Ok so I thought I'd add some very useful advice for this Ebay/Amazon Integration since so many of us want it but don't describe how the function should be. At this rate Cs will develop it and we will all complain that it sucks...why? Well, because we're not describing in detail exactly how this should function. I'm no pro here but here is my two cents worth of advice that I do hope that Cs will take into consideration.
We definitely need to be able to easily post products from our Cs-Cart to Ebay and Amazon seamlessly. This simply means checking a product to be sent along with product description, quantity, option variants and the ability to set different pricing without effecting the price of our storefronts within CS. This ebay/amazon function has got to be kept separate from our online stores with exception to obviously keeping inventory.
Just being able to post products over to these marketplaces is only half the battle in my opinion. Anyone that sells regularly on ebay/amazon know's there is much, much more to being successful within these parameters. You have to take into consideration of selling tools, product mapping and manipulation, listing scheduler, inventory tracking, out of stock inventory blocking, reporting and analytics, order management, communication, feedback management, shipping and finally checkout.
Also need to have the ability to import listing templates. It would be nice but not nessesary to somehow easly incorporate our on-line store design into our ebay or amazon store. Don't know that there would be an easy way of doing this. I know both the marketplaces have weird coding standards.
Selling tools would be things like having the ability to track your sales, manage email, manage feedback to customers and some sort of profit and loss reporting.
Product mapping and manipulation Map all important inventory information requested by the marketplace to list your products through a single, category-specific template. Using dynamic rules and settings to manipulate your inventory data to match the marketplace’s format without manually adjusting each inventory item.
Listing scheduler Manage the listing duration and frequency, listing type (auction vs. fixed price), relist frequency, and quantity-per-listing through a single schedule applied to groups of eBay listings.
Out of Stock Inventory Blocking Ensure your products are removed immediately and not re-listed when inventory goes out of stock or quantity is running low.
Reporting and Analytics We really need some way to track our marketplace campaigns including, transaction data, inventory velocity, product activity and sales history reporting.
Order Management Post sales tracking would Quickly and easily track and process eBay and Amazon orders through the fulfillment cycle with the flexibility of integrating with a variety of shipping solutions. Automate the communication of shipping information with all the marketplaces and the buyer.
Communicate through Email with eBay customers automatically about upcoming events for an enhanced customer experience and increased loyalty. Shipping tables and zones to customize by weight, quantity or order subtotal for eBay orders would be nice.
Checkout through our on-line stores somehow would be great. Provide eBay buyers with our customized checkout experience through our third party checkout. Automatically cancel orders when a buyer hasn’t completed checkout to save time and reduce errors.
communication Not only do we need a way to communicate through email but also the ability to leave feedback with pre written replies. Email customers automatically about upcoming events for an enhanced customer experience and increased loyalty.
One more thing to consider. It would be beneficial to get an estimate of the cost of posting to ebay and Amazon. This way you can manipulate certain listing aspects to meet your budget.
So this is it in a nut shell. Kind of overwhelming but if you guys want to do this in a manner that truly is function, then this is what we need. I'm no expert, however I know the standards. My best advice to the Cs-cart team is to investigate and do your homework. Please don't blindly release this ebay/amazon addition without completely understanding the standard for this type of project.
I strongly recommend you look at the companies that provide software similar to what you're trying to accomplish. Two of the more well known are channeladvisor.com and vendio.com. They have based there software off of years of marketplace experience. You should provide many of the functions that they have created and not stray from this knowledge. I will list the pertinent links below.
http://www.channelad...laces/index.php
http://www.vendio.co...ce/marketplaces
These links outline what I have written above along with many examples of screenshots along with free demos that you can download. You should download the demo and get a good understanding of exactly how you should implement this type of functionality into CS-Cart.
Most of the function for inventory and inventory management is within Cs already; we just need to fill in the rest of the marketplace management and listing processes within Cs. Definitely do able without a doubt, but a big project no less.
I hope more people from the forum can add to this as I think it's imperative especially of the people that already sell heavily on Ebay and Amazon. In the past as we all can attest too, if we don't spell out every last detail we are for sure to repeat history here at Cs. With this being said I strongly believe that the links provided above will help Cs-Cart create a great addition that is so strongly needed.
Good luck and I will be more than happy to detail the design as much as I can. ;)
Stu
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imac, on 03 March 2010 - 02:00 PM, said:
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