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Hey Steven:
Two items:
One is we had a similar thing happen this weekend with a buyer only sort of reversed. He first notified me he had paid but Ebay won’t show it as paid, but his PayPal account showed it was paid to us. I checked our PayPal account and no deposit been made and also no notice from PP either. So I messaged back and said we could only ship once we got official notice of the receipt of funds and a confirmed address. Also our Ebay dashboard showed unpaid.
I was a whole day later before we got the PayPal notice and everything was fine there. But Ebay didn’t show it as paid. So knowing we had the deposit in our account I went ahead and an official PayPal receipt of funds I packaged and labeled it for today’s shipment. This morning, still no evidence of payment on our Ebay dashboard. I had to go to the Sale and check off that the item had been paid in order to get it to clear off our Ebay page and the item to be moved into the “sold” area.
First time that has ever happened.#2) Brazil!!! Worst place to ship to IMHO :-). All sorts of internal, political stuff happens there and a lot of stuff gets messed up. I think the GSP program doesn’t even ship there. I know some people [not to mention names Ryanne] will ship to TimbuckTu, but we stick to all GSP countries only. Ship to Erlanger, KY [not far up the interstate from Atlanta] and that’s it. So question is did you ship that unit out on your own [non-GSP]? If so how. And for such a large amount what admin. procedure did you follow insurance wise to CYA?
Just curious. That unit may wind up being in a grass hut in the jungle of some type of drug lord or gun runner communicating landing spots for a rogue plan flying under radar for a night time shipment or they are going to pipe out loud hard rock music to the field hands harvesting “Poppies” in the jungle as they work!!! LOL…
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
Hey Steven:
Two items:
One is had a similiar thing happen this weekend with a buyer only sort of reversed. He first notified me he had paid but Ebay won’t show it as paid, but his PayPal account showed it was paid to us. I checked our PayPal account and no deposit been made and also no notice from PP either. So I messaged back and said we could only ship once we got official notice of the receipt of funds and a confirmed address. Also our Ebay dashboard showed unpaid.
I was a whole day later before we got the PayPal notice and everything was fine there. But Ebay didn’t show it as paid. So knowing we had the deposit in our account I went ahead and an official PayPal receipt of funds I packaged and labeled it for today’s shipment. This morning, still no evidence of payment on our Ebay dashboard. I had to go to the Sale and check off that the item had been paid in order to get it to clear off our Ebay page and the item to be moved into the “sold” area.
First time that has ever happened.#2) Brazil!!! Worst place to ship to IMHO :-). All sorts of internal, political stuff happens there and a lot of stuff gets messed up. I think the GSP program doesn’t even ship there. I know some people [not to mention names Ryanne] will ship to TimbuckTu, but we stick to all GSP countries only. Ship to Erlanger, KY [not far up the interstate from Atlanta] and that’s it. So question is did you ship that unit out on your own [non-GSP]? If so how. And for such a large amount what admin. procedure did you follow insurance wise to CYA?
Just curious. That unit may wind up being in a grass hut in the jungle of some type of drug lord or gun runner communicating landing spots for a rogue plan flying under radar for a night time shipment!! LOL…
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
I forgot to also address the “without gaining control” part. I can check with the IT guys and see if only the “User created” tab can be accessed while the rest it blocked out. It would have to probably be set-up with a password type system whereby only the Warehouse Folder and your helpers Ready for Review folder could be accessed and nothing more. I will check on that or see if maybe the team could write code to make it happen. Will let you know.
mc in atl.Couple of things here.
One is with the amount of listing you guys have, who knows how large that database would be with SixBit. If over 10 gigs then the Micro Soft SQL free server won’t handle it and you would have to then buy your own SQL version for several hundreds of dollars so that would take you wayup and over the $50 month level. Or you would have to buy more space on your current server which you are familiar with, but who knows how much with that blotted size of SixBit files and you would have to check your server guy for a cost. Who knows you could run into terabytes of data.On Wonderlister as you say the $50 a month plan would let you go up to 10,000 listings and that would handle your current store and leave you room for 4,000 +/-. So some room to grow.
How I work our current situation is you have to have one computer dedicated as the “main server” where the SQL database is stored. Our laptop has a version of WL installed and we have a “local network” set-up so when we fire up the laptop it automatically opens, sees the desk-top file in the network and connects. All done seamlessly. We can use the laptop and the desktop both at the same time and do anything we want EXCEPT work on the same LISTING AT THE SAME TIME. But that’s no bigger.
So as soon as we buy some items we bring them home. I open WL on my desktop and open a folder I created a long time ago called Warehouse Inventory. This is where I always keep about 50 blank templates of several types always on hand as well as all of our unlisted inventory. Great at tax time. So, again, I open a blank template and do a very fast basic entry. Not more than sixty seconds. A rough title, a create our SKU number [ a process I can show you in 60 seconds some day when you and Ryanne are ready and drop that into the SKU box and then hang a tag on the item with the same number and place the item on the needs photography table. From there our “former” helper would work from the laptop. When she came in all she would do is open up the laptop and go to the Warehouse folder and open it. Then she could select any line item she would want to work on, click to open and then fill in the weight, item specifics, and description, and leaving the price blank for the time being. Then she would type RFR in the note section and click save. What this did was create a duplicate of the listing into a folder I created especially for her called RFR=Ready for Review”. This is where she “parked” all of the listings for my review. My wife, Susan, does photography and we, just like you, do photos in batches and save from a card into dated folders. When time for listings, I open the RFR folder, select which ever ones I want to list and open them. I look over everything she has done, correct if needed, attach Susans photos and drop in the price and done. From there I can upload immediately or schedule them for specific intervals in between listings or set them to up load on certain days or times.
Now to your direct request. That laptop acts just like a “slave” computer in any corporation. It accesses WL by way of a wireless net work, operates just like any individual and separate database, only it is tying into my desktop as it’s main host server.
With the amount of listings you guys have and as many photos you will probably just want to go ahead and set it up your server instead of a laptop. Think about it if you hit 10,000 kisting even at an avg. of 10 photos per listing that is over 100,000 photos [frined that is 1/10th of a million photos.]So here is the question, can WonderLister be set-up on a separate file server…Yes, can the second version that you put on a laptop access it along with a desktop, unsure but I can ask. Don’t forget, I am a Beta Tester for WonderLister and have access to the Support and Engineering team. Many suggestions I have made over the last couple of years has made it’s way into the intergration of WonderLister. The newest release 3.0 which is really slick by the way and jsut out a few weeks ago, has many of my inputs active in it.
On a final note, if you just want to have one PC, then get one and have your WL database stored on your private server. P.S. WL support team will also help you get it all set up. At this time Sixbit has several “paid support plans”. WL does not, unless they get just swamped with future growth, for now atleast their support is free and fairly quick.
Hopefully I have answered some of your questions. If you have other questions throw them up on the table and I can get answers directly from the team I report to. Heck maybe if you want to talk to Support I may be able to arrange for you to talk directly to them or maybe even contact the owner Chavi. That might make an interesting interview, remote control on an Ebay by other means rather than using Ebay’s system-method. Don’t know.
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
SixBit has the Etsy option checked off on all of it’s subscription levels, so think it is bundled in. Also SB just flat out costs more than WonderLister.
mc in atl.
Jay, actually I use SixBit also in addition to WonderLister. Why is a longer story for another time, and that won’t last too much longer.
I got my notice of the update and upgrade to SixBit on April 26th. Then they had a week or so of a ton of fixes and patches. As I also reported some many months ago when I was comparing WonderLister and SixBit I mentioned then that Etsy interface was coming from both companies. SixBit just beat WL to the punch. WonderLister is also working on having this option available. WonderLister also had an Amazon interface for a while but they said Amazon kept altering and changing the rules so much it wrecked havoc on trying to keep the Amazon model correct.
Also as a reminder.. SB & WL are head to head direct competitors. Both of the owners and some of their employees all used to work together for Ebay on the “Blackthorn” project for Ebay. Blackthron was a TurboLister type program only with many more bells and whistles and inventory management modules than TurboLister. Then Ebay abandoned Blackthorn and then later TurboLister but all of the Ebay employees split off and now Chavi owns SixBit and John owns Sixbit. Funny that they all used to work together as a team. They all can write code and have created propriatory relational databases.
SixBit looks a little slicker visually but all those graphics comes at a price and that is that SB is a space and data hog. My same store on both systems with the same exact data has two different foot prints. The SixBit footprint is 10 times bigger than the WonderLister file with the same data. I can download and back up my WL database in about 1 to 2 minutes. Last time I did my SixBit it took over an hour.And last thing, got a notice from SixBit the other day saying my database had almost reached the 10 gig limit. Well I didn’t know I had a limit. So guess what, the email had links to how I could set and buy / pay for more storage capability or could buy my own subscription to MS SQL database for about $200 or more dollars. That is one of the reason SixBit is going bye bye shortly. Can’t wait until WonderLister gets Etsy interface set up.
Jay your big caveat is the use of a Mac instead of a PC. But you have addressed that before also.
So, la tee dah!!
mike at mdc galleries in atl.
One other thing flashed into thought. When a seller gets an offer and then the seller counter offers the item gets semi-locked up. Someone else can buy it by offering a higher price and you accept. But a seller can’t go and change anything much in the listing until the offers expire. I think you can’t change anything in the title, description , specifics or put it on sale, etc., etc. So having so many potential back and forths that could tie up chnages for numerous days if Ebay sticks with the 2 day response time between offers.
mc in atl.
I agree Jay and one other thing. On the old 3 offers Ebay allowed 48 hours to reply. If an offer should go the distance back and forth 10 times [can’t imagine that] potentially would it drag out to 20 days?
I too just noticed it this week end, which we have had great sales BTW, a few offers that came in then stated 9 more offers left. I thought that was strange and now I know.
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta.
Hey Christine: You are correct about keeping an eye out for items that cross over into DIM Weight [dimensional up charges], but that 12″ max. rule is a tad off base. The actual number to use is 1,728 CUBIC INCHES. Certainly a 12″x12″x12″ square box is 1,728 cubic inches and is not a DIM Weight candidate, but neither is a 48″x6″x6″ long package. It also is only 1,728 cubic inches.
So, make sure you use the multiplication method when determining if a package is going to be in the DIM weight class. Now, one thing to remember it may not go Priority and may have to go Parcel Ground, but not always. I have shipped a lot of tripods, even a surveyor’s large tri-pod and made my own custom box for it, then covered it all in a heavy plastic outer skin and at 48x6x6 it came to 1,728 CUBIC INCHES and it went just fine.
Thought I would just throw that in as an adjunct to your answer.
Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
Thank you so much for taking the time to create a detailed reply. I know from my own experience that detailed replies to some questions here on SL can really take away from one’s listing time.
Your comments hit home and I am not going to spend the time to pull out an old turntable and play each record. So I think I will create numerous listings with 12 albums per. I will show 2 albums per photo. One shot of the 2 fronts and the next shot of the back, then repeat for the remaining 10. Then list that group of 12. We still have many nice, higher end items from our antique booths we closed dwon to spend much time on this, but we figured you would have the answer as to how much energy we should put into this. It is only about 3 or 4 boxes, about 50 records from the late 60’s and 70’s. We were not into music that much. Was an artist so art books was more my line.We also have about 100 CD’s about 100 DVD’s that we bought years ago. I guess we will just do the same with all of those. 12 per listing, lot price and move on.
I have a beautiful Fenton Silvercrest compote, a brass Asian Buddhist Monk statue and a large Asian Cloisonne’ Jar and lid that each will be listed for over $75 each that I would much rather get listed than records, CD’s and DVD’s. Jay talks about love, deep interest and passion for what we buy, list and research. Well records “Ain’t It”!!! LOL 🙂
Again really appreciate the time you invested into the community with your answer. Will save it in my archive of tips for future reference.
Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta and Hurray for Atlanta, we got our collapsed I-85 highway put back together and it is open and traffic flowing. What a mess that was.
We have the same Brother printer as you only just a little bit newer model number. We do exactly the same. The main tray loaded with paper, 250 sht. capacity and flip open the top small flap on top and can insert 5 shts of 2 up pressure sensitive label stock in at a time. That is 10 labels at a clip if we want, but we usually just do one or two at a time as we get the packing done.
By the way, this slightly newer model doesn’t refill the exact way as your model, several more smaller parts in the way of the fill plug and also the plug is pressure fitted in real tight, so your “how to refill” the toner video did not work for us. That was about two years ago, but have only had to buy one toner cartridge in almost 3-4 years, so cheap enough. It lasts forever. We have run through maybe 4 cases of paper [approx. 20,000 shts or so] on two toner cartridges[one came with the unit then a second one at $40 +/-]. So, not too shabby.
mc at mdc in Atl.
Ryanne:
Here is a thought about the laser printer. Just find a model that has “two” trays. Many of them do. That way when you click the print button you see a small, short meassage that says print from “tray one” or “tray Two”. Click which ever one has the paper in it or the labels in it.Just a thought….. mike at mdc galleries in atlanta
Just heard the mention to Item Specifics and structured data. One thing we have been experiencing is a much larger amount of questions to us all the time. All of the questions are very basic. How tall is this item, what color is it, what is the over all size, does it have this, that and the other. All of which are ALL listed in the Item Specific area.
What we have come to conclude is that since 64% of our sales come from people using their cell phones they must not be seeing the Item Specifics, don’t know what it is, only see the title and habitually just go to Description. So we do a two part reply. One we politely tell them the answer to these types of questions are listed in the item specific area and we invite them to view the item specifics there and also mention that area contains many more details that may be of interest and help them make an informed decision. Then we also answer their question directly. We hope by doing this they will maybe go to item specifics and spend more time on our site, and also help “train” them to use the IS area in the future and hopefully not have to ask the sellers those basic questions that are already covered.
We have gotten replies such as, Oh thank you, we didn’t know what that was, oh, didn’t see that, can’t see that area on our phone, etc., etc.
Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
Hey Jay… Don’t overlook P-Tac units. These are commercial A/C and Heater Combo units. We used to install them when we did large room additions for customers. They are the type of units you see in motel-hotels. They mount low on a wall. You can get a 15,000 BTW [1.25 ton] combo unit. Enough for your whole house if I remember you are around 1,200 SF. All that is needed other than the wall mount part is a 220volt outlet run to it and a vent-drain hole out through the wall.
Even though it has a thermostat you can set it and forget it you can also just flip it on to cool things down for a short while, then click it off. The other thing is during the winter, if you come in and the wood stove is real low or off, then just click on the heater switch and it will warm up the area fast then when the wood stove gets up to speed then click it off.
P-Tac [stand for Packaged Thermal Air Conditioning]. Great for smaller houses or areas. This size will run about $800 to $1,100 plus Electrician to install. Get your current subs you are using for the house reno. to talk to you about it and or install.
Just a thought for you.
Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
Hey Paul:
Got a question or two for you.I just returned from a trip down in our basement looking over the space and came acroos a few old boxes which had colored stickers on them showing we have moved them several times with us over the decades but never re-opened them. They were heavy so I thought maybe old books, but nope, they are full of old LP Albums from the late sixties through the 70’s. All the beatles albums abby road, white album, jefferson airplane, Janice joplin, Iron butterfly, Jethro Tull, early allman brothers, vanilla fudge, moog sythensizer, grand funk railroad, and on and on. Many have the special posters and inserts in them. A Bob Dylan album has the poster inside which seels in the bread and butter range by itself.
A quick glance shows they sell in the ranges of $6-$7 to about $15. But I notice that many have rough wear on the bottom edge of the covers where we slide them in and out of wooden home made shelves. Many have scuffing that has left a dirt ring on either the front or backs from abrasion.
How about listings in lots. They are all so different I would guess if you only wanted beatles then lotting with Simon & Garfunkel wouldn’t fly.. Coo-Coo-cha-Chew Mrs. Robinson!! LOL 🙂
So here are the questions. I founf that a dry magic eraser removes most of the dirt without leaving any trace on the covers. OK to do so? Is it best to separate the inserts and list separately or leave with the album? Also I see some scruffs or rubs on the vinyl itself on a few. So should I need to get a turn table set-up and play each albun to see if those mars make the record skip? Or, since they only go for the $10-$12 range should I just list as untested?
I already have my costing for the 1 piece cardboard mailers, can use my clear bags to slip sheet them and cardboard insert spacers. So shipping is no problem.
Then lastly.. incl shipping [those mailers and weight of those heavier cardboard inserts] and list as FREE or do the calculated shipping thing.
Would appreciate any input from anyone on the topic
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
