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06/19/2017 at 11:42 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 315: Okay, you’re making money. Now what? #19572
T-Satt:
Yes to work from multiple computers you do need to set-up a local in house net work but that is easily done on a PC. It is a point and click quick process.
I work from my laptop downstairs all the time, almost every night. I also had a helper for a while and she was listing on the laptop over on her desk and I was working on different things and other listings in WL on my desktop. Two people can work within WL at the same time. Only restriction is two people can’t work on the exact, same listing at the same time. Other than that two people can be attaching photos, adding prices, writing descriptions at the same time.
If you also need help setting it up, the WL Tech Support team will help, even do a remote control access and do it for you very quickly.Also a neat thing about WL over Ebay Listing module is you can create “Custom” fields for anything you want and add them to the listing. Mine are mostly private settings whereby the data these “custom added fields” hold is data I want only for myself / my eyes only.
Also you can add as many customized “Item Specifics” as you want, same those in as many different template formats as you want and keep those templates or any drafts for as many years as you want. You can also create as many “User Folders” as you want and keep those different templates stored in their respective and commonly named folders.
Just tons of stuff one can do with WL.You can also create as many different “Views” as you want and name them. This allows you to be able to see only what data – fields you want to see. In my Warehouse view I only see certain columns that pertain to new listngs that are coming into our system. In my Archival View I only see those items that are older than 90 days [a setting that I control].
Also every column and view can be searched with a very powerful search tool that will search by dollar amounts, contains certain words or phrases, does NOT contain those things, etc., etc and then you can sort and filter those results any way you want to see the data.
Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
06/19/2017 at 10:23 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 315: Okay, you’re making money. Now what? #19566Interesting point Mark. I am unsure how WL does handle the “returns” since I don’t have many at all. But it does handle refunds because I have done a few of those and see them in the financial data.
Check it out. I and you both can report this to the WL tech Team and dollars to donuts they will get it corrected if it is not working correctly or will write code for it and add in the next updates. They are very receptive to what we are trying to do as vintage sellers and are also looking for ways that WL to provide those desired features to us as vintage, one off Sellers.
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
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This reply was modified 9 years ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
06/19/2017 at 9:19 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 315: Okay, you’re making money. Now what? #19563Hi Jay… Mark is partially correct. You can run both WonderLister and SixBit on your own computer. But what I also said is that SixBit grows so much bigger and faster than WL and that SB takws up 10 times the space [footprint] as does WL.
We have 884 listings in our store and no problem with WL but got a message from SixBit saying our database was getting close to the 10 GIG size limit of MS SQL. SB just has a ton of “bloat” added to it. Don’t know why. A good question to ask SixBit why there data file grows so large so fast. What do they do behind the scenes to make it grow so big so fast.
But in any case in WL the coding and the way they handle, store and compact the data seems to make it a much, much smaller file and in turn it runs extremely fast also. So your own computer “IS” your server.
There are numerous differences to how you can bulk edit. Things like being able to append listings, preprend listings. sorting and filetring them and inserting data in the middle of listings and others that you just need to work with rather than explain here. But the biggest is that you click “control key and the letter A and every listing you have is highlighted, all 10,000, then you change the handling time, click enter and all 10,000 listings will start changing in the background and you can then just go about your business and keep working on listings. 10,000 will take a short while to complete but it is neging down in the back ground as you continue to work. Try highlighting all 10,000 listings in Ebay and ask Ebay BE to then change the handling time. Well it won’t work because Ebay limits the amount of listings you can change at one time. I believe 250 for us Premium store owners and 500 at a time for you Anchor store owners. I have stated this in a prior post but guess it wasn’t picked up. But what a time saver for you guys. The amount of time for you or Ryane to clcik and hit keys to change all 10,000 listings might be 5 to 10 minutes. Now compare that to how long it takes you guys to change 10,000 listings 500 at a time. It will take you guys 20 different times at the Ebay Bulk Editor area to do what you can do in one session in WL.
I think I have heard Ryanne say it tales hours for her to change your setting in Ebay BE. Now if you take 4 trips a year calculate how many hours she spend changing handling time in Ebay.
One never knows how nice it is to own and drive a car if you don’t learn how to drive. Best I can say, you have to try it, use it then draw one’s own comparison. If you run a small store, part time with just a few hundred listings, I don’t think this is for you. But if you run numbers, want all in one financial compilation of data and especially with the upcoming Etsy interface, if one runs two stores on these two programs and you want to run them from one “command central” location – dashboard then it is for you.
Interesting I see mark S. has already stated that he thinks the compiled financial statements in WL he thinks will replace Go Daddy for him. Just think if you run “two” stores on Etsy and Ebay.
By the way WL does allow us to have up to 5 Ebay accounts and it keeps track of all of them. We don’t use that feature, but you and Ryanne “DO” have two stores.
In any case, as you well know, I have covered a lot of bases on these apps and hopefully those interested should just jump in and try them. Personally, I think the cost is just pocket change as compared to all of the savings and benefits we have gained.
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
Howdy:
Here is the bookmark to Ebay’s Shipping Calculator.
http://payments.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?EmitSellerShippingCalculatorGo ehre and put in the various amounts you want to compare and also use your zip code shipping from and where it’s going to and you will see the differences.
May I suggest you save this location in your favorites and you can then click on it and go there and check any of your sizes and weights in question. Will also help you figure out the added costs when you go over size and hit the DIM Weights and also will show you UPS comparative rates.
P.S. your numbers may be off. 1 lb. 0.9 is already over 1 lb. 1/2 oz.. 0.5 is half an ounce and you are already at 0.9 which is right at 1 oz. BTW USPS will round up to the next oz. anyway so unless you are at 15.99 ounces or for Ebay sellers 1.00 dead on then any fraction or part there of will go up to the next ounce and then be over the First Class Rate.
Don’t know how you are shipping but if in a box, trim some of the cardboard off of all the end flaps, trim your shipping label to as small as you can get. Rerain from any extra tape except what is absolutely necessary. If a bag, split the seam, remove some of the oversized material and re-seal the seam. Anything you can do to try to sub-tract that 0.5 ounce from your package to get your package to hit 1.00 dead on.
Good luck
Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
06/14/2017 at 4:13 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 314: Selling on eBay while in the Military #19411Yes WL and Funny you should ask that question. I was just talking with engineering support yesterday and we were discussing the exact same thing. Anticipated roll out of the Etsy interface. As a BETA tester I see some things in my version of WL that some others don’t have, since Part of what I do is try out new things and see if it is glitchy. Well the coding for the Etsy interface has been in the works for over a year. Coding takes a while. At this point it was left that sometimes in early Sept. is the target for the Etsy rollout. Also an interface with Shopify is in the works but in a longer projected rollout. Team is waiting probably to see how the Etsy goes and also will have to work out a few bugs in the early days of the rollout.
There is still some debate about how it will go, if to a CSV file first then get converted or straight into Etsy’s form. Certain Item specific fields were an issue prior but think that is all settling down. Also the exec’s are contemplating if a costing tier is going to be involved or not. So some things still to iron out.As far as listing on other sites, those selections are being picked up by WL from your Ebay site. Those options are available from Ebay also from your Ebay account and the Seller Preferences section. Again funny you should ask because I was in my Ebay account for something totally unrelated the other day and just happened to stumble across those other country selections. About half were selected. I went ahead and checked off all of them. BUT I was under the impression that if you use the GSP [which we do], that all of the countries that Ebay will ship to under the GSP program would also have all of our items listed [being shown] for sale on those respective country’s Ebay sites. But who knows.
Hope this helps somewhat.
Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
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This reply was modified 9 years ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
06/14/2017 at 10:46 am in reply to: Vintage Purina hat – is this the mascot / logo for a product? #19394Hi SalarySlave:
Unsure if this has any value, but ran a search on a separate database we use and found 167 Purina hats. On the first page – 100 all caps only had the Purina standard checker board logo on them, but on the last page of 67 there were a few that had a chicken image and a few with a Horse image.
What I noticed though was that in those cases the Purina checker board logo was included beside the animals, but much smaller. So what this brought to mind was that Purina probably makes food-feed for other types of farm animals, not just dog or cat food. And this made me think that if that is the case, that the Purina corporate logo being the main branding symbol, then that is maybe the reason that on the chicken and horse embroidered patch on the front of those hats, that checker board is included, even though it is a smaller representation.
So I am thinking that if it was a product produced directly by Purina, that for marketing and branding reasons, that checker board would be on the front along with the Puppy image just like these other hats.
So, just thinking out loud and don’t know if maybe Purina allows others or certain authorized affiliates to use there logo and it not be in a prominent spot or not.
In any case all 167 hats were all sold at under $16.95mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
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This reply was modified 9 years ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
06/14/2017 at 10:31 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 314: Selling on eBay while in the Military #19392Hey T-Satt: Question… for those of us who use a secondary inventory and listing app, we end almost all of our listings after 90 to 120 days. We bulk end the listings and then bulk relist those items. That then deletes the old Ebay ID number and creates a brand new Ebay ID number and it is picked up as a “New Listing” by Cassini and gets the benefit of the “new listing” juice. What does that do to a histogram such as you are using, type of view. I may have had an item in my store for say 1 year. But it has been relisted every 90 days, [4 times] during this period and if I just relisted it yesterday, it is showing as a brand new item that is only 1 day old.
BTW, the app we use does keep track of the buy date, the original list date, each new list date, the amount of views and watchers for each of those periods, and tracks how many times the item has been put on Sale and what % the sale was. But that is another story which we have beat to death in other conversations.
Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
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This reply was modified 9 years ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
Hey Gompers:
You say “little Bigger OK”. I do see in my printed version of Uline’s Spring/Summer 2017 catalog a Uline size box at 9″x6″x2″ at $.48 ea. in a lot of 25 = $12.00. These are approx. a 1/2″ bigger give or take than what you are asking for. Maybe they would work for you.06/11/2017 at 10:31 am in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Prince & Wendy picks, Engineer boots, Coleman Cooler, Video switcher, Jeanie Rub massager #19262Way to go Paul. Great Sale.
My wife plays Mah Jong and is always looking for sets. She learned to play over 30 years ago when we were up Connecticut. But hasn’t played since we have come back home to Georgia. We have seen only two sets over the past few years down here.
She is going to flip when I show her your Sale this morning. This will renew her yearning to play and also BOLO for it constantly now.Keep up the good work
mike at MDC Galleries in AtlantaBottom line and short [which is rare for me] LOL, ha-ha 🙂
WonderLiaster and here’s why.
* SixBit is very blotted. The size of my file on SB is almost 10 Gigs. That same file is less than 1 Gig in WL. Now, why does that matter. Because as a database they both run using MicroSoft SQL app which is installed free by the app and also free from MicroSoft. BUT SQL is limited to around 10 gigs before you have to pay MS a license fee.
SixBit doesn’t tell you that up fron. So I got a message a few weeks ago from SixBit saying that my file size [866 listings with about 10 photos each] was just about at 10 Gigs and they recommended I buy a license from MicroSoft. Well that is hundreds of dollars or I would need to put everything on my own server.
With WL the same file only being less than a Gig in size will allow me to have a store at about 12,000 items or more +/- before I max. out MicroSoft Free SQL. That is going to be plenty for us for many years to come.
The reason [I believe] that the SB file is so large is more due to all of the “slick” graphics and the extra cow bells and whistle’s that WL doesn’t offer. SB will create “bar Codes” for all your items and print them out on adh. labels. That takes up room, SB has a lort of “nice color” areas and that takes up data space, SB offers a few more types of reports and also customization in some areas that WL doesn’t and again, just more coding, thus space consumption.* Now top that off with the fact that WL is $10 per month less expensive and WL wins again.
* Now customer support. Every time I have needed WL they responded very quickly. In an hour or less and sometimes, depending how busy they are, within a minute or two of my inquiry. While SixBit is very slow, usually the next day. If you want faster reply time, they have a 3 tiered plan they will sell you to get Concierge type of quick replies but that is very costly.
* The SixBit user manual is more thorough and comprehensive. WL is just OK. Explains the basics but I have never found that a problem because of their quick respond time to my questions.So those are just my opinions for what they are worth. I was very surprised to discover that I had almost maxed out the SixBit app with only 860 ++ listings and the cost of having a separate server drives the cost way up. Guess Jay and Ryanne know a whole lot more about separate server space rental issues than me.
Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
Well Jay, that is the way they all work.
And think about this, Ebay’s Selling Manager Pro is not free. It is $15.99 per month and it is built into [hidden] in your monthly store fee of $350. So you are paying Ebay $191.88 per year to provide all of that nice data and the break downs on our Dashboard that we all seem to like and talk about here at SL.
If you don’t have a store you don’t get [or get to see] what the rest of us see on our Seller’s Dashboard. With a basic store you only get a neutered version of SMP which is the Basic Selling Manager and with a Premium and Anchor Store we get Selling Manager Pro and all of those Ebay analytics. So if we are paying for SMP [built in] then guess we should be telling Ebay to add all of the features one gets from apps like WL, InkFrog, & SB. But they don’t.
How many listings can Ryanne change the handling time on at one time. I think Anchor’s can only change 500 at a time and Premium stores only 250 at a time. With a private app I click one line [business policies], click on the extension of my choice [say 10 days], click apply to all listings and it’s done. Maybe 20 seconds. Now look at your 10,000 listings and think about how long it takes Ryanne to change the handling time and multiply that times the number of times you guys travel per year. With WL at 20-30 secs per change that would only be about 5 or 6 minutes per year to change 10,000 listings handling time 6 times / trips. Now add up how long Ryanne spends doing that. Consider what you think her time is per hour then you have “saved” a good portion of the app cost just in that one function alone.
We if we are paying for SMP in our store subscription, why can’t Ebay allow us to change handling time on 10,000 listings all at one time and in only a few seconds? Also for those of us that are leaning toward havong more than one platform, Etsy, Ebay, Shopify [our own store] how is one going to have to handle that one change “Handing Time” on all 3 platforms. Guess without an automated app one will have to change 30,000 listings in by whatever method each channel offers. With an auto App that can handle multiple platforms, again everything can be done by one set of “master commands” and be done behind the scenes as one continues to work within the current listings tab. Certainly worth $25 per month to me on this feature alone.
But again only my opinion. Also don’t over look Easy Auction Tracker. A glorified spread sheet but does a lot to help organize inventory and COGS sold and provides a fairly good P&L statement for the user. But fairly limited and basic and is only a spread sheet. But it is only $50 per year [$4.16 per month]. Or better yet for free, build your own spread sheet, we did that years ago, and so have many of the SL members here. I see them reference their spread sheets all the time. Some seem to have some fairly complex ones. Also you can keep adding MACROS, extra tabs and sheets to EAT if one knows how to customize it to your own way of wanting to see the data and what you want to track.
EAT has a free trial. You down load, then set it to synch with your Ebay store, then it downloads everything automatically and then you can explore it’s function. BUT the trial is limited to only 1 or 2 months of data and then it cuts / locks you off until to buy the the “unlocked” version-key, which then will allow complete access. Problem is, that it only grabs what Ebay offers and that is 90 days of data, so you won’t be able to get data from Jan 1st. It will start around early March. You will have to wait until you go through all of next year to get a whole year’s worth of data, but quarter by quarter is still a good overview P&L picture to review.
mike in Atl.
Oh, one other very nice feature of WonderLister is the ability to create your own “custom” fields or boxes. You can add any type of box you want in the Custom field area. Where you bought an item, what type of source it was [Thrift, Yard Sale, Auction, another category. And the entries into those fields can be sorted and filtered along with the rest.
You can create your own item specifics if you want and make it just for that one listing or duplicate into a template for future use. Drafts can be saved for as long as you want and you can have as many blank templates or drafts that you want in as many different folders as you want [hats, shoes, jackets, etc.]
With an arhive that will stay for years, you can search for an item you kow you have had before, then just click duplicate that listing and you get a new version of something you bought and sold 3 years ago. Now just drop in a new cost, a new sell price and edit whatever you want and click upload to Ebay and you have an instant new lsiting from a 3 year old one saved in your archive.
Just so much a separate relational database can do. It is the same type of form creation and search functions that any large corporation or hospital uses. Tons of standard fields to fill in, new ones you can create and you can turn all of that data upside down, any way you wish to get data reports from it.
mc in atl.Everything you are asking for [with some slight variations] and more is available in WonderLister and also SixBit software. I can search and sort numerous ways all in one refined series of searches. Then once that list is presented in my final grid view I can then bulk edit all of those that met all of my filtering and sorting criteria and apply a change of price etc.
I have been having a long discussion with Jay on the benefits of using a paid, private relational database program for managing inventory, listing and manipulating those listings. Our level is up to 5,000 active listings is $25 per month. Jay and Ryanne’s level would be $50 per month for up to 10,000 listings.
We also have all of our unlisted inventory all created in smaller drafts that we use at end of year tax time. Unlisted inventory is not included so you only pay for what is active but you can still get reports on everything you have started a listing and folder for. I have one folder called WareHouse and that is where all of our unlisted inventory goes. We have 863 active listings and about another 1,000 of unlisted inventory. I also have a Donated folder where I keep all of the specs on items we removed from Ebay active and just donated. Great for tax time also.
Jay contention is why pay for something else. But as I mentioned earlier, we all pay for Selling Manager Pro but it is hidden in our store fees. SMP is $15.99 a month and that is what you are complaining about. TurboLister had to be finally abandoned due to just being obsoleted and Ebay wanting to replace it with it’s own “refinements” of SMP. But look at what you just said. It needs to be re-written and is sort of antiquated. Imagine that. They killed off TurbolIster, and was also offering SMP concurrently and now it is the only Ebay Show in town, it too is lacking in features and flexibility.
If you sell on Ebay but don’t have a store subscription you have to pay extra for SM basic and or pro level. With a Basic Store you get Selling Manager but not the Pro level. That is why we get some questions here on SL and we answer them and tell them where to go and look and they can’t find it. That is because they don’t have the SM”Pro”. That is what we all get with a Premium level and Anchor store. And that is $15.99 per month and is built into the $75 per month fee and the $350 anchor store fee. Since I I use WonderLister I wish I could opt out of the $15.99 built in cost from my $75 month store fee and that would reimburse me more than half of what WL costs me per month.
We have another 4,137 listing we can use in WL before we have to go to the $50 level like J&R would need.
But the replies I have read to the postings here on SL about WL seem to indicate no heavy interest in or desire to pay anything more for what seems to be a look alike and do alike to what Ebay already has, which is SMP. And that is perfectly fine. One will never know how great online banking is until they have several checking accounts and credit cards for both personal and business banking. Then once there becomes a need to consolidate, speed up data entry, transferring money and learning how to do it efficiency and electronically, will there ever be an interest in having an online banking account.
So, until one uses a separate app like SB or WL, has a need for more robust reports, greater depth of sorting and filtering, assigning inventory numbers and tracking, keeping track of all sales by state automatically, having right at your finger tips what you owe in Sales and Use Tax in your state moment by moment, being able to generate an immediate report of how much you have invested in inventory BOTH LISTED and UNLISTED, the value of what you have pulled and donated to date, what is in each of your bins in your storage area, what the value of the items are in each bins, how many items are in each bin, what your sales have been year after year, being able to match each month, year or quarter to the previous 5 years or longer, what it is like to have a small thumbnail photo of each item show up in any report you generate if you wish and hundreds more abilities, one will just never know what one is missing for $25 per month, just like my banking analogy.
From what you have said, one will just never know how badly Ebay falls short on handling data. And a reminder, SB and WL takes a while to learn to use and navigate just like all the cowbells and whistles on our seller dashboard and or as in learning any new software application.
I direct you to maybe do a ScavengerLife search on the phrase WonderLister and you will find a ton of topics we have discussed here on SL about it. But in any case, you can continue to use Ebay’s Selling Manger Pro [SMP] for the $15.99 built into your store fees and do very well. Also remember the average Joe is not into, see a value or into a lot of details.
“List It and Forget it”, also applies to the accounting, managing and growing one’s store. List it all, walk away and let the money just come in. When slow, as has been said before, “Rinse and Repeat”.
Now also please excuse me, while I have been vocal and an avid fan of supplementary software [especially when WL will also cross list and support Etsy, we are just chomping at the bit for that and it’s coming], I am by no means saying that this type of program is a must for anybody, that it will make you a success, that it will do everything you want it to do and will solve all your problems or even be easier for you. It is nothing more than a tool and provides those with the thirst for and the patience to work with data in multiple ways to view and track what is happening with your online Ebay store. There are others just as good, just as flexible and most are more costly.
Jay has mentioned in not exact words but round about that the extra cost jsut doesn’t seem to provide a value added for much more than what Ebay already brings to the dance. I disagree but one will never know unless they engage in a “JE”. [Jay’s Experiment]. And that is use both systems for a year or longer then compare.
Think about this, many people has a ton of buttons on there cars and Television sets but my guess is many people don’t use a lot of what is available to them.
mike at mdc galleries in Atlanta
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This reply was modified 9 years ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
Hi Picker Chick …
Going to give you an opinion base on some art, printing, research, and personal opinion all rolled into one.If it is thin as you say, but “if” it does have just a little rigidity then it is propberly “gold Leaf” which is onion skin thin and delicate laminated onto a thin sheet of foil. Then embossed and die cut out on a press [foil stamped & die cut all in one process in other words] to form the embossed and debossed areas. Very much like a gold foil seal is made for documents or on the cover of foil stamped folders. This can also be done on an Hot Stamping press and roll dies also.
The “extremely thin layer” probably really is 22 kt gold but is just a “whisper” of a coating, the balance of the thickness is “foil”. Foil is needed to hold the shape and image of the stamping.
As to gold value, there would be so little gold content as to be probably worthless because it is probably unmeasurable in terms or “scrap weight”. If you don’t know, the gold leafing is used in picture framing to “gold gilt” wood moulding pieces and then made into picture frames. Real 22 kt gold is used in ceramic glazes and painted onto older fine asian pieces. We have sold several Weeping Gold Vases all covered in 22 kt gold but the whole object [vase] only sell in the $15-$20 range.
The words are Vietnamese and best I can find in a few translators is something in the area of “You are my Happiness”, which I am going to guess is a wedding type sentiment statement.
So I am going to take a stab at “guessing” this is some type of wedding decoration that may have been carefully placed on top of a cake or a table place setting on put onto a cloth banner ,etc. You didn’t mention any dimensions so sort of use your imagination as to where it could have been “transferred to” and go from there.
As to overall value, unless it is some rare, old antique Vietnamese decoration, I think it is just a foil stamped decoration that is similiar to a pack one would find at HobbyLobby with the words Happy Birthday on it.
BUT… just a first glance opinion and that, just like my Masters in Fine Art Degree and $.50 will get you half a cup of coffee. Man, I should have listened to my parents and become a lawyer instead of an artist. LOL 🙂 🙂
Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta-
This reply was modified 9 years ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
05/30/2017 at 3:56 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 312: Is eBay Removing Old listings? #18785Now that you mention it, your right Brazil is listed but just not for certain categories. Probably the time I had issues was the type of item not so much as where it was going.
mc in atl. -
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