ProStores Unveils New Design Certification Program for Developers

Release date: June 11, 2007  /  Print This

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 11, 2007 – ProStores, a full-featured customizable online store solution for small- and medium-size businesses, today announced a new Design Certification Program to expand the network of web developers and designers versed in creating stores for ProStores merchants.

The ProStores Design Certification program will offer existing and prospective ProStores merchants a new resource for creating clean, easy-to-navigate and professional-looking stores built specifically for them on the ProStores platform.

For web developers and designers, the program offers access to free training materials, including over five hours of video instruction. Live, interactive one-hour webinars corresponding to the recorded sessions are also offered for $99 each – or $399 for all five sessions when purchased in advance.

Upon successful completion of the certification test, designers are authorized to display the “ProStores Certified Designer” logo and are eligible for inclusion in the ProStores Solutions Directory and other marketing materials.

“It’s extremely important for online merchants to build their brand identity with an attractive online store that makes it easy for shoppers to find and purchase products,” said Eric Shoup, Director of ProStores. “We’re excited about giving web developers and designers the materials they need to learn how to create stores on the ProStores platform – which in turn provides merchants an ecommerce solution tailored to meet their specific needs.”

“We spent years testing all sorts of shopping carts,” said Kurt Davey, owner of Neoverve, a web design firm with extensive experience in building stores on the ProStores platform. “With ProStores we found exactly what we were looking for -- a feature rich ecommerce solution that we can customize, customize, and customize some more.”

The ProStores Design Certification Program is the latest addition to a growing list of opportunities ProStores is creating for the development community.

The ProStores Developer Network, launched last year, continues to grow, providing software developers the opportunity to create solutions that meet key merchant needs from integration with offline accounting, inventory, and customer relationship and marketing systems to scheduling and calendaring, reporting, marketing, and web analytics tools.

ProStores also offers an Affiliate Program that gives software developers, web developers, and designers an additional way to monetize their relationship with ProStores. For every merchant a developer signs up for a ProStores account, they can earn up to a $150 referral fee.

About ProStores

ProStores, an eBay Company, allows small- and medium-sized businesses to create professional online stores, customized with their own branding and domain name. ProStores was incorporated as an eBay Company in November 2004, followed by eBay’s acquisition of Kurant’s StoreSense technology in January 2005. ProStores launched its full-service e-commerce solution to merchants in June 2005. For more information about ProStores visit www.prostores.com.

About eBay Inc.

Founded in 1995, eBay Inc. connects hundreds of millions of people around the world every day through commerce, delivering fun, engaging and trusted online experiences. We are constantly finding new ways to empower people worldwide to explore, learn, shop, share and talk with each other. Since its inception, eBay Inc. has expanded to include some of the strongest brands in the world, including eBay, PayPal, Skype, Shopping.com, and others. eBay Inc. is headquartered in San Jose, California.

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