

• Unlimited invoices and clients
• Multiple currencies
• E-mail support (send invoices directly to clients)
• Payment recording
• PayPal and Google Checkout support
• Custom logos

CurdBee looks great, no doubt about it, but their free feature set pales in comparison to competitors, such as Billing Boss. If you want extra features like PDF support, SSL encryption, support for taxes and discounts, the ability to send reminder and thank-you messages, plus unbranded e-mails, you have to upgrade to the Pro version. Granted, the Pro version is cheap ($5 a month), so it’s hard to complain much, but these features are available for free elsewhere.

CurdBee has a module-based upgrade model. Once you upgrade to Pro, you have to pay even more to unlock certain additional features. Want support for recurring invoices? Pay an additional $5 a month. Need support for the 2CheckOut payment gateway? Fork over yet another $5 a month. While CurdBee’s motto is Sweet and Simple Billing, these upgrades beyond the Pro level leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

As long as you understand the limitations of the free version, CurdBee works well, and manages to look great in the process.

4. Billing Manager – https://billingmanager.intuit.com

Created by Intuit, Billing Manager is a popular online invoicing sytem that has both a free and a paid couterpart.

Billing Manager (free) offers:

• Unlimited invoices and clients
• Multiple currencies
• E-mail support (send invoices directly to clients)
• Unbranded e-mails
• HTTPS support
• Payment recording
• Support for taxes, discounts, and your own logo
• iPhone-friendly site
• Multiple templates

Billing Manager offers a lot for free. The main features lacking in the free version versus the paid upgrade are PDF support, recurring invoicing, and the ability to create and send estimates. Still, you can do a lot worse than Billing Manager. Plus, you may find it comforting knowing that you have the power of Intuit behind you.

The main drawback of Billing Manager versus the competitors is a complete lack of the ability to accept payments online for free. No, they have no support for gateways such as PayPal and Google Checkout. Instead, you have the option to apply for a Merchant Service account, which will give you the full capability to accept credit cards and eChecks online, but will also cost you $15 a month. This is completely separate from the Pro account, so even if you upgrade to Pro, it does NOT include a Merchant Service account. While Billing Manager may be the most professional invoicing system listed here, it’s also the most potentially expensive one.

Did I miss any free online invoicing tools that offer unlimited clients and invoices? If so, let me know in the comments. We can all benefit from that kind of information.

Happy invoicing!

Now that I have a new job, my wife and I will be moving to Texas soon. We own the house where we live now, so we had to make a decision: do we try to sell or rent our home?

Ultimately, we’re deciding to rent our current house. We live in an area of the Midwest that has not yet seen crashing and burning home prices, but we still did not want to throw away any fledgling equity that we have built in our three years of home ownership. Plus, we live in a major university town, our home is in a decent neighborhood, and is within easy walking distance of a grocery store. It’s also right on the bus route for the university.

With these combined factors, it seems foolish NOT to at least try our hand at renting our little abode. I’ve never owned any rental property before, so this will be a valuable learning experience for me. Every potential rental home is different, so in no way does one person’s set of choices fit all situations, but here are a few issues to consider if you are thinking about renting your home or acquiring an investment property.

Location

This is perhaps the most important factor and also the hardest to discuss because of the individual and unique aspects involved. Ultimately, you need to ask yourself, does the location of my home make it an ideal (or even suitable) rental property?

The location of the property has a major influence not only in how fast it will take to rent the house, but also in the stability of the tenants it might attract. For instance, a single-family residence in an affluent suburb will likely have a lower turnover rate than a duplex in a condensed neighborhood near a university. That said, there are good and bad tenants no matter the location.

In our case, we’re in a great location for a rental: university town, near a grocery store, and on the bus route. We may find a single family who wants to rent from us for years to come, or we may find groups of students who live there for a year and then move on. Though we’d prefer the first, we’re okay with either situation.

Property Management

The next issue to consider is whether or not you want to hire a property manager or deal with the tenants and the upkeep of the property yourself. Opting to handle it yourself entails:

• Finding and screening tenants
• Chasing the rent each month
• Dealing with landscaping and repairs
• Handling unexpected complaints and emergency issues

If you’d rather let someone else deal with these issues, then hiring a property manager is for you. For a monthly fee (usually 6-10% of the rent), a property manager will deal with all the potential headaches and send you a check each month. If your property requires lawn care, this is something else that a property manager can set up for you.

For us, the decision was easy. Since we’ll be nearly a thousand miles away from our investment property, we’re opting to find a good property manager. If we were planning to live in the near vicinity, the decision would be much more difficult.

Home Warranty

Another decision to consider is whether or not to purchase a home warranty for your investment property. The purpose of a home warranty is to save you dealing with an unexpected and costly repair, such as a furnace or A/C unit dying. A typical home warranty costs around $35-40 per month, and there’s a service fee (usually around $50) each time a contractor is sent to the house.

What you get in return is coverage for the electrical, plumbing, and heat systems, plus most of the appliances in the house. If the furnace dies or the plumbing implodes, at most you will pay is the service fee instead of shelling out hundreds or thousands for the repair.

We haven’t fully decided yet, but will likely opt for a home warranty package.

Insurance

I know that insurance is far from the most interesting subject to discuss, but it’s another required issue to consider. When your home shifts from a primary residence to an investment property, the insurance will likely go up. Frankly, this is tantamount to highway robbery, because not only will your insurance company charge you a higher rate for the same house because it’s now an investment property, they would also love the chance to sell renter’s insurance to your tenant. It’s pure profit for them, leeching off both sides.

However, you still have one advantage: the ability to shop the competition. The last thing you should do is just call up your current insurance company, report that your primary residence is turning into an investment property, and accept whatever new rate they charge you. Call them and ask for a quote, then tell them that you’re planning to call all their competitors. If you get a lower quote from a competitor, call your current company and ask them to beat it.

I find insurance a necessary evil, and I have absolutely no loyalty to my current company. If given a lower rate, I will not hesitate to switch all of my policies to a competitor.

Cost

And this brings us to the final element – cost. In the end, is it worth it to rent your home versus selling it outright? Especially if you opt to hire a property manager, purchase a home warranty, and pay for lawn care, can you make enough in rent each month to cover these fees plus the mortgage, insurance, and property taxes?

If you can, then renting your home is a great idea. Even if you end up taking a small loss each month, it may still be manageable provided you have enough other income to offset the small loss. There’s always the possibility of raising the rent a little after a year or two to negate the prior loss.

In our case, we’re just hoping to break even, thus allowing our investment property to pay for itself. We’re not trying to make big bucks right now – just having someone else pay the mortgage and build equity for us is a wonderful feeling.

In the near future, I’ll be shopping for a property manager, a home warranty, and insurance. Stay tuned!

1. Get a Better Browser

(Difficulty – Easy)

First things first, if you are not using a browser with built-in phishing protection, stop what you are doing right now and get thee a replacement! What is phishing? It’s a despicable attempt by scumbags to trick you into revealing personal information on phony sites. Ever received an e-mail from eBay, PayPal, or a bank asking you to re-confirm your account by clicking a link and typing in your username and password? That was a phishing attempt, and if you DID enter that information, it was likely stolen. While most newer browsers offer some protection against phishing, some do not. I’m looking at YOU, Internet Explorer 6. You too, Apple Safari!

Suggested browsers that all include phishing protection:

• Mozilla Firefox (Windows / Mac / Linux)
• Opera (Windows / Mac / Linux)
• Google Chrome (Windows only at the moment)

2. Use OpenDNS

(Difficulty – Medium)

This one is essential, but don’t run away in fright. It’s simpler than you may think. In short, OpenDNS is a free Domain Name Service (DNS) that you can tap into from your computer (or your router). Setup is easy. You don’t even have to install anything.

What can it do for you? A lot!

For starters, it provides additional protection against phishing, which is enough reason alone to use it. In conjunction with a better browser, this is a double whammy against phishing attacks. OpenDNS also automatically corrects common misspellings and re-directs you to the appropriate site. For instance, if you type craigslist.og, it will automatically forward you to craigslist.org. Slick.

That’s not all, though. OpenDNS gives you extensive control over content filtering. Want to quickly block access to an individual site or adult-related sites in general? Done. Check out the screenshot below.

Again, all of this is FREE. For best results, configure OpenDNS on your router, not just your individual computer. That way, everyone on your home network is automatically protected.

3. Use a Password Manager

(Difficulty – Medium)

You probably have a lot of account information to remember, don’t you? Most people nowadays have online access to banks, credit cards, utilities, and a plethora of random Internet services, such as eBay, Flickr, and (shudder) MySpace. Wait, don’t tell me that you use the same username and password over and over again, do you? DO YOU?

Recycling the same login information for every site is a brutally-bad idea. You are literally putting all your eggs in one basket, and if your information is compromised, it’s compromised everywhere. How, then, do you manage to remember all those usernames and passwords if you create new login information for every site?

Some people use pencil and paper, some type it into a text document and hope for the best, and others (like myself), use a password manager.

Personally, I like KeePass, and I’ve written about it before. Essentially, it’s a program that securely organizes all my usernames, passwords, and security questions. All you have to do is set a secure master password and lock all your information within the database.

Best of all, it’s free, and the learning curve is pretty slim. You can also carry it around on a portable USB flash drive. That’s what I did in Greece this past summer, and thanks to KeePass, I never had to type a single password at all the Internet cafes I visited.

Just try it. It may change the way you handle login information.

4. Protect your E-mail – Use Disposable Addresses

(Difficulty – Easy)

Ever visit a site that requires you to enter an e-mail address for some obscure reason? Or maybe you need to enter an e-mail address into a web form, a public forum, or anywhere else that may result in a deluge of spam in your inbox.

In times like these, a temporary, disposable e-mail address works wonders. All you have to do is generate a disposable address (valid for a few minutes or hours), use it for your intended purpose, and then walk away. No spam from that site will touch your real inbox.

While there is a growing number of disposable e-mail services available, here are a few of my favorites:

• 10 Minute Mail – As the name suggests, it offers disposable e-mail addresses valid for 10 minutes, but if you need more time you can reset the countdown with the click of a button. While the address is valid, you can read and even reply to incoming e-mails. No registration is required.
• Lite Drop – Offers disposable addresses valid up 60 minutes, but you can always reset the timer to extend the allotted time. You can read, reply, and even view an RSS feed of your inbox. No registration is required.
• Mailinator – This one takes a slightly-different approach. Instead of generating an address beforehand, Mailinator creates an account as soon as an e-mail arrives for it. You can simply enter any name that you want, such as spam-me@mailinator.com, or maybe ilovespam@mailinator.com. You can check that address by entering it on Mailinator’s site. I suggest using obscure names, since anyone else can also check that e-mail address by entering the same name. See their FAQ for details.
• Fake Name Generator – Why stop at just e-mail? With Fake Name Generator, you can generate an entire fake identity, right down to fake phone, birthday, SSN, and credit card number! Of course, it also generates a disposable e-mail address that you can use for whatever purpose you like.

5. Take Advantage of Virtual Credit Card Numbers

(Difficulty – Easy, when available)

Are you comfortable using your credit card for shopping online? I am, but I often add an extra layer of security by utilizing a temporary credit card number. The idea is brilliant, yet simple. Not all credit card services offer this, but for those that do, here’s how it works.

Whenever you want to buy something online, simply generate a virtual card number that is tied to your real one. Submit the virtual number and expiration date to the online merchant and buy your product as usual. That’s it. At no point did you reveal your true card number.

Most services also offer additional customization, such as the ability to limit the transaction amount as well as auto-expiration of the virtual number. For instance, you could generate a virtual number that expires in two months and has a total transaction limit of $25. Any amount beyond that will be rejected. You could even generate a number that’s valid for only one usage.

A few companies that offer this service are:

• Citibank – Virtual Account Numbers
• Discover – Deskshop
• Bank of America – ShopSafe
• PayPal – Secure Plug-In

To see if your existing Citi card offers this ability, take a look under the Tools & Services menu in your account. You can also view existing cards with this feature.

If virtual numbers are available to you, it’s certainly worth the effort to use them. Adding another layer of security and privacy to online shopping never hurts.

6. Protect your Phone Number

(Difficulty – Easy)

How would you like a more secure, controlled environment for your phone number? There are two solutions that I like – one for the short term, and one for the long term.

• Short-term protection – inumbr.com

Formerly knows as CraigsNumber (for providing privacy on Craigslist listings), inumbr is an auto-expiring, FREE phone number service that forwards calls to your home or mobile phone without revealing your actual number. Think of it as a disposable e-mail address, but for your phone. You can create a temporary phone number that’s valid for as little as one hour, or as long as one month.

Trying to sell something online, or need to make a listing in the classified ads? Generate an inumbr first and keep your true phone number a secret!

• Long-term protection – GrandCentral

GrandCentral (by Google) is a similar FREE service, but the number that they generate for you is your permanent number. However, you can link that number to all your existing phones and create custom ring setups. Depending on the caller, GrandCentral will ring my cell phone, my wife’s cell phone, my office phone, or all my linked phones!

Concerning privacy and security, my favorite feature of GrandCentral is the ability to simply mark a caller as spam (just like an e-mail inbox), and never hear from them again! Telemarketer or ex-boyfriend/girlfriend harassing you? Hit the spam button by their number and kiss them good-bye!

GrandCentral is currently in private beta, but you can go ahead and reserve a number.

7. Don’t be an Idiot.

(Difficulty – ???)

My final point is that none of these solutions are worth a pitcher of warm spit if you can’t protect yourself from… yourself. Use common sense. Question everything. As with phishing, most attempts to gather your personal information come in a masked form. Do you really think that e-mail full of typographical errors is truly from PayPal? Do you really think that nice prince from Nigeria wants to give you a million dollars? C’mon.

The last few years have witnessed the rise of the social network, and it concerns me how many people willingly (nay, eagerly!) give away practically all details of their private lives online. I think we’re only starting to see the far-reaching implications of such actions. And no, I’m not just talking about posting drunk party pictures of yourself on Facebook for the world to see and then wondering why you got fired. I’m talking about a widespread increase in identity theft directly related to the hapless vomiting of personal information online.

Remember that just because you pass through a login into your preferred social network, it doesn’t mean that any information you post about yourself is safe and secure. Yes, there are unscrupulous people out there who will stop at nothing to harvest your identity for malicious purposes. Flies are attracted to the dung heap, so to speak.

Just be careful. In the last few months I’ve seen a drastic increase in Facebook spam due to people with hijacked user accounts. It’s annoying, disturbing, and disgusting. Don’t let it happen to you.

This is by no means a thorough list. Do you have any other ideas on how to protect yourself online? I’d love to hear them.

What is it?

First things first: it is not a credit card, nor do they pull a credit report when sending you the card. Instead, it’s more like a debit card – think of it as a card that allows you to access the funds in your MoneyExchange account. Specifically, it’s a debit card without a name or signature on it. The only way to get money out of it is to know the PIN.

You can use the card to make PIN-based purchases at a growing list of merchants, or withdraw cash from ATMs. Note: there are fees for ATM withdrawals, but not for making purchases).  Like a typical debit or credit card, it requires activation before you can use it (phone or Internet). I’m still shocked that they sent it without a request, but to their credit they do mention in the paperwork that you can simply cut it up and toss it in the trash if you don’t want it.

$15 Bonus Offer

Speaking of trash, I was just about to throw the card away when I noticed that the paperwork included an additional bonus offer. Specifically:

Make a purchase of $25 or more and we’ll give you $5. Do this three times – We’ll give you $15!

Okay, I’ll play along. It sounds easy enough. I think I’ll simply transfer about $100 into my MoneyExchange account, and over the next month or two I’m bound to buy a few things that I would normally buy anyway. For instance, I noticed that Barnes & Noble is on their list of merchants, and since University classes are starting again, a textbook purchase could easily be one of my three swipes.

Here’s the fine print from the paperwork (emphasis = mine):

Make a purchase of $25 or more with your MoneyExchange RevolutionCard and we’ll put $5 in your MoneyExchange account. This offer can be used up to three (3) times for a maximum credit to your account of $15. Qualifying purchases must be completed within 90 days of activating your card. MoneyExchange accounts will be credited within 7 business days after making a qualifying purchase under this offer.

Revolution seems to be really pushing their MoneyExchange service, so if you have an account, check your mailbox to see if you receive the card and the bonus offer. It’s a decent little bonus for not much work.

Don’t have a MoneyExchange account?

For February 2008 only, there is a $25 sign-up bonus. If you contact me and ask for a referral when you sign up, I’ll send you an additional $5 bonus.

Please see this post for details.

I can confirm that there is no hard credit inquiry for creating an account. It’s an easy $25-30 bonus.

What is it? Revolution MoneyExchange is a PayPal competitor with a really freakin’ long name! In a nutshell, it’s a service that allows you to send and receive money for FREE (no more PayPal fees for receiving money!).

Your account is linked to an existing checking account, and you can push/pull money into via ACH (free). Keep in mind that this is not a savings account, so any money accrued does not earn interest.

What are some possible uses for Revolution MoneyExchange?

• Sell items over the internet (why pay to get paid?)
• Have a roommate or tenant pay rent money monthly
• Send money to kids or family members quickly
• Pay your drug lord what’s due or get your kneecaps busted

Ok, so that last one was (hopefully) a joke, but these are only a few of the possibilities available.

Please note that they require a Social Security Number. I assume they need this to someone from signing up for multiple accounts.

Once you sign up, the $25 bonus will be there waiting. All you have to do is link a checking account to earn access to the bonus. As soon as I created my account, this is what I saw (click thumbnail for larger view):

My offer – earn an extra $5

Revolution MoneyExchange has a referral program. If you contact me and request that I send you a sign-up invitation, you will still receive the $25 bonus, and I will receive $10 more. For everyone who receives an invitation from me and creates a valid account, I will send you $5 (half of my bonus). I just need your e-mail address where I can send the invitation.

It is truly a win-win situation.

The Purchase

At Home Depot, we selected a 40-gallon, natural-gas unit and opted to purchase the installation service. Thanks to the gift cards, we only had to spend just under $200. Here we encountered the first problem: the hidden fees in the installation service.

Here’s the scenario: if you purchase water heater installation service from Home Depot, they will sub-contract the job out to a local plumber. In my town, the advertised price for installation reads, “starting at $230.” However, once you reach the Home Depot counter to pay for the installation, they WILL add at least $70 in mandatory fees! For EVERY installation, they WILL add:

• $35 for a water inlet shutoff valve (which is refundable only if the sub-contracted plumber tells you he doesn’t need it), and
• $35 (or more) for a “permit” that the plumber needs for each installation

My question is, if they require an additional $70 for EVERY installation, why not advertise the starting price for installation as $300 rather than $230? Or, if they insist on using their skewed system, why not advertise the installation service as “starting at $10″ (plus $290 in mandatory fees)?

Despite the sneaky hidden fees, we begrudgingly went ahead with our purchase. Hey, we had to use those gift cards somehow.

The um… Installation?

Despite Home Depot’s promise of “same-day installation service” (which is an outright lie), it took several days for the installer to arrive with the hot-water heater. He was a nice, down-to business kind of guy, but as soon as he saw our existing water heater, he told us point-blank that there was no way he could possibly install the new heater to regulation code. The problem, it seems, is that there is not a drip pan underneath our existing heater (which is 20 years old), and that there is not enough room to add a typical, 27-inch drip pan and still be able to close the door to the room. Whoever designed the room (in the 1960s) must have been tripping on acid, since there are numerous layout issues that now prevent the proper installation of a hot-water heater.

The installer was a nice, jovial guy. He apologized and told us to go to Home Depot and request a refund. Then he left. Oh well. Replacing our water heater is going to be MUCH more difficult than we originally planned, but it makes sense now why the current unit is so old – the former owners simply did not want to deal with it. Now we are stuck with the problem, and the home inspector did not notice it when we bought the house.

We’ll have to deal with it later. In the meantime, let’s try to get our refund from Home Depot, shall we?

The Fight for a Refund

A few hours after the installer left, I paid a visit to the dreaded Home Depot. Paperwork in hand, I marched to the counter, explained my story to the orange-aproned cashier, and waited patiently while she consulted a higher power.

A few minutes later she returned and said, “We can give you a refund, minus $75 for the installation service.” Utterly confused, I demanded to know why I could not receive a full refund. Here is the explanation I received:

We (Home Depot) have to pay the installer a “trip” fee for showing up, whether or not he completes any service, so we pass the fee on to you (the customer).”

Trying to keep my cool, I let the orange-plaid cashier know exactly how much that policy stank. Why should I get sandbagged with a hefty fee because the installer could not perform the service? Why isn’t this notice written anywhere on my documentation? And just what is this obsession with the color orange anyway?

After my tirade, the orange-embroidered cashier said, “Would you like me to call a manager?” Yes, I would.

Amy, the smiling manager, arrived and attempted to enlighten me on what a “trip” fee is and why I should just shut up and pay it. Naturally, I embarked on another discourse on why saddling me with a $75 fee is completely unfair. Had I chosen to return the unit, I would gladly eat the fee, but since I would love to have the unit (and the installer CAN’T install it), Home Depot should eat whatever extra fee they have suddenly conjured.

The battle raged for several minutes, neither of us gaining any ground. In the end, Amy (ever-smiling) negotiated a treaty. “What if we split the fee in half, $37.50 each?” she inquired. Ready to get this mess over with, I accepted. Had I planted my feet and really made a scene, I probably could have gotten her to wave the entire fee, but I didn’t. Maybe it was her smile, or maybe the overpowering orange influence was curbing my hostility.

The Aftermath

The charge on my credit card has been reversed, and my gift cards have been returned as store credit (minus $37.50 of course). I’m still without a new hot water heater, with no easy way in sight to have a new one installed. While I ponder my options, I cross my fingers with hope that our ancient water heater will keep working happily.

Is there a moral to my story? Yes, dear reader. Do not purchase any type of installation service from Home Depot. They will no longer receive any business from me, at least not until they acknowledge their “hidden” installation fees. They must also provide written AND verbal documentation that refunds on services will require a $75 fee whether or not the installer is able to do anything. The current method of springing fees on the customer at the last minute without prior notification is not acceptable.

Frank Blake, are you reading this?

Now it’s time to get to the “meat and potatoes” of any e-Commerce site: listing products and setting up the payment system.

Product Categories

Before you can list products, there is one more configuration step in YAK that we must complete: setting up product categories. At the end of the previous article, I discussed YAK’s initial configuration options, one of which is the Product Category Name. The default name is products.

No matter the name that you chose, remember it, and create a corresponding category in WordPress with that chosen name (Manage – Categories – Add New. Leave the Category slug blank, and make sure the Category parent is set to None.

You have now created an overall category for all of the products you will list. Now, underneath this overall category, create at least one additional category (even if you only have one type of product). You may call it whatever you want, such as default. When creating this category, be sure to choose products as the Category parent, and like before, leave the Category slug blank.

That covers the basics of setting up the necessary categories. Of course, you can add more categories as you need.

Adding a Product

Alright, let’s get to the fun part: adding some products. All products in YAK will show up as posts, so create a new post in WordPress. Title the post whatever you want, but I suggest using the name of your product as the post title. Add any descriptive information, then be sure to check the appropriate category (or categories) on the right. Just like in a typical WordPress post, you may add any pictures or formatting that you like.

Now we need to add the price and the “Add to cart” button. Prices in YAK are handled by inserting little snippets of code (called “tags”) into the HTML of the post. You cannot add these in the “visual” editor, so switch to the “code” view.

Wherever you want the price to appear, add this tag:

<!--yak_price-->

If you want an “Add to cart” button to appear, also add this tag:

<!--yak_buy-->

Here is the code view of an example product that I am listing. Click for a full view:

Now I will add a sample picture, and the end result will look like this. Click for a full view:

A stuffed platypus, huh? I bet that it sells like hotcakes!

There is one step that I have not yet mentioned – actually setting the price for your product. In the example above, you can see that my platypus costs $10, but that price does not appear anywhere in the code view. Instead, the price is set in what is called a Custom Field for your post.

Before you actually publish your post, scroll to the bottom of the page and find the Custom Fields option. Here, add an entry called yak_price with a numerical value that represents the actual price of your product. Also, I like to go ahead and add an entry called yak_title that contains a the title of my product. Here is a sample screenshot of the Custom Fields area.

Manage Products

Once you have added the custom fields, you may “publish” your product. However, you are not quite finished yet. Navigate to Manage, then yak, then Products. You should see a listing of any products you have listed so far. If you do not, go back over these instructions. Did you set the category appropriately? Did you remember to add the custom fields?

IMPORTANT: To finish configuring your product, you must set a quantity. Otherwise, your price and “Add to cart” options will not appear, as YAK will think that you are sold out (and you can’t sell anything that has zero quantity, of course). Click the three dots to the right of your product listing to see the expanded view (as seen below):

Enter a quantity. Of course, you do not have to enter exactly how many of those products you have, but can use this option to help keep track of how many you have sold. For instance, I make some items available for download on my soon-to-be-launched site, so I just enter a large quantity for that item, such as 1000. The quantity will automatically reduce as I sell items, and I can easily tell how many have sold.

Items for Download

Speaking of downloading, this is the place in which you may enter a path for file downloads. You must set the absolute path to the file on your server. Ideally, this folder is not available from the web, as you do not want anyone to discover the path to your file(s) without paying first. If you have shared hosting on a web host such as A2 Hosting, the path to the file could be something like:

/home/username/downloads/filename.zip

Be sure to type the path correctly, as any slight error will break the link to the file when a customer purchases it. You can test this feature after you set up the payment options.

Add Your Cart

Now that you have items available for purchase, it is time to set up a page that will serve as the shopping cart. This is easy, and the content of the page only has one line. Create a new Page in WordPress (not a post), and add this short tag in the code editor:

<!--yak_checkout-->

That’s it. Now you should probably create a link to this newly-created page somewhere noticeable, such as in your header or sidebar.

Set Up Payments

Alright, now let’s discuss how you will actually get paid for the items that you sell. YAK can handle accepting credit card information directly, but I did not opt for this for several reasons. First of all, if you want to accept credit cards yourself, you must have SSL (Secure Socket Layer) available to you on your server. SSL is what creates that nice little “padlock” icon in your browser whenever you sign in to the payment area of a site such as Amazon. If you do not have SSL, DO NOT ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS DIRECTLY, as it will be easy for a third party to intercept the information. Plus, setting up a gateway to accept credit cards yourself can cost a lot of money each month, whether or not you make any sales. No thanks.

You can also set up a page to accept checks/money orders if you want. When a customer purchases items from you, they will be redirected to a page that explains where to send a check. Since I plan to sell some items for download, this will not work either for me. Hmmm.

YAK also integrates directly with PayPal. Though I’m not a very big fan of PayPal, it’s the best option currently available (though I hope some brilliant programmer will soon add easy integration with Google Checkout). You will need either a Premier or Business account with PayPal to accept credit cards.

Playing in the Sandbox

I also highly recommend setting up a free Developer account with PayPal, which will allow you to test transactions to make sure they are working without spending any real money. In the Developer account, you can create test accounts: one to represent a merchant and one to represent a test buyer. Set up the test accounts in the sandbox and remember what they are, as you will need them again briefly.

YAK PayPal Settings

Back in your WordPress admin area, go back to the YAK settings (Manage, yak, Settings). Scroll down to the Payment Settings, and enter PayPal as the payment type. In the redirect area, enter this address to access the sandbox:

https://www.sandbox.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr

Note: when you are actually ready to sell products, you will need to remove the “sandbox” part of the above address. Until then, all purchases will just be test transactions.

For the account, enter the test merchant account that you created in the sandbox. Likely, this will have a “biz” somewhere in the fake e-mail address. Also, I chose to use IPN (Instant Payment Notification) as the notification type. If you want, you may also specify links to pages that customers will see if they return from PayPal (more on this in a moment) or decide to cancel a payment.

Set Up IPN

The next thing we need to do is actually make your site integrate with PayPal. Using the IPN system (mentioned above), PayPal will automatically contact a specific page on your site to inform you that someone has made a payment. Create another page in WordPress, and within that page add this one snippet of code.

<!--yak_paypal_ipn-->

Make note of the page ID number for your newly-created page. Since this page should not be visible to the general public, let’s hide it so that it does not appear in your sidebar. WordPress versions 2.2.1 and higher simplify this process. Using the aforementioned Widgets in Part II, you can easily specify the ID numbers of pages to exclude.

Now, go to your PayPal sandbox environment and enable IPN for that account (View Profile, Instant Payment Notification Preferences). For the IPN URL, specify the entire link to the IPN page that you just created.

Post-payment Processing

You are almost done. One of the last things you need to do is create a “Thank You” page to which PayPal will redirect after a successful payment. The content of the page could say something like this:

Thanks for your order. Your order number is <!--yak_order_id-->. You may log into your PayPal account to view the transaction details.

Please note, items can take between 5-10 working days to be delivered. If your order included items for download, you will receive a separate e-mail with download instructions shortly.

<!–yak_cleanup–>

Back in the PayPal sandbox, go to Profile, then Website Payment Preferences. Enable Auto Return, and specify the URL for the page you just created. This should be the same as the path you specified in the YAK settings.

The Transaction Test

You have now completed the necessary steps to enable WordPress for e-Commerce. However, the setup is not complete until you have tested the payment system to make sure it works!

Go ahead, buy an item from yourself. When you come to the Ordering Information section, enter the fake buyer e-mail address that you set up in the PayPal Developer Sandbox. That’s the important part. Throw in some random information for the other entries, such as address and phone number.

When you click “Confirm Order,” you will be taken to the Sandbox. Log in with the test buyer e-mail address and password that you created, and proceed with the transactions. Don’t worry, you are not actually spending any real money. When finished, if all goes, well, you should be returned automatically to your “Thank You” page. If your mock purchase included a download, you should receive a separate e-mail as specified in the YAK Download Settings. The garbled download link is tied to the first IP address that tries to access it, so you don’t need to worry about customers sending the link to friends.

Final Thoughts

Of course, I cannot cover every possible configuration option in YAK or WordPress. There are still some options left to consider, such as how you want to handle shipping. Note: YAK currently calculates shipping based on weight in grams, and you can set varying shipping rates by country. Since I plan to sell mostly items for download, they all weigh 0 grams.

When you decide to make your site go “live,” be sure to switch from the Sandbox to the real PayPal. Otherwise, I’m sure your customers will be highly confused. Also, be sure to configure your real PayPal account in the same manner as the Sandbox (IPN, etc).

Fortunately, most of this process only has to be completed once. From this point, adding new products only entails creating a new post and adding the few custom fields and other options for that particular product.

In the end, I like WordPress because I am familiar with it, and I know how to make it do what I want (most of the time). Plus, creating backups is simple, which is important for an e-Commerce site. I like YAK because I feel like it gives me control over its integration with WordPress, even down to editing the CSS if I want. Plus, I like the simplicity of listing products as posts.

I’m sure I will continue to edit, tweak, and test my soon-to-be-unleashed site before it goes “live.” I want to make sure it works correctly, and writing all of this documentation has helped me learn how it all works. I hope it will be of use to you as well, dear reader.

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Get WordPress Going

Now it is time to install and configure WordPress. Installing WordPress is fairly easy. If you must install from scratch, WordPress offers a famous 5-minute installation guide. Many web hosts also offer easy, 1-click installation of WordPress. One such host that I recommend is A2 Hosting, as installing WordPress with them literally took about four seconds.

Once you have WordPress installed, choose a theme that you like (or design your own). There are literally thousands of themes available (some much better than others). I prefer simplicity over flashiness, so I settled on an elegant 2-column theme that’s widget ready and includes an “options” page.

No matter what theme you choose, let’s work on making it a little less “bloggy” and more like a traditional web site.

To Comment, or Not to Comment?

Unless you have a need for “comments” on your e-Commerce site, I suggest disabling comments entirely. Navigate to Options, then Discussion, and uncheck the options about comments:

If after disabling comments, your theme shows any indications of “No Comments” or “Comments Off,” you can rip those out pretty easily. Navigate to Presentation, then Theme Editor, and then choose Single Post on the right. Find and delete this little snippet of code (note: you should make a backup of the file just to be safe):

< ? php comments_template(); ?>

Depending on your theme, do the same thing on the file called something like Page or Single Page.

Static Front Page

Newer versions of WordPress have an option to use a static front page rather than display the latest posts. Since all YAK products will show up as posts, it’s wise to use a static front page. Create a new page that you would like to use for the front of your site (I called mine Welcome). Navigate to Options, then Reading.

Select your page from the list. Voila.

Bring In the Widgets

If you’re a WordPress user, you probably already know about Widgets. They’re slick little drag-and-drop icons that allow for easily changing your sidebar(s). Here is a screenshot:

For an e-Commerce site, Widgets are the ultimate tool. Here are a few ideas: Create a “Featured Product” widget and rotate it out once a week. Create a drop-down list with links to product categories. Add notices about sales or discounts. The possibilities are endless.

Install YAK

Now let’s add YAK, the backbone of our WordPress e-Commerce site. Install YAK as you would any other WordPress plugin (Manage — Plugins — click Activate). Under the Manage menu, you will find a new entry for yak.

At this point, you should configure YAK’s Settings to your needs. There’s a plethora of options, but some of the important ones to configure are:

• Currency Symbol – such as $, £, €
• Money Format – the format of the digits (decimal places)
• Currency Format – a combination of the previous two settings (for the creation of a result such as $100.00)
• Default Country – USA, Canada, Tokelau, whatever
• Product Category Name – Since each product will appear in a post, you need to set a category for your wares. The default is simply products, which works for me.

Note: be sure to also set a value for the Auto Discount option, as by default to offers a slight discount on all items. Set it to the value of 1 if you do not want to automatically offer a discount.

I overlooked this option at first, and this drove me crazy until I noticed it. I couldn’t figure out why none of my prices worked!

When you are finished, click Update Options. Congratulations, you have finished the initial setup and configuration for both WordPress and YAK.

Part III of this series will cover the fun part: adding products to your site and setting up the payment system. Stay tuned.

Update: Part III has arrived.

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My main requirements for building an e-Commerce site were simple:

• I want the software to be easy to use.
• I want the software to be FREE.
• Bonus: I want the software to offer digital downloads, preferably automated.

Unfortunately, it seemed that those first two notions were diabolically opposed, as all of the software that claimed to “get me running in a matter of minutes” would also quickly separate me from hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Unacceptable. On the other hand, the few free offerings that I found (such as osCommerce and Zen Cart) left me scratching my head, backing away slowly, and wondering if this endeavor would indeed be worth the effort. Surely there must be a middle ground!

At that point I decided to use the so-called “blogging” software that I know and love, WordPress, to power my up-and-coming site, and I must simply find a way to cram a “shopping cart” down its throat.

After many hours of searching, configuring, testing, and swearing, I ultimately settled on four potential solutions. All of these options are FREE, though some of them offer “paid” upgrades.

Option 1: WP e-Commerce Plugin

WP e-Commerce is the most visible option for setting up a shopping cart. As a plugin for WordPress, installation and configuration is fairly simple. A few of the purported features include:

• Unlimited product and category listings
• A cart that shows slick “alerts” when products are added
• Support for “downloadable” files, such as e-Books
• Integration with PayPal

WP e-Commerce was the first shopping cart option that I tried, and I had high hopes for it, but ultimately I was quite “underwhelmed.” Sure, listing products was easy, and the tight integration with WordPress was nice, but a number of bugs led me to quickly abandon it. For instance, I never did get the “download file after purchase” option to work correctly, nor could I remove a file once I listed it as a “downloadable” option. A quick look at its support forums yields far too many issues for me to put my trust in it. In the end, WP e-Commerce had the most promise, but delivered the least. I sincerely hope it improves in the future.

Option 2: FatFreeCart

Released for free by e-junkie, FatFreeCart is a novel idea: no installation, no significant coding knowledge needed, yet it maintains a perceived integration with any site. FatFreeCart will easily work with WordPress, but since it needs no installation, it will work on ANY site (even those ridiculous social networking sites like MySpace).

To operate it, simply copy a snippet of code, modify the values to match your needs, and insert it by each product that you want to sell. Here is a working demo. Note: Please don’t actually buy this product listed below. It doesn’t exist.

EDIT: Nevermind, the FatFreeCart doesn’t work too well with my current WordPress theme, but that’s a personal problem. See their site for a functional demo.

Pretty neat, huh? I especially like the integration with both PayPal and Google Checkout. I almost decided to use FatFreeCart with my site-in-progress, but ultimately decided against it for perhaps a silly reason: the actual software powering the FatFreeCart resides on e-junkie’s server, and if their server ever goes down, my shopping cart ceases to exist. I’m not sure I’m entirely comfortable with that. Plus, it doesn’t allow for “downloadable” items, which is a selling point for me.

Option 3: Mercantec E-commerce Express

In a similar vein, Mercantec’s “express” offering is a free 3rd-party integration that will work with most any site, whether or not it is powered by WordPress. Like FatFreeCart, much of the configuration is done outside of your regular web site. With Mercantec, you create an account with them, then add items, determine shipping, track orders, and setup payment gateways all on their site. So once again, if their server goes down, your customers will not be able to give you money.

Truth be told, I like the free Mercantec offering so much that I’m willing to forgive that aspect. I appreciate that they offer both PayPal and Google Checkout, and I enjoy the plethora of item options that are available, as well as the ability to create many options/prices for shipping. Here is a screenshot of basic item creation:

Actual integration of the shopping cart only requires generating a few snippets of code and adding them to the desired location on your site. Once again, I almost decided to solely use the Mercantec offering, but it currently lacks support for “downloadable” items. If I had tangible items to sell exclusively, this would be my choice. For what it’s worth, I e-mailed them and requested the option to allow for file downloads, and a few hours later I received this response:

Thanks for your feedback…. We have received several requests to support the downloading of digital goods once an item has been ordered. We have added this to our feature
request list and will strongly consider it when we plan our next release.

In other words, keep your eye on this one.

Option 4: YAK for WordPress (Yet Another Kart)

The final option is YAK. Despite its strange name, I have found it to be quite promising. Of all the options listed, YAK is the only one that is open-source, meaning that the source code is available for anyone (with the know-how) to scrutinize.

Just like WP e-Commerce, YAK is a plugin for WordPress, meaning that installation is simple, but the initial configuration requires some setup time. None of it is particularly difficult, but the actual integration requires that you insert tiny snippets of code and the setting of custom fields to allow for certain functionality, such as the addition of “Add to Cart” buttons and the display of prices. With YAK, each item is listed as a post, meaning that the items are easily “searchable” from the standard WordPress search box. Nice.

Here is a picture of a very simple YAK post in action:

YAK includes a multitude of configuration options, though the only current payment gateway offered is PayPal. I would desperately love to see integration with Google Checkout. And before you ask, yes, YAK allows for the automatic downloading of files after purchase. I’ve tested it, and it works well.

If you can’t tell, I decided to use YAK for my e-Commerce site-in-progress. Part II of this series will detail the initial configuration of WordPress and YAK. Stay tuned.

Update: Part II has been posted.

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