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Yep saw that on one of our monitors a little while ago while Susan and I were listing. She said the same thing as you AdvE. She also said hopefully they may have some way to monitor the crazy things people also return for and catch them at that.
AYS: We’ll see.
mdc at MDCG
In WonderLister they haven’y gotten the Etsy interface reay to go live yet. Sometime toward August. But Shopify is working and it uses tags.
So what WL did was build a tags field and a vendor field into their main listing form. So as we go down the blank listing form and filling in fields just as everyone does on Ebay, when we come to the field that says tags we eneter them in there. When WL posts our listing to Shopify, it posts all the tags just as we have them on our listing form.
I have also spoken to the team at WL and I am assured by the team and also with my urgence, that same field will also put them into Etsy. But we will have to wait and see but all the tags are put into Shopify.
Also all of the item specifics and the condition field from Ebay is auto inserted into the description area of our Shopify listing.
Basically on our Shopify listing about everything is auto inserted. Shipping, weights, sizes, photos, etc. We only have to select a channel [a shopify thing] and double check it and then click publish.
I did 936 total listings from Ebay to Shopify in about 2 to 3 hours and everything that is on Ebay is on our Shopify listings.
We use the Shopify store as basically a place to have a complete backup of our Ebay store for the time being.
Mike at MDC Galleries
Take a look at the reports and Financial data they will give you. I could not see any type of robust reports from InkFrog whereby SixBit and WonderLister do have Finacial type of reports. Programs such as these are not just an alternative listing programs, they should be intergrated. enterprise type of programs.
Customer support functions, with buyer data capture, all sales can be filtered by georgraphical location, [this will be real important if Congress passes any type of tax reform or laws that require us to report income from each state, and a program such as this should be able to sort and filter your current inventory, past inventory, and sold inventory in a huge amount of various ways.There are some prgrams out there that are more listing type programs that were built by trying to emulate Turbo Lister and succedded and unlike Turbo Lister works, doesn’t glitch and is faster than the old Turbo Lister, but they are still a glorified listing APP.
Here is something to try with Ink Frog. Go to the WonderLister and SixBit web sites and print out a copy of what all these programs show in the table that shows what they offer and can do. Sort of a side by side comparison chart you make yourself. Then call InkFrog or type the list and send to them and ask them can they do everything on your list [in other words what SB & WL] can do. And if not then see how many other things it can do. If they provide atleast a comparable set of utlity tools for you as a seller then maybe you should look for a more robust program for about the same or less money.
I did this research for years and it was pretty hard to find anything in the price range T-Satt, Mark S. and I pay that will do all of what WL and SB does. There are several out there but not $20 or $30 per month but hundreds per month.
But that’s just an opinion of an old guy sitting at a computer in Atlanta! That and fifty cents will get you a half a cup of coffee. 🙂
Funny RTWV: One thing no body has mentioned is “Promoted Listings”. I use Promo. Listings on many of our items as well as run Sales every week or so.
With Promoted Listings you are basically giving Ebay a percentage of your Sales to get “Special Placements” in Promotions, offerings and the such. In a sense “paying” them for extra exposure. Bonanza does the same thing just called something else.
It is based on a sliding scale. When you sign up or create a promoted listing there is a chart that comes with the .CSV Excel file that shows you what the “average going rate that is being paid by other sellers” is offering. In most cases it is 5-6 1/2% in our categories. So I would think that clicking on 6% and higher and basically just paying Ebay for more advertising and exposure will get you seen more.
Maybe that is where they may also be headed. I bet if you clicked on 25% or 35% of the Sale price of an item, bet they would show you all over the place, above others, on special pages, etc., etc.
Nobody has seemed to mention that out of all this discussion.
mike at MDCG
Aaaw gosh, shucks, by golly Jay and Ryanne Love Me! HaHaHa LOL 🙂 🙂
I have to hide my SL posts now because if Susan comes up to photograph and she sees me typing into the forum, she says not again, you need to be listing. Honey it is ABL not … ABP [Always be Posting] 🙂
mike at MDCG
I too agree with long run on ‘blocks”. Just one long paragraph is a problem for me also.
But, as far as 4 or 5 sentences, don’t do many of those. usually 4 or 5 paragraphs, and some longer as you well know. But if you think those of mine explaining things like the difference between reproductions and real prints, or color theory and how we see color in reproductions fall into your def. of “too long and should just self publish”, then I will try to just keep them short.
Now that you mention it maybe a blog connected onto our new Shopify store amy be just the thing. I can always just say here, for more info. go to… and put in a link.
Will have to give that some thought.
Mike at MDCG
I was trying to give a sugesstions to the previous poster on how he could use flat rate boxes through the system undetected. I have a huge inventory of boxes all computerized and placed on metal storage racks and use my box resizer several times a day.
The technique I outlined is usually for larger items or only occasionaly when I have something that is light and is going to go First Class and a FRB is a perfect size. it is more a matter of using a FRB for a class it doesn’t fit.
Out of 10 or 12 years, our discount is so good, that I hardly ever see where the FRB is less cost for the most items we ship.
So, think maybe you got me wrong. I have close to 300 shipping boxes on our Excel inventory sheet, both USPS and FedEx and can grab and go with close to a perfect fit most of the time and if not then down size one to fall under the wirgt mark to save a little if only a few ounces over.
The “let’s play..”Hide a FRB in Plastic” and ship it cheaper is only done once in a blue moon, blue the black plastic wrap is a way to hide that. That is all I was trying to say.
Mike at MDCG
I hear ‘ya. I had an interesting day yesterday with the WL team. Not until last night at 11:45 PM did i get it worked out with them and i had been up here working since 4:30 AM. Long ass day.
There was an error code popping up and freezing up WL and they kept saying it was because of the way Ebay was sending back data to their dBase. I said it was a glitch in WL that was because I was including some custom fields I had created in WL into a Search, then multiple sort and trying to view in a custom view.
Yep.. after 3 updates revisions to WL last night, it is fixed and guess what, not Ebay’s issue. Imagine that.Point being, that I was real close to downloading SixBit’s Free version and drawing down all my Ebay listings into SB. Based on the hours I spent with the WL guys.. UUggh last night I would have already had my complete Ebay store brought over into SB and who knows, maybe even gotten the Etsy cross list folders set-up.
Question…how is that SB Etsy interface working out in SB. Based on last niht and the July deadline of WL to have their Etsy interface built, I can just see a bunch of issues coming up down the line in the near future. i just don’t know if I want to go through this kind of stuff much more. Getting too old. I just want to get my items listed, cross psoted and have an APP handle it automatically.
Mike at MDCG
Hey T-satt… That’s $40 for 250 listings. If you hit 1,000 it’s $100. Big difference.
Mike at MDCGJay that app has been around for so time. Not new by any means. The draw back is the price. It costs a $100 per month for a thousand listings. Now that does not include variations and them being on other channels. That is why they call them “products” and not listings.
Thre pricing is $40 for 250 products that will cross list on 3 platforms, $100 for 1,000 products [listings to us] on 5 platforms [sales channels they call them] and then $200 per month for unlimited product-listings on unlimited platforms.
So in you and Ryannes case it will cost you $200 per month or $2,400 per year to have your items cross lsited and kept in synch with say Ebay, Etsy and Shopify [but you will have to build a Shopify web site, then heavily SEO it, market it and social media drive it. A full time job to say the least.
I think we may even not proceed with our Shopify store just for those reasons and save the monthly case, but I did get all our items in the Shopify store as a “backup” but think I may just drop it and save the monthly cost.
Now using Sixbit or WonderLister you can do this for about $20 to $30 per month BUT you have the limitations you already know about with remote assitants using these apps.
I looked for years after Turbo Lister was hitting the skids and there to date is just not a cure all for a decent price out there.
Mike at MDC Galleries
One of the things I do, is use the Flat Rate Boxes. Seal them up. Use opaque tape for these and then I also slip the box into one of the white opaque mailer envelopes I have. I have several sizes up to about 24 x 28 [big]. I then fold them over just like wrapping a Christmas present and tape all the envelope seams tight.
This way it basically looks like a white plastic wrapped box and who knows what the internal box looks like.
Then as a back-up and for larger boxes that don fit into my largest white opaque envelope, I have a roll of 8 mil black contractors plastic I get from home depot. It is 10 Ft. wide by 100 Ft. long for about $30 bucks. Lasts a long time. Then I unroll a piece and cut it off with scissors then wrap it again, just like a Christmad present. Folding the ends in a nice triangle and sealing all seams with tape. It then looks like a plain old black box.
Then I use Priority mostly, so I print my priority label and apply, but then I also just the 2″ x10″ long Priority Decals sent to me from the USPS web site. I apply 4 of those sticker decals diagonally across two corners on the front and two corners on the back. That way all six sides of the box has a portion of the Priority Decal folded over on it. Then I apply a FRAGILE sticker to each side.
So in the end, I wind up with a white or black plastic box, neatly and tightly wrapped, with USPS logo on all six sides with a bunch of the Fragile stickers and a Priority label. Done so for years. I don’t think any one is going to go cutting open a box to discover what the inside box actually has printed on it. BTW… I also use FedEx boxes for USPS Shipments and also USPS boxes for FedEx. FedEx even allows the USPS boxes to not be covered. Seems they don’t care who’s box I use. But I usually cover them all in plastic any way.
In summary box it in anything you want. Christmas wrap it in opaque plastic, decal it with the prioity declas and ship it. Easy, Peasy…Just a thought.
Same for me SCJ: Not in Ebay Solds or a Google search. I even signed out of my account and went into Ebay as a guest and search for your title then advanced search for Solds. Nope.
mc in Atl
Thanks for this info. Mark. I am not knowleable about the internal workings of dBase issues so maybe by pinpointing that location will help them. I forwarded it along to the team this morning.
I wonder why, when you contacted them, they couldn’t resolve the issue, especially if you provided the dBase data location you show above. Seems like your contact with them would create a series of questions back and forth, they get it corrected, and then issue a new “update”. That seems wierd. With your knowledge and background seems like a straight forward discussion and a few screen shots would have clarified the issue and concern and they would have taken care of it. Unless they don’t know how??? That would also be strange.
Sometimes it crosses my mind if I should have just gone with SixBit instead? I don’t know. Every time I get bogged down in details with WL and jump over to the SixBit site and review their data. Did so just yesterday. It does cost more, but SB has already gotten Etsy interface working where it is going to be months for WL. And I know it is going to be grueling to work through those details, just like it did with WL Shopify experience, though that is now working OK.
I am much older now, going on 70 and I just get tired sometimes. I work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week and have for decades. Sometimes I just feel way too tired for all of this stuff, Ebay, buying, selling, et,. al.
Mike
And I agree also. AdvenE asked me yesterday to outline what we use when we are looking at artwork.
The answer would be just so long and detailed for a blog. Art Historians specialize in this type of serious certification – validation, chemical test, carbon analysis of the materials, wood test, aging tests, black light testing, harware and even rust testing on the hardware. That is museum level work by specialist that study a specific artists brush stroke patterns, etc., etc.But for everyday type of stuff we just go on my background and experience which is a little bit more than the average guy off the street and that is enough for us. Prints, plates, technique, paper weights, water marks, and canvass info. On the sculpture, glass and or 3-D pieces he asked about. There are some tell tale signs, and reading books and Kovels.com has helped. We have a nice library of reference books. So basically a good education in the areas of interst and specilaty.
The rest is just as you both have said, good photos, good descriptions, maybe even a little more verbose or detailed than usual and then sell it and ship it. With Hassle Free Returns the buyer is off the hook, even if they don’t like the color, which ya’ll know is a subject I have commented on in detail on SL before.
Even the high end art houses like Sotheby’s in New York and Paris have sold works that turned out later on to be forgeries. this Ebay.
And with China and the wide format Giclee printers out there it is darn hard to tell the difference these days, Even fake hundred dollar bills are getting made very easily.So yep.. to bed this one must go I think. Just way to many ways to knock off up or repro.
mike
