Ebay Synchronization Add-On: Improvements And New Features

Hello!

Today, we present to you the newest version of the eBay Synchronization add-on. Get it with CS-Cart 4.3.5, or as an upgrade package for CS-Cart 4.3.4 (download eBay upgrade package for 4.3.4).

We’d appreciate your feedback about the add-on, so you won’t even need a valid license number to test it: CS-Cart 4.3.5 will include the 30-day trial period for the eBay Synchronization add-on.

With CS-Cart & Multi-Vendor 4.3.5 released, it’s high time to try the new eBay Synchronization add-on.

Download CS-Cart 4.3.5 at cs-cart.com to get the 30-day trial period for the add-on. Try it, and share your ideas and suggestions in this topic. We’re looking forward to your feedback!


The trial period for the add-on is included in CS-Cart 4.3.5 only: those, who install the eBay synchronization upgrade package for CS-Cart 4.3.4, still need a valid license number (available for purchase at cs-cart.com).

The add-on has changed significantly, so check out the new eBay add-on documentation (available at docs.cs-cart.com). If you want to know how to install the add-on on various versions of CS-Cart, see the next post.

Resolved Issues

Issue: There were no detailed error messages after exporting products to eBay. If something went wrong, the user couldn’t determine the reason.

Solution: A pop-up window will notify you, if anything goes wrong when you export products to eBay. The pop-up window has the Show Logs button, that leads to a page with the list products you exported, and the errors related to those products.


Issue: You could only assign one category to an eBay template. If you wanted to export products to 10 different eBay categories, you had to make 10 templates.

Solution: You can now assign a corresponding eBay category to a category of your store on the eBay tab of category settings. This eBay category will override the category specified in the eBay template, but only for the products that fall under the corresponding category of your store.


Issue: You couldn’t make exported products cheaper or more expensive on eBay, than in your store.

Solution: When you edit a product, you can now switch to the eBay tab, tick the Redefine Price on eBay checkbox, and fill in the eBay Product Price field.


Issue: You couldn’t apply an eBay template to products on the eBay template editing page. Instead you had to go to Products → Products and apply eBay templates there.

Solution: When you edit an eBay template, you can now apply it to products: press the Add Products button and find a product you want to add to the template. You no longer have to go to every separate product and specify an eBay template for them.


Issue: You couldn’t see the list of products assigned to an eBay template.

Solution: Use the eBay template and eBay status filters in the advanced product search to find all products associated with eBay.


Issue: You couldn’t change eBay parameters of products in bulk and export eBay parameters to a .csv file.

Solution: You can now select multiple products and use the Edit Selected button to change eBay parameters. You can also export eBay parameters under Administration → Export Data → Products.


Issue: The Default Site setting of the eBay Synchronization add-on had to match the eBay Region setting of an eBay template for the export to work properly.

Solution: The Default Site setting has been removed. Now you only need to specify the eBay Region in the eBay template’s settings.

Note: Before you export products to a specific eBay region, make sure to change the company address, primary currency, and weight unit in your store to meet the requirements of the selected eBay region.



Other Improvements
  • A new eBay column on the product list, that shows product’s current eBay template and status
  • You now have the option to end eBay sales for an eBay template or particular products assigned to that template. Go to Marketing → eBay → eBay templates, press the gear button next to the template, and choose End eBay sales
  • You can now retrieve the statuses of products from eBay. Go to Marketing → eBay → eBay templates, press the gear button next to the template and choose Get product status from eBay
  • You can now find and export products with an applied eBay template under Marketing → eBay → eBay products
  • You can now export entire eBay templates under Marketing → eBay → eBay templates
Unresolved Issues
  • Since June 29, 2015, eBay requires Product Identifiers (learn more at ebay.com) such as Item’s Brand, Manufacturer Part Number (MPN), and Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs)—Universal Product Codes (UPCs), European Article Numbers (EAN), and International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs)
  • CS-Cart doesn’t export the International shipping service setting of eBay templates
  • CS-Cart doesn’t allow you to specify multiple domestic and international shipping services for an eBay template; log in to eBay to specify additional shipping services
  • There’s no option to specify taxes for eBay in CS-Cart (learn more about tax tables at ebay.com)
Workarounds to Resolve the Issues

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to send product identifiers to eBay by adding features to products in CS-Cart. The issue with product identifiers has been resolved in CS-Cart 4.3.7.

The issues with shipping services and tax tables can be resolved by exporting products (learn how to export products to eBay at docs.cs-cart.com) and then revising them directly on the eBay website:
  • Go to My eBay
  • Click Sell → Active on the left menu
  • Click More actions → Revise in the Actions column of the desired product
  • Specify your shipping methods in the Add shipping details section
  • Specify taxes in the Add other details section
  • Click Continue at the bottom of the page

The new eBay Synchronization add-on is available as a separate upgrade package for CS-Cart 4.3.4. It will also come with CS-Cart 4.3.5, when it's released.

CS-Cart 4.3.5
CS-Cart 4.3.5 will come with the latest version of eBay Synchronization. It will also include a 30-day trial period for the add-on, no license key required.

If you never used eBay Synchronization before, simply install the add-on (see the guide at docs.cs-cart.com for details), and you’ll be good to go.

The trial period of the add-on starts when you install and activate the add-on for the first time. See this post for details.

If you used the old version of eBay Synchronization in CS-Cart 4.3.4 before upgrading to 4.3.5, get the statuses of your exported products from eBay, before you continue to use the add-on:

  • Log in to your admin panel
  • Go to Marketing → eBay → eBay templates
  • Hover over an eBay template
  • Click the gear button
  • Select Get product status from eBay
  • Repeat these steps for all your eBay templates

CS-Cart 4.3.4
We have created an upgrade package with the new eBay Synchronization add-on. The package works only with CS-Cart 4.3.4 and doesn't include a trial period. Follow the instructions to install the upgrade:

  • Create a full backup of your store’s database and files under Administration → Backup/Restore
  • Download the ebay_2.0.zip upgrade archive (see the Attached Files section below)
  • Upload ebay_2.0.zip to the main directory of your store
  • Unpack the archive and replace the files
  • Run ebay_upgrade.php by entering an URL like http://example.com/ebay_upgrade.php in the address bar of your browser; use the URL of your store instead of example.com
  • On the ebay_upgrade.php page click Update eBay
  • Delete the ebay_upgrade.php from the main directory of your store
  • If you used the eBay Synchronization add-on before, retrieve the statuses of your exported products from eBay:
  • Log in to your admin panel
  • Go to Marketing → eBay → eBay templates
  • Hover over an eBay template
  • Click the gear button
  • Select Get product status from eBay
  • Repeat these previous steps for all your eBay templates

ebay_2.0.zip

If product is priced in eur, can I export products to US ebay ?

If product is priced in eur, can I export products to US ebay ?


Hello, Darius,

eBay national sites usually accept only one currency. The most notable exception is Canada (the Canadian eBay supports Canadian Dollar and USD).

According to the table of supported currencies, you can export products priced in Euros to the following eBay sites: Austria, Belgium (both versions), France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

A Possible Workaround:
In the new version of eBay Synchronization you can create a separate eBay template for the desired eBay website.

Then you set the currency of that website as the primary currency of your store under Administration → Currencies and specify prices for your products in that currency (if it hasn't been done already).

If your eBay template's shipping type is set to Calculated, you'll also need to change company address (Settings → Company) and weight measurement units (Settings → General) to meet the requirements of the national eBay website you're exporting products to.

Then you can export and revise products on that particular national eBay site.

I know this solution is not perfect and requires a lot of work, but I hope this helps someone.

With CS-Cart & Multi-Vendor 4.3.5 released, it's high time to try the new eBay Synchronization add-on.

Download CS-Cart 4.3.5 at cs-cart.com to get the 30-day trial period for the add-on. Try it, and share your ideas and suggestions in this topic. We're looking forward to your feedback!

Hi,

please note for ebay.it required fields are:

  • Brand
  • MPN (Manufacturer Part Number)
  • GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)
  • EAN

thanks

regards

Thank you, Tectron.

I'll keep you posted, if there are any news about the solution to the issue with Product Identifiers.

Is the link above to the ebay 2.0 addon, the exact same one that comes with 4.3.5? Also, It will work on 4.3.4 correct?

CS-Cart doesn’t export the International shipping service setting of eBay templates

CS-Cart doesn’t allow you to specify multiple domestic and international shipping services for an eBay template; log in to eBay to specify additional shipping services

With other carts, Ive seen this issue solved by being able to assign Cart Shipping Method to an equivilent eBay Shipping method. When downloading eBay orders to the cart, the equivilent method is shown on the invoice, with the shipping cost the ebay customer has paid.

Only need to set this up once, and could perhaps be an "eBay" tab in the carts.Shipping methods Admin page.

eBay requires Product Identifiers (learn more at ebay.com) such as Item’s Brand, Manufacturer Part Number (MPN), and Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs)—Universal Product Codes (UPCs), European Article Numbers (EAN), and International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs)

Got to have this, cant get the "Get it Fast" and other listing bonuses without these.

These will need to be set in the cscart Option Combinations so that the eBay Listing's Options have the correct data.

Is the link above to the ebay 2.0 addon, the exact same one that comes with 4.3.5? Also, It will work on 4.3.4 correct?


Hello, Parodius420,

The ebay_2.0.zip archive (attached to the post #2 in this topic) is designed for CS-Cart 4.3.4. So yes, it will work with CS-Cart 4.3.4.

CS-Cart 4.3.5 already comes with the upgraded add-on: you only need to install it, as described in the documentation. Those, who upgraded from CS-Cart 4.3.4 to 4.3.5 and who had used eBay Synchronization before, will need to complete the additional steps described in the post #2.

There are some differences between the upgraded eBay Synchronization add-on in CS-Cart 4.3.4 and 4.3.5. In CS-Cart 4.3.5 we added the trial period for the add-on and also fixed some issues:
  • before 4.3.5, there was a problem with revising products with option combinations: if you exported such products to eBay, then changed the names of the options and attempted to export those products again, it would cause an error;
  • before 4.3.5, you'd get an error when exporting products with features that have special symbols like &, ", ', <, > in their names; you also couldn't use those special symbols in the Return Policy description of an eBay template without getting an error during export.
These two issues have only been solved after we released the eBay Synchronization add-on upgrade package for CS-Cart 4.3.4. So, the upgraded eBay Synchronization in more polished in 4.3.5 than in 4.3.4.

There's also a technical difference between the upgraded eBay Synchronization add-on for 4.3.4 and 4.3.5: since 4.3.5, the eBay add-on can be updated separately from the core.

With other carts, Ive seen this issue [with the export of shipping services] solved by being able to assign Cart Shipping Method to an equivilent eBay Shipping method. When downloading eBay orders to the cart, the equivilent method is shown on the invoice, with the shipping cost the ebay customer has paid.
Only need to set this up once, and could perhaps be an "eBay" tab in the carts.Shipping methods Admin page.

Got to have [product identifiers], cant get the "Get it Fast" and other listing bonuses without these.
These will need to be set in the cscart Option Combinations so that the eBay Listing's Options have the correct data.


Hello, Remoteone,

Thank you for your feedback and suggestions! I talked to CS-Cart Architects about it: they are aware of the problems and are looking into them. So far I can only promise you that when there is a solution, I'll let you know.

In the meantime, please, keep the feedback coming! It's a great help for us.

Does the 30 day free trial start the second 4.3.5 is installed, or after I enable the eBay addon or what?

Think it’s inappropriate for you to include paid addons in the distribution. You should sell in marketplace like everyone else. Then maybe you’ll learn what add-on developers have to go through in requesting hooks or waiting for defect corrections in future releases!


Either make it free and include it, or take it out if it’s paid.


Need level playing field.

Does the 30 day free trial start the second 4.3.5 is installed, or after I enable the eBay addon or what?


The addon trial period starts when you install and activate the addon itself. Thank you for your question, I'll add the answer to my initial posts to make them more clear.

Here's the detailed description of how it works:

1. By default the addon is not installed. You'd have to go to Add-ons → Manage Add-ons, switch to the Browse All Available Add-ons tab and install eBay Synchronization.

2. After that you'd need to enable the add-on on the Installed Add-ons tab. This is the moment when the trial period starts.

3. If you click on the addon name and switch to the License info tab, you'll see that the trial key is in the field for the addon license number. This key got applied during step 2 when you set the status of the addon to Active.

Think it's inappropriate for you to include paid addons in the distribution. You should sell in marketplace like everyone else. Then maybe you'll learn what add-on developers have to go through in requesting hooks or waiting for defect corrections in future releases!

Either make it free and include it, or take it out if it's paid.

Need level playing field.


I think that selling the eBay Synchronization addon in the marketplace wouldn't make too much of a difference. Regardless of the distribution model, the complications you mentioned would still be specific to third-party developers. After all, a developer who works on both the add-on and CS-Cart can add hooks and fix problems at their convenience.

In the end, CS-Cart Architects are going to have certain advantages simply because they can coordinate their efforts and have the addons tested along with the main distribution.

However, we intend to update eBay Synchronization separately from the main distribution, just like third-party developers do with their addons. That will allow us to see at least some of the problems they face and to fine-tune the update process.

Awesome. Thanks!

@ikoshkin

Yes, but if you don't include it in the distribution then you'll get the same suffering we get for customers who have an existing addon and upgrade their store or that have an older version of the store and a newer addon that wants to use new features. You'll then get the joy of what it's like to support addons in cscart environment. It's gotten a lot better, but there are still many issues that addon developers face that we shouldn't have to.

I think it will sensitize you to the issues that we face every day but that you (because of stature) don't have to endure.

@ikoshkin

Yes, but if you don't include it in the distribution then you'll get the same suffering we get for customers who have an existing addon and upgrade their store or that have an older version of the store and a newer addon that wants to use new features. You'll then get the joy of what it's like to support addons in cscart environment. It's gotten a lot better, but there are still many issues that addon developers face that we shouldn't have to.

I think it will sensitize you to the issues that we face every day but that you (because of stature) don't have to endure.


You raise a good point. I'm glad to hear that things got better though. Hopefully, the situation will continue to improve; we are working on it.

Although I doubt that we'll remove the addon from the distribution (after all, it's been there for a long time already), we would appreciate any feedback and suggestions about making addon development and support easier.

I could give you a list as long as my arm but every other time I've made suggestions, then normally fall on deaf ears or there's absolutely no feedback.

The ebay addon (like mostly all others included in the distribution other than the maxmind one) was free before.

I asked imac about it; he said that although we won't exclude eBay Synchronization from the package, we are concerned with addon distribution. We may release some other new features as add-ons and go through the process you described.