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Sure thing. Guess I should have just come out and said it in the above posts but after talking with troy and Veronica and comparing our work processes which are very similiar we are going to go back to SixBit. Way back when I was using WL and SB BOTH side by side but eventually went with WL for a few reasons. One it was less costly, two they already had the Shopify about ready to go live and we were, at that time really thinking about having our own domain named store, free of the Ebay engine, and three that the Etsy interface was in the works.
Now I just don’t know where WL is with the Etsy interface, and since we are now declared as outside parties [LOL] and out of the loop we will just go back to SixBit, pay the difference and re-train using their videos, which are great by the way and settle back in with them.
As far as trying to keep the years of data we accumulated in WL, I think we should be able as Troy said, to export into an Excel CSV file and then see if the SixBit team can help us map that data to the SB fields and then import into SixBit. Hopefully we can save some of it.
As to the cost. WL is $25 per month, then the Shopify Store is $30 per month and then of course whenever they get the Etsy interface up and running, that will be another $30 +/- module cost so everything included, the WL cost is going to be approx. $85 when the new Etsy gets added in. SixBit has the Enterprise DUO pricing tier which includes 2 platforms “Ebay and in our case Etsy” for $100 per month. So $15 more per month, but it is up and running and working according to what Troy is saying. We will close down the Shopify store, we are just too old to spend the time and effort for building organic traffic from scratch and building up the volume of traffic needed to sustain repeat buyers to our “brand”. Ebay and Etsy already has the traffic.
Given the time we have had to spend working out issues on WL and not knowing when WL Etsy module is coming and how many hours we will have to spend working it out, we are just going to jump ship, retool, retrain and spend the extra $15 per month.
Plus the SixBit team does go to the Ebay Open Convention in Las Vegas and we can have direct access to the guys when they are there and hopefully meet up with Troy and Veronica also.
Hope this helps…
Mike at MDCGFA
Sure thing buddy. The whole point I was making with WL was that I was so hoping that we would be up and running for the 4th quarter and have all of our Ebay store completely cross posted on Etsy so we could have those Sales. Now that hasn’t happened I just don’t want to risk waiting on them, then spending debugging time and possibly run out of time for next year. Missing a whole year is bad enough, much less a second year.
By using our manual method [one at a time copy and paste], we still have achived to list 346 items on Etsy and are seeing Sales from that number. And the nice thing is, Etsy sales are at full price. Our Ebay store has a 15% off sale running, a 6% prmoted listing promo and we take offers and most buyers don’t even see the Sale Discount, they just see the lower number and throw out offers of 15% to 25% more on top of that. But on Etsy we have $750 in Sales from Nov. to date. On Ebay, that would be less about 30% depending on offers or only about $525.
Mike at MDCGFA
Hey Mark: I don’t have a good report on the WonderLister Etsy project.
They have not been repsonding to several inquires I have made for months now. The content of my inquires are how far along are you guys, when to expect, having any issues, can I help, should we expect this year or next and things like that. I have sent 4 or 4 emails but no response until last week.
It was short and mainly said things like, we have been spending project time on Ebay updates, issues and Ebay projected changes [whatever that may mean]. Then in response to the Etsy questions they said that according to new company policies they are not supposed to be discussing projects that in process with outside parties.
Of course I shot back a reply to the affect that I have been included in the loop in the past and have provided what I think was some valuable help and data with regards in the past and have gotten updates. I am unsure if it was maybe a new tech member or a weekend support member who didn’t know me. But it was disheartening.
Then I decided to unload a few more technical issues on them to work on. Especially a big problem I had discovered months back with regards to WL inability to handle certain search functions from User Created Folders and User Created Search and Sort Criteria. If a user creates a folder to contain certain data that is not part of the regular listing form in WL and then sets up rules for that custom field to be search, counted, sorted the folder and search crashes out. They replied yes, it has abeen a big problem for them and dig this, “in order to correct this issue, it would take a long time, a lot of manpower, and is a very complex, tedious and hard task to get it fixed and re-coded”. Well I get it, a big bug in your program will take a big effort to straighten out. And, so what.
Well have I have been trying to use those custome fields I created to track all of our Etsy listings and solds until they come out with the new Etsy extension. Well all of that data is now junked, no way for me to gather any Etsy data unless we go back and re-type our tracking codes into a different field-place. The only place I think is safe and can be sorted, counted and tracked is in the “NOTES” section. But I will have to use code words like, if it is listed on ETSY then type TRUE in the Note field. If it sells, then type in the word SOLD beside the word TRUE and on top of this manual hand work, there is no way to track the finacials in WL for Etsy, but I have all of that in Quicken.
Now on top of these things, in summary, custom fields that can’t be searched or tracked in folders properly, having to do a ton of hand entered data just to be able to keep track of what’s cross posted on Etsy and no internal WL financial data, we have decided as a team, Susan myself and our two assistants to make a big, move on our part. We can just no longer wait on WonderLister to get it’s act together, on top of telling us we are just an outside source and can’t give us any type of updates or timelines, wonky custom field issues and having to create work arounds to get done what we need to get done and then the BIG thought is what will be the bugs that will have to be worked out when WL does introduce the Etsy interface.
Given the amount of time, screen shots, pointing out problem areas to the WL team, we could have spent that time learning another competitor’s software program
So with several private email and phone call discussions with some friends and members here at ScavengerLife and despite some uphill battles of a transition, unless something big happens over the next few weeks, we are preparing for a transition to another program. We are hoping that 5 years worth of history can be saved and moved over somehow and are working on that. We have to figure out how to map that data into the new program. But even if not, we will just have to take the data lose so that we can move on and forward.
I know after all the posts I have made for the WonderLister program and team but the issues, bugs, and slow response to making what we feel are changes and improvements to their software, we are going to have to just transition, bite the bullit and move on to another listing platform.
We will probably be making a decision today at our production meeting and shortly doing the download of the trial version we have agreed on with the other company. We have gotten a 90 day period to get ourselves retrained, the new format customized to our liking and then making the switch permanent in Jan.-Feb. of 2019.
The new program does already have a working Etsy interface but I am informed with the amount of items we already have on Etsy and the new art items along with what we are going to be cross listing that our presence with them will have enough volume whereby we can help the new software team move forward with the improvements they are looking to make. So hopefully we will be of some influence at the new software company.
Sorry I don’t have better news for you, but we are cautiously optimistic about making the transition and getting better results in being cross posted on multiple channels and having to spend less time dealing with issues and corrections and debugging.
Mike at MDC Concepts, Inc.
MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
MDC Studios
SmartParts divs.This whole quarter is slower for us than last yer yet we have twice the number of items listed. It is what it is.!
With regards to the returns topic.. We have had 30 day FREE RETURNS turned on for a long time, but one thing you can do to slow the whole process down and buy yourself time to respond to the customer is to go to your settings and click on “Require an RMA”. That is a “Return Material Authorization” number. When you have this turned on, the Ebay can’t auto approve a return without letting you know they have a buyer request for a return but need for you, the seller, to provide the RMA. You will get an email asking for the number and at that point you could go to your dashboard and communicate with the buyer, ask for your photos, etc. Then when you do fill in the RMA data field, we just put in our internal SKU number or you could use your initials and today’s date. Anything you want. Also your response time is not required to be instant so the process slows down to allow you time to react and respond.
Give it a try.
As to “Painful Weeks”. That is one reason we don’t glare at numbers by the week. We tract everything in Quicken and watch our profits by the month. It is like the stock market, down 250 points one day back up 300 points the next, but overall on a monthly basis it is a smoother chart line. Overall our month is more than the 3 Summer months, BUT less than the 4th quarter than last year despite having more items.
The curve we think will smooth out around the 2,500 item mark +/-.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
Yep! $99.99 in 2013
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
Yep, looks like a very good find. Who would have thought!
mike at MDCGFA
Gladly Ms. Ryanne: … $199.99 on March, 2017
mike at MDCGFA in Atl.
And as much as it hurts me to say this, Scavenger Life also takes time. Reading the Daily firehose or going to specific topics. Clicking on links to go to members Imgur photos to try to help them identify items, replying to a lot of SL posts or as in my case posting a longer detailed reply hoping to fully explain a topic or question for future reference [as Jay says wall of text] or for those who post numbers weekly and compiling those, and if “watching” the Wed. what sold videos that is time consuming.
Sorry Jay and Ryanne. :-(.
Makes me wonder why many members who used to post very regularly never post any more? I had a list I compiled a few years back of the weekly numbers and looking back over that list which had hundreds of posts, almost all of those posters have dropped off and no longer post. Was it a time factor and took too much time or did they just loose interest. We will probably never know, but if you are a frequent reader, [listening while working doesn’t count], poster, advice seeker, how long does that participation on ScavengerLife really take up? Hours, days perhaps???? Just a curiosity thing since we are talking about anything that takes up time during the week.
Mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
Amatino: Same one[s] we have. We have two. One is over between the photography station and where I load up my storage bins for transport to the storage area. The other one is of course in the packing-shipping area. I modified the packing area one. I alread had metal, single dispenser for a single 2″ roll. So I just duck taped the single one onto the right hand side of the one you have. By doing this I have two rolls of 2″ packing tape. One is colored-opaque and the second roll is 2″ wide clear to go over labels. The 1/2″ scotch tape roll is in the middle bewteen the two. Of course a marker, matt knife and scissors in the caddy.
The nice thing about having the second single dispenser strapped on the side is the added weight. It is so heavy with both togther I can use just one hand to pull off a long piece of opque or clear tape using one hand and the whole thing doesn’t move and slide around like it did before I added the weight of the second one.
mike at mdc galleries and fine art
11/27/2018 at 6:53 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 387: Do Black Friday, Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday Matter? #52386Hey Libby:
Was just reading your post and this sentence caught my eye. ” I am working toward liquidating some of our lower priced inventory, and increasing the average price of item sold.”
Just curious, what is your preferred method, process and or most effective way of “liquidating some of our lower priced Inventory ..”?
mike at MDCGFA in Atl.
11/27/2018 at 9:53 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 387: Do Black Friday, Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday Matter? #52338Jay and Ryanne:
Here is what I think is one of the greatest free site and organization for the small business start up. I used them decades ago and their site has a ton of free information. Also if you put in your zip code you may even find that one of their 500+ locations is close enough to you so you can visit them. They have tons of seminars, all free [in most cases] on start-up financing, writing business planes, free guidance and advice on how to do almost anything you want in a business. It is staffed by over 10,000 retired exceutives and cover all aspects and fields of how to start a business. Lawyers, accountants, operations, administrative, wholesaling, retailing, storage, you name it they cover it in some form or another.Hope this link is of some help to you.
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine Art
Just for fun:
These are not based on “solds”, but are the ranges in the store currently. Out of 1,117 we have:
< $24.99 = 356 – approx. 32% of our items
$25 – $49.99 = 438 – approx. 39% or our items Cumulative = 71% +/- are under $49.99
$50 – $99.99 = 241 – approx. 22% … cum. = 93% of inventory’s selling price is under $99.99
$100 ++ = 51 items = approx. 4.5% +/-If everything sold tomorrow, all at the same time, for the current listing price [no sale or offers], the sale would be approx. $61,000. Boy don’t I wish.
Getting ready to start the houses on the lots we purchased a few weeks back. Been waiting on all the financials to square up. The decision now is to do one at a time or stretch it and try to do 2 or all 4 at the same time. I will report in the Topic area Jay created for this after a few more decisions are made and I actually pull the permit[s depending]
TTFN..
mike at MDC Galleries and Fine ArtBrian B. May I suggest a better way to contact the buyer and safe guards you.
On your seller dashboard click on items sold. You will see the item that was bought but unpaid for. There is a small box at the beginning of the listings. Hclick it and select edit. One of the choices on the drop down box is “Contact the Buyer”. Click on that and Ebay will open up a message box for you to type in your message. Has a 2,000 character limit. but this is the Ebay communication center and by doing it this way, there is a record of the conversation. If you use your personal email to contact a buyer directly to his email address there will not be a documented record of the dialogue.If you have a long reply [more than 2,000 characters], I have even sent multiple messages. I state 1 or 2 or 1 of 3 and then even name the 2nd and 3rd page until I get to 3 of 3. I have had to use as many as 6,000 characters before. [JAY.. Bet you are not surprised at that, coming from me LOL :-)].
But in any case there are several places to use the contact the buyer. Then just in case they may not see it like Ryanne says, I will use direct email, but all that will say is I sent you an email via Ebay messages, please review your Ebay folder.
I ave gotten replies most of the time, and it stays within the Ebay searchable databases.
Mike at MDC Galleries.
Hi.. This process is very similar to a place we consign our oopsies, mistakes, not worth much and discards to. We have an account with them and they take the items we periodically bring over. They like for us to brings whole tubs, not one or two items at a time. They take the items and list them to sell and also have some retail space they display at.
They decide what they will take or not. If they refuse any items we just take them right back. For the items they take-keep, the deal is they set the price, list or display at the highest price they set. If an item sells in the first 30 days at full price it is a 50/50 even split. The n at the 30 day mark they disocunt the item at 25% off, then if not sold at the 60 day mark they discount the item to 50% off again the 50/50 split still applies.
The at the 60 day mark, they drop the item to 60% for just a week to 10 days. Then if the item is not sold, they notify us and we have one week to come claim all unsolf items that are at the 70 day mark.
If we don’t want the stuff back, then they keep the items after the 77 day mark we have forfeited the items and they will either deep discount them at 75% to 80% off to just dump them but they own them at this point and 100% of the sale is there’s. If we don’t do our pick up during the 1 week grace period we have to pick up then in essence, we have abandoned the items and all deals are off, and they are then the owners.
this is much like the way a dry cleaners works and pawn shops. If after a certain period you don’t claim your stuff, it is considered abandoned and in turn they gain it by defult.
At this point if they don’t even want to sell it, they donate to several local causes, clothing to battered women’s sehlters or disaster relief, books to children’s hospital or elderly homes, then the balance goes into there dumpster.So I guess this must be a common practice or type of procedure across the baord, give or take.
Mike at MDC Galleries
Hi… I did find several references but mostly as scientific terms but there was two business associated with the letters n D.
Norsk Data, a defunct Norwegian computer manufacturer
NetDocuments, a document management company
then of course the state of North dakota but don’t think that would be a state logo.So see if the above 2 companies may have a connection and it is a corporate logo hat.
Good luck,
Mike at MDC Galleries -
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