Getting Started Guide

From FreeWay

Freeway is an integrated e-Commerce system. In other words, Freeway is a software package that allows you to perform business through the internet. This is true irrespective of whether yours is a product-based business or a service-based one. That is, you can use Freeway to sell any of the following:

Products (such as Apparel, Mobile Phones and Television Sets) Events (such as Dance Classes, Movie Shows and Training Sessions) Services (such as Plumbing, Painting and Car Repair) Subscriptions (such as Magazines, Computer Maintenance and Insurance)

This section provides a quick overview on how you can use freeway to sell your products, events, services or subscriptions online.

Note: This book covers only the essential features of Freeway. For a detailed description of all the features, refer to the documentation available at https://www.openfreeway.org/documentation/.

Contents 1 Getting Ready 2 Downloading Freeway 3 Installation and Configuration 4 Accepting Payments 4.1 Defining Currencies 4.2 Configuring Payment Gateways 4.3 Defining Tax Zones and Tax Rates 5 What Do You Want to Sell? 5.1 Products 5.2 Events 5.3 Services 5.4 Subscriptions 6 See Also

[edit] Getting Ready

Before installing Freeway, you must install the following software on your computer:

• a web server – Apache
• a database server – MySQL 4.1.12 or higher
• a middleware – PHP4.3.9 or higher

For a complete list of software and hardware requirements, see http://www.openfreeway.org/download/system-requirements.html.

[edit] Downloading Freeway

Freeway software is available for free download at http://www.openfreeway.org/download.html. It is licensed under the GPL license.

[edit] Installation and Configuration

Freeway installation is very simple and intuitive. For a detailed installation procedure, refer to the Installation Guide. After installation, you can access the freeway home page at http://your_server_name/freeway using your browser.

[edit] Accepting Payments

Being an e-Commerce system, Freeway allows you to accept money from your customers online. That is, your customers buy your products, services, events or subscriptions from your website and immediately pay for the same.

To accept online payments from your customers, you must first set up the following:

• Currencies
• Payment Gateways
• Tax Zones and Tax Rates

[edit] Defining Currencies

Freeway allows you to accept payments in different currencies. To do so, you must first define the various currencies that you will to accept. You must define one of these currencies as the default currency. You must specify the cost of your products, events, services, and subscriptions in the default currency only. Follow the procedure below to define a currency:

1. Click Payment in the side navigation bar. The Payment Modules screen appears.
2. Click Currencies. The Currencies screen appears.
3. Click . The New Payment Currency screen appears. This screen contains options to define the required properties of a currency.
4. Specify the required information and click to define the currency.

[edit] Configuring Payment Gateways

Payment gateway is the mode in which, your customer would pay you the money, that is, via cheque, demand draft, credit card, online bank transfer etc.

Freeway allows you to accept payments from your customer through a number of payment gateways. Logon to Freeway and follow the procedure below to configure your payment gateways.

1. Click Payment in the side navigation bar. The Payment Modules screen appears.
2. Click Payment Gateways. The Payment Modules screen appears with the list of all the payment gateways that Freeway supports.

To view the details of a payment gateway, click the corresponding row. To modify its properties, click , specify the new values, and click .

[edit] Defining Tax Zones and Tax Rates

You may have to collect taxes at different rates from different buyers based on their geographical locations. Freeway allows you to do this through tax zones. You must first define the various tax zones and define the tax rates for each zone. Freeway automatically calculates the tax amount for each buyer based on his tax zone.

Follow the procedure below to define a tax zone:

1. Click Payment in the side navigation bar. The Payment Modules screen appears.
2. Move your mouse cursor over Tax. The Tax submenu appears as follows:
3. Click Zones to open the Tax Zones screen. Click and define a tax zone by specifying the zone name and a short description for it.
4. Similarly, click Classes to open the Tax Classes screen. Click and define a tax class by specifying a title and a short description for it.
5. Click Rates to open the Tax Rates screen. Click and define a tax rate by specifying a tax class and tax zone.
6. Specify the tax rate (%) in the Tax Rate field. For example, if you specify 12, freeway adds a tax of 12% to the prices of your products, events, services and subscriptions.

[edit] What Do You Want to Sell?

As mentioned earlier, Freeway allows you to use the power of the internet to sell the following:

[edit] Products

Freeway allows you sell your products such as apparel, mobile phones, television sets, and so on. For details see the section How to Sell Products?.

[edit] Events

Using freeway, you can sell events such as such as dance classes, movie shows, training sessions, and so on. For details see the section How to Sell Events?.

[edit] Services

You can also use freeway to sell services such as plumbing, painting, car repair, and so on. For details see the section How to Sell Services?.

[edit] Subscriptions

In addition to the above, you can also sell subscriptions such as magazines, computer maintenance, insurance, and so on. For details see the section How to Sell Subscriptions?.

[edit] See Also

• How to Sell Products?
• How to Sell Events?
• How to Sell Services?
• How to Sell Subscriptions?
• Point of Sale
• Reports