Guest Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Weighing in on the E-Bay API Issue Depending on the volume a seller does the API Individual license should be more than enough. Some calls like "getsellertransactions" can retrieve up to 200 transactions in one call. Listing and relisting are free. With some planning (which anyone listing items should do anyway) theIndiviual API should be more than enough for anyone but the big volume users. A con as previously stated is that it will cost - even with the Individual license you will have to get the application certified - that is $100 for the app and if they change the API or contact you to do so, you have to recertify it. It does not matter if other people have certified it before - for each API aplication using your own keys - you have to get it certified. A pro of this is that it could run it as a web ,or even better yet - a desktop, application via the use of the Command Lne Interface that is a default part of php. The CLI would allow you to commnicate with your mysql database on the host's server and even allow communication with your local mysql. Yes, that is what I said. You can communicate with both the online and the offline databases. So what? you ask - Well think about synchronizing your databases with ease. This means that you could easily create and list your auctions. Do the requisite bookkeping and records maintenence required without being dependent on being online the entire time. This also meansf that the program, with expanded capabilities, could be used to cover some of the tasks that are not usually a part of ecommerce packages - namely customer recods management, purchasing and accounting, warehousing, etc. Another con howeer, yes there is anoher one, is that something to meet all those needs cannot be developed overnight and certainly, should not be done by just one person. If you are clamoring for a mod, or you find the mods useful then you need to contribute - to the mod developer, to oscommerce developers, to the community. And yes, I know a lot of people do not know php. So what? Instead of drinking that next cola, that is bad for you anyway, send that $1.50 to the team. Think about how many sodas you probably drink in a month multiplied by all the oscommerce forum members and that is no small change. And what if I don't drink sodas you ask? Well, I know you have a vice there somewhere - give up that Hagen Dazs or that beer and chips for a month (your waistline will thank you), give up those cigarettes (nasty habit anyway. You waistline probably won't thank you, but your lungs and those around you certainly will. As will your wallet that is now fatter - so you can send that money to the developers). Lol. Slightly tongue in cheek but nevertheless true. But I digress. The other option, that has been mentioned before, is a group participation auction management site. This would take some logistical planning, but is more than doable. Once again it is not a small undertaking and let's face it, how many people that say they really need a mod and are willing to pay for it even bother to contribute after they use it. Considering the two scenarios, I think the web/desktop application is the best option. It would work for both Individual API license use or, for those who need more calls, a subscription service. It is doable because most folks can easily setup a LAMP or other server with apache/mysql/php, or install the triad (php/apache/mysql) on a windows computer ( with windows and it vagaries you need patience, lots of patience, for this one!) Kills quite a few littl birdies with one stone. Just some ideas for you all to kick around. Ciao Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 And for those who wish some light reading, here is more on the CLI http://www.phpfreaks.com/tutorials/86/2.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forgotten_soul Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 hello, folx I don't know whether this has been mentioned before, so please apologize if this is a double-post : I have received a message from ebay germany, as I was interested in their apis. they told me the following : as there IS a non-disclosure-agreement on the ebay-apis, and as i told them i wanted to use the apis with a open source app, they can only suggest me to write a binary which will be closed source, and which shall then be used to provide an api for OSC. (so my closed source binary converts the calls from my open source application) another alternative I see : there is a german program called "baywotch" (not written by me) which uses the ebay search function to make a database out of the articles, perhaps someone could contact the programmer whether he is willing to help us a bit. (but don't ask me, i have a webshop too set up :) cu, karlheinz meier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 17, 2003 Share Posted September 17, 2003 I'm a high volume seller on eBay. I currently pay $4.99/month for one piece of software, plus $12.99/month for another and $9.99/month for another. THEN, take the eBay store into account and that's another $9.99/month. That's just short of $30/month w/o the eBay store. That's $336/year for Auction Management software. I personally would have *NO* problems paying $200/year for an Auction Management solution that is integrated into OSC. It would really make life so much easier. I read this thread when it was started almost a year ago, lost track of it though. Gonna have to read up on the solutions being suggested. But for the record, I'd be willing to pay a few hundred a year for a working integrated solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 17, 2003 Share Posted September 17, 2003 I have tried several of the "Free" Auction Managers out there. Every month or so eBay would change things slightly so they would no longer work. They know people parse their pages and things. They would have the updates in 24-72 hours, and you just run the update and your good to go. Problem is, I have 50-150 auctions end in a day. If I have to wait 3 days, that's alot of auctions I'm behind. I'm all about Open Source, and I'm all about screwing eBay, but, at the same time, I can't hurt my business by waiting days for updates. And I'm not sure I'd want to put in the time needed to edit all the code. Now without sounding too cliche, what about the two of you working together? You both have good ideas. I particularly like the ability to list directly from OSC. Would that require a template that the end user could define? Keep up the good work, both of you. I look forward to having an Auction Management solution installed with my OSC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 If you guys are still doing this ebay management I think its a great idea, infact a wonderfull idea! Its a shame that you are the only 2 people that have the knowlege to code the mod. If you need any graphical work I can help there no probs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♥auctionblox Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 An eBay auction manager is getting close. I have created a contribution (not yet contributed) that does the following: 1. Allows you to put a check out link in your eBay auction 2. Let's the winning bidder use that link to check out. It uses special pages for the auction checkout process to remove the left and right column. I did this because often my auctions go for *more* that I charge on my site, and I don't want my winners to be side-tracked. (There is opportunity here for cross-selling, but I haven't done it.) :) 3. This create an order just like any order in the oscommerce system. 4. Created a set of admin screens to manage your auctions. You can create an auction listing with the winner's email address and send them an invoice. Here's the real kicker! I have all of the eBay auctions automated. My auctions automatically download from eBay, populate the osCommerce system, and email the winning bidder. Nothing could be easier. This level of automation cannot be done within osCommerce itself. So, I am planning on setting up a subscription based service for my osCommerce friends that have tons of auctions like me and need that level of automation. (You can always do it the manual way!) Of course, it will be reasonably priced for my osCommerce friends in the spirit of open source. So, let me know what you think. If you're interested, then send me an email and I'll send you a link to my auctions so that you can see for yourself. I hope to release the contribution within 30 days, with the automation piece coming shortly thereafter. Thanks to all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♥auctionblox Posted September 20, 2003 Share Posted September 20, 2003 OK. A lot of people have asked to see the auction support that I have in my system, so thought I would just post some links here: PLEASE READ QUICK START GUIDE FIRST!! Admin site with auction support: http://demo.auctionblox.com/oscommerce/admin Auction checkout process integrated into osCommerce: http://demo.auctionblox.com/oscommerce/auction_finder.php PLEASE READ QUICK START GUIDE FIRST!! Quick Start Guide ----------------- This contribution will help you with auction sales management. This refers to the manual process, not the automated process that is forthcoming. Essentially, it does the following: 1. Allows an auction winning bidder to checkout via osCommerce. It uses the winning bidder's email address as the key to allow them to check out. The email address is somewhat secure since eBay only shows the email address to a seller at the end of a transaction. So, no one else should be able to checkout via this email address because only the winner and seller know it. 2. You may place a checkout icon in your listings to allow the winner to checkout without getting an email from you. However, this requires that you have set the winner up in the admin screens prior to them checking out. (You have to be the one to set up price, product and winning bidder email for security reasons.) Remember, that if you tire of the laborious process, that I have this automated. Email [email protected] for details. 3. You may also send the winning bidder an invoice with an oscommerce checkout link at the time that you set up the winning auction in the admin screens. 4. I, like many PowerSellers, charge a flat shipping and handling amount, sometimes insurance, etc. The admin screens let you set this shipping amount and insurance amount that overrides the s&h in oscommerce. (This is not optional, but required.) The process: 1. List an item on eBay. You may optionally put a link in your listing that points to: <your website>/auction_finder.php. [Note that there are no other hooks required in your listing for security and simplicity reaons.] 2. After the auction ends, go the admin screens and click on the "auction" box. Click on the "Ended Auctions". This is where you set up the winner's order. Put the winner's email address, select the product won, enter the price, shipping, etc. Click insert. (If you selected to email the winner, then they receive an email with the checkout link again.) 3. After the buyer checks out, then the auction state is changed automatically from ended to checked out. This tells you what orders you need to fill. There is a link to the order from this page so that you can see the invoice and continue via the normal oscommerce fulfillment process. 4. Currently, "active" and "not yet listed" are not utilized. They are for future enhancement. Now, browse to http://demo.auctionblox.com/oscommerce/admin to set up a test auction. Then, to test checkout, browse to http://demo.auctionblox.com/oscommerce/auction_finder.php If you like this or have feedback, I want to hear from you. Send an email to [email protected] Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 I started another thread since this one was getting a bit long. I started it with specific questions regarding auctionblox's suggested contribution. New Thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 26, 2003 Share Posted September 26, 2003 Hello, Just wanted to let everyone know there is a new version of the Current Auctions v1.2 Contrib it can be found at: http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,1443 you can see an example at: http://smittys.pointclark.net/auctions/current_auctions.php Anyways keep up the great work auctionbox, with your permission I might be able to incorperate your manual process into the automated process I am working on. Just to let everyone else know I am still working on this project I have just been a little busy. REDHAT'S OFF TO THE BEST E-COMMERCE SOLUTION AROUND! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 26, 2003 Share Posted September 26, 2003 Hey smitty, how does your contrib handle Buy It Now auctions with multiple items? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 I am new to php, but maybe someone can tell me how hard it would be to build a simple page, where the auction winner would go and type in there auction number,, and that be the trigger for osc to parse the info from same page as the current auctions php? and use this informatino to set up the checkout for that item? what i have read,, a lot of ppl say that they still need to figure out the trigger,,, couldnt the customer trigger it by putting in there auction number and user name and clicking submit,, and if the parsed information dont match,, the submited information,, then give them an error,, I know this is not the full soulution everyone is looking for to do the posting of auctions and all,, but would this be a temperary solution for allowing the customer to check out at our sites? thanks for the thought Regards Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 The checkout part is easy enough. It is the automating of the auction dataposting to the db that is the issue. Some folks are not comfortable with cron jobs. I have a friend in need of this so I plan to get back to some testing once I get done with my classes in a few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♥auctionblox Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 Smitty - Saw your demo. I really like your use of the familiar eBay theme for the active listings. It appears from what I've seen, that your contribution is geared more towards pre-sale (driving customers from your store to your auctions), rather than post-sale (driving customers to checkout in your store from your auctions). Is this the intent of your contribution? Also, you mentioned something about plugging in your automation piece. What does your automation do (or did I miss it in somewhere in a prior thread)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 2, 2003 Share Posted October 2, 2003 Hello auctionblox well my contrib pulls info from ebay and displays it on the webpage. This script is just a little part of the big picture. If the info parsed form ebay can be put into the OSC database. on auction closing OSC would send out a e-mail to the auction winner to come to a link on the site to pay for their auction. This would make the whole process automated. The only thing is you would have to list your auction and ship out the package. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 2, 2003 Share Posted October 2, 2003 Which is EXACTLY what I need!! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♥auctionblox Posted October 2, 2003 Share Posted October 2, 2003 Smitty OK. Well I have the version of my auction checkout and auction admin stuff ready for MS1 and it will take a few more days for the port MS2. I hope to post both at the same time. Of course, feel free plug in your stuff to the new database tables that I have created. That will be very nice if you're able to use php to pull all of the information from eBay. Have you been able to solve the problem of getting the email address, my ebay selling and some type of timer using php? I am unaware of a way to do that within php. that's why i chose a different solution... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 2, 2003 Share Posted October 2, 2003 I believe smitty was working with the personal eBay developer token. I believe with that token you can pull any information you need from eBay. For the personal one it is free, and you can pull alot of information with it. Can't remember the details offhand. 50 API calls a day or something. You can pull multiple information in with one API call. Hell, have it check once an hour and download all closed auctions and that's only 24 calls. Next plugin will be to enter feedback for everyone ;-) Here's a link to eBay's Developer Program Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♥auctionblox Posted October 2, 2003 Share Posted October 2, 2003 Ahh...thanks for pointing that out for me. When I obtained the eBay SDK last year, there was no personal token. Looks like eBay finally decided to help their merchants. I'll look a little more into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 3, 2003 Share Posted October 3, 2003 Based on the terms of the Individual License each store who wants to use the API has to get the program certified in order to pull live data and to send to live Ebay. The developer keys from Ebay are tied to the Ebay userID. That means that for each user ID you will have to certify the program ( no sharing) to use anything but Sandbox(test environment) that fee is $100 for the year per ID. The individual license includes 50 API calls for the day (listing and relisting calls do not count to the 50). The average listing takes 2-4 calls to completion. That means that you can list as many items as you want daily but you should only have at most 16 ending on the same day to avoid them locking you out for the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 3, 2003 Share Posted October 3, 2003 (edited) No - my solution does not include the ebay API - that defeates the whole purpose of open source. The way I pull info from ebay is called html parsing. The great thing about php is it's ability to parse information. That is exactlly what the current auctions contrib does. It reads the search by seller page on ebay pulls the text it wants and turns them into variables. Now we need to work on inputing these variables into a mysql table. A multi-threaded timer will run in the background ( the best one I have found is javascript). and I have found a solution for the e-mail addresses, but it would only work for those of us that have our own webserver. I have the Lynx browser on my webserver I could install my eBay cookie on there and it should work. Otherwise I need to do some more research on how to manipulate cookies. I think I should elaborate on this. That is why it is so important to build a table for the variables that current_auctions.php creates. This info would be updated every time the script is executed and one second after the auction ends. If you take a look at current_auctions.php you will see my count down timer. Part of it says if time left is equal to or less than zero than display ?Auction Ended?. I could use some thing similar to this like if time left is equal to or less than zero than upate table and send email to winning bidder. And I would need the countdown timer to run in the back ground that way OSC would know that the auction has ended. Then my plan is to cross reference the OSC auction table with the products table. This shouldn?t be too hard. It could be a hidden product. In my case I am building this auction manager just for my auctions so it will be my only use for OSC. The only real issue I see so far is the e-mail address. From the search by seller feature on ebay If you are the seller you can get their e-mail addresses. I think this is cookie driven. If there is a way to manipulate this cookie to allow you to see the e-mail address, that would be key. The winning bidder would get a link (I would use the ?Buy Now? link) they would come to the auction manager site and It would bring then to the cart with there item in it. Then they would proceed to check out where I would have the check out without logging in contrib. installed and they would proceed as normal. Yeh, I definitely think if we all put our heads together we can figure it out. I am not real good with mysql commands, that is the main place I will need help. Anyone? Edited October 3, 2003 by smitty1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 3, 2003 Share Posted October 3, 2003 Well, you could parse the html in the "My eBay" page and on all current auctions have it go to: http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?...xx&pagetype=992 (xxxxxxxxxx is the auction number), and that would get you to the list of bidders including their email address. From that you could parse their eBay ID and email address, and if they have paid or not Here's the code behind an entry that is Paid <TR bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <TD align="left" width="22%"><a href="http://contact.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ReturnUserEmail&requested=rextonk&iid=3346050528">rextonk</a><img src="http://pics.ebay.com/aw/pics/dot_clear.gif" width="4" border="0" alt=" "><a href="mailto:[email protected]">([email protected])</a><img src="http://pics.ebay.com/aw/pics/dot_clear.gif" width="4" border="0" alt=" ">( <a href="http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=rextonk">966</a><a href="http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/g-stars.html"><img align="absmiddle" border="0" height="25" width="25" alt="star" src="http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/stars-8.gif"></a>)</TD> <TD align="middle" nowrap="true" width="7%">73703</TD> <TD align="middle" width="8%">$41.99</TD> <TD align="middle" width="4%">1</TD> <TD align="middle" width="15%"><!--** Display time of bid if it is provided **-->Sep-04-03 00:15:08 PDT</TD> <TD align="middle" width="13%"> <font size="2" face="Arial, sans-serif"><a href="http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?UnifiedCheckoutSummaryRedirect2PP&paypaltransId=3PM20507RB523142X&buyerorseller=1&ssPageName=">Paid</a></font>?<img src="http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/paypal/2Ps_16x14.gif" width="16" height="14" alt="Paypal"></TD> <TD align="left" width="13%">Feedback Left</TD> </TR> And here's one that isn't paid: <TR bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <TD align="left" width="22%"><a href="http://contact.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ReturnUserEmail&requested=lilkicker&iid=3346050528">lilkicker</a><img src="http://pics.ebay.com/aw/pics/dot_clear.gif" width="4" border="0" alt=" "><a href="mailto:[email protected]">([email protected])</a><img src="http://pics.ebay.com/aw/pics/dot_clear.gif" width="4" border="0" alt=" ">( <a href="http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=lilkicker">6</a> )</TD> <TD align="middle" nowrap="true" width="7%">04658</TD> <TD align="middle" width="8%">$41.99</TD> <TD align="middle" width="4%">1</TD> <TD align="middle" width="15%"><!--** Display time of bid if it is provided **-->Sep-05-03 08:44:39 PDT</TD> <TD align="middle" width="13%"><img src="http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/home/spacer.gif" vspace="2" border="0" alt=" "><br><a href="http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?UnifiedCheckoutSellerUpdateDetails&sspagename=invph:01&itemId=3346050528&transId=129482067"><img src="http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/payments/sendinvoice.gif" border="0" alt="Send Invoice"></a></TD> <TD align="left" width="13%">Feedback Left</TD> </TR> Looking at them, if you search for: "http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/payments/sendinvoice.gif" in the line, then it's not paid. "http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/paypal/2Ps_16x14.gif" OR "buyerorseller=1&ssPageName=">Paid</a>" then it's paid. "Payment Status</a>" and they completed eBay's checkout. From the eBay page with the email you should be able to get the following info: Item Name Price Item Number eBay ID email address Date of Purchase Payment status Put all that in a table. Cross reference the Item Number with your items in your store, and you have all the info you can then send in invoice. Anyone follow me? I think I lost myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 4, 2003 Share Posted October 4, 2003 That's all great formulating but it is all cookie drivin. Ebay checks your cookies to see who you are before it allows you to see e-mail address. Thats the part to get around. I tried your first link and all I get is Error: Requestor not the seller Only the seller can view the high bidder's email address. We need a good cookie hacker here to help out with this. :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♥auctionblox Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 Apologize for the cross-post, but don't know who's monitoring each thread of interest: eBay Auction Manager for MS1 and MS2 have been released. You can find them in the contributions section: MS1: http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,1578 MS2: http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,1577 Hope you find it useful and please feel free to provide feedback. Also, I have a long list of features I would like to see added to it, but I don't have time at the moment considering that I am finalizing the automation piece. If you would like to add features, then feel free. That is the intent behind "free" software and open-source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2003 Share Posted October 9, 2003 I'm monitoring both :) Okay, question. The automation piece. Will it be a seperate piece that uses the manual piece, or will it instead of? Basically, should I install this contrib, or wait for the automation one? I'm only interested in the automation. I need to install the Paypal IPN and the other contrib. I'll do that in the meantime. Sorry to be a pain in the butt.... Any ETA on the automation piece? :) :) :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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