Converting a quote to an order:

-Once you have created a new quote, (click here to learn more about creating quotes) you can convert the quote by going to the top right of the quote area and opening the drop down menu next to “What would you like to do?”

-Here find Convert to Order and hit Go

-You have just converted this quote to an order.

Remember that this eliminates the quote and makes that Quote number the new order number.

Converting an order to a quote:

allows you to convert and existing order back into a quote where you can then have your customer review and confirm before committing to an actual order.

- First, look up your previous order in your DistributorCentral account

-  Then click on the Reorder button on the right side of the page

- From here, you can indicate the order type; An exact reorder, A reorder with changes, or Rework of previous order (see description of these below), and then select the check box for Convert Reorder into Quote 

- Then click on the Create Reorder button (see example image below)

- From here, you can revise the quote if you like, and then click on the Finish button officially save the quote, where you can then send it to your customer…if you customer approves the quote, you can then convert that quote back into an order. (see above)

 If you want to see the basic order process that you would follow as a Distributor click here.

 There are a lot of basic preferences that you can control your shopping cart with also. This would include the ability to turn off the shopping cart or simplify it by removing “optional” options. You can also turn off pricing for your products on your website.

 There are many payment options available for your customers. DC offers our recommended Paypal payment management process – click here.

 Once you have received an order from your website, you receive that order in an email as well as in your DC account. There you can edit, create an invoice, and send the order to the Supplier using our Order Management Features.

 Here are more of our shopping cart features. Click here.

This is a preference that is set in your “Website Preferences” area.

1. Go to Websites Menu> Add/Edit Websites.

2. Under “Websites List“, find your website and click on “Preferences” to the right.

3. First click on “Searching” and find the preference called “Display price range in search results?”. Set it to “Never” and Save on the top right.

4. Then go to “Orders” in the menu on the left and find the preference titled “Display order button on your website?” and set that to “No“. Then Save on the top right.

5. Now click on “Catalog” in the menu on the left and find the preference titled “Display pricing on individual catalog pages?” and set that to “Never”

6. Scroll down to one final preference in the same section (the Catalog section) titled “Show Options Tab?” and set that to “No” then Save at the top right of the page.

5. Now click on “Published” link at top center and then click on “Publish New Changes”.

This will remove pricing and remove the ordering option from your website in DC. Customers will be able to view the products and research but they will not know the cost.

This is a great way to ask them “Where did you hear about us?”

You can then keep track of the number of different responses that were given during the order process.

This survey will show up at the end of the shipping area in the order process.

To set this up:

• Log in to your DC account
• Go to Account Menu> Misc> Marketing Survey Admin
• Here you can create a Marketing Question. Type out your question in the Question field
• Then Select “Active“
• Now select ”Add Marketing Survey Question“
• Next you can add your responses         

• Click on “Add New” to the right of the lower box – The “Response” box
• A new window will open that you can enter in your first possible response.
• Click on “Add Response” and then continue to follow this procedure until you have entered in all responses.
• Now go to your site and order a product to test the survey

All your responses will be recorded under Account Menu> Misc> Marketing Survey Admin.

This makes it more convenient for those that have standard directions or disclaimers regarding most of their orders. No need to retype for each order!

PO’s to Customers

Add in stock language to order confirmation to your customers:

1. Go to Account Menu> Preferences> Account Preferences
2. Here Click on “Orders” on the left
3. Scroll down to the preferences titled “Would you like to include stock language on order confirmations to your customers?”
4. Type in the text that you would like to appear on that order to your customer
5. Save your changes.

That text will appear on all new PO’s here:

PO’s to Suppliers

Add in stock language to order confirmation to Suppliers:

1. Go to Account Menu> Preferences> Account Preferences
2. Here Click on “Orders” on the left
3. Scroll down to the preferences titled “Would you like to include stock language on order confirmations to Suppliers?”
4. Type in the text that you would like to appear on that order to the Supplier
5. Save your changes.

That text will appear on all new PO’s here:

Invoices to Customers

Add in stock language or directions on invoices to your customers:

1. Go to Account Menu> Preferences> Account Preferences
2. Here Click on “Invoices” on the left
3. Scroll down to the preferences titled “Would you like to include stock language on all invoices sent to your customers?”
4. Type in the text that you would like to appear on that invoice to your customer
5. Save your changes.

That text will appear on all new invoices here:

Other Resources:

DC Order Management and QuickBooks

Paypal and DC Order Management

Invoices with Promotional Information

Adding your Logo to Invoices

General DC Order Management Info

1. On your home page, under Shortcuts on the right side.

2. You can also go to Products Tab > Product Data Export > Excel Data Export 3. Finally, you can access this same export from the Product Editor at the bottom of your product list. Once you click on Export, you will have the opportunity to export certain fields and criteria. Then “Submit” the file and you will receive an email with a link to download it for editing. Learn how to work with the Data in the spreadsheet here: Upload your File: When you have edited your file and saved your changes, you can then upload it again for importing. You can upload it in 2 places: 1. You can upload it under Shortcuts on the right side of the home page. 2. It can also be uploaded in the product editor at the bottom of the product list. Once you click on “Upload Product Data Updates” there will be some basic data questions to answer and a file upload at the bottom of the page . Once the file is uploaded, you can track the upload and you will receive an email when we complete it. Watch this video to download your spreadsheet and upload it back to DC: Learn more about exporting your data for other service providers: http://blog.distributorcentral.com/2010/12/03/exporting-contact-information-for-other-service-providers/ Once you have your data imported, make them display with this guide: http://www.distributorcentral.com/resources/education/guides/ProductCompletionGuide.pdf

This should make it much easier to move around the content on each of your pages.

This feature is available under Website Editor > Add/Edit Webpages.

Edit the page and then click on a block and drag it to move it around. 

INTERNAL FACEBOOK INTEGRATION

This message above now appears on the main internal DC page if a user is also logged in to Facebook. Clicking No, thanks will set a preference that removes this message from the home page.

Steps to enable:

1. Log in to your Facebook.com account and then log in to your DistributorCentral.com account.

2. Click the Link my Facebook Profile button and  you will be taken to a FB page to request permission.

2. Once you allow the connection you are returned to DC and this message will show:

Gradually, Facebook profile pics will start appearing in correspondence, order summary, product editor, and other places.

WEBSITE FACEBOOK INTEGRATION

If you are hosting a website and a domain name in DistributorCentral, you can enable a preference to allow your customers to “Like” and “Share” the products on their Facebook walls.

Enable this new Facebook Integration section in website preferences.

Under this there are three preferences that are related to each other.

The main preference turns the Facebook “Like” button off and on in the catalog. The other two are supporting information for the Like button.

To enable this preference:

1. Go to Websites Menu> Add/Edit Websites
2. Edit your website
3. Click on Website Preferences
4. Click on Facebook Integration
5. Select “Yes” under “Show the Facebook Like button on your product pages?“
6. Then enter your Facebook user ID in the second box. Click on the “Find your FB user ID here” link to get the ID number.
7. Save your changes
8. Publish your website.

When the “Like” button is enabled it shows up on each product page.

When the “Like” button is clicked it creates a fan page inside your Facebook account. This will enable distributors to start collecting information about popular products, plus market to the people who like them.

The Send button allows customers to send a private message with a link to the web page.

Like and Send buttons on a DistributorCentral website:

Wall Post in Facebook:

Using an App ID (the last preference) will also let advanced Facebook users to  programmatically market to all webpage likes.

1. I made changes to my website, but I don’t see the changes?

Commonly, website editors will see a new change on their “Preview” of their website but not on the live site that customers see. When you edit your website, saving your changes is not the final step. You also have to “publish” the site to push those changes to the live site.

Publish your Website:

• Log into your DC account
• Click on Websites Menu> Add/Edit Websites
• Click on “Edit” next to your website
• Here click on “Website Publisher“
• Now click on “Publish New Changes“
• Changes will take place in less than 15 minutes

2. Why do I see Retail pricing on my order?

DistributorCentral will allow you to view Retail and Net pricing during your Distributor Order Process. You can switch back and forth in the top left corner of the order. See image below:

3. Can I change my username and password?

Yes, you will receive a default username and password when your account is first generated and you can change it after you log into your DC account for the first time.

See this video and this guide.

4. I received an order from my website. What do I do now?

You should always test your ordering process on your website so that you are not surprised and unprepared when you receive your first online order. 

Here is a video to learn what to do with your first order.

5. How do I change my contact information?

You will always manage your own contact information that correspondence is sent to from inside your DC account. You can customize it by following these steps:

• Log into your account
• Click on Account Menu> Account Maintenance
• Click on Contacts tab on the left
• “Edit” or “Add Similar” to customize your contact information

6. How do I find the Supplier of a product that my customer found on my website?

Your website is meant for your customer to do research, so you won’t find the Supplier or net pricing there. You can log into your DistributorCentral account at www.distributorcentral.com to find the Suppliers information.

• Log into your account
• On the home page, type the item number in the “Product Search” field and hit go.
• You will see the Supplier of each product above the product image in the search results.

7. How do I pay my Suppliers?

You will be able to enter the type of payment that each Supplier offers to you when you create an order. If you would like to pay the Supplier with a type of payment that they are not currently accepting through DC, you will need to contact the Supplier directly to pay them.

8. How is freight handled?

Each Supplier does have the opportunity to enter in freight data for their products. Not all Suppliers are currently taking advantage of this feature though. If the Supplier offers freight it will automatically calculate on any orders that your customers place. If the Supplier does not offer freight, you will not have freight calculated on the order. 

As a Distributor, you can utilize a freight preference to customize the way freight is calculated on your orders.

Click here for a blog entry explaining that preference.

9. Who do I ask product questions?

Each Supplier is responsible for entering and maintaining their product data in the DC system. They have an account where they log in and use the product editor. Each Supplier also processes their own orders. It is best to contact the Supplier directly with any product or order questions.

10. How does tax calculate on orders?

DistributorCentral does calculate tax automatically on customer orders for Distributors. It is based on the local tax rates and only charges in-state based on the customer’s address.

You can set a customer to be tax-exempt as well:

• Click on Customers menu
• Find that customer
• Click on ”Info” and then on “Terms“
• Select “Yes” next to Tax exempt question.

11. How do I do a reorder?

You can easily create a reorder of any previous order in your DistributorCentral account. 

• First, find the original order.
• You can do this by entering in the original order info on the home page under “Order Search.”
• Then you will see a “Reorder” button on the right of the Customer Order and also the Supplier Order Summary. 
• 
• Click on “Reorder” then choose the type of reorder. Click here to learn about the reorder types.
• Make your changes and Save/Send the Order along.

12. Why is DistributorCentral FREE for Distributors?

DistributorCentral is a service that has been provided by each of our participating Suppliers. They have invested millions of dollars so that you can access their products and market them to your customers without being charged.

13. Can I use my own website address or do I have to use a given DC website address?

When you create a website using the DC web editor, you can use your own domain name and DistributorCentral will host that domain name as well as email free of charge. 

You do have to purchase your domain name from a registrar like Godaddy.com first though don’t purchase any hosting with them.

Click here to view our blog entries regarding adding a domain name to any website that you have created.

Note: you will also be able to access your site from our DC given address in addition to your domain name if you used that address. If a customer accesses your website using your domain name, then they will only see that domain name as they navigate your site – until they get to the secure portion of the shopping cart.

14. My website disappeared from the website list in my account.

If you have previously had a website listed under the Websites List area but now it is gone, you probably selected to make that website a Template on the Website Publisher Page. To see that site, you would now scroll down to the bottom of the Websites List area and click on “Custom Templates” to see that site.

You would select “Use” if you would like to make a copy of this new template to use and that will list under the Websites list section for you to access.

Note: you cannot give it the same name as the website that you made a template from.