set up a Ghost Shop......

[Andy Warner]

Hi All,

I am interested in setting up a 2nd (3rd etc) shop that runs from actinic, but is branded differently. I want all the same stock levels, descriptions etc, but the shop to run on a completely different server.

Has anyone done this successfully or had any experience of doing it??

andy

[RuralWeb]

Doing this could lead to the site/s being hit with a "Mirror Site" penalty by Google - this would remove one or all of the shops from the index. What you are doing is a Black Hat SEO trick and Google will not be happy

[jont]

Don't do it - not only is it going to cost in terms of time and additional licenses but also massively affect your site rankings. If you want extra sites try and create something that is more specialists - cherry picking from your main range - rather than a wholesale copy.

A good example of this is Chris Ashdown who has a main site and then several sister sites specialising in just specific product areas.

[Andy Warner]

its the technical aspect I was interested in

Good points (which I didnt know about)..

I take your points. Its an affiliate who wants to run his own site, but wants to actually use us to 'drop ship' from our stock. In essence, he wants a feed from our system so he knows what items are available and in stock. He would be doing all his own payment taking etc, and passing the orders onto us for completion.

Any experience of that? I was thinking to use the .fil files or similar in the cgi-bin directory, or upload a current stock feed every time I upload the shop (which is after every order, minimum 7 minute wait, using Mole End automation software which is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!). So far, My choice is looking like an Access query to get the stock level per item, availability etc uploaded for my affiliate to tap into. It doesnt help me to adjust stock levels from his sales though. I guess in the short term I will limit it to items >3 stock or something, and honour MY sales over his and make sure he states on his site that stock levels as shown may not be accurate...

I did run a separate shop using A.N.Other e commerse program, and the stock updating wasnt too much of an issue.

I have a copy of actinic 3 somewhhere... i might ressurect that for another sub shop...

cheers all

p.s. Mole End software. V good. just bought their labled A4 invoice paper, thats SUCH a good idea saves bags of time!