Topic: eBay Workshop: ProStores 9.0: New Release Enables Sellers to Manage Inventory on eBay and Own Web Store
Host: eBay Staff Date: Wednesday 04/02 Time: 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Pacific time Location: Workshop Board
Description: Join the ProStores team for a walk through the new features and enhancements available soon with ProStores 9.0. Learn how eBay sellers can start up their own web store in minutes using their existing eBay listings and manage their inventory on eBay and their own web store s without worrying about overselling!
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Thank you for joining us for today’s workshop on ProStores 9.0. Today we are going to walk you through many of the new features that have just been released, including:
QuickStart – allows eBay sellers to quickly set-up their ProStores web store using existing eBay listings eBay Sync- lets you sell products on both the eBay marketplace and your ProStores web store at the same time Automated Google Base Feed – automatic product feed submission to Google Base Cross-sell/Upsell Merchandising on the Cart – so you can sell more items to your eBay buyers …and more…including a special offer for eBay Stores sellers.
The ProStores Team is also here to help answer any questions you might have, so feel free to jump in at any time.
First, let us tell you about the new features that are specific to eBay sellers.
QuickStart for eBay Sellers
With version 9.0, we added the ability for eBay sellers to open up a ProStores web store in minutes using their existing eBay listings and settings.
When you sign up for ProStores, you can have your eBay listings and settings imported into your store – including eBay Store categories, shipping, sales tax, product images, PayPal information and eBay Store logo. Your eBay listings will automatically populate your product catalog on ProStores.
Once your eBay listings and settings have been successfully imported, just review and save and you are officially open for business!
I'm just starting with Prostores and am totally baffled. Definately not user friendly. I can't even figure how to edit the home page. Can't afford $900 to get help through prostores, so where do I go for help?
Once your store is open, ProStores will continue to communicate with eBay to mirror new listings that you create on eBay through your Sell Your Item form or other eBay listing tool. So whenever you create an eBay listing (in SIF, Fixed Price or Auction with BIN), ProStores will add them as products to your ProStores web store, including the shipping rates and discounts you specified on eBay. If you make any updates to your eBay listing, the corresponding fields in ProStores are also updated. You can continue to sell on eBay and manage your business like you always do – ProStores takes care of the rest.
ProStores will also manage inventory levels across items listed on eBay and ProStores to ensure that items are never “over-sold.” This means if an item is sold on eBay, ProStores will automatically decrement from ProStores. If the item is sold on ProStores, the eBay listing for that item will end.
So, if Ebay had a listing special and I chose to repost everything as fixed price Prostore would then duplicate all my listings (since they would already be there once)?
If we import eBay listings into ProStores that have more than 1 picture, we will import the first picture from your listing. This will be used by default as the picture appearing in both your ProStores search results and on your item detail page.
I feel with the way Internet trends are going, and from what I have read that the customer base will level off in a few year,s the time is now to have t least 2 channels for sales. For my business I was planning on launching a ProStore this summer, this is pefect timing.
How does opening a ProStore increase my WEB exposure over simply an eBay store? Is there marketing included with the new stores? submitting to Search engines, etc?
Although the Starter Store is available for all merchants, we do have a special offer just for eBay sellers on this tier. The Starter Store is our lowest tier, and includes: --Ability to display up to 20 products by category --10 contemporary design themes --Basic store searchhttp://forums.ebay.com/db2/post.jspa# http://forums.ebay.com/db2/post.jspa# --Basic reporting tools --Accept payments with PayPal Website Payments Standard --All the quick set-up and eBay Sync features mentioned above
Here’s an example of what a Starter Store storefront would look like:
What aspects of ProStores are you having difficulty with?
Number of resources both paid and free available to you for providing help:
ProStores Discussion Boards: http://discussionboard.prostores.com/index.php - lots of free information here to help you get started as well as provide guidance on more advanced topics. Simply register and include your store short name and you can begin posting.
The ProStores feed to Google Base is separate from the eBay Stores feed.
We have automated the process for you - so there is no need to set up an account with Google, create the feed, or upload it. We do all of that for you automatically.
Special Offer for Stores Sellers If you sign up for a Starter Store, you won’t pay any monthly subscription fee until September 2008. That’s 6 months on us! The regular fee is $9.95/month ($6.95/mo for Stores Sellers).
The features that we will go over next are available to all merchants who sign up for a ProStores web store.
New Store Management Page We’ve redesigned the Store Administration page so you have easy access to: --Quick Store Stats like Order Info, Customer and Product Information --Your Store Hosting account – where you can manage things like your password or update billing information --Recommendations – ProStores will offer recommendations on how to get the most out of your store --Tutorials – recordings of all our easy-to-follow how-to webinars --Resources and Tools – links to a number of how-to information, user guides, discussion board and more
Tannehill if a seller has a total meltdown for info is there a charge from prostores to help the seller get on track? robiblio mentioned a $900.00 charge..
I don't think you answered the question. On my ebay listings, I relie on lots of pictures. I use Auctiva which allows me as many pictures as I want without any additional fees. In Pro Stores, I think you are limited to two pictures or can you add as many pictures as needed for one item description?
Hi lindaspostcardsandmore, Thanks for joining us today. To address your questions:
1. If I add categories to the ebay store during the month will they automatically be added to the Prostore?
Categories are automatically added to your ProStores store when you create a listing. There is also an option to copy your eBay store categories into ProStores. If you use the eBay category copy tool, note that ProStores won't display a category on the storefront until there is a product assigned to it.
2. Will Prostores pick up new listings during the month?
Yes, with eBay Product Sync enabled, anytime you create a listing with a fixed price on eBay, it is duplicated in your ProStores storefront.
Another feature that we’ve added is the Automated Google Base Feed. When you open a store, ProStores automatically submits your product feed to Google Base (the basic version). No account is needed. This will help you drive traffic to your web store right away.
Re: post #12 - So, if Ebay had a listing special and I chose to repost everything as fixed price Prostore would then duplicate all my listings (since they would already be there once)?
Linda - the short answer here is if it's live on eBay it will be live on ProStores. So, if you brought your listings into ProStores when you signed up or with eBay Sync, when those listings end on eBay, they will go inactive on ProStores as well.
So, again, only your live eBay listings will be displayed on Prostores using our eBay Sync feature.
I have roughly 180 items in my store, will all of them be displayed in a ProStore on the tier that you are talking about with this special offer so I can try out ProStores?
If not will I be able to choose which items show up in my ProStores or does the software do that?
Will auction items show up in my ProStore as well?
This feature allows merchants to show customers other merchandise from their store by displaying up to 6 additional products on the shopping cart (Starter Stores will display up to 3). You can go also manage the criteria used to display products on the cart. This is a great way to sell more items to your customers.
Starter Tier Promotion The "free subscription for 6 months" promo is for the Starter tier (the lowest tier of ProStores).
For Business, Advanced and Enterprise tiers we offer a one-month trial: Your first month’s subscription fee is on us.
Keep in mind that eBay Stores subscribers get 30% off of all tiers of ProStores all the time. This means that the Business tier is just $20.95 a month for eBay Stores sellers.
1. eBay store categories can be copied down manually using the eBay copy tool (available in Product |eBay | Tools area in ProStores store administration); or will automatically be created if the product is added to ProStores via Product Sync (available in Product | eBay | Setup area in ProStores store administration).
2. If Product Sync is enabled, new listings added to eBay will automatically be added as ProStores products.
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