E-commerce how to move your items all over the net, not just eBay

Dear eBay Queen;

I own an e-commerce platform store that has several thousand products. I am trying to figure out, either a fully automated way, or the least time consuming way, to list these products in an eBay store. I know there must be a way to do this automatically. This is currently being done by several people on eBay already. I am currently attempting to reverse engineer how they are integrating their inventory directly into eBay. These sellers have identical inventory on both their websites and their eBay stores. I know that they can’t be manually creating 5000+ listings. I am having trouble figuring out where to start.

I am assuming that they are doing this one of two ways. First, they could be using some type of existing service that converts these website items, pictures and descriptions, strips out the shopping cart code and other proprietary ecommerce platform information and leaves a “clean” listing that can be uploaded to eBay through some type of auto listing software such as Turbo Lister. One of the reasons I believe this to be done by a service as opposed to a manual process, is that the stores and listings I have seen a few of these sellers create are extremely professional and organized. The second way they could be doing this is by taking the inventory spreadsheets from the drop ship company and somehow integrating the pictures, which are separate but identified by SKU numbers, and somehow uploading or integrating this data into some program. This method would be more advantageous for me as I have several drop shippers available to me with very large inventories and they have their whole inventory in spreadsheet formats much like the ecommerce platform does.

So basically I am looking for the most efficient way to instantly populate an eBay store with an existing inventory. I have not been a PowerSeller on eBay for a few years now and could be missing something obvious here. What is the most efficient way to instantly populate an eBay store with an existing inventory? What is the most efficient, automated way to transfer product data (pictures, descriptions) from a spreadsheet of inventory and/or existing ecommerce platform website, create listings of these products, and upload those items into an eBay store? Do you have any suggestions as to how I automate this process? Should I be looking for a service that will do this for me?

Steve

Dear Steve;

In this current economy you have a great problem to have. Unlike most eBay sellers, you have taken on the Internet alone without the help of eBay. Most Internet Retailers have mastered eBay and are very afraid to take on the World Wide Web.

There are quite a few business’ taking advantage multi-channel selling. They seem to have complete copies of their inventory on their web store on eBay. I believe they are doing this will the help of one of the many companies that have integrated ecommerce, eBay and other online selling venues. An option you might want to look into is using Channel Advisor http://www.channeladvisor.com/ Kyozu http://www.kyozu.com/ or Infopia http://www.infopia.com/ . These companies will help immerse your business (for a fee) into the world of ecommerce.

I did a bit of research, and I think I understand what you need. Here are a few options that might help you create a presence on eBay.

1. eBay File Exchange http://pages.ebay.com/File_Exchange/ With file exchange you can upload your inventory via an Excel Spreadsheet.
2. OS Commerce has several open source options that will allow you to load your shopping cart onto eBay. To find a compatible program by Googling your shopping cart name and eBay to see if there is a compatible module that will load your items on eBay.
3. Blackthorne Pro might be an option for you as it works on an Access Database. http://pages.ebay.com/blackthorne/pro.html

I hope one or some of these suggestions will get this problem ironed out and you find a good fit for your business.

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eBay Listings Removed? Why would they do this?

Dear eBay Queen;

I woke up to a WHOLE bunch of my store listings removed. They’ve got to be kidding me! The shipping is pretty much what it would cost me plus $1. I don’t understand how I am circumventing fees! Here is there reasoning.

We appreciate that you chose eBay to list your eBay Stores listing(s). However, we have removed your listing because it breached our Circumvention of eBay Fees policy. We notified members who placed bids on the item that the listing has been canceled.

Why did we remove your listing? Your listing(s) contains the following information:

Looking for something you don't see? Just ask! We will be happy to add it to our stock whenever possible

You may not manipulate eBay's system in order to avoid paying certain eBay fees. This includes practices such as adding previously unspecified fees after the end of the auction, or charging excessive postage and packaging in order to recoup your listing and Final Value Fees.

Could you please explain to me how I am circumventing eBay fees?

Sabrina; Rantoul, KS


Dear Sabrina;

I don’t believe eBay removed the listings because of your shipping and handling charges. They removed it because of this statement: “Looking for something you don’t see? Just ask! We will be happy to add it to our stock whenever possible.”

I believe if you changed your wording, it would be ok. I’m not sure what you sell, but I don’t think the line “Looking for something you don’t see?” is going to make people email you. I would suggest making your statement more specific to what you are selling. If you sell men’s dress shirts, you could say something like “Looking for this dress shirt in a different size? Just ask! I would be happy to put one on a buy it now for you. This tells the buyer and eBay you have more of these items and you will be adding it to your eBay store or to a fixed price listing.

I don’t think your wording was really circumventing fees, and whoever turned it in or pulled it was really reaching to say you were trying to sell things off eBay. I have had a very similar thing happen to me a couple of years ago at Christmas time. I had over 200 listings pulled because I said something similar to what you said. The key is to say you will add it to your eBay store inventory or put it on a Buy it Now.



Dear eBay Queen;


Do you know anyone dropped from eBay because of low DSRs (Detail Seller Rating) scores? I will be. I cannot get my shipping high star high enough! I only ship once a week (officially), though I really do ship a couple times a week. Some people do not read that I only ship on THURSDAYs following payment. Because of this my shipping DSR is low.

Losing eBay during the holidays will stink as that's usually the money I use for gifts, but I have too much else going on in my life to ship the same day. Do you have any advice for me?

George; Olathe, KS

Dear George:

I am sorry to hear this. eBay is instituting this requirement that every seller’s DSR’s need to be above 4.3. Is your shipping DSR’s going to fall below the 30 day 4.3 number? If so, you will not be kicked off eBay for that, only restricted to listing a few items (think of it as being grounded eBay style).

I am wondering if we can’t do something to make your shipping star go up? If I had this problem, I would be using PayPal to make shipping labels (which is free), and have the post office pick up my packages at home or work daily. This way I could ship out as the packages come in.

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