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08/01/2018 at 10:59 am in reply to: Item Specifics 101: How to customize specifics for unique items? #46615
Oh thanks for that heads up on editing the Ebay provided ones. Yep, I have been just editing theres if it wasn’t the color [or any other filed I want] that I wanted to say. using your example, I do have a custom color field but if Ebay’s color field popped up as red, I would have edited to Burgundy. guess I need to stop that and then just drop Burgundy into my own custom field and let Ebay’s pre-filled filed stay as it pops up.
And for those who will ask, yes, that will mean there will be TWO color fields in the item spcifics and same for Material and or sizes.
If Ebay’s pop up presents M, L, Xl, XXl, so forth… and I want to say Ladies medium with rolled sleeves, yes that will be in one of our custom size fields.
08/01/2018 at 10:54 am in reply to: Item Specifics 101: How to customize specifics for unique items? #46613Troy when I talked with JC a few weeks back, we were discussing this same issue and he was surprised that WL would allow the plhabetical rearrangement and that we could add or remove. I walked through the IS with him and it can be done, but in SB it is a walk around your fist to get back to your thumb. π
There are just some things that WL can do and some things SB can do and not do and vice versa. Just how each company coded and built there SQL dBases.
Mike at MDC Galleries
08/01/2018 at 10:51 am in reply to: Item Specifics 101: How to customize specifics for unique items? #46611Yes.. sort of. You can’t rearrange the few that Ebay provides but with all of the added custom IS they will be saved alphabetically, providing as T-Satt says, there is something in the blank field so that it stays. The way we get all of our fields to stay is we just put an Asterisk[*] in each field and that is enough to qualify as “copy” and it stays. When we first create or add several to a template they will be at the bottom, but with the asterisk in the field and you save the whole template and then reopen it in the future, they will all be reordered alphabetically. If you notice the last IS field we use is our own SKU number.. well it is named z-mdc galleries SKU:. That way it is always at the bottom.
Same thing T-Satt is doing by using color 1 color 2. The reaswon I like just a small plain asterisk is if we don’t have anything to put into that particular field on that particular listing I just leave it and it still shows up in the listing only it has a small stersik in the field and it looks like it is just a “naturally” left blank field. Saves some time from having to either delete the copy or click the minus – remove button [in WL].
08/01/2018 at 9:02 am in reply to: Item Specifics 101: How to customize specifics for unique items? #46602They are, it was an oversight and i will go and edit that. thanks for telling me.
those characters act as a road block for goggle spiders and bots and probably for cassini.
Mike Collins at MDC Galleries and Fine Art in Atlanta
08/01/2018 at 8:56 am in reply to: Item Specifics 101: How to customize specifics for unique items? #46600Good morning:
Are you guys taking a good amount of time to make custom fields? No they are pre-made [one time investment when we create our Master Template for WonderLister]. and saved in our “Unique-Vintage” template in WonderLister. We have about 20 Master Templates of items we buy a lot of. i.e. sets of glasses, tea sets, dinnerware, stamps, art prints, etc. etc. . First in the blank template we selected the Ebay category and the Ebay ones then all showed up below our shipping information in WL. Then I created custom fields that I wanted to use for that item category and saved it. That then made a longer IS list. When I saved it, I used a short title Glass sets, or Ltd. ed. art prints. Once saved then those IS will be there from now on. From this MASTER Template if we buy one of those items, I click duplicate and that Master creates a listng form that we fill out for that listing. The MASTER stays untouched and saved in the MASTER TEMPLATE folder. I then just complete the balance of that duplicated form. T-Satt does the same thing in SixBit.
Another example is I stated last week that we went to a big auction and bought 326 items. Well there were 11 tea sets [pot, cups, saucers, creamer, sugar, to those sets]. So those “Forms-Templates will have fields that will have more size fields because of the varying sizes of the pieces and the liquid capacity of those items. I have had many email requests, how many ounces does the teapot hold, or how many ozs, do the cups hold,so I just built that info. into the tea set template.
I will just click on our Tea Sets MASTER, click “dup. 11” template and 11 will be created from that Master and all 11 will appear in a new screen all by them selves. I will click on them one at a time and just complete each template as I go. I will click “SAVE” as I complete each of them. when done all 11 will be in our “Ready to Submit” folder. Then I will highlight all of them, right click to Submit, click Ebay, Shopify and Etsy and all 11 will be submitted to all 3 platforms then auto move themselves into our Active folders. Those active on Ebay, those active on Shopify and those active on Etsy. [NOTE! WL is still in last stages of beta with Shopify and mid strides with the Etsy interface so a new user can’t do this yet, but I can because I am doing some testing], but that is the way it is going to work by mid-fall.
βHow long does it take to do it the way you do it?Well of course that varies, by the items. On the US Commenrorative Stamps we listed on ebay and Etsy. The US MInt Stamp template had everything in it except, the scott Catelog numbers, the year and the price. The weights, size, shipping methods and all company policies were the same. Those only took about 30 to 60 seconds.
Of course the 14 pc. tea sets will take a little longer 2-3 minutes because I will have to get the dim. on 1 cup, 1 saucer, the pot and also the capacitiy. We keep a gallon jug of water and a funnel here in the office. susan just pours the water from the jug into the pot and one cup, then pours it back into a measuring cup and viola’ we have the capacity. Then dump the measuring cup back into the jug for use another day. we do the same for odd size glasses or pitchers.
If I have a lot of tough ones, and depending on how early I get up, I may be as low as15 +/- a day. If easy ones, I can do 4,5 to 7,8 an hour. And of course we do as you guys do, we lump like kinds of items together and process those in groups. So like the tea sets we will be doing a bunch of those togther. 10 pcs to 15 pcs per set is a lot of pieces to put on the hpto table, then remove, then get them slightly padded and into the plastic bins we keep here in the office. we place and assign bins as we go. Then when we get 4 to 8 bins full, we just carry those and place into their place on the storage shelves. This process allows us to pre-place them into the bins they will stay in and get that bin number into WL as we list.
βDo you just choose info from the pre-filled drop down, or does it make sense to write in your own info?
For the types of items we list, as i mentioned, we select the Ebay category first, and I find that Ebay has very little to offer. We have a lot of old Asian items made in Japan, or Limoges china, Lenox china, Nippon, Murano, Roseville, Hull, Fostoria and Indiana glass. ebay doesn’t have much on those. especially with certain unique decorating processes. I use Moriage on the asian pices when that technique is used, or Cloisonne”, enameled, and Ebay is just not gearing the IS for that. So, I have a custom technique field, or a “features” field. I can place the text “embossed, 3-D relief” pattern in there.
Now you may say who searches for that, well all of the collectors of glass with Moriage decoration on them, or Cloisonne’ pcs, Asian Flying Cranes is popular.
Now the last caveate’. I use all of these fields with specific wording for Google to find all of these listings and in turn pinterest picks up on our items. The ultimate goal is to build the Shopify store to the point whereby all traffic to the Shopify store will be driven to that platform byway of only goggle searches and at some pojnt all those sales made on our own web site and store will be Ebay fee free. we will have a much smaller overhead cost. I know of several artist who got there start on Ebay and or Etsy but closed there stores on those and now only sell through there own web site store such as Shopify, Volusion, etc. So I take the extra time to create as many keywords, even redundant ones, so Google will crawl and pick them up so as the shopify store is built out we can “SYPHON” off traffic from Ebay for increased profits. It is more of an SEO approach. But that is a longer range goal but you have to build the ground work from the very beginning.
And you may ask does it work. Yep. I have hidden crazy, nonsensical words into some test fields that don’t exist in the english language and, yep, Google found them, presented them in the results, at the top of the page of course, then when clicked, it takes you straight to our Ebay store. So now using that process, the plan is to have some of thos keywords found, presented by google and the traffic [searchers] taken to our shopify store. but all of this is just in the very start up phases.
If you wish to see how this works a little bit, have you ever wondered why I also sign at the end of my Scavengerlife Posts, Mike at MDC Galleries at Fine Art in atlanta, well Google is finding that everytime I do it. And guess what, if you type that phrase into google it will show some of our ebay items on their results page and guess what, it also shows scavengerlife as a link, so may even be driving some traffic back to you.
Try these and see:
#1 example… https://www.google.com/search?q=Mike+at+MDC+Galleries+and+Fine+Art+in+Atlanta&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1
#2 example [love this version because I show as the top 4 and Scavngerlife is the 5th link] ..
https://www.google.com/search?q=MDC+Galleries+and+Fine+Art+in+Atlanta&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1
#3 example … https://www.google.com/search?q=MDC+Galleries+and+Fine+Art&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1
#4 example … https://www.google.com/search?q=MDC+Galleries&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1So after looking at all of these variations of the same words in different order and see the results, then think about the use of your keywords in varying order [without too much or you get caught for spamming] and how then Google may see those and who may search on google, Chrome, firefox, Opera, explorer, etc., etc.
You have said you don’t get much traffic from outside ebay, well have you SEO your site to try to go and grab that traffic in the first place. all the Ebay open comments on how to write titles comes from an SEO awareness approach.
So, A lot of IS are for me, especially considering a goal of ours is to try to start to grab the attention of searches and push them to our own store not Ebay’s. But don’t get me wrong, and you have said it too, ebay is a huge platform with millions of customers being brought to the table, so nothing to take lightly or overlook. We may never leave Ebay, we’ll see.
Google recognizes front links and also back load links as long as they are clean and not purchased links. That was what Ebay was doing that got them into trouble with google.
Hope i got your questions covered correctly and added maybe some more food for thought.
Mike Collins at MDC Galleries and fine art in Atlanta <<<< Of Course
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This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
08/01/2018 at 6:02 am in reply to: Item Specifics 101: How to customize specifics for unique items? #46587Sure. Here is a link to a newly listed bowl that has a lot of IS and a fairly good description area.
And if you sort items in our store by “Newly” listed, you can check out several other variations of the IS area and less or more content in the description.
One thing to remember as I discussed with T-Satt that we are using SEO and some redundant keywords for Google to pick up as they crawl, not for just Ebay’s Cassini. Our goal is to start to build traffic for our other two platforms one of which would be all Google organic traffic. Our Etsy store gets as much traffic from Google as it does from within Etsy’s search. So that is why we put in so much.
Hope this helps…
Mike at MDC Galleries
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This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
07/31/2018 at 8:00 pm in reply to: Item Specifics 101: How to customize specifics for unique items? #46553Troy, tell JC that if Chavi can do it then he should be able to do it. π
07/31/2018 at 7:59 pm in reply to: Item Specifics 101: How to customize specifics for unique items? #46552Ah ha. Got ‘cha. That is exactly what I got WonderLister to do. All of the Item Specifics AND the whole CONDITION section will now populate right under my decsription in our shopify and soon to be Etsy listings. Everything in Ebay now goes into the open Description area. The description first, the condition area second and then item spcifics in a list under that. A buyer just scrolls down and see it all.
This is accomplished by just right clicking my line item in WL and clciking send to Shopify and in a short while, send to etsy.
07/31/2018 at 7:55 pm in reply to: Item Specifics 101: How to customize specifics for unique items? #46551Yep.. this is exactly what we do as I posted above to T-Satt.
07/31/2018 at 7:54 pm in reply to: Item Specifics 101: How to customize specifics for unique items? #46550Right there with you also Troy. I have 25 Item Specific fields already built into my standard, unique vintage item template. When I select the Ebay category it also will populate any “additonal IS” above my list. I use those to input anything unique that Ebay wants that I don’t already have listed or prefilled. It will shpow me more than 25 BUT you can’t list more than that or I get an error from WL then I have to delete a few. I always predelete as I go any lines that are redundant.
There is also another value to IS. Goggle bots and spiders crawl those IS and for inclusion in other areas the SEO factor comes into play. Those fields get extra Google exposure and that will help drive organic traffic to our other platforms like Shopify.
But to me the more key words I can include the better. I have fields such as “Unique Features”, A place for our own MDC Galleries SKU, Suggested Uses”, We have 3 Size Dimension fields. Many times if we have a tea set I will include not only the physical dimensions of the cups, the saucers and the tea pot but also the liquid capacity of each. Of course color(s), material, Mfg., etc. are there but some times not from just the Ebay category drop down, so I have it built into my template. We usualy hit 20 our more item specifics.
If I had to drop any thing I would skip even having a description other than a title and just go with IS. But of course I do put a couple of lines in the description area.
IWe built our IS fields around all the questions we used to get emailed about our listings. Slowly we built a tuned IS area, that now we very seldom ever get question sent to us anymore, unless the buyer just doesn’t read to click the blue “SEE MORE” area of their phones. Our answer is “See the IS Area”.
More the better for us.
mike at mdc galleriesHaven’t seen this yet on incoming, but things have been slow so I will watch for it on any new in coming offers. We get a good many offers.
But to add one comment. I sure wish that when we “Accept” an offer Ebay then would immediately withdraw the funds from their PayPal Account. In a large percent of our “Accepts”, the Buyers then take their sweet time paying. So much so, we created an email reply SOP that includes 3 messages to the Buyer that targets spurring them to get their purchase paid for so we can pull, pack and ship.
Maybe with Ayden [the new payment company and process], that when we Accept Offers that the deal is done and we can get payment immediately. But if they are only going to use their Credit Card, then they will need to see our Accept and to consumate the deal log In and enter their credit card to finish the deal, I wonder if the buyer will be allowed an even longer period of time to pay.
Guess we all are going to have a whole lot of things to adjust too over the coming 6 to 12 months.
Mike at MDC Galleries
07/30/2018 at 9:00 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 371: T-Satt (Troy) Reports on eBay Open #46401I just started to listen and right up front you mentioned my 3 favorite words.
“Write It Off!!” π π π
Made my day already.. now my coffee comes next and I am a happy guy.
Mike at MDC Galleries
T-Satt I am with you on not jumping into this because losing WonderLister is not an option going into 4th quarter as you said and also that SB and WL both cross list for us on other Platforms. WL is doing Shopify right now and Etsy is very close to being beta released shortly [weeks]. If I can cross list a thousand items on 3 stores [platforms] from one control panel, I will just have to do without some of the Ebay benefits. I would only use Ebay listing if I could also click on the form when i finished filling in and hit the “send to Shopify” and send to “Etsy” options. Without that Ebay is just another selling platform for an income stream just like J&R 2 and soon to be 3rd rental income stream.
Well it ceratinly is found in many places as the Wiki article says But also I see the reference to Providence Canyon. That is about 30 miles from my home town Columbus, GA. It is out past Fort Benning a little distance. I have been there several times in my late teens and even been down and explored the Canyon bottom for miles with friends. It is like a small version of the Grand Canyon. We went down by rope further up and walked for the whole day. But they also have a walk down trail.
It ceratinly has layers and now that I read this I remember all of the alternating layers of clay. We walk in a stream bed that had walls on each side, that we very slick clay. You can see very nice pictures of Providence Canyon on various web sites, some in color. Gorgeous place.
Well so much for scarce sources of Kaolin, but it is used in fine china and porcelain and as I said, some fine porcelain is slightly see through also.
mike at MDCG
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This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by
MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
Well I’ll be horn swoggled. Ding dang it! Right here! What do ‘ya know. Well I have been quoting the source as only in Japan for a long time and so has some other antique boothers. Maybe because of some of the research we have done on the Limoge France and Made in England items.
Maybe historically for the older pieces that are turn of the century and earlier the Georgia Kaolin was not a source during those times. Will have to research on the history of the Georgia Kaolin and also see who are their buyer / mfg. that use it and what products they make and under what names. I would be interested to know some of that data.
I will certainly bring that up when I see a couple older antique guys at the next auction in a few weeks.
Okay..then onward and upwards, but I think we at least helped Ashana somewhat.
thanks again guys for what all you do and provide. Wish we just had our youth and energy back we used to have.
Mike at MDCG in ATL
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This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by
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