Creating an account

Depending on what you want to use it for, there are 3 types of users on CTBN:

• Suppliers
• Supplier Profiles
• Customers

The Supplier

A supplier is that entity that provides academic textbooks for children to use in their respective studies in Cameroon. It could be a publisher, a bookstore or even an individual, either for the English section of studies, or the French section of studies.

CTBN offers these suppliers the possibility to upload the names of the textbooks they have, including the amount available and the unit price among other things, so that parents and guardians all over Cameroon can have access to them during every academic year, which are generally periods of high demand for these textbooks.

As a supplier, you will have to provide the following information to be able to create an account on CTBN:

• The full name of your business,
• The category of your business e.g., are you a Bookstore or an individual,
• The section you are planning on servicing e.g., English, French, or both sections,
• The region in which you can be found,
• The city in which you are found,
• The neighborhood in which you are found,
• Any extra information on how customers can find you more accurately,
• An active email address,
• A valid Cameroonian telephone number with the “+237” prefix,
• An image of your business area that customers will use to accurately find you,
• A strong password (12 characters minimum, at least 1 lowercase letter, 1 uppercase letter, 1 digit, 1 symbol and no whitespace).

The Supplier Profile

A supplier profile is a user account created by a supplier. A supplier profile can have either the “textbooks” or “reservations” task assigned. This is to help with the management of the suppliers textbooks and reservations.

Once the supplier creates a supplier profile account, those who are to use it to manage textbooks or reservations can sign into it with their given email and password. More about supplier profiles in the page supplier profiles.

The Customer

A customer is anybody, parent, guardian, or individual, who wants to acquire a certain academic textbook. When creating an account on the platform, you should choose to sign up as a customer

As a customer, you will have to provide the following information to be able to create an account on CTBN:

• Your first name,
• Your last name,
• An active email address,
• The region in which you are found,
• The city in which you are found,
• The neighborhood in which you are found,
• A valid Cameroonian telephone number with the “+237” prefix,
• A strong password (12 characters minimum, at least 1 lowercase letter, 1 uppercase letter, 1 digit, 1 symbol and no whitespace).

You also have the possibility of creating what is called a “customer collector”. More on that in the page customer collectors.

Where to go to create an account

To create an account, you need to visit the CTBN website at the address https://ctbn.org. Once you have done that, depending on whether you are on a small screen (mobile devices) or large screens (generally desktops, laptops etc.), you will see the page below:

On small screens, you should click on the hamburger icon on the top left (). You should then see your navigation links, from which you can click on the “Sign up” link.

On large screens, you should be able to see the “Sign up” link at the top-right corner of the navigation bar.

Clicking this link should take you to a page where you need to choose who you want to sign up as. Note that you can only sign up as a supplier or a customer.

After choosing who you want to create an account as, a form is displayed to you where you need to enter the information we need to create an account for you on the platform.

After filling and submitting the form, you will have to “verify” your account. This is so that we can confirm that you are really who you claim to be. An email with the verification link will be sent to your entered email address and you will be redirected to a page similar to that shown below:

In the inbox of your email address, you should see an email from CTBN in which you will find a verification link. When you click that link, you will verify and activate your account. You will be redirected to a page similar to that shown below:

You can then click the “Create a subscription” link that will take you to a page which will prompt you to subscribe to CTBN. More on this in the page subscribing on CTBN.

Note: This verification link is valid only for 1 hour. Pass this time, any attempt to verify your account with it will fail but do not worry, there is a plan B coming up in the topic connecting to your account in case you couldn't verify your account immediately after you created it.