Automated Auction Process

[Guest]

Welome to the Automated Auction Process forum.

The current version and fist release is Automated Auction Process v1.0. This is a full blown Auction Manager contrib that easily allows you to upload your auction listings from ebay and manage your ebay auctions. This contrib REQUIRES cURL. You must have the cURL module for php installed. You can check by looking at the Server Info from the admin. You will see it listed there.

The contribution can be found here:

 

http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,1739

 

It is also recomended to install the Purchase Without Account contrib to use with this one. You are not required to but it is recomended.

It can be found here:

 

http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,355

 

The demo, install instructions, and manual can be viewed at:

http://www.smittys.pointclark.net/auction_demo/index.php

 

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to post them here and I will try my best to answer them.

Edited December 22, 2003 by smitty1

[Guest]

Smitty

Thanks for all the hard work,, going to uninstall all the old stuff from the two auction mods,,, and then install this one,, as i am sure its going to be all that in a bag of chips,, lol

 

Just wanted to thank you for all the time and work you have put into this.

 

Regards

Tom

[Guest]

No problem Qwiz, I did this because so many people said it could not be done. Also for my own personal use of course. I will be waiting to hear you feedback.

:D

[harborsales]

Smitty

 

This is a great contribution thanks for all the hard work and time you put into this. I was wondering if this will work with MS1?

 

Thanks again for the contribution

 

 

Mike

[Guest]

Yes it is a short cut. Just go into the manual directory that's where the real file is.

:D

 

Not sure if it will work with MS1. It may, with a little alteration.

:rolleyes:

Edited December 22, 2003 by smitty1

[Nimitz_1061]

Thanks! Found it. Not sure why the link won't work, but the instructions are great.

I'm working the the Loaded 6 version - its based on MS2 so, I should be alright.

[Guest]

Thanks again Joe

Got it installed and will be doing an auction post later this day but all apears to be ok as of this point

 

U Dah Man!

 

Regards

Tom

[Guest]

Joe

 

I take it that the file link update you posted,, that just the text links in the manual that were broken for some?, or was that in some of the code.

 

This is awsome by the way.

 

Regards

Tom

[harborsales]

I was hoping someone would give me some advice.

 

We are currently using MS1 for our site but want to add this great contribution. So we are thinking about installing MS2 under a subdomain from our store and use this just for auctions with links back to our store. Do you think this is a good idea or something that would look very unprofessional or won't work at all?

 

I appreciate any opinions.

 

Mike

[Guest]

Yeh the link update was just the broken links to the install and manual.

 

Mike, do you want a hack job answer or my proffesional opinion. I would advise to upgrade your store to MS2 it has quite a few new features and updates the MS1 just does not have.

 

Hope that helps.

:D

[devosc]

Hi Smitty,

 

It is a good module. However there are bits of the symantics that puzzle me.

 

Say if you have a single item for auction and it is displayed on both your site and ebays, I appreciate the bid link back to ebay but I also noticed that one can just purchase the item on your site and just check out - which leaves me puzzled as to how ebay will know that the bidding for this item has ended?

 

Also, not wanting to sound like a sourpot, but it may be prudent if some documentation, rules or notice is mildly made as to how it utilizes and or conforms to ebay's listing policies. Just a thought; but as they say the proof is in the pudding.

[Guest]

gregbaboolal you are right. Someone browsing the regular store should not be able to checkout an auction item. Me bad, easy thing to over look. I have fixed this by adding a redirect to product_info.php. When the product_info page is open it does a qiuck check to see if the product is from the auction category and then if it is sends it to the auction_product_info.php page. And from what I can tell You can really only checkout the auction product from the new products page after the redirect has been installed. I have posted a fix for this.

 

Sorry everyone. Trial and Error.

 

For all of you that already have the contrib installed please download the fixed verson and just replace the following files:

 

products_new.php

product_info.php

/includes/modules/new_products.php

/includes/boxes/whats_new.php

 

Also I fixed a small error for the admin in Auction Listions not being able to see the "viewed". So replace auction_listings_admin.php also.

 

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Guest]

I am not sure I understand what you mean gregbaboolal about the "ebay's listing policies". I says nothing about using a little javascript in your description. And even though the page is not displayed from ebay it still follows all of thier guildlines as far as links and stuff. I have been using this method for a little while now and have had no problems with eBay.

:blink:

Edited December 23, 2003 by smitty1

[Guest]

Looks nice smitty, I can see alot of hard work went into this :)

 

gregbaboolal, the javascript that smitty uses *IS* allowed with eBay's listing policies. When he posted some javascript in another thread I looked into it extensively and even contact my powerseller rep just to make sure. It's all kosher.

[Guest]

Hello,

Ok this is what I decided to do. Instead of having the updated files included in the zip file I have deciede to add it to the install.txt. This works for those of you that already have these files modified. It looks like this:

 

4. Next we want to remove your auction listings from showing in various places in the catalog.
Edit these files

-in /product_info.php find this line:

?require(DIR_WS_LANGUAGES . $language . '/' . FILENAME_PRODUCT_INFO);

and add

?$product_auction_query = tep_db_query("select categories_id from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_TO_CATEGORIES . " where products_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] . "'");
?$auction_product_check = tep_db_fetch_array($product_auction_query);

under it so it looks like this:

?require(DIR_WS_LANGUAGES . $language . '/' . FILENAME_PRODUCT_INFO);

?$product_auction_query = tep_db_query("select categories_id from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_TO_CATEGORIES . " where products_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] . "'");
?$auction_product_check = tep_db_fetch_array($product_auction_query);

?$product_check_query = tep_db_query("select count(*) as total from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p, " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION . " pd where p.products_status = '1' and p.products_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] . "' and pd.products_id = p.products_id and pd.language_id = '" . (int)$languages_id . "'");
?$product_check = tep_db_fetch_array($product_check_query);

-in /product_info.php find this line:

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=<?php echo CHARSET; ?>">

and add

<?php if ($auction_product_check['categories_id'] == '9999') {
?>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=<?php echo FILENAME_AUCTION_PRODUCT_INFO . '?products_id=' . $HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] ?>">
<?php
? }
?>

under it so it looks like this:

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=<?php echo CHARSET; ?>">
<?php if ($auction_product_check['categories_id'] == '9999') {
?>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=<?php echo FILENAME_AUCTION_PRODUCT_INFO . '?products_id=' . $HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] ?>">
<?php
? }
?>
<title><?php echo TITLE; ?></title>

-in /products_new.php find this line:

?$products_new_query_raw = "select p.products_id, pd.products_name, p.products_image, p.products_price, p.products_tax_class_id, p.products_date_added, m.manufacturers_name from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p left join " . TABLE_MANUFACTURERS . " m on (p.manufacturers_id = m.manufacturers_id), " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION . " pd where p.products_status = '1' and p.products_id = pd.products_id and pd.language_id = '" . (int)$languages_id . "' order by p.products_date_added DESC, pd.products_name";

change it to:

?$products_new_query_raw = "select p.products_id, pd.products_name, p.products_image, p.products_price, p.products_tax_class_id, p.products_date_added, m.manufacturers_name from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p left join " . TABLE_MANUFACTURERS . " m on (p.manufacturers_id = m.manufacturers_id), " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION . " pd, " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_TO_CATEGORIES . " p2c where p.products_id = p2c.products_id and p2c.categories_id != '9999' and p.products_status = '1' and p.products_id = pd.products_id and pd.language_id = '" . (int)$languages_id . "' order by p.products_date_added DESC, pd.products_name";

-in /includes/boxes/whats_new.php find this line:

?if ($random_product = tep_random_select("select products_id, products_image, products_tax_class_id, products_price from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " where products_status = '1' order by products_date_added desc limit " . MAX_RANDOM_SELECT_NEW)) {

change it to:

?if ($random_product = tep_random_select("select p.products_id, p.products_image, p.products_tax_class_id, p.products_price from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p, " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_TO_CATEGORIES . " p2c where p.products_id = p2c.products_id and p2c.categories_id != '9999' and products_status = '1' order by products_date_added desc limit " . MAX_RANDOM_SELECT_NEW)) {

-in /includes/modules/new_products.php find these lines:

? ?$new_products_query = tep_db_query("select p.products_id, p.products_image, p.products_tax_class_id, if(s.status, s.specials_new_products_price, p.products_price) as products_price from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p left join " . TABLE_SPECIALS . " s on p.products_id = s.products_id where products_status = '1' order by p.products_date_added desc limit " . MAX_DISPLAY_NEW_PRODUCTS);
?} else {
? ?$new_products_query = tep_db_query("select distinct p.products_id, p.products_image, p.products_tax_class_id, if(s.status, s.specials_new_products_price, p.products_price) as products_price from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p left join " . TABLE_SPECIALS . " s on p.products_id = s.products_id, " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_TO_CATEGORIES . " p2c, " . TABLE_CATEGORIES . " c where p.products_id = p2c.products_id and p2c.categories_id = c.categories_id and c.parent_id = '" . (int)$new_products_category_id . "' and p.products_status = '1' order by p.products_date_added desc limit " . MAX_DISPLAY_NEW_PRODUCTS);

change it to:

? ?$new_products_query = tep_db_query("select p.products_id, p.products_image, p.products_tax_class_id, if(s.status, s.specials_new_products_price, p.products_price) as products_price from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p left join " . TABLE_SPECIALS . " s on p.products_id = s.products_id, " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_TO_CATEGORIES . " p2c where p.products_id = p2c.products_id and p2c.categories_id != '9999' and products_status = '1' order by p.products_date_added desc limit " . MAX_DISPLAY_NEW_PRODUCTS);
?} else {
? ?$new_products_query = tep_db_query("select distinct p.products_id, p.products_image, p.products_tax_class_id, if(s.status, s.specials_new_products_price, p.products_price) as products_price from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p left join " . TABLE_SPECIALS . " s on p.products_id = s.products_id, " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_TO_CATEGORIES . " p2c, " . TABLE_CATEGORIES . " c where p.products_id = p2c.products_id and p2c.categories_id != '9999' and p2c.categories_id = c.categories_id and c.parent_id = '" . (int)$new_products_category_id . "' and p.products_status = '1' order by p.products_date_added desc limit " . MAX_DISPLAY_NEW_PRODUCTS);


5. You can now go edit your english text in the /includes/languages/english directory.

 

Better idea?

:unsure:

Edited December 24, 2003 by smitty1

[dimports]

Thx for your efforts smitty. I'm having problems with it though. When I create the product in Auction Listings and then update the Auction Info, it doesn't show up in the Current Auctions list.. its just a blank list. I think what it's doing is updating the eBay manager instead of your Automated Auction process contribution.

 

Another question I have is if there a way to better way to have the auctions show in the current auctions section. I just think it's tedious to create a product in the cart, then post the auction. What about the existing auctions that are already up? Wouldn't it be nice to have it mapped to your cart somehow?

 

I'm not understanding something. Does this contribution take place of the eBay manager contribution because I don't see how the two contribution interweve. Do I even need eBay manager contribution anymore?

 

Please help me use this awesome tool. I'm really anxious to exploit it's full potential.

[Guest]

hello dimports,

You can create the Auction listings and it is not going to show up until you list the auction at ebay. Current Auctions grabs its info from ebay and then coordinates it with your Auction Listing. It was designed this way because, If you have 100 of an item to sell, why make an auction listing for each one. You can use one Auction Listings for muliple auctions. And only at check out does it inject it's self into the cart.

 

I'm not understanding something. Does this contribution take place of the eBay manager contribution because I don't see how the two contribution interweve. Do I even need eBay manager contribution anymore?

 

This contrib is a full blown auction manager within it's self.

 

Hope that helps.

:D

Edited December 26, 2003 by smitty1

[Zuber]

Hope I'm not asking something that has already been covered (did not read all 61 pages of previous thread), but could someone expand on why it is recommended having the "checkout with out accout" module installed.

 

Also, not actually tried the module yet, but assuming I like/use it where are donations/contributuions to be sent.

 

I feel happier knowing I have contributed at least something when I find something of great use. Particularly when we are not talking about large corporations.

 

Many Thanks for your efforts,

 

Zuber

[Guest]

Sure Zuber.

The "checkout with out accout" contrib is recomended so when the customer checks out they will be able to prceed through the check out quicker. It is not required for my contrib "Automated Auction Process" but it is recomended so the customer has a choice to create and account or zip through the checkout. I think alot of customers enjoy this feature, having choices and all.

 

Hope that helps.

:D :rolleyes:

[Zuber]

Great,

 

That means I can add this solution and then add the without account option later if I want to...

 

Many Thanks,

 

Zuber

[dimports]

hello dimports,

You can create the Auction listings and it is not going to show up until you list the auction at ebay. Current Auctions grabs its info from ebay and then coordinates it with your Auction Listing. It was designed this way because, If you have 100 of an item to sell, why make an auction listing for each one. You can use one Auction Listings for muliple auctions. And only at check out does it inject it's self into the cart.

 

I'm not understanding something. Does this contribution take place of the eBay manager contribution because I don't see how the two contribution interweve. Do I even need eBay manager contribution anymore?

 

This contrib is a full blown auction manager within it's self.

 

Hope that helps.

:D

Thanks. But I do have the auctions already listed on eBay. So what I did was create a new product from the Auction Listing and tried grabbing the Auctions that were already created before this contribution. You think maybe I have to create the product in the Auction Listing first, and then create the auction? Or should the order not even matter? I'm still thinking that the Auction Update is updating the eBay Auction manager. Because the Automated Auction Process contribution auction list is blank while the eBay Auction manager is full.

[Guest]

dimports, if you have Auctionblox's eBay manager and the Auto update contribs installed this may cause a problem. You should uninstall it first (follow the install instructions backwards). Then try reinstalling Automated Auction Process. The get_auction_info.php is a little different for this contrib and if you are still using the other one it would cause it to not work.

 

Hope that helps.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Mooligan]

My Current Auctions does not appear to be grabbing the info from ebay. I am not 100% sure if I have curl installed or not, its not listed in my site administrator, and my host doesn't 'think' its installed.

However, from the bash prompt of my server, I appear to be able to enter curl commands, is this enough to indicate curl is installed?

 

If curl wasn't installed would these be my symptoms; it says its updating my list but doesn't grab it? Or would i have had problems before I got this far..

 

Thanks.

[Mooligan]

Another note, curl --help shows its version 7.9.5, and I do not have the manual ebay manager installed.

[dimports]

dimports, if you have Auctionblox's eBay manager and the Auto update contribs installed this may cause a problem. You should uninstall it first (follow the install instructions backwards). Then try reinstalling Automated Auction Process. The get_auction_info.php is a little different for this contrib and if you are still using the other one it would cause it to not work.

 

Hope that helps.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Yea, the contributions must've crossed codes somewhere. Before taking a big step by uninstalling a contribution, I wanted to understand a certain aspect in your Automated Auction Process contribution.

 

I currently have 500 auctions already running right now and most of the items are already part of my online store. It's starting to look like those items in the online store is pretty much irrelevant to this contribution. To use your contribution, I'd have to create each of the 500 auctions into the admin side one-by-one, right?

 

There has got to be an easier way to encounter this situation. Maybe some kind of product mapping like the eBay Auction Manager does? Or perhaps an ability to upload Excel files into the Auction Listing side?

 

Hope you accept my feedback in good heart. Even though I didn't get to use your contribution yet, it's greatly greatly appreciated.