February 28, 2010

Zazzle Tutorial- Add Merch Store to Facebook Page Sidebar

Edit: Since Facebook removed Boxes from Pages it looks like the Merch Store can only be added as a tab now.

Many Zazzle shop keepers have set up a business page on Facebook. Getting the the page is easy enough but sometimes adding things to it can be frustrating. For many the Merch Store has caused a lot of headaches. The instructions are simple enough. Visit the Merch Store page then click Add To My Page on the left sidebar. After that you go to your page expecting to see the Merch Store there. Where is it! Look for your Boxes tab and click on it. It's in there but most likely only as text. After messing with this for a couple of hours and reading different instruction I got mine working last night. Here is how to do it. Warning! You will be deleting your Boxes Tab to do this.

Lets start from the beginning.
  • Visit the Merch Store page
  • Click Add To My Page found on the left sidebar
  • Pick from the pop up the page you wish to add it to
  • Click Go To Application
  • Click Add Products or click Settings located near top of page
  • On the settings page you will see Add designers from Zazzle and below that is Zazzle Username with a form box under it. Enter your Zazzle Username there then click Add to merch store
  • Go to the Facebook page you are adding the store to and find your Boxes Tab. If you have many tabs it may be hidden. If so click the double arrows to show it then click Boxes.
  • Here's the scary part. For anything listed other than Merch store you will have to delete them. Do this by hovering your mouse near the top right corner of each listing until you see the little Pencil icon and click it then choose Delete or Move To Wall Tab.
  • Once all that is left is Merch Store bring up it's Pencil icon and choose Move to wall tab. You may have to refresh your page to see it and it may be the last item in your sidebar.
Now that you have it you may not be impressed. There will only be 4 products shown. However, if the customer clicks the username shown they will be taken to another page with more products. If you are still having problems adding you merch store just let me know and I'll try to help you.

24 comments:

Pink Pig said...

Interesting post-
any tips for enhancing zazzle traffic are great!

Thomas Abernathy said...

Thank you Pink! Do you have a Facebook Page for your Zazzle store? If you do feel free to list it here.

Anonymous said...

Thanks..worked like a charm.

Thomas Abernathy said...

You are quite welcome. Thanks for visiting :)

Anonymous said...

When I selected "Add to my page" the pop-up window said "No Results". I can't move forward from there. The "My Merch" link is in the Links box

Thomas Abernathy said...

Let's see if I can help you with that. Facebook pages layout has changed since I posted these instructions. Since you say it is in your Links box I am guessing that it did let you choose a page to add it to. If so the No Results message would mean that the Zazzle info has not yet been added.

If that is correct let's try to get it out of your links tab. From what I can tell it must be moved from there to your boxes tab. After that the above procedure should get move it from there to your wall if that's where you want it.

First go to your page and click Edit Page in the left column. On the next page click Applications then find Links and click Edit Settings. From there you should be able to add it to Box. Let me know if tis helps. If not I'll keep trying to figure it out :)

Anonymous said...

Hi. Now that Facebook has evidently done away with the Boxes tab altogether, what are the options for positioning a Merch Store?

Thanks,
I.T.

Thomas Abernathy said...

Good question :). It looks like the only place to put the merch store now is on a tab. The good thing about this is now more than 4 products will be shown at a time.I see 10 now. As far as I see the tab can't be renamed so it will show up as Merch Store.

Thank you for commenting :).

Anonymous said...

Well, I THOUGHT I had it under a tab (Links), but that appears to be true only when I'm logged in. When I log out of Facebook, all I see there is a conventional link I'd created earlier directly to the Zazzle store. However, when in logged in, I see the Merch Store as an item on the left when on the Profile page. Naturally, when I log out and visit my page, the Merch Store isn't visible, along with the Profile page. It would be nice if it could be made visible to "Everyone".

Any idea where I messed up? Of course I wasn't able to follow your instructions from the point where Facebook's changes eliminated to Boxes tab.

I.T.

Thomas Abernathy said...

Strange. Maybe there is a difference in how it acts on a Profile page than on a Fan page. Until you posted I didn't know it would even post to a profile :). If you have a fan page for your store try adding it there. I can see it on mine even when not logged in. You can see it here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/tjustleft-t-shirts-and-gifts/283703222348?v=app_18500409880

I just tried to add it to my profile but wasn't given that option. Hmm. f you want post your Facebook link here so I can check it out.

Anonymous said...

Curiouser & curiouser, eh? When you say, "If you have a fan page for your store try adding it there," I assume you refer to a fan page at Zazzle, right? --Which is only more confusing, since I thought the Merch Store was a Facebook thing; and besides, if someone is at your Zazzle store, they're already at the desired location!

Anyhow, here it is in all its gory: http://www.facebook.com/pages/An-Infinitude-of-Tortoises/165289403504463

I'm not sure what you'll see there as an "Everyone", though. And when I took a look at your FB page, although I did see the Merch Store tab, under it was only a blank area with the "marching bands" indicating something was loading ... though it never did. (NoScript wasn't blocking anything, fyi.)

I.T.

Thomas Abernathy said...

Sorry for the confusion. By Fan page I meant your Facebook fan page as apposed to your Facebook profile. In your last post you said Profile so I was confused too :).

Now I see you do have a Facebook fan page a.k.a. Facebook page for business. Visiting it without logging in I do see your Merch Store. At the moment it says it is empty. Now you need to return to your merch store and add your shop name to the settings. Then it will start pulling in your products. That is when it is loading. It seems to be having a problem right now.

Here's another little tip. If you want you can switch places with your Links tab and Merch store tab. Click the double arrows next to Links while you are logged in. When it shows Merch Store left click and drag it over between Reviews and Links then let go. I sometimes forget we can reorder our tabs with drag and drop. Hope that helps :). If now just let me know.

Anonymous said...

In a word: arrrgh!

First I tried to return to my merch store and add my shop name to the settings, as you suggest. Here are the steps I took in that attempt:

* Log in.
* Account | Privacy Settings
* Applications and Websites - Edit your settings
* My Merch Store - Edit Settings
* My Merch Store - Edit Settings [again on a different page!]
(Note: I could also have started from the My Merch Store left-side link on the Home page.)

At this point, I have a screen that says, among other things:
"This application can: Access my basic information Required"
Unfortunately, the only ACTION I see possible on this page is "Remove application" (perhaps I should)! I can't seem to find my way back to wherever it was that I had originally set up the store name, etc.; and by the way, I WAS able to see the my Merch Store in action at one point, though not now, whether logged in or not.

So much for getting it working. I then thought I might at least try your tip on positioning the Merch Store tab. Here's the problem with that: when logged in, I don't see the double arrows (>>), only the plus (+). When logged out, I do see the >>, and upon clicking it My Merch Store, but the click-drag operation is blocked; besides, that would hardly be a permanent change if done while logged out. Oh, another interesting thing: I see the Reviews tab only when logged out. And I don't see that I have a Fan page one way or the other.

Can you make any sense out of this? :(

Discombobulatedly,
I.T.

Anonymous said...

I had the merch store working on one of my fan pages, and now nothing. I double-checked the settings in the FB app and it is set to display my zazzle username/store...but it just tries to load and then nothing.

Also experiencing this on a second page for another zazzle store. I think something is broken with the app. I've noticed the past few days lots of issues with Zazzle as well, as far as uploading images, re-arranging featured products.

Anyone else having this experience?

Anonymous said...

I had the merch store working on one of my fan pages, and now nothing. I double-checked the settings in the FB app and it is set to display my zazzle username/store...but it just tries to load and then nothing.

Also experiencing this on a second page for another zazzle store. I think something is broken with the app. I've noticed the past few days lots of issues with Zazzle as well, as far as uploading images, re-arranging featured products.

Anyone else having this experience?

Thomas Abernathy said...

It is a frustrating process isn't it? Getting rid of Boxes may have sounded like a good idea but it has caused some problems. Also what is not helping is Merch store is still not wanting to load today. In case you still want to bother with it here are the steps you need.

Open your Page and click on Edit Page under your avatar in the left column.

On the next page, still on the left column, click Applications.

Now look for My Merch Store and click Go to Application.

Now you should be able to edit your Referral Settings and Shop or Shops that you wish to promote.

Why you aren't seeing Reviews when logged in has me stumped. However, if you are seeing the Merch Store tab then it can still be dragged over. Putting it before your links tab should work.

Anonymous said...

> It is a frustrating process isn't it?

YES!

After puzzling over "Open your Page and click on Edit Page" a while, I realized you meant via first accessing Manage Pages under the Account menu. (Yes, I'm quite new to FB!) That allowed me to get to the My Merch Store settings page. Although I didn't spot an icon for InfinitudeTortoises at the bottom at first (I'm sure it had been there at one point), I was able to add it. That did not, however, result in a working Merch Store, even after repeatedly clicking the Refresh Store link and several others, all of which led to the same place -- the Infinitude Tortoises Merch Store sans content. You mentioned that the "Merch store is still not wanting to load today"; do you mean not for anyone (or you)? If so, that could certainly explain THAT!

Moving right along ... via my Manage Pages discovery I was able finally to see the Reviews tab and the ">>" button (while logged in, that is), and thereby add Merch Page to the left of the Links tab. For all the good it did. Perhaps if it ever starts working I'll see something there!

Well, not to make a full-time career out of this. :-)

While I have you here, though -- do you know whether it's possible to make one's Links & Interests visible to "Everyone"; i.e., to folks who aren't even logged into Facebook? I think that might be a plus in my case.

Thanks again,
I.T.

Thomas Abernathy said...

You can get to your page through Manage pages or just bookmark the page itself. Yes I mean it doesn't seem to be loading for anyone. At least not for you and I. As far as I can see the Links and Interest should already be viewable by everyone. The only privacy setting I can find for Pages is to allow only admins to see the page.

If it doesn't load soon I may use FBML and add my product links manually.

Anonymous said...

(Sounds of scampering as I find out what this "FBML" is all about....) Ah. Well, I suppose I could do that, if necessary. Is this the first time you've noticed the Merch Store going away, or is it a fairly common occurrence?

Actually, what I was wondering about is my LIKES (not Links) and InterestS -- Activities, Interests, Movies, Books, Music. That stuff. I just looked again when logged out and couldn't find a trace of them that way. You were able to see them?

I.T.

Thomas Abernathy said...

FBML is Facebooks's version of HTML. You can have up to 10 boxes of them throughout your page. Actually it is the Static FBML. I used it on the Sale tab on my page. You can see it here http://www.facebook.com/pages/tjustleft-t-shirts-and-gifts/283703222348?v=app_4949752878. Images can also be added with it.

As for your Likes I can't see them at all. I think that only shows up when viewing someone's personal profile.

Anonymous said...

Regarding Likes & Interests: yeah, I had a feeling it worked that way, alas. Evidently only the targeting advertisers get to take unlimited advantage of that information!

I posted something at the Zazzle Forum about the empty Merch Stores and it looks as if we're not alone here. Maybe it relates to the connectivity problems Zazzle is reporting in their announcement section. Time will presumably tell....

I.T.

custom facebook fan page said...

Hi,
Facebook has millions of regular users and searching for the page you have made, will take moments. Here are some tips you can follow for your Facebook fan page design.
Thanks.

Bronwyn V said...

Does this still apply now that FB has upgraded to the iframes?

Also dont forget too.. once Oct kicks in, for content not hosted on FB, there is going to be an SSL certificate required for the applicable domain that the content is hosted on.

https://developers.facebook.com/roadmap/

Thomas Abernathy said...

Hello Whimsical. Thank you for commenting.

Truthfully, since tabs were removed and other layout changes, I'm sure any of this still applies. When I posted this I started fresh on my page to make sure I got all the steps correct. To see if this still works I would have to start fresh again. It may not work again if I try it :).

Personally I'm leaning toward forgetting merch store and adding products manually. If you were lucky enough to have added the FBML app before Facebook quit accepting new ones you can still use it to add your products. If not then iframes will do the trick.

The developers page says the SSL certificate will be required for "Canvas apps". Not sure if this will also apply to non-app content. We may be ok with iframing basic webpages. If not we'll have to make sure we use a host that provides SSL.

Post a Comment

Please keep comments Family Friendly :) Thank you.