FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

(For a quick way to search our FAQ page, click on the Control Button and F key at the same time. A search bar will appear in the top right corner of the screen.)

Q: What is eLearning?
A: eLearning is your key to IMMEDIATE Softball training via the computer and internet. With eLearning, you order it now, you get it now so you can start reading it, watching it or listening to it - NOW! You don't have to be a computer wizard to use the various eLearning products we offer since we've made them all as easy-to-use as possible.

Q: What is an eClinic?
A: An eClinic is an in-depth 30-60 minute online presentation on specific coaching concepts and topics. Whether you're a new or experienced coach, eClinics are a highly informative, convenient way to learn new techniques to improve team and player performance in key areas like Teaching the Running Slap, Increasing Your Pitchers Speed, Pitch Calling, etc. Its just like being at a clinic session except its in the comfort of your own home or office and without the airfare, registration fee and hotel expense! eClinics are rich screen video presentation with expert commentary using cutting-edge technology, with features such as:

• High-quality Large Screen Video
• Interactive Table of Contents that Provides an Easy Way to Navigation to Specific Points in the Lessons
• Advanced Playback Controls
• Pictures and Realistic Graphics

Q: What are eDrills?
A: eDrills are short 2-7 minute video clip demonstrations of softball drills narrated by Cindy. Like eClinics, eDrills are delivered right to your computer screen so you can immediately watch, learn, and apply them in tonight's practice! Each online drill includes step-by-step instruction including purpose, mechanics, and equipment needed, along with key points, common problems and corrections, keys for success and demonstrations - all presented with:

• Large Screen Live-Action Video
• High Quality Audio
• Diagrams, Pictures, and Graphics

Q: What are eSkills?
A: eSkills are narrated video clips of softball skills that are skill specific so you don't have to buy an entire DVD in order to find the 5 minutes about the specific problem you're currently having. Like our other eLearning products, eSkills are delivered right to your computer screen so you can immediately watch, learn, and improve your softball skills.

Q: What is an ePractice?
A: ePractices are minute-by-minute ready-made practice plans. ePractices can be downloaded immediately and are printable and clipboard ready. Each practice is complete with a diagram and explanation detailing everything you need to hold the same practice today! To help coaches find the exact tools they need all ePractices are broken down by skill level:

• Beginner ePractices - include every skill every day so beginners can work on all of their fundamentals at every practice. Each ePractice has a slightly different focus and includes diagrams and a detailed plan for a fast-paced, fresh and successful practice.
• Advanced ePractices are offense only, defense only or a mix of both and have targeted areas of focus for the advanced players such as Infield, Situations with Signals, Intense hitting, etc. Each Advanced ePractice is complete with diagrams, practice timelines, physical practice layouts, and detailed explanations.

Q: What is an eBook?
A: An eBook (short for electronic book) is an online version of our printed book which can be read on an internet connected PC or Mac.

Q: If I order an eClinic, eDrill or eSkill will I be able to watch it more than once?
A: ABSOLUTLEY, Our viewable eProducts (eClinics, eDrills, eSkills) are available for you to watch whenever you want and as many times as you want. Links to all your viewable eProducts are stored in your account. Whenever you want to watch them again just click the "My Account" link on the upper right area of our home page and login. You will then see a screen come up with a blue box that says "View Files & Training." Click this link which will take you to ALL of your viewable and downloadable eProducts.

Q: Once I purchase an eProduct, how long until I can download or view it?
A: Immediately! Once you purchase an eProduct you are immediately taken to an order confirmation page that has a link to your order so that you can start viewing or downloading your eProduct right away.  And you can come back to your eProducts at anytime just by logging into "My Account." Why don't you check out the free sample eClinic (this is just a short 8 minute excerpt from eClinic 001 - Pitching - The Fastball Basics) to see how it works.

Q: How do I access my eBooks?
A: You can access your eBooks any time by clicking "My Account" in the upper right hand area of our site and signing in to your softballexcellence.com account.  You will then see a screen come up with a blue box that says "View Files & Training." Click this link which will take you to ALL of your viewable and downloadable eProducts, then just click "Launch File" for the eBook you would like to access.

Q: Where are my eBooks stored?
A: Your purchased eBooks are stored online.  You access them from your Softball Excellence on-line account.

Q: Can I print a page from my eBook?
A: Yes. While reading your eBook online if you would like to print the page you are currently reading, for reference or to take to practice, just click the print icon on the top of the page.

Q: Why choose the eBook format?
A: Here are some eBook benefits:

• Save time: you can read your eBook immediately after receiving your license code and link giving you access to the file.
• Save money: eBooks are less expensive than printed book plus no handling or delivery charges
• Save space on your bookshelf: we store your own personal library of eBooks in your Softball Excellence account, access them whenever you want.

Q: What does DRM mean, and how will it affect my eBook ownership?
A: Digital Rights Management (DRM) is used to ensure that a specific copy of an eBook is owned by one owner, and is not just given away. Our eBooks are digitally protected and you will be provided a unique license code to access your eBook. This ensures that copyright laws are respected and that authors and publishers are fairly compensated.

DRM means that when you buy an eBook from Softball Excellence, you own that copy. You can read it, but others cannot read it.

All eBooks you purchase are placed in your Softball Excellence account. You can access them any time by logging into your account on www.softballexcellence.com, click on Views Files & Training, find the eBook you would like to access, click the View Files/Launch Training link, then click on Launch File to go to that eBook.

Q: Do I need a special e-reader device or special software to access eBooks?
A: No. You can read your Softball Excellence eBooks using your PC or MAC web browser.

Q: Can eBooks be accessed from a MAC?
A: Yes. Softball Excellence eBooks can be accessed from your MAC web browser.

Q: Do you have a catalog?
A: Our website is our catalog. We continually grow our product line and constantly update our website to reflect new offerings. Utilizing the web as our catalogue allows us to quickly offer you new products virtually overnight without the delay of the printing process for a catalogue.

Q: How do I order eProducts and how are they delivered?
A: Here are detailed instructions for ordering and getting eProducts (free & pay) from our site:

1. Add all the products you want to your cart - free and/or pay
2. Once you've finished adding items to your cart click the "Next" button
3. If you've already logged into your account make sure your "User Profile"Information is correct.  If you have an account with Softball Excellence but have not yet signed in, sign in here. If are a new user you will need to register for an account
4. You will be at the Selections screen. If everything is correct, click on "Checkout"
5. If you only have free products in your cart your order will be processed immediatly. If you have pay products in your cart you will need to enter valid payment information
6. You will then be taken to a Order Confirmation Page that will provide you a link to "Files & Training," which contains links to all off your printable and viewable eProducts (free and/or pay)
7. You will also be sent an email with your order confirmation and information

Q: Why is my shopping cart empty?
A: If you do not accept the cookies set from our web site or your computer is not configured to accept cookies, your shopping cart will be shown empty almost immediately after adding a product to it. We use cookies (small pieces of site information) to assist us in saving configuration information. Cookies are required for the Softball Excellence shopping cart.

We suggest you to check the following:

• Check to see that your computer system time is accurate. Cookies are time sensitive and may not work if your computer date is incorrect by a large amount.
• Make sure that your browser is configured to accept cookies or that you agree to accept cookies from www.softballexcellence.com
• Turn off any third party programs or control panels that automatically reject cookies.

To enable cookies in your browser:

• Select Options from your browser's Tools Menu.
• Select Privacy from the list in the left-hand pane of the dialog box.
• In the right-side area under Cookies, select 'Allow sites to set cookies'
• Click 'Ok' to close the dialog box

Q: Do you accept purchase orders?
A: Yes, we gladly accept school/company purchase orders. To place your orders please follow these steps:

1. All purchase orders must include the following information:
   • Purchase order (PO) number
   • Complete bill-to and ship-to addresses
   • Purchasing agent's (or buyer's) signature and phone number (illegible signatures are not accepted)
   • Complete description of the product being ordered, including sku, product name, and correct price
   • Shipping Fee's


2. Fax your purchase order to 813-315-6216 OR email purchase order to customerservice@softballexcellence.com
   
   Note: purchase orders must be submitted on your official school/company form and must be signed. If you include your email address, we will automatically email the order confirmation and tracking number. For your reference our corporate information is:
   
   Softball Excellence LLC.
   4211 Saltwater Blvd.
   Tampa, FL 33615-5630
   1-800-995-1014 (phone)
    
3. We will enter your order in our system and send you an invoice.
4. Invoice is due upon receipt. Please pay promptly :)

Q: How can I view the status of my order?
A: Go to "My  Account" and login. Go to "View Order History." This page lists all your orders. Click the date of the order whose status you wish to view.

Q: I am nervous about giving my credit card information over the internet. Is it safe?
A: Our Site utilizes a Thawte SSL Certificate to protect your personal and credit card information. Thawte is a global provider of digital certificate products, services and solutions that ensure security, privacy and authentication for e-commerce storefronts. However, if you are still uncomfortable with online credit card payment we provides some other options:

• You can use paypal a way to send money online without sharing financial information you can learn more about paypal on their web site.
• You can call us at 1-800-995-1014 and provide your order and payment information over the phone
• You can email us at customerservice@softballexcellence.com and let us know what you would like to order, we will then provide you an order total with shipping and you can send us a money order, once we receive the money order we will ship out your order.

Q: What are the other ways I can order or make payment?
A: Phone, Fax or Mail. We accept Visa and Mastercard, if payment is made with a personal check allow an additional 3 weeks for clearance. We would recommend a money order. Sorry, NO COD's.

Q: After I've ordered a Viewable eProduct (eClinics, eDrills, eSkills) how do I watch it?
A: Our viewable eProducts (eClinics, eDrills, eSkills) are available for you to watch whenever you want and as many times as you want. All you have to do is:

• Turn up the volume on your computer so you can hear.
• Sign in to "My Account."
• Go to "View Files & Training."
• Go to the Viewable eProduct you want to watch and click on "View Files/Launch Training." 
• Click on "View Video." The Viewable eProduct will start to load and once about 20% has loaded it will automatically start to play
• You'll also notice you have a table of contents for the Viewable eProduct on the left just click on any table of content item to jump right to that point in the video.
• Viewable eProducts also have advanced play controls on the bottom so you can stop, pause, play.
• Your Viewable eProduct "lives" in your account on www.softballexcellence.com, so all you have to do is follow these steps whenever you want to watch your Viewable eProduct.

Q: Can I watch Viewable eProducts on iPhones and iPad devices?
A: You will be able to access our Viewable eProducts (online videos) from your PC and MAC computer, but the online video portion of some of our eLearning products will not work on the iPad/iPhone. This is because some of our products were developed with Adobe Flash, and Apple does not allow Flash to play on its iOS devices. Thus, until Apple and Adobe work out their difference you cannot play Adobe Flash content on an iOS device.

Q: Can I watch the Softball Summit Vaults (Pitching Summit Vault, Hitting Summit Vault, Combo Vault) Viewable eProducts on iPhones and iPad devices?
A: Yes. You will be able to access the Softball Summit Vaults (Pitching Summit Vault, Hitting Summit Vault, Combo Vault) Viewable eProducts (online videos) from a PC computer, a Mac computer, and on iPads and iPhones.

Q: After I've ordered Printable eProduct (ePractice, eDrill, eSkill, Free Chart, etc.) how do I find the link(s) to download the files?
A: Our site is setup to provide you 2 ways to get the links to Downloadable/Printable eProducts:

1. Once you complete the order process you are taken directly to a Order Confirmation screen that has the links to your eProducts.
2. By accessing"My Account" in the upper area of our website:
   • Go to "View Files & Training."
   • Go to the Downloadable eProduct you wwant to access/download and click on "View Files/Launch Training." 
   • Under the "Documents" section, click on "Launch File" of the document you want to access/download
   • Open the downloadable file and "SAVE" the file to your computer.  You will then be able to access these files anytime from your own computer, or from your account on the website.

Q: After I've ordered a Printable eProduct (ePractice, eCDrill, eSkill, Free Chart, etc.) how do I get it?

• Sign in to "My Account"on www.softballexcellence.com.
• Go to "View Files & Training"
• Go to the Printable eProduct you want to open and click on "View Files/Launch Training." 
• Click on "Launch File." The Printable eProduct will download to your computer.
• Open the downloadable file and "SAVE" the file to your computer.  You will then be able to access these files anytime from your own computer, or from your account on the website.

Q: I have downloaded some Printable eProducts but I can not open them. I am getting a message that says error trying to decrypt the files. Why can't I open the Printable eProducts I downloaded?
A: Our PRINTABLE eProducts are downloadable PDF files and require Acrobat Reader Version 6 or above. If you are not sure what version you have, you can go into Adobe Reader, click on "Help" then "About Acrobat" - The version number will be displayed. If you have an earlier version of Reader installed you can download the latest version for free from Adobe. Visit the Adobe Acrobat Web site and follow the instructions to download Acrobat Reader for your computer system.
After you download and install Acrobat Reader, you MUST restart your computer in order to activate the new version. If you get the new version and you STILL get the same error messages, it is because your computer is still using the old version. It may be necessary to uninstall the old version in order to get the new one installed properly.

Q: My email program blocks links how can I get to my eProducts?
A: You can just cut and paste the link into your web browser:

• Move the cursor to the beginning of the link (i.e. the http:/ /) that you want to select. Holding the left mouse button down, drag the mouse from the beginning to the end of the link. Let go of the left mouse button. The selected text will be highlighted, or selected. You are now ready to Copy the link.
• After the link has been selected simply press the Crtl key, and while it is pressed, also press the C key and the link will be copied to the clipboard.
• Once the link has been copied to the clipboard, you go to your web browsers and on the top of the screen you'll see a URL (web site address) for the website you are currently on, just select that address by clicking it Once, the address will be highlighted, then press the Crtl key, and while it is pressed, also press the V key to paste the drill URL address. Then just press the ENTER key on your keyboard

Q: What are your shipping costs?
A: For eLearning products there are no shipping costs - another great benefit of this type of product delivery. For books and other physical product orders you can view an estimate of shipping costs by viewing your cart. However, final shipping costs will be displayed on the Invoice you see before confirming your order. Please email us at customerservice@softballexcellence.com for shipping costs outside of the United States.

Q: Do you offer expedited shipping?
A: For orders within the United States our standard method of shippment is USPS Media Mail which accoring to USPS has an average delivery Time of 2 - 8 days. For information about expedited shipping, please email us at customerservice@softballexcellence.com or call us at 1-800-995-1014.

Q: My email address and mailing address has changed how to I update my information?
A: You can make any changes to your personal profile whenever you want (email, address, phone, years coaching, etc.) All you need to do is:

1. Click the "My Account" link in the upper right hand corner of our home page
2. Sign In with your current email and password
3. Click on YOUR NAME which a link in blue at the top of the Account History screen
4. That will take you to your Customer Information Screen were you can modify any of your customer profile information (name, email, password, phone number, etc.)

Q: I ordered some of your products but did not get a confirmation email for the order, what do I do?
A: If you do not receive the a Softball Excellence confirmation email message within a few minutes of placing your order:

1. Check your customer profile to make sure you entered your email address correctly when you registered.
2. Check your spam folder just in case the confirmation email got delivered there instead of your inbox. If so, select the confirmation message and click This is Not Spam, which will allow future messages to get through.

Q: How do I prevent email from Softball Excellence from going into a "bulkmail"/"Junkmail"/"Spam" folder?
A: Email providers like AOL, Yahoo!, Hotmail, and others are constantly changing their methods to classify email. Our system delivers email to all accounts the same way, and the vast majority get it in their main inbox. Some email providers filter messages based on content, subject line, or the "From" address and may put Softball Excellence email into your bulk mail folder. We recommend that you add our domain softballexcellence.com to your 'Approved Sender' list, also known as whitelist.

Also check out our article Why don't I get the Newsletter?

• AOL Users - If you do not receive the confirmation message within a few minutes of submitting an order, please check your spam folder just in case the confirmation email got delivered there instead of your inbox. If so, select the confirmation message and click This is Not Spam, which will allow future messages to get through. We strongly recommend that you do the following to avoid accidentally filtering our future messages:
  1. Click Mail in the toolbar at the top of your AOL window
  2. Select Block Unwanted Mail
  3. Click Custom Sender List
  4. Select Allow only the senders and domains listed below
  5. Enter this domain: softballexcellence.com
  6. Click Save
• Hotmail Users - If you do not receive the confirmation message within a few minutes of submitting an order, please check your Junk E-mail folder just in case the confirmation email got delivered there instead of your inbox. If so, select the confirmation message and click Not Junk, which will allow future messages to get through. We strongly recommend that you do the following to avoid accidentally filtering our future messages:
  1. Click Mail, then Options (next to the Help link)
  2. Click Junk E-Mail Protection
  3. Click Safe List
  4. Enter this domain: softballexcellence.com
  5. Click Add
• Yahoo Users - If you do not receive the confirmation message within a few minutes of submitting an order, please check your Bulk Mail folder just in case the confirmation email got delivered there instead of your inbox. If so, select the confirmation message and click Not Spam, which will allow future messages to get through.
• Gmail Users - If you do not receive the confirmation message within a few minutes of submitting an order, please check your Spam folder just in case the confirmation email got delivered there instead of your inbox. If so, select the confirmation message and click Not Spam, which will allow future messages to get through.
• Outlook 2003 Users
  1. Select Actions from the top menu bar, then select Junk E-mail followed by Junk E-mail Options.
  2. Select Safe Senders, then Add.
  3. Type '@softballexcellence.com' and click OK.
  4. Type sender's 'from' address and click OK.
  5. Click OK.
• Outlook 2007 Users
  1. Select Actions from the top menu bar, then select Junk E-mail followed by Junk E-mail Options.
  2. Select Safe Senders, then Add.
  3. Type '@softballexcellence.com' and click OK.
  4. Click APPLY.
  5. Click OK.