Frequently Asked Questions

To register, click Create a Shustir Account on the homepage. You’ll need to enter a valid email and choose a password.

 

Yes! Small businesses can create a storefront equipped with all of its features, including free e-commerce where you can post up to 6 products and 6 services to sell for free! Unlike our competitors, we also do not charge a transaction fee.

Customers can also create a free Shustir account to receive their own dashboard to manage their purchases, have a shopping cart, & wishlist as well as rate & review our businesses.

You do not need a Shustir account to buy from our small businesses.

Yes, you will need to register separate accounts with a different email and password for every storefront you create.

After login, click on Dashboard that is located at the top right hand corner of your screen above the search box. Go to the Account Data tab and click on the yellow box labeled Close Account.

If you are a SuperSeller and choose to close your account mid-month, your monthly subscription fee will not be pro-rated. You will be charged the full fee until the next month.

If you are a corporate sponsor, click on Advertising at the footer of the page. You will find our online Media Kit with rate card and ad placements. After reviewing the materials, please contact us at contact@shustir.com for further assistance.



If you are a small business, you must become a member and set-up a storefront first before you can advertise on Shustir. To do so, click on the Become a Featured Business box located in your Dashboard at the top of the page.





You will be given four options on where you would want to showcase your business: 1) Homepage, 2) Marketplace, 3) A Business Category, and 4) Blogs. Select a placement and follow the instructions for payment. Your Shustir storefront will be displayed in the Feature Business showcase box at the top of the page of the placement you have selected. You may advertise in more than one placement, but must go through the same process for each placement.

The monthly fee is $100 to be featured on the Homepage, $75 for the Marketplace, $50 for a Business Category,and $35 for Blogs. The subscription is annual, but you will be billed on a monthly basis. You may cancel at anytime. Fees are not prorated upon cancellation. Once you cancel, your subscription will be valid for the remainder of the month. 

Your storefront will be randomly selected among other storefronts that have chosen to feature their business on a specified placement. The random selection will ensure that your business gets an equal number of impressions (views per visit) as other businesses in your specified placement.

To monitor the number of click-throughs from your placement, you will need to start a Google Analytics account and simply track traffic using your storefront URL.

Login to your account. Click on Too Many Ads? Turn Them Off box located in your Dashboard at the top of the page. You will be prompted to pay a monthly fee of $5 for this option.

Storefronts are modeled on the easy-to-use social networking profile à la Facebook, but amped-up so you can sell and connect with customers online. All storefronts have the following features:

- E-commerce built into your online store of products and services that lets you not only showcase your wares but also sell and collect payment via Paypal. You can post up to 6 products and 6 services for free. To post more, you will need to upgrade to a SuperSeller account for an unlimited number of product/service posts. In addition, as a SuperSeller, your products and services will be prioritized in our Marketplace.

- News Feed so your customers know what you're up to as soon as they land on your storefront homepage. It automatically highlights new blog posts and product/ service offerings.

- User reviews & ratings that lets customers comment on your products & services.

- Blog to maintain updated content and share information about your business within our community and throughout other social networks.

- Portfolio is your gallery to post an unlimited number of business pics and other relevant images. If you are an artist, it is a great space to upload your work.

- Twitter & Facebook links that redirect customers to your business pages.

- Mobile Product-Uploader lets you post products from your iPhone and share your uploads on major social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.

- Newsletter Sign-Up lets you gather email addresses of customers who want to subscribe to your newsletter.

- Badge Generator that lets you set links on your current stand-alone website to redirect people to your Shustir Storefront.

- Dashboard that lets you track all active purchases, top selling items, and latest reviews.

We recommend upgrading to a SuperSeller Account for $25/month. A SuperSeller account lets you post unlimited products and services and prioritizes your wares in our Marketplace.

Another way you can increase sales is to become a Featured Business. We have showcase boxes at the top of the Homepage, Marketplace, search results for specific Business Categories, and Blogs. To begin, simply go to your Dashboard and click on the first box Become a Featured Storefront. The monthly fee is $100 to be featured on the Homepage, $75 for the Marketplace, $50 for a Business Category, and $35 for Blogs.

You must first create a standard storefront by registering. After you've set-up your basic storefront within four (4) simple steps, you can upgrade in a variety of ways:

1. Click Sell on the homepage and select the yellow box at the end of the page Become a SuperSeller Now!



2. After login, click on Dashboard that is located at the top right hand corner of your screen above the search box. Click on Become a Shustir SuperSeller, which is the first option on the top of the page next to Turn-off Ads and Showcase Your Business.



3. After login, click on Dashboard that is located at the top right hand corner of your screen above the search box. Go to the Storefront Data tab and click on Upgrade Storefront. Follow instructions to upgrade to a SuperSeller account.



4. You will be prompted to upgrade the second time you login after you have created your Shustir account.

Having a Shustir storefront only bolsters your web presence.

Stand-alone websites are difficult to find on the Web unless you have invested in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and/or online marketing or are continuously creating content for your site.

We encourage those of you who already have your own standalone website to still create a Shustir storefront and leverage off of our sitewide SEO and the existing marketplace of customers who want to buy from small businesses. Furthermore, you will be able to access social media and e-commerce tools all storefronts are equipped with.

You can simply use our Badge Generator to create a link from your website to your storefront on Shustir. You can also set a link from your Shustir storefront to your website.



For those of you who don't have a website, we are a perfect and simple solution to create your "mini-website" to get your business online quickly.

Simply complete your storefront to the max and keep your content updated. Here's what we mean by that:

1. Post many products and services. The more you post, the more data points major search engines associate with your business. Besides, who doesn't love a well-stocked store? Use our Mobile Application---the Product Uploader--- that makes it easy to upload products and services from your iPhone.


2. Post blogs. We've equipped every storefront with one so that you are not depending on static content to be found. Your blog lets you update your content. New content is prioritized by the search engines. For your customers, it gives them added comfort that you are knowledgeable about your industry.


3. Upload a Shustir badge from our Badge Generator. From your Dashboard, you can simply create a banner that can redirect customers from your website to your Shustir storefront. "Doesn't that bring customers from my website to Shustir?" you ask. Imagine if all the other businesses on Shustir uploaded the same badge to their websites. Every business on Shustir would immensely benefit from the cross-traffic of customers. We strongly believe that we can only succeed by working together. Hence, we've created a marketplace where all our members can benefit from the "cluster effect".


4. Provide as much content in your storefront as possible. Our keyword search crawls your business name, tagline, About Your Business description, and your products and services. So use as many descriptive words as you can that would match those inputted by your customers to find what you are selling.


5. Location, location, location. Our Marketplace search is primarily driven by location so it will be important for you to identify where your business is located ---city, state, neighborhood, and zip code.

Absolutely! Your Shustir storefront provides another reference to your business on the Web. But unlike an online directory or a review site, we give you control by providing you the tools to provide meaningful information about your business that engages your customers. We also enable you to sell online.

A SuperSeller account is Shustir's storefront upgrade. It is a premium package that lets you post unlimited products and services and prioritizes your wares in our Marketplace. The cost of this upgrade is $25/mo.

If you are creating your storefront for the first time, you will be taken through a simple four (4) step process to set-up your storefront. Uploading your business logo and pics are in steps 1 & 2:

Step 1 Storefront Contact Information lets you upload a business logo. The resolution of your logo should be 342 x 250 pixels. You can also click Edit Thumbnail to crop your logo. Make sure the file that your logo is saved under is a .jpg, .png, or .gif.



In Step 2 Storefront Profile, you can upload up to five (5) pics of your business. The resolution of these pics should be 342 x 250 pixels and the file should be saved as a .jpg, .png, or .gif.

Here are the steps if you need to change your business logo or business pics after you've set-up you storefront:

Login and once you are redirected to your Dashboard, click on the Storefront Data tab or Edit Profile located at the bottom right-hand corner underneath Create Blog Entry. Under the Contact Information tab, you will be able to upload a new logo with the same specifications indicated above.








To change business pics, click on the Profile Data tab and click Edit next to Business Pic Upload to change your business pics using the same specifications indicated above.

If you are creating your business storefront for the first time, in Step 2 Profile Data, you will be prompted to describe your business under About Your Business. To add an image to the body of your description, simply click on the Insert Image icon (looks like a landscape portrait) as part of your tool box (that lets you change the font, font color, alignment etc). A popover window labeled Image Option will appear. Simply Browse to find the image of your choice. You will also have the option to change with Size, Text Flow, Borders, Padding, and Text links. When you're done, click on the "X" which will let you embed your image. Click twice on the image you've embedded if you want to change any specs.

If you are creating your business storefront for the first time, in Step 2 Profile Data, you will be prompted to describe your business under About Your Business. To add a text link to a specific word in the body of your description, simply highlight the word you want to link, then the HTML link icon (looks like a chain link) should light-up so you can select it. Another popover window should appear labeled Link Options. Simply paste the link URL. You will also have the option to provide a link description or set a popover window. When you're done, click on the "X" which will let you embed your link. Highlight the linked word(s) and click on the HTML link if you want to change any specs.

In order to show-up in the Marketplace, you will need to finish your storefront by uploading at least one product or service.

You may also change the visibility of your storefront by going to Storefront Data in your Dashboard. In the header, you will see a link to Change the visibility of your storefront from Under Construction  to Visible and vice versa.

In order to collect payment from your customers, you will need to set-up a Paypall account.

When creating your storefront for the first time, you will be prompted to input you Paypal account email in Step 3 of the fours step set-up process.





You can also input your Paypal account email after you login. Go to the Storefront Data in your Dashboard and click on Payment Information.


When a customer checks-out, they will be redirected to Paypal to process payment that will in turn credit your Paypal account.