Ebay is migrating.... any idea how to opt out of the new form??? Sold is no useless!

The SYI page has changed and thats why it wont get past the first screen... is Bill supporting Sold anymore?

For what it's worth we did send in a trouble ticket through the Timbercreek website.
Noticed that if you manually try to list on eBay site, there is an option to use the "old" SYI form.

Have you tried the "test auction" button? As I recall, it was supposed to adapt to new pages and any new values you enter into SYI.

I may be speaking with outdated knowledge since I stopped using SOLD V for posting very long time ago.

test auction doesnt work.... I wrote Bill too but havent heard a word..

Getting a relist does work, so the problem may be able to get put off for a few days if you have a good quantity of relists to run.

I set up blackthorn Pro when the last free listing day occured. Imported all my inventory but man what a ton of set up time still... At least I have my inventory. Blacthorn Pro looks like the best bet but the learning curve is steep. I think Sold is down for the count.. very very sad after 7 years. Relists do work but dont have all I need there.

TurboLister is free. As long as CA does not break, I think we're okay. But yeah, SOLD V is a bomb waiting to go off if Bill (support) does not update the program. At least timbercreeksoftware.com web site is up... but if that goes away that is when I will start looking.

I emailed as well with no response as of yet. How old is that message on the front page of the help desk? Anyone know? Grrr...this stinks!

Btw - tek thanks for having this forum up for us! I still think the downfall of Sold started when they ended the user forum on us.

As there has been no contact back from Bill or Gary, decided to look them up in WHOIS. Below is current information for Timbercreek
Domain Name: TIMBERCREEKSOFTWARE.COM

Administrative Contact:
Hilton, William billh@GTWEED.COM
Bill Hilton
13050 CHAMPIONS PARK DR APT 1218
HOUSTON, TX 77069-3246
US
(281)397-9349

We had sent an email to GTWEED.com a number of years ago and I remeber getting a response back that he no longer worked there.
My feeling is that the program will run its course until eBay makes enough changes that it will no longer work.
Taking someones suggestion from this board, we have begun using Auction Sage, which is owned by Auctiva, so continued support is likely. The program has a very short learning curve....just the problem of copying all the listing info one item at a time...oh well, it's raining here all day anyway.

I noticed problems with SOLD over the past few months, and also wondered whether they were going to bother updating to the new FYI pages. I filed three tickets and never heard a word, but a friend found this on their website on 8/25 (I can't find it though):

Due to a catastrophic hardward failure we are in the process of rebuilding the site and all stores. If you are a store owner we expect to be fully recovered in the next day or so.

Note to all users that are hosting their own DNS: you need to change your IP address for your store to 64.34.161.89. This is a temporary server so the IP will change again next week or so.

The Paypal IPN downloads are currently not working, this will be addressed but may not be until everything has been moved from the temporary server back to a dedicated server.

We also saw on WHOIS that their Timbercreek website servers are in Virginia not in Texas...don't know if that means anything...maybe the catastrophic hardware failure was actually something else?

That's the only information I've seen. It's been really frustrating! I'm currently looking for new auction software, but I'm so used to using SOLD.
Can anyone update me on Auctiva? I tried to use them months ago, but found them confusing. Maybe it's just me!

Has anyone tried Inkfrog or Mpier? How about others?

As we mentioned, we have found Auction Sage to be very user friendly and very similar to SOLD. There is a learning curve but it's less than going from AT or SOLD 4 to SOLD V.

Hey Binkie...this is your ex-neighbor from Ohio. Not there anymore. Hope all is well with you.

Hi Mandy, Binkie is well but would be better if Bill would support his product that I have used since early 2000! If he would just tell us anything would be a kind gesture. I really hate starting over with a new program.

What I need is a Program to Create, List at specified times and to send Winner eMails. As far as keeping track of inventory, PayPal fees, leaving Feedbacy etc. I can get along without that.

Hi Binkie,
I feel the same way! For us long time users, it would be highly appreciated if Bill would fix things. I hate starting over too. Although I downloaded Turbolister and find it easy to use, I don't like the fact that I'd have to pay to list at scheduled times.

Has anyone tried calling them? Besides the whois registration number I found two other Bill Hiltons in Houston with switchboard. When I get my cell back I may try the numbers.

Hilton, William
2409 Ralph St,
Houston, TX 77006-2416
(713) 528-6121

Hilton, William H
12730 Trail Hollow Dr,
Houston, TX 77024-4011
(713) 932-9277

Mandy - I believe that auctiva has free scheduling for listing. Auctiva is free to join.

blondie...thanks! I had signed up with Auctiva a while back, but didn't have time to go through setting up everything that was needed in order to progress to listing auctions. I guess I was still using SOLD and wasn't having problems with it at the time. I'll have to go back into Auctiva and work with it.

blondie & Mandy,

I have tried Auctivia and it is ok and they have added some new features since I have used it. I didn't especially find it real interesting but maybe I was comparing it to SOLD!!

I am not sure if I want a web based or desk top program. I do see the benefits to both. The problem that I have and I haven't tried it is that I have 5 computers and I would have to pay a license fee for each one. I'm not cheap but that would add up. And really it is kinda silly since I would only be running it on one computer at a time.

Blondie - I have tried calling, faxing, emailing (bounces) and opening support tickest...... nothing works getting thru to Bill.

My needs because I have an unlimited qty. of my products are:

Creating
Scheduling
Listing (normally @ 1 hour intervals but sometime more often
Sending winning auction confirmations (but could do without)
An Active Forum!!!!


I do not need:

Any sort of bookeeping
Auto Feedback ( I ues Merlin Instant Feedback
Picture Hosting (I have my own domain plus another and use them)

I realize that many need the other goodies that SOLD! offered but those I never used and don't care about.

Price, since I was a Tech Advisor for Timbercreek, I never had to pay and had unlimited usage on as many computers as I wanted. But of course I don't mind paying and expect to, so I am not looking for a freebie. But I will not use a program that charges per listing or a FVF such a Vendio!

If anyone knows of a program that will fit then I would appreciate you posting it.

I've tried to work with Auctiva...and just now tried again, but it is too frustrating and time consuming for me. I don't need all the features of some of the programs, and don't need image hosting either. Inkfrog seems okay, but I don't want to pay a monthly fee unless my auctions pick up.

My sales are and have always been good so it's not that I am looking for a Cheap Priced program. I just don't need all the bells and whistles that most of the programs offer.

However even at that I am not going to pay anyone else FVF's or a per listing fee. I do think that Inkforg is very reasonably priced and Blackthorn Pro is over priced for my needs.

Even SOLD! had/has more extras than I ever wanted or needed. But I got used to it and simply didn't use but what I needed.

Mandy you might check out http://www.mpire.com/products/launcher.html it is free. But I haven't tried it and no one has responded to my question about it.

"Even SOLD! had/has more extras than I ever wanted or needed. But I got used to it and simply didn't use but what I needed."

I agree with you. I'll check out mpire and see what I think. Thanks!

Binkie and all,
Have just spent a good part of the weekend and today looking through, working with, posting to the discussion board, emailing support, and generally doing a decent analysis of AuctionSage. I have found the support to be much like SOLD was when it was AT back 6.5+ years ago....I actually asked some "stupid" questions and was answered in a professional manner...no bashing, no telling me to look at the forums first. As with any program we have tried out over the past month, AuctionSage has some things we don't need but the functionality is good, the flow is good and it works with eBay API. Seems that nobody using the program got caught in the listing nightmare all of us were in that still use SOLD. Another benefit is that it is very fast. Best of all, it's not a memory hog.
We have no connection with the company other than we are becoming a pretty satisfied user.

I'm also giving Auctionsage a try. I like that it interfaces with Paypal. I need to get familar with it but I was also impressed with the support.

I just use ebay for the winning confirmation emails.

Since the lack of support I've been using Turbolister for my one auction since Sold doesn't support the new picture/title/designer reduced fee.

I'm considering filing with my cc that I'm not receiving the product I've paid for. It's too late for Paypal. I renewed a week before the crash.

Thanks for all the replies and keep us all updated on different programs pro's and cons.

Just for the heck of it I tried Mpire Lister, but unless there is something that I am over looking you can not add a Gallery pic to your listing.

So I am headed to Auctionsage and also Inkfrog. But because of the # computers that I have to use I am leaning towards a web based program as much as I dread it.

Currently I am doing fine with relisting from SOLD! but that's a real pain and when eBay changes something that won't work either.

God, SOLD! had me spoiled more than I even knew until a few days ago :(

I tried Turbolister last night with a few test auctions. It's okay, but it's sure not like SOLD!!! Anyone know if there's a charge for Auctionsage?

AuctionSage has fees similar to what SOLD had but does give you 30 days to try it out. We have almost completely migrated to it and have found it to be faster overall than SOLD.

I only use Turbolister for one auction but it's much faster than Sold for posting. Only problem with using TL with Sold was that the inventory number had to be selected when a sale was made. But I won't have to worry about that much longer.

I've been working on AuctionSage but still have a few things to figure out. I noticed that another ex-Sold user posted some improvements that make it similar to Sold on the AS forum. So far AS seems to be the best alternative for what I'm looking for.

I've read on the PS board that Inkfrog has been having a lot of problems since they merged with Sparedollar.

Auction sage will NOT import ebay listings from Ebay like blackthorn.... You will ned a csv file to match auctionsages template exactly or hand enter them all.... Blackthorn pulls them in all ready to modify or list.

Great to see a lot of familiar names again.
To me the end of SOLD! was when he got rid of the 'community' feel and dropped the general discussion boards.

I've been waiting since FRIDAY to be able to post -NO RESPONSE from Bill so, like most of you after 5+ years I am leaving SOLD and trying something else. I can't afford to keep waiting any longer.

Awful that I discovered at ZERO HOUR of SOLD'S demise. that TEKGEMS set-up this great board .
Blackthorne Pro is way too expensive at $25 a MONTH when my eBay sales (like most of us) have gone in the can.
Will now lose most of today trying to figure out and set-up what will work best for me.

Thanks for the leads gang!

I still can't believe it's over...

Thanks Tekgems for pointing me to this forum!

Add another sad SOLD user to the growing list.

I can't believe how spoiled we all were with this software. I haven't been able to find anything that holds a candle to Sold.

Don't like market blast. Will not pay the outrageous fees of Andale, vendio, channeladvisor, zoovy, Blackthorne, or any of Ebay's product offerings.

I will not rely on a web based product - learned that with my Sold OSCommerce store. What a fiasco that was. No way to download the entire site, so moving my store was a total nightmare, especially since it was integrated with Sold. I want total control of the backups, and the ability to still use my product if the website or ISP is down.

I have been trying Auction Wizard 2000. The support forums are great - and the fix for the last batch of ebay changes was up right away. That is one of the first things I have been checking for each software - how quick and active they are.

Can't say I am really comfortable with how the program works - I keep thinking I am going to mess up something or over see it with all the jumping around between screens.

I may give Auction Sage a look over to see how that works - the forums are active so that is a good sign.

Would love to hear what others are trying and their opinions.

Kathy

Sun, thanks again for having this board.

Weisbaden, thanks for the information on AuctionSage. I've been messing with it the last couple of days and I think it should work just fine. There are a few things I'm not used to, but I guess that is to be expected.

If anyone else is looking for a new auction management program I would highly advise to look at AuctionSage.

I liked SOLD alot, but once they took away the forum it was all downhill. Gary became a sarcastic ass (well he had been for awhile) and the fact that Bill just left everyone hanging without any sort of notice completely pisses me off. Very unprofessional and uncaring after years of loyalty from many of us.

Oh well ... AuctionSage here I come! I wish the best of luck to all of you and hopefully our paths will cross again in "eBay world".

Thanks again for the forum Sun!

Take care gang,
Bill

<quote>
Will not pay the outrageous fees of Andale, vendio, channeladvisor, zoovy, Blackthorne, or any of Ebay's product offerings. </quote>

Kathy, I agree with you. However because of the additional license fees of Auction Wizard and Auction Sage, I am considering a Web Based product. And the only one that I find is Inkfrog.

blondie - yes I have read the problems that they are having since merging with Spare Dollar. But many complained continiously in the SOLD! Forums and supposedly that is why Gary took them down..... Very bad move on his part!!

I have read Auction Wizard's detailed description of the product and got lost with their uniqe lingo. I too have been spoiled by SOLD!

If you and others don't mind would you please post the Pro's and Con's of each product that you have or are trying?

Mandy309 - I believe if you keep playing around with Auctiva then you will find it will do what you want for now.

weisbaden1 - Great info and tyvm. Are you planning on sticking with Auction Sage?

billd - We were posting at the same time, I am in agrement with your post!!

Hi, folks. I'm another SOLD refugee. I just discovered this forum about a week ago, Googling to find any info I could about SOLD's status.

Binkie just asked if anyone would post pros and cons of other software they're trying. Here's my 2 cents.

- Andale, vendio, blackthorne, channeladvisor, zoovy: Not even considering them. They're all way too pricey for my part-time business. With the amount of vig I already have to pay eBay and PayPal, "services" such as Andale don't appeal to me. I'd end up working for free after I'm done paying everyone else their slice of the pie.

- Auction Wizard is probably a very good program for someone who sells a consistent catalog of products (same kinds of stuff all the time.) But I sell antiques, collectibles, and "smalls" I pick up from estates and auctions (and dumpsters LOL) and the limitations of the program are even worse than the limitations that SOLD put on me. (SOLD's reporting tools and backroom management was what really attracted me, not so much the selling templates.) I found it unnecessarily complex, so that was out for me.

- Auction Sage seems to be a good product. Their forums are active and their fixes are fast when eBay changes, just like SOLD used to be back in the day. The biggest drawback I've found is it doesn't support eBay Motors. I don't sell cars, but I do sell car parts, vintage literature, etc.

- Auctiva is an online application. That seems to be a sticking point for some of you, and I can understand it after the sudden abandonment of SOLD. But after trying some alternatives, they're the ones I've decided to go with. Their image hosting integrates with eBay, but is free for as many pics as you want. Their templates are professionally designed and attractive to my buyers. The Auctiva "store" gives an eyecatching preview of my other items for sale. It takes me about 4 minutes to write a complete listing instead of the 15-20 minutes it used to take with SOLD. For someone like me, selling a large number of essentially unique items, it has been a pretty good alternative. Plus, it's free (financed by shipping insurance that your customers pay - a pretty cool idea if you check it out.)

For now, I'm still using SOLD's reporting/billing/invoice side. I expect to keep doing so until eBay makes so many changes that SOLD breaks completely. But it looks like it's Auctiva for me for the forseeable future. It happened to be the one that was the best fit for me - I encourage you all to look around and make a thoughtful choice.

dave_s...I also sell smalls and collectibles. I had created my own template that I used in SOLD. I just plugged in the information for each different auction and could be finished in a few minutes. Very easy!

I've taken a look at Auctiva, and for some reason I'm finding them a bit confusing to understand (and so are some others I've spoken to). I guess I'll have to take a further look and see if I can make it work. Still miss using SOLD though.

Another resource for those looking for an auction manager, take a look at Auction Software Review:

http://www.auctionsoftwarereview.com/

I have been taking a look at Auction Sage this afternoon.

The set up is the closest to SOLD that I have found.

Can only use it for one ID though, and we have a couple more that we sell on sporadically, so I wouldn't mind using turbo lister to deal with those. I can make up invoices through Auction Sage for any sales through those IDs.

My main user has over 4500 inventory items in Sold. Has anyone come up with a way to get them, or at least what I have been able to downloand from ebay, into the inventory section on Auction Sage?

I really hate to have to do them manually. Auction Sage has csv for importing, but I cannot find any kind of exporting or importing options in Sold.

How have others dealt with it?

Auction Wizard allows one to create inventory items from the downloaded ebay auctions. I do not see where Auction Sage does this.

Thanks!

Kathy

As far as I know Blackthorn is the only program that will import your auctions back 90 days ready to list from ebay. Thats what i did after the last 20 cent listing day.. Listed all 3000 items and imported them.. Was very easy and i was set to go right away. Its 25 a month, that sucks but for a large inventory it worked.Sold has an access database you maybe could export from that, format it to sages style shhet and import.. but thats tones of work.

I had created my own template that I used in SOLD. I just plugged in the information for each different auction and could be finished in a few minutes. Very easy!
I had templates in Sold that saved me time, too, but a couple of builds ago the shipping information part broke. If I changed from flat rate to calculated shipping, I had to go to eBay's SYI to do the shipping part and that always slowed me down.

If it helps, next time you try Auctiva make a template for your Master template first, then make the User, Shipping, and Selling sub-templates. Doing it in that order may take some of the confusion out of it for you.

I miss SOLD, too. I had been with Timbercreek since late 1999, when I started running so many auctions that I couldn't keep track of them manually any more.

Thanks for the insights in the other programs, everyone. I think I might have found what works for me, but I'm still shopping.

dave_s...Thanks! I'll definitely try it that way in Auctiva.

I also had to go into eBay's SYI to make sure the shipping part was set correctly.

Yesterday, I downloaded and worked most of the day with AuctionSage and wasn't impressed. I found it totally unlike SOLD! and very confusing and put together rather slopy and not user friendly.

Today, I signed up for the trial of InkFrog and I am impressed. Yes it's web based but I build all of my templates with MS FrontPage and keep them stored on my computer so the fear of loosing them is of no concern.

And yes you can import your current and past listings into InkFrog and save them then modify then save them to your inventory to list.

I have scheduled items to list and they went fine. I listed immediately and that went fine too.

The only thing at this point that I don't like is that you have to use their pic hosting for the Gallery but it's easy to bulk upload thru their site or by FTP.

If I see problems then I will post here.

Binkie - I don't use InkFrog. Someone earlier mentioned trying it out and I've seen quite a few powersellers complain about it not working. Probably mostly the picture hosting but I'm not sure.

Dave - From reading the message boards at AuctionSage, the new API version does support ebay motors.

kml - AuctionSage will support multiple userids. I haven't set it up myself yet but the messsage board has instructions on how to use two ids.

Since auctionsmd mentioned that Blackthorne can import auctions, would it be possible to do a trial of Blackthorne and import all the auctions and then export them to csv for importing into AuctionSage?

I'm transferring all my auctions over to AuctionSage. I'm still learning how to use it but it seems to be the best alternative out there.

blondie.... I am a Gold PowerSeller, for whatever that's worth, and if I find problems then you will hear me do my part of Bitchin!

Remember I have only given AuctionSage and InkFrog a ONE DAY test drive so I might change my mind but comparing the ease of use of IF to AS there is no comparison. And the ability to import current and past listings is very nice. However if your on Dial-Up then I imagine that it would suck!

We all have our own needs and have to use what's best for us. As I have stated I never used all of what SOLD! had to offer. But at least it was there as in the others if needed.

binkie - glad you found something that works for you.

blondie - auctionsage seems to be the best for me too. It is going to take some time to build it up, but the copy and paste moves along pretty quickly once you keep just the input fields needed on the posting preferences.

It posts listings so super fast, if you blink you miss it. They have a really neat add-on for scheduling autions, and it works like a charm. It is not as versitle as SOLD's, but at least it doesn't charge an extra 10 cents per listing as every other scheduling software does - including ebays.

I have given up on auction wizard 2000. It is a powerful piece of software, but it is so easy to get lost on all the screens you need to keep flipping through to find everything. I could figure it out easily enough, but I believe in the KISS (keep it simple stupid)theory and that software is just way overboard with the screens and flipping.

If anyone decides to try Auction Sage - don't get too upset if you get errors when downloading ebay store cats or the posting throws an error screen. Just upgrade to the version 7. It took me about an hour to figure that one out - I thought I kept doing something wrong, but I must have been signed over to the API, and the download version I had wasn't the upgraded one.

Hope this info helps someone, and I am keeping my eye on the SOLD updates. I am wondering if Bill is working on something and maybe the update screen is his way of telling us to hang on. He better hurry up - the rope is almost slipping out of my hands.........


Kathy

I also updated AS to version 7. I figured, why learn something they are phasing out.

It's odd that Sold is indicating an update all of a sudden. You'd think that if he was really going to support it he would at least post something on his help page. It still shows the original info about the problem.

We did download and tried to list an item - nothing...at least the relists still work. Odd, though it shows build 162 instead of some other build change....maybe Gary is getting back at everyone for giving him a hard time on the old forum?

"maybe Gary is getting back at everyone for giving him a hard time on the old forum?"

That would be really terrible! Since they ended the forum, they haven't had to deal with us much anymore. How much easier could it be?

FYI...

----- Original Message -----
From: "Support" <xxxxxxxxxxx@timbercreeksoftware.com>
To: <xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 7:22 PM
Subject: TimberCreek Software is out of Business


> Sorry to inform you that Timbercreek Software is no longer supporting any if it's software.
>
> If you have scheduled payments setup through paypal you will need to cancel them at paypal.
>
> You may continue to use the Sold! V software for as long as you would like but there will be no more updates or ticket support.
>
> Gary
>
>

I NEVER USED SOLD FOR POSTING MY AUCTIONS - FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO CAN NO LONGER USE SOLD V FOR POSTING, YOU SHOULD DOWNLOAD EBAY'S FREE TURBO-LISTER...IT'S GREAT.

AS FOR SOLD V....THE ONLY THING ANY OF US CAN DO IS RIDE THIS HORSE UNTIL IT DIES....WHICH IT EVENTUALLY WILL.

LET'S ALL HELP EACH OTHER & POST ANY INFO ON NEW AUCTION SOFTWARE WE MAY FIND. I LOVED THE EASE OF USING SOLD & HAVING ALL OF MY ACCOUNTING & CUSTOMERS RIGHT THERE....I'M JUST SICK THAT BILL DUMPED US IN THIS WAY..

MD

Hi Guys,

Boy it's nice to have these forums here! Upon the suggestion of AuctionSage, I went and checked them out. I have decided to go with them for good! It is definitely different than Sold. That was my biggest hang up at first. After almost 7 years of AT and Sold, it is VERY hard to learn something new. But, after a couple days of playing around with AuctionSage, I must say, it is starting to come easier to me now. Things are laid out differently for sure, and the "flow process" works differently than Sold, but once I opened my mind that I HAD to adapt (since Sold is gone), I was able to make the transition.

I found their forums VERY helpful, and the people there seem very helpful too. No flaming, no sarcasm to "stupid" questions, etc. Just a very friendly community. As has already been mentioned, it reminds me of the "good times" on the AT and Sold forums.

Kathy, you asked about importing a CSV file into AuctionSage from Sold. I ran into the exact same problem, as Sold does not have a CSV export. My inventory in Sold was almost 1,000 different items! Here's how I did it. I made a copy of my auctionmgr.mdb database file from sold, and opened it with MS Excel. Then, (it takes some work here), find all the columns which relate to the stuff you need to import into AuctionSage. With some work, I was able to find most of the inventory columns of title, starting bid, category, etc. Then, read the instructions for AuctionSage importing of CSV. It tells you the names of the field it looks for. I created a new excel spreadsheet, and titled the tops of the columns with these names from AS (the ones I wanted to use). Then, I simply copied the columns from Sold's database, and put them into the appropriate "new" colums in the new spreadsheet for AuctionSage. Do this for each column you want to import. Then I saved the new excel spreadsheet as a CSV file, and told Auction Sage to import it! Worked VERY well! :) But, there was one hangup I wasn't aware of. AuctionSage imports by TITLE, so if any of your items have the SAME text in the TITLE field, only 1 will be imported, and the rest will be ignored. I didn't know this, so I had to manually enter all these afterwards. But with this warning, if you do what I did, you can edit the titles to be different before saving the CSV file. Anyway, it took about an hour to do all this, but that certainly is better than the time it would have taken to manually enter 1,000 items into AuctionSage!

Hope this info helps. :) Also, just to make note on a few other things. AuctionSage CAN handle multiple id's (I use 2 on ebay). It's not a "smooth" as Sold was, but it can be done. Basically just install AuctionSage, and once its installed, make a copy of the directory and call it something else, like AuctionSage2. Then you run each one independently for each user id. Again, not as smooth as being all together like Sold was, but it works.

I agree also that it was not right of Bill at Sold to just drop it like this with no warning. Does anyone know if something bad happened to him (health wise)? I do hope he's okay. But if he is, it is not right to just drop all of us loyal customers like that, esp. with no warning. So, needless to say, I'm so glad I saw weisbaden's post here about AuctionSage, as that has saved me big time!

Talk more soon,
~Mark

Hey Mark,

Thanks for all the info regarding the CSV importing. I am currently copying and pasting my current items and store inventory as they end each day. I figure after the 30 days have passed, all my current auctions and store items will have new inventory entries in AS.

I will then be able to take a look at the other 2000 items, and your method looks do-able for them, especially if I handle them in small batches. Thanks for posting it!

I have another question for anyone switching over to AS -

SOLD had a great HTML editor to see as you type, and view the RAW code separately. I have been coping the RAW code and pasting it into the description area in AS. I can view it in the preview, but making changes is awfully hard as it must be done to the RAW code.

I can handle it, but there is just too much room for errors when dealing with the code.

Has anyone found an HTML editor like Sold's that you can create regular, then view the code? I do need to access the code on each listing as I need to change the URL for the images used in the auction.

I am looking for a stand alone product if possible only because by the time I open SOLD, AS, Firefox, and now an HTML editor, my system resources are running low, and that's with 1GB RAM.

I have tried Mozilla Seamonkey, as it has an editor also, but I am just wondering how anybody else is dealing with it.

Thanks all!

Kathy

Mark,

Thanks for the help. I've copied/opened up the Sold! .mdb file both in Access and in Excel. It looks like at some point in time, the database structure changed and as a result, not all the data is in the table. For me, items 1 through 1022 show the gallery and picture URL, but all the items after that do not have these fields populated. Plus there are other fields that are not populated. What's odd is that when I start up Sold!, the info for those fields for those items DO show up.

Do you know if there are some sort of hidden files or tables that are used to hold some of the data after one of the builds?

Thanks

Patricia

As for HTML Editors, NVU is free and works okay. I think Gin loved used NoteTab.

As for the actual HTML, the data structure changed in SOLD V. I think you might find what you're looking for in the AuctionData or AuctionInfo table using Microsoft Access. But it may not be easy to extract it from there.

tekgems,

Thanks for the info. It was in the AuctionInfo Table. I'll work on it this weekend and see what I come up with. I'm thinking I might have to "join" the ITEMS table and the AUCTIONINFO Table to get all the details. If I get it figured out, I'll post it here.

Thanks again

HI Patricia - that's very kind of you. If you run into trouble, let me know and I'll take a stab at it. I'll just need the AuctionInfo table, Items table, and the fields you're looking to extract from AuctionInfo.

I did successfully convert my Sold database to AuctionSage. However, only a very few fields transfer so it takes a lot of manipulation after the conversion. One big headache is that it did not import multiple shipping charges - only the first one. If you have a lot of different shipping charges, this take a LOT of time to correct.

Bottom line is that AuctionSage's CSV import look like it was developed well before some of the newer eBay features were implemented and it was never updated (For instance, it will not import simple things like whether of not a listing should be BOLD.)

I would say go the CSV route if you have a lot of items you relist on an ongoing basis (we have close to 1000).

I can write-up my process if anyone would like to see it. It would only be of benefit to those who understand Windows, Excel Functions, and of course AuctionSage. Two of the excel functions I used were:
=Round(A1,2)
=If(Left(A1,4)="GOOD","GTC", A1)

PGE

Yeah, I noticed that too. Seems like any items PRE soldV were in different fields than those items created USING soldV. But, with a little effort, I got most imported into AuctionSage. Still saved time compared to manually entering each into AuctionSage! :)

I had that problem too about the csv not having all the fields necessary. Thankfully, many of these things were able to be "bulk changed" once inside AuctionSage. I found their bulk-edit tool quite helpful. :)

I'm happy to finaly be "up & running" again with this new software. It took some getting used to, but now I'm learning the new "flow process" and it's all working out quite nicely. I've posted some ideas for "new features" over at the AuctionSage forums, but haven't gotten much of a reply to them. I'm guessing that John wants to get the bugs worked out of the new API version, and get it out of beta, before adding new features. I do hope he is open/willing to some of the suggestions though. :)

~Mark

Another SOLD refugee here. Can anyone suggest an auction mgmt program that includes:

1) Simple inventory mgmt I really just need to attach a permanent item number to each item, that the system can recognize whenever it finds an active item of mine on eBay,.

2) Good support for multiple ID's.

3) Good Sales Order/Invoice and Purchase Order handling.

4) Meybe too much to ask, but a database to which I can link using MS Access. I use TurboLister for posting, but unfortunately its tables are hidden. That means a text-only export, then import, etc. And I think the item label (I use it for inventory #) might diappear when we do that.