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Pro Tips for Getting Started:

 

Design within the minimum width

Remember what your page will look like on a small or narrow screen. Our templates were created to be responsive. Images and spacing expand as you make the window wider, but there comes a point where the window cannot become more narrow. Our Example Templates were designed to still look fantastic within the narrowest width allowed. No matter how narrow the window is made, everything stays in place. Images don’t drop down to another line.

 

Get familiar with BBCode

The forums don't allow posting regular HTML. However, the forums do allow for BBCode. In short, BBCode is a special implementation of HTML that enables you to make your text bold, underline a sentence, italicize, add color, and many other things. Basic knowledge of BBCode will go a long way to helping you customize your store! To learn more about BBCode click here.

 

Use a template to start

Getting started with setting up your store can be tricky. It's not always easy to design your page or get the layout just right. To help you, we've created three Example Stores for you to use as a design template. You can start with the template design and make it your own in any way that you'd like. Mix and match different elements from the template designs or come up with your own! To start with a template, or if you need help and would like us to complete the initial setup of your store for you, send me a PM with all of your information and I will be happy to complete setting up the template for you. See template pages below for more:

 

Example Stores:

 

Corresponding Page Layout Templates:

 

Think BIG! 

Big graphics and text make your page come to life.

 

Be original

Our templates were made for you to experiment with and expand upon.

 

Look clean

Clean design goes a long way to keeping things simple and easy.

 

Price everything

Remember to affix prices to all items listed for sale in your store.

 

Use the Barter System

Why not Barter? Being part of our community offers a unique opportunity to Barter with other Members, get to know your retrogaming “neighbors” and avoid paying transaction fees to PayPal and other banks. Let others know you're open to bartering by using the Barter emoji in your store!

 

Accept credit cards through PayPal

Bartering is a great way to go, but accepting credit cards means many more people around the world will be able to shop at your store. Remember that you don't have to be a bigwig to take credit cards! You can accept credit card payments through your PayPal account, even if the other person doesn't have PayPal. Let others know you accept credit card payments by using the credit card emoji in your store.

 

12 Images, 14 Emojis, and 2 Videos

Limitations in the forums make it so that no more than 12 images, 14 emojis, and 2 YouTube videos can be placed within a single post. Make the most of what you can with your 12 images. Too many media files embedded on one page can potentially crash the browser.

 

Pay attention to spacing

The forums are finicky. Text, spacing, and other markups sometimes act like they have a mind of their own. With every edit of a published post, emojis seem to randomly add spaces. So many quirks to learn and keep in mind when working through issues. If you find yourself in a scenario where things just aren’t lining up right, pay attention to what is going on. The forums run on software and there is logic and consistency behind whatever is happening, even if it doesn't seem like it. Take a look to make sure your spacing lines up, your fonts match, etc. The more time you spend figuring out the quirks the more of an artist you will become at making the most out of your store.

 

When all else fails, send Justin a PM

Finicky spacing, getting images positioned just right, BBCode, it's all kind of bananas. If something about your store is giving you trouble, if you need a custom graphic or button made, or even if your store just needs a check-up, please send me a Private Message and I will be here to help. Member Stores are a way to celebrate our community. The last thing I want is for you to become frustrated with the details.

 

Put your store on Vacation

If you're going to be away for an extended period of time and unable to fulfill and respond to orders, it's a good idea to put your store on "Vacation". Placing your store on Vacation hides your store's topic in the forums until you're ready to bring your store back online. Your store cannot be edited while on Vacation and nobody, including yourself, will be able to see your store during this time. Send me a PM if you want to place your store on Vacation and again whenever you're ready to bring your store back online.

 

Shop locally, share our stores globally

Each of our little stores are like small local businesses. They are run by your friends and neighbors in the classic gaming community. If they take the time to be here and set up shop, it’s important for us to support them as a community. Please share these little stores around the rest of the internet and wherever you go in life. Let’s help support them no matter how small the store. Remember: If you had the choice of buying a used game from a large retailer like GameStop, or from a friend in the forums who may even be willing to barter, who would you rather buy from? 

 

Share links to your store elsewhere

Build your store here and share your link in other user groups letting them know you have an online store.

 

Include a link to your store in your signature

Creating a link to your store in your member signature is a good way to encourage other members to buy and trade with you.

 

Use Emojis

Use our Emojis for Credit, PayPal, Barter, YouTube, etc. There may be as many as 3 sizes of each to choose from, and because they’re emojis they don’t count towards the 12 image limit.

 

:youtube:  :youtube_medium:  :youtube_big:  :credit_card:  :credit_card_medium:  :credit_card_big:  :paypal:  :paypal_medium:  :paypal_big:  :barter:  :barter_medium:  :barter_big:

 

Use Buttons

Make use of our big circle buttons towards the top of your store. They're a great way to draw attention to your Member Feedback, YouTube channel, eBay store, Etsy, and more. If you have a graphic that you'd like us to make into a custom button for you please send me a PM with the image (min size 185 x 185 pixels) and we'll set up the button for you, or you can use our pre-made buttons below:

 

profiles_circle_atari_io.gif  profiles_circle_etsy.jpg  profiles_circle_ebay.gif

 

profiles_circle_youtube.jpg  profiles_circle_atari_jaguar.png  profiles_circle_atari_lynx.png

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