It sounds as though you are entering the information correctly. Are you able to view the products table in your db to confirm that the product has not been inserted? As a test to determine if there are any specific values that you are using that are causing this you can try adding a simple test item to the store with very basic values that do not contain any special characters.
When an item like this is added you should be able to see the item in the admin back end and in the db, if the item is set to be live on the site then you should be able to view it there as well. Please give this a try and let us know what the result is.