AuctionGenieTM 4.1.4
© 2001-2008 Luxcentral Enterprises
All rights reserved
Published by:
Luxcentral Enterprises
7319 Beau Road
Sechelt, BC V0N 3A8
Canada
Email: auctiongenie@luxcentral.com
Web: http://auctiongenie.luxcentral.com/
AuctionGenie is a program that manages selling, buying, tracking, and related activities for items listed on the eBay online trading web site at http://www.ebay.com/. You can use it to create and post your own listings (including eBay Store listings), place bids, track the status of items you're interested in (even those for which you have not yet placed bids), prepare transaction reports, send 'dback, and manage post-closing transactions such as payment and delivery.
AuctionGenie can be licensed for a term of one year (renewable) and licensees are entitled to use all updates published during the year. Updates are very important because they provide enhancements that are often needed when eBay modifies existing functionality or adds new features. Go to the AuctionGenie home page at http://auctiongenie.luxcentral.com/ for information on the licensing fee, how to pay it, and how to register your copy of AuctionGenie.
Note that AuctionGenie submits listings to the United States eBay web site located at www.ebay.com.
Table of Contents
System Requirements and Helper Applications
AuctionGenie works with Mac OS X and three helper applications — a web browser, an email client, and an FTP client. This software must be installed and properly configured prior to running AuctionGenie.
- System Software. AuctionGenie requires an Apple Macintosh computer running Mac OS X v. 10.1 or later.
You should configure your system so that it automatically connects to your internet service provider (ISP) whenever AuctionGenie tries to access the internet. If you don't, you will have to log on manually before you run AuctionGenie, not practical if you want AuctionGenie to place unattended scheduled bids. If you access the internet by dialing a telephone, you should also configure the software to automatically hang up after a reasonable period of inactivity — 15 minutes or so is recommended — particularly if your ISP charges you by the hour.
If you use a standard dial-up telephone line to connect to an ISP (other than AOL) configure the ISP's access software so that it automatically dials and connects whenever a program requests a TCP/IP (internet) operation. The ISP access software that most people use is the Network preferences panel that comes with Mac OS X.
Open the Network preferences panel in the System Preferences window, then click the PPP tab. Next, click the PPP Options button so that you can select the Connect automatically when starting TCP/IP applications option. Select the Disconnect if idle for xx minutes option to enable automatic disconnect and specify the desired idle time in the box provided.
If you are using AOL, configure it so that it stores the password for the Screen Name you are using. To do this, log on to AOL as usual, then go to the Preferences window. Click the Passwords icon in the scrolling list of icons on the left side of the window, then check the Sign On box for the Screen Name you are using. Finally, enter your password in the box provided, then click the OK button to confirm. Doing this also has the benefit of allowing you to log on to AOL without typing in a password.
- Web Browser. AuctionGenie has the ability to automatically transfer information about an auction to a local bidding database when the auction's eBay listing page is being shown in a web browser. This feature works with several Macintosh web browsers: Apple Safari, Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape, OmniWeb, and Opera. You can download these browsers from:
The icon for the web browser you've identified in the AuctionGenie Preferences form appears in the lower left corner of AuctionGenie's main panel. You can launch the browser by clicking this icon.
- Email Client. AuctionGenie has the ability to automatically create and send transaction status reports and winning-bidder notifications via email to buyers and sellers. This feature requires that you use either Apple Mail (1.1), Microsoft Entourage (v.X), Qualcomm Eudora (5.2), Bare Bones Mailsmith (1.5), or AOL for Mac OS X (10.2.1). (Earlier versions will probably work as well, but have not been extensively tested.) For more information about these products, see:
If you have set up multiple email accounts with Entourage (using the
Accounts command in the
Tools menu), be sure to set the default account to the one you want AuctionGenie to use when creating email messages. Do this by clicking the name of the account in the
Accounts window, then clicking the
Make Default button. Setting the default account with Mailsmith is similar; the
Email Accounts window can be accessed through the
Windows menu.
If you're using multiple email accounts (called Personalities) with Eudora, be sure the default personality (the one called <<Dominant>>) describes the account you want AuctionGenie to use when creating email messages.
The icon for the email client you've identified in the AuctionGenie Preferences form appears in the lower left corner of AuctionGenie's main panel, next to the icon for your web browser. You can launch the email client by clicking this icon.
- FTP Client. Another AuctionGenie feature allows you to automatically upload to an FTP site the picture files for auction listings you are submitting to eBay. This requires the use of an FTP client — Fetch 4.0 (or later), Interarchy 6.0 (or later), or Transmit 2.6.2 (or later). (Earlier versions will probably work as well, but have not been extensively tested.) For more information about these products, see:
Fetch requires one special configuration step for proper operation with AuctionGenie. To perform it, run Fetch and select the Preferences command in the Fetch menu (or the Customize menu in versions of Fetch prior to v5). In the Preferences dialog that appears, click the General tab (or the Misc tab in versions of Fetch prior to v5), uncheck the Show New Connection dialog at startup box, close the Preferences dialog, then quit the application. You only have to do this once.
Transmit also requires a special configuration step. In the Preferences dialog under the Transfers category, be sure to select Overwrite the existing file for uploads if the uploaded file already exists. If you don't do this, AuctionGenie will have to wait for you to manually confirm the overwrite when it tries to upload a picture file using a name already in use on your FTP site.
The icon for the FTP client you've identified in the AuctionGenie preferences form appears in the lower left corner of AuctionGenie's main panel next to the icon for your email client. You can launch the FTP client by clicking this icon.
International Considerations
By default, the AuctionGenie databases are designed to accept the standard date and decimal number input formats used in the United States:
- For dates, the format is MM/DD/YYYY, where MM is the month number (1-12), DD is the day of the month (1-31), and YYYY is the year. E.g., enter 11/30/2006 for the date November 30, 2006.
- For decimal numbers, the decimal point is a period (".") and the optional thousands separator is a comma (","). E.g., enter 10156.43 (or 10,156.43) for ten thousand one hundred fifty six and 43 hundredths.
If you run AuctionGenie in a Mac OS X environment where different input formats are in effect, you will see a dialog similar to the one below.
The dialog for choosing system settings for data entry.
Click Yes to use your familiar system settings for date and decimal number entry. In Germany, for example, this normally means you would enter 30.11.2006 for November 30, 2006 and enter 10156,43 (or 10.156,43) for ten thousand one hundred fifty six and 43 hundredths.
At present, the only alternative numeric format supported is one where the comma is used as a decimal point. You cannot use a format where the space character acts as the decimal point.
Alternatively, you can set whether or not to use system settings for data entry by checking or unchecking the Use system formats item that appears in the Format menu of the eBay Bidding and Selling databases when you are running Mac OS X in a non-U.S. locale.
Downloading AuctionGenie
You can download the AuctionGenie software to your Macintosh computer from the following location:
The file you download is called AuctionGenieX.zip and is compressed to minimize the download time. To use it, you must first decompress the file by double-clicking it. On recent versions of Mac OS X, this launches Archive Utility to perform the decompression. On earlier versions, you may need a program called StuffIt Expander, or equivalent. You can download a free copy of the most current version of Stuffit Expander directly from Smith Micro at http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/stuffitexpander/
Updates to AuctionGenie are made available from time to time. To check whether a software update is available, use the Check for AuctionGenie Update... command in the Help menu of the application. It will advise you on whether an update is available and, if so, allow you to go to a download page to get it. See Appendix 13 for information on transitioning to a new version of AuctionGenie.
Running AuctionGenie
Once you've decompressed the downloaded AuctionGenie software, a folder called AuctionGenie Home is created on your hard disk. Inside this folder are the following files and folders:
- AuctionGenie — the AuctionGenie program file
- Read Me First — important information about this release of AuctionGenie
- Software License — the AuctionGenie software license
- AuctionGenie DB — the AuctionGenie database engine file
- eBay Bidding — the bidding database file where information relating to auction buying activity is stored
- eBay Selling — the selling database file where information relating to items you're selling via auction on eBay is stored
- Contacts DB — a database file containing contact information for the buyers and sellers with whom you do business
- Globals — a database containing information used internally by AuctionGenie
- Documentation — a folder containing the AuctionGenie documentation in HTML format, suitable for viewing in your web browser; the page to open from your browser is called refmanual.html
- Images — a folder for image files you will use with AuctionGenie (this is where you put the picture files for the items you are selling on eBay)
- Templates — a folder containing the custom templates you create for use by AuctionGenie (see Appendix 1)
- Email Templates — a folder containing the custom email templates you create for use by AuctionGenie (see Appendix 1)
- Layout Styles — a folder containing the custom layout style templates you create for use by AuctionGenie (see Appendix 11)
- Lists — a folder containing the custom lists you create for use by the AuctionGenie databases (see Appendix 12)
- Templates (default) — a folder containing copies of the default templates used by AuctionGenie (see Appendix 1)
- Layout Styles (default) — a folder containing copies of the templates for the core set of layout styles used by AuctionGenie (see Appendix 11)
If you are currently using an older version of AuctionGenie, see Appendix 13 for instructions on how to move your existing data files to this new version of AuctionGenie.
You can rename the AuctionGenie Home folder and move it to any location on your hard disk, but don't remove or rename any of the files or folders inside it. To make it more convenient to launch AuctionGenie, you may want to create an alias to the program file (using the Make Alias command in the File menu of the Finder desktop) and place it on the desktop. You can also drag the program file icon directly to the Dock.
Configuring AuctionGenie
When you run AuctionGenie for the very first time, you are asked to complete a Preferences form. The information you enter on this form is needed to allow AuctionGenie to automatically place bids on eBay, submit new auctions listings, upload picture files for items you're selling, and to tailor its behavior just for you.
The AuctionGenie Preferences form.
The AuctionGenie Preferences form is divided into nine sections:
- eBay Logon Information. The field in this section is for your eBay User ID. If you have not yet registered with eBay, go to the eBay registration page at http://pages.ebay.com/services/registration/register.html to do so.
- Internet Connection. Check the Using AOL via dial-up access box if you access the internet with AOL and you use a standard dial-up modem rather than a direct TCP/IP connection. Providing this information allows AuctionGenie to automatically connect to the internet using AOL software.
- Buying. Check the Download auction pictures box to automatically download the primary picture for an auction when you add it to the eBay Selling database using the Add New Auction from Browser command in the Buying panel (described below). A downloaded picture file is stored in a folder called Bidding inside the Images folder of the AuctionGenie Home folder and is given a name that begins with the eBay Auction ID number.
An auction picture can be viewed in the bidding database, but note that the bidding database stores only a reference to the picture file, not a copy of the original. This means that if you delete the original file from the Images folder, or move it somewhere else, the picture will no longer be visible in the database.
AuctionGenie downloads picture files only for auctions listed using standard eBay techniques. Since some auctions are listed differently, AuctionGenie may not always download a picture for an auction.
- Selling. If you are going to be selling items on eBay, you need a place on the internet where you can put the picture files referred to in your auction listings. One such place is called an FTP site, named for the File Transfer Protocol used to move files to and from the site. Many ISPs, including AOL, provide an FTP site for the use of their customers, although the space allocated is often quite limited. (Go to keyword FTP on AOL to learn all about AOL's FTP services.)
If you have access to an FTP site, you should check the Upload auction pictures via FTP box. When you do this, AuctionGenie uses your preferred FTP client (see below) to automatically upload picture files to your FTP site when you submit new auction listings to eBay. For this to work properly, all the picture files you create must be stored in the Images folder inside the AuctionGenie Home folder. If this box is not checked, you must upload the picture files yourself, following the instructions provided by a picture hosting service such as Apple's iDisk service for Mac OS X users.
The first three text fields in this section provide AuctionGenie with the information it needs to automatically upload picture files; they are enabled only if the Upload auction pictures via FTP box is checked. FTP site/folder is the address of the FTP site followed by the name of the folder you have created on the site to hold all the picture files — the folder name must be preceded by and end with a / character. For example, if your site is at ftp.foo.com and the folder with the pictures is called myfolder, enter ftp.foo.com/myfolder/ in this field.
The FTP site/folder address is case sensitive, so take care to enter its name exactly.
Enter your user ID for the FTP site in the FTP user ID field and the password in the FTP password field.
The Pictures URL field is the address of the folder on the internet where your pictures are stored, expressed in terms of the HTTP protocol. This information is provided to a web browser so that it can locate and display your picture files. It is typically of the form http://www.foo.com/myfolder/ for files that were uploaded to a folder on your FTP site.
If you are not using an FTP site, but rather an image hosting service that puts all your uploaded pictures into the same folder — where the portion of the URL up to the file name at the end is always the same — put this common portion of the URL (which is the URL of the folder) in this field.
For example, a convenient place to store your pictures is on iDisk, a personal storage space on Apple's internet servers, part of Apple's .Mac service. Files within the Sites folder on iDisk are accessible to a web browser, so if you create a folder called pictures inside Sites, the URL for the folder is:
http://homepage.mac.com/membername/pictures/
where membername is the name assigned to you when you register for the .Mac service.
The appeal of iDisk is that it appears on your desktop and behaves just like a local disk volume. Moving files to it, creating folders, deleting files, and so on, is done no differently than with a conventional disk.
For more information on iDisk and Apple's .Mac service, visit http://www.mac.com/.
AuctionGenie is not able to automatically upload picture files to eBay Picture Services. If you want to use this service, you will first have to submit your auction with AuctionGenie, without specifying any picture names, then revise your item on the eBay site (at
http://cgi5.ebay.com/ws1/eBayISAPI.dll?UserItemVerification), to add the picture files you want using the technique eBay provides for uploading picture files manually. Certainly not as convenient as using your own FTP site!
Leave the Pictures URL field blank if your picture files are not always stored in the same folder; in this situation, you will have to specify the full URL of the picture file in each auction record of the eBay Selling database, not just the file name.
The Pictures URL address is case sensitive, so take care to enter its name exactly.
If you are using the AOL FTP site, set up the four text fields as follows:
- FTP site/folder — members.aol.com/
- FTP user ID — ftp
- FTP password — ScreenName@aol.com (where ScreenName is your AOL screen name)
- Pictures URL — http://members.aol.com/ScreenName/
If you don't use AuctionGenie to automatically upload your pictures, be sure to upload them yourself
before submitting new listings to eBay. This is particularly important for gallery pictures because eBay needs access to them at the time of submission so it can create the gallery thumbnails it uses. If you don't upload a gallery picture file in advance, eBay will use a generic thumbnail image in the gallery. To fix this, you will have to upload your gallery picture, then revise your item on the eBay site (at
http://cgi5.ebay.com/ws1/eBayISAPI.dll?UserItemVerification), and specify the Gallery URL once again.
Check the Send notification emails immediately box if you want AuctionGenie winning bidder email notification messages and receipt of payment email confirmation messages to be sent by your email program as soon as they are created. By default, these messages are not sent immediately, giving you a chance to review and edit them before sending them manually. This is the best setting to use when you first start learning how AuctionGenie works.
AuctionGenie normally submits a group of new auction listings as fast as it can. To specify a minimum interval between consecutive listings, enter the number of seconds in the Interval between listings box. The default value is 0.
- Sound Effects. Use the two check boxes here to control the sound effects you want AuctionGenie to use. Check When updating if you want audio feedback as each auction record is processed during an update of bidding statistics. (Note: updating of the databases is faster if you turn off this sound effect.) Check When high bid increases to hear the spoken word "Up" if the high bid amount has increased since the last time you checked or "Outbid" if it has increased and you are no longer the high bidder.
- Web Browser. Select the name of your preferred web browser from the popup menu in this section. There are several choices: AOL, Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape, OmniWeb, Opera, and Safari. AuctionGenie uses this information to let you display an eBay auction listing page in a browser window simply by clicking a special link icon next to the Auction ID number while viewing the auction record in the local eBay Bidding or eBay Selling database.
- Email Client. Select the name of your preferred email client from the popup menu in this section. The choices are AOL, Apple Mail, Entourage, Eudora, and Mailsmith. AuctionGenie uses this information to let you send notifications and transaction status reports to sellers and buyers via email.
- FTP Client. Select the name of your preferred FTP client from the popup menu in this section. The choices are Fetch, Interarchy, and Transmit. AuctionGenie uses this information when you specify that you want to automatically upload picture files to your FTP site when submitting new auction listings to eBay (see the Selling section above).
- Contact Information. The fields in this section provide information on how others can contact you. You can include references to these fields in templates used for sending messages to buyers and sellers (see Appendix 1). Enter your email address in the first field, your name in the second field, and your postal address in the next two fields, followed by your city, state, zip code, country, and telephone number.
Click the Save button when you have completed the Preferences form. You can change the values at any time by choosing the Preferences command from the AuctionGenie menu.
eBay Authorization
Before you can use AuctionGenie to communicate with eBay, you must authorize AuctionGenie to access your eBay account on www.ebay.com. When you run AuctionGenie the first time, an eBay Authorization dialog appears which you can use to do this. (You can also bring up this dialog at any time by choosing the eBay Authorization... command from the AuctionGenie menu. You might want to do this if you change your eBay User ID.)
The eBay Authorization dialog.
To provide authorization to eBay, follow these four steps:
- Enter your eBay User ID in the field provided in the dialog, then click the eBay Sign In button. This brings up the eBay Sign In page in your browser.
- Type in your eBay User ID and Password on the eBay Sign In page, then click the Sign In Securely button.
- Another page will appear in your browser asking you to authorize eBay to share your eBay transaction information with AuctionGenie. Click the Agree and Continue button to confirm the authorization.
- Return to the dialog in AuctionGenie and click the Confirm Authorization button.
Authorization typically lasts for approximately 18 months, though it can be cancelled by you at any time (from your My eBay page) or, on rare occasions, by eBay management. When authorization is about to expire, or has expired, you will again see the eBay Authorization dialog when you start up AuctionGenie.
Quick Guide to Using AuctionGenie
Following this section is a detailed reference to using all the capabilities of AuctionGenie. The purpose of this section, however, is to provide a quick overview of how to use AuctionGenie for the most common buying and selling actions. Begin by firing up your internet connection and launching AuctionGenie.
- Tracking Buying Activity [Buying and Wins panels]
- Adding auctions to the eBay Bidding database. Before you can track auctions of interest with AuctionGenie, you need to add the auctions to the local bidding database. The first time you run AuctionGenie, use the Import Auctions command on the Buying panel to quickly add information for all the auctions you've bid on in the past 30 days (this is the limit of eBay's record keeping). Thereafter, there are two easy ways to add auctions: manually, by clicking the Add New Auction From ID button in the Buying panel and specifying the eBay auction item number for an auction of interest; or automatically, by clicking the Add New Auction from Browser button while viewing an eBay auction listing page in your web browser.
- Tracking bidding activity. Periodically click the Update Bidding Statistics button to update the high bid amount and name of the high bidder for each of the auctions you're tracking. If a high bid has increased since the last update, a red Δ indicator appears next to the bid amount. If the auction has closed, AuctionGenie fills in the Close Price field.
- Bidding. To bid on items, first click the Show Open Auctions button to get a list of auctions that are still open for bidding. Then, in the bidding database, enter your bid amount in the Amt field for each of the auctions you want to bid on. To submit the bids, click the Submit New Bids button in the Buying panel, then click OK in the bid confirmation dialog. AuctionGenie will send all bids immediately, one after another.
- Post-auction tracking. When auctions close, move to the Wins panel to begin tracking the auctions you've won. Click the Show Auction Items Not Yet Paid For button to see a list of auctions you've won that need your attention. When the seller sends you a notification to pay, go to the Detail view of the bidding database and enter the seller contact information (in the Seller Info panel) along with the notification date (in the Notify field of the Result panel). When you send payment, enter the date in the Payment Sent field of the Result panel. By doing this, the item moves from the Not Yet Paid For list to the Not Yet Received list which you can view by clicking the Show Auction Items Not Yet Received button. When the item arrives, enter the date in the Item Received field of the Result panel of the Detail view of the bidding database. (There are also fields in List view for quickly entering Notify, Payment Sent, and Item Received dates.)
- Sending Feedback. When purchases are completed, click the Create Feedback on Sellers button to generate standard feedback messages. Submit the feedback to eBay by clicking the Send Feedback button.
- Listing and Selling Items in Auctions [Selling and Post-Sales panels]
Using AuctionGenie
The main AuctionGenie window is a master control panel for your local eBay Bidding and Selling databases. It is organized into four tabbed panels: Buying, Wins, Selling, and Post-Sales. To activate a panel, click its tab.
The Buying panel deals with auctions you are bidding on that are still in progress whereas the Wins panel manages activities relating to closed auctions that you're monitoring. The Selling panel deals with auctions involving items that you are selling; the Post-Sales panel manages activities relating to closed auctions. Each panel hosts a group of command buttons that you use to perform a related set of common operations.
Choose the AuctionGenie Reference Manual item in the AuctionGenie Help menu to show the reference manual (this document) in your web browser. Choose eBay Auction Category Numbers to show the list of available auction category numbers and their corresponding names. The eBay Auction Category Chooser item shows a hierarchical list of categories that you can quickly browse through to locate a category of interest. Since eBay changes its categories from time to time, you should periodically use the Check for Auction Category Numbers Update... command in the Help menu to update AuctionGenie's category file. Because of the large number of categories, an update takes several minutes to complete even with a high-speed internet connection, so be patient.
Buying Panel. The command buttons in this panel let you add auctions to the bidding database (by entering Auction ID numbers directly, by extracting information automatically from a browser that's showing an eBay auction listing page, or by importing from the eBay system all auctions you've previously bid on), display a list of open auctions, and update bidding statistics. (If you want to place a bid, you must do so directly from the item's listing page on the eBay site.)
The AuctionGenie Buying panel.
The command buttons in the Buying panel are as follows:
- Show Open Auctions. This command shows all auctions you've added to the bidding database that are currently open for bidding.
- Add New Auction from Browser. When you are viewing an eBay auction listing page in your web browser — from those eBay sites that include the item's ID number in the page title — you can quickly transfer information about the auction to your local bidding database with this command.
This command is not supported if you are using the AOL browser because this browser does not allow AuctionGenie to automatically determine the title of the web page being displayed.
This command automatically adds a great deal of information about the auction to the bidding database: the Auction ID, the title, the subtitle, the description, the category ID, the category name, the quantity of items being offered, the location, the close date and time, the start price, the amount of the current high bid, the number of bids, the name of the high bidder (only available from eBay if the high bid is under $200), the User ID of the seller, and the rating of the seller. The primary picture file is often obtained as well, if it is available.
- Add New Auction from ID. This command adds the auction, whose ID number (i.e., the eBay item number) you provide in a dialog, to the bidding database. The dialog looks like this:
The Add New Auction dialog.
This command adds only the Auction ID number to the bidding database. Other relevant information for the auction, mentioned above in the discussion of the Add New Auction from Browser command, is added the next time the bidding statistics are updated. The reason for this approach is that, while you are offline, you can quickly add several auctions by ID numbers you may have written down earlier, before starting the more time-consuming process of connecting to eBay to retrieve all the information relating to the auctions.
- Import Auctions. This command adds to the bidding database any eBay auctions you've bid on which have not previously been added to the database. Hold down the Command key when you click this command to import only those auctions that are still open.
The command is useful for quickly populating the bidding database when you start using AuctionGenie for the first time. It is also convenient for synchronizing the list of auctions in the bidding database with the definitive bidding list kept in the eBay system. The lists can get out of synchronization when you place bids on auctions that are not yet stored in the eBay Bidding database.
- Update Bidding Statistics. This command updates the bid amounts for all the auctions in the bidding database that are selected for update. To select an auction for update, first display the list of open auctions with the Show Open Auctions command, then place a check mark in the selection box that appears on the left side of the line of information for each auction to be updated. The selection box is initially checked by default, but you may want to uncheck it, particularly if you have a slow connection to the internet, to temporarily exclude an auction from the update. If you want to update just the currently selected record in the bidding database, hold down the Command key when you click the Update Bidding Statistics button.
The date and time of the last update of the bidding statistics is shown in the eBay Bidding database at the bottom of the List view.
- Show New Bids to be Submitted. This command shows all auctions in the bidding database for which bid amounts have been specified in the Amt field.
To specify a bid to be submitted, you need to enter two pieces of information into the auction record in the bidding database: Amt and N#. Amt is the amount of the bid (don't include a currency symbol or thousands separators) and must be at least one increment above the current high bid for the item. N# applies only to Dutch auctions and is the number of identical items you're bidding on.
Bidding amounts are in the currency indicated next to the Start Price field in the auction record in the bidding database (USD = United States dollars, CAD = Canadian dollars, AUD = Australian dollars, GBP = Great Britain pounds, EUR = euros, JPY = Japanese yen, CHF = Swiss francs, INR = Indian rupees, TWD = Taiwan dollar, and so on).
- Submit New Bids. This command submits all new bids you have specified in the bidding database.
The Submit New Bids confirmation dialog.
When you submit new bids, a dialog appears asking you to confirm that you want to submit the bids. To proceed, simply click the OK button. The bids are sent immediately, one after another.
After the bids are submitted, AuctionGenie updates the statistics in the bidding database. If your bid is the high bid and you would win the auction if it were to close immediately, a checkmark appears next to the bid amount. If you are the high bidder but you see no checkmark it's because the auction has a reserve price that has not yet been met.
A bid can be rejected by the eBay system if it is lower than the required minimum bid or if the auction has already closed. To learn the fate of a bid that appears to have been ignored, select the Open AuctionGenie Log command in the File menu and examine the AuctionGenie Log. In the log you will see an error message which explains why the bid was rejected. (By the way, the Log file is automatically cleared when it has more than 20,000 characters in it; you can also clear it at any time using the Clear AuctionGenie Log command in the File menu.)
Wins Panel. The command buttons in this panel let you perform a variety of activities on closed auctions, such as viewing lists of auctions won, lost, not yet paid for, not yet received, etc. You can also create and send feedback on sellers as well as create transaction status reports for delivery to sellers via email.
After you win an auction it is important that you promptly add key information to its record in the eBay Bidding database. This allows you to track the auction properly through completion and ensures that the lists shown by many of the commands in the Wins panel are accurate. The information you need to add includes the seller's contact information, the date when you received the seller's notification to pay, the date when you sent payment, the amount you paid, and the date when you received the item. Enter this information while in the Detail view of the auction record. (See The eBay Bidding Database section below for a description of the bidding database view modes.)
The AuctionGenie Wins panel.
The command buttons in the Wins panel are as follows:
- Show Auctions Won. This command shows all closed auctions in the bidding database that you have won.
- Show Auctions Lost. This command shows all closed auctions in the bidding database that you did not win.
- Show Auction Items Not Yet Paid For. This command shows all closed auctions in the bidding database that you won, but have not yet paid for. To prevent an auction from showing up on this list unexpectedly, remember to enter the date you sent payment (in MM/DD/YY format) into the Payment Sent field of the auction record in the bidding database (go to the Result panel of the Detail view to see it).
- Show Auction Items Paid For. This command shows all closed auctions in the bidding database that you won and paid for.
- Show Auction Items Not Yet Received. This command shows all closed auctions in the bidding database that you won and paid for but have not yet received. Remember to enter the date an item arrives (in MM/DD/YY format) into the Item Received field of the auction record in the bidding database (go to the Result panel of the Detail view to see it). If you don't, the auction will continue to appear in the Not Yet Received list.
- Show Auction Items Received. This command shows all closed auctions in the bidding database that you won, paid for, and have received.
- Create Feedback on Sellers. This command creates feedback messages on sellers for all closed auctions in the bidding database that you won and for which feedback messages have not yet been sent. A message is stored in the Feedback field of the Seller Info panel of the Detail view of the auction record in the bidding database. The contents of the feedback message are initially defined by the default template shown in Appendix 2. See Appendix 1 for information on how to create a different template so that you can change the contents of the feedback message.
After you create a feedback message, and before sending it, you should review it (switch to the Result panel of the Detail view in the bidding database to see it) and edit it, if necessary, to add more personal comments. (Keep in mind that the feedback cannot be longer than 80 characters.) You should also change the Feedback Type from Positive (the default) to Neutral or Negative, if warranted. Remember that all feedback you create and send to eBay is public, so it is best to avoid inflammatory comments.
- Show Unsent Feedback. This command shows all closed auctions in the bidding database that you won and for which feedback messages have been created but not yet sent.
- Send Feedback. This command sends all feedback you've created on sellers, but not yet sent, to the eBay system. After sending feedback, AuctionGenie checks the Feedback sent box in the Result panel of the Detail view of the bidding database.
Note that you can send feedback only for those auctions for which a date has been entered in the Item Received field in the bidding database. If you want to specify feedback — presumably negative — for an auction item that you did not receive, fill in the following fields in the eBay Bidding database:
- Enter a date in the Item Received field
- Enter a feedback message in the Feedback field
- Set the Feedback Type field to Positive, Neutral or Negative
Once you do this, the Send Feedback command will process this auction item. After sending the feedback, clear the Item Received field.
- Send Transaction Status to Sellers. This command lets you create transaction status reports for delivery to sellers via email. You will use it most often in situations where a seller has not delivered an item within a reasonable amount of time, but you can also use it to report a successfully completed transaction.
Before using this command, you should clear the selection box for all the auctions shown in the eBay Bidding database, then place a check mark in the selection box only for those auctions for which you want to send a transaction status report. (Do this by clicking the Clear All button in the column titles area of the eBay Bidding database.) The selection box appears on the left side of the line of information for an auction in List view.
A confirmation dialog appears after you enter this command. Click the Confirm button to verify that you want to begin creating transaction status reports, otherwise click Cancel.
The contents of the transaction status report sent to sellers are initially defined by the template shown in Appendix 3. See Appendix 1 for information on how to create a different template so that you can change the contents of the transaction status report to suit your requirements.
After AuctionGenie sends a transaction status report, it adds a dated comment to this effect in the Notes field of the auction record in the eBay Bidding database. You can view this field in the Result panel of the Detail view of the eBay Bidding database.
This command requires a supported email client (see System Requirements and Helper Applications, above). The transaction status reports are placed in the email client's Outbox where you can inspect them before actually sending them. (With Mailsmith, this mailbox is called (outgoing mail).) For Apple Mail, the messages are kept open and not placed in the Outbox.
Selling Panel. The command buttons in this panel let you show open auctions, create new auctions, show new auctions not yet listed, submit auctions to eBay for listing, update bidding statistics, and relist auctions that did not sell.
The AuctionGenie Selling panel.
The command buttons in the Selling panel are as follows:
- Show Open Auctions. This command shows all auctions you've created and submitted to eBay that are still open for bidding.
- Create New Auction. This command creates a new, empty auction listing record in the eBay Selling database. (This is the same as clicking the New Auction icon button at the top of the database window in List view.) To prepare the listing before submitting it to eBay, you must complete all the fields within the Item Info panel of the record. See the section below titled The eBay Selling Database for detailed information on these fields and how to complete them. (Note: if you inadvertently click this command and want to delete the new auction record created, choose Delete Record from the Mode menu of the eBay Selling database or click the Delete Auction icon button at the top of the window, then click the Delete button when asked to confirm that you want to permanently delete the record.)
When an auction is submitted to eBay, the description provided includes not only the text specified in the Description field of the auction record (see the section below on the eBay Selling database) but also the text generated by the boilerplate template (see Appendix 4 for how to define a boilerplate template). Using this template lets you include a standard block of text with each of your auction listings without having to type it in each time you create a new auction record. Such a block of text typically includes information about methods of payment and postage & handling fees.
- Import Auctions. This command adds to the eBay Selling database any auctions you've listed on eBay which are not in the database.
The command is useful for quickly populating the eBay Selling database when you start using AuctionGenie for the first time. It is also convenient for synchronizing the list of auctions in the eBay Selling database with the definitive list of auctions you've submitted to the eBay system. The lists can get out of synchronization if you didn't use AuctionGenie to submit an auction listing (i.e., you listed your new auction on the eBay web site directly).
Note that this command imports the auction title and subtitle, the description, the location, the quantity, the primary category, the close date and time, the listing duration, the start price, the reserve price, the Buy It Now price, the current high bid, the User ID of the high bidder, the number of bids, the email address of the high bidder, and the rating of the high bidder. Other fields in the Item Info panel of the database record are set to their defaults. You should change these fields to reflect the actual data that was supplied when you listed the auction. If you have imported closed auctions, also be sure to complete the fields in the Result and Buyer Info panels.
- Show Auctions Not Yet Listed. This command shows all auctions in the eBay Selling database that have been created but have not yet been listed on eBay. In other words, all auctions for which an Auction ID has not yet been assigned.
- Submit Auctions Not Yet Listed. This command submits to eBay each new auction listing specified in the eBay Selling database (i.e., an auction whose Auction ID field is empty) provided that the auction's selection box has been checked. The picture files and gallery picture files associated with the auctions are also uploaded to your FTP site if you have checked the Upload auction pictures via FTP box in the AuctionGenie Preferences form.
A confirmation dialog appears after you enter this command. Click the Confirm button to verify that you want to begin the submission process, otherwise click Cancel.
If you don't want a newly-defined auction to be submitted with this command, clear its selection box. The selection box appears on the left side of the line of information for an auction in List view.
- Update Bidding Statistics. This command updates the bid amounts for all auctions in the eBay Selling database that are selected for update, have been previously submitted to eBay, and are still open. To select an auction for update, first display the list of open auctions with the Show Open Auctions command, then place a check mark in the selection box that appears on the left side of the line of information for each auction to be updated.
The user ID, email address, and feedback rating of the high bidder are updated as well. If the auction has closed, the close price is also saved in the database record.
If you want to update just the currently selected record in the selling database, hold down the Command key when you click the Update Bidding Statistics button.
The date and time of the last update of the bidding statistics is shown in the eBay Selling database at the bottom of the List view.
- Relist Closed Auctions. This command lets you relist closed auctions that did not attract winning bids. When an auction is successfully relisted, the Auction ID and Close Date & Time fields will change; if they don't change, the auction is a very old one that eBay no longer tracks and so cannot be relisted. To relist a very old auction, clear its Auction ID field and use the Submit Auction Not Yet Listed command instead.
eBay lets you relist unsuccessful auctions one more time for free within 30 days of the auction closing date. If your auction item doesn't sell the second time around, however, you will have to pay the insertion fee.
Before using this command, you should first use the Show Auction Items Not Sold command (in the Post-Sales panel) to view the list of auctions eligible to be relisted, clear the selection box for all the auctions shown (do this by clicking the Clear All button in the column titles area of the eBay Selling database), then place a check mark in the selection box only for those auctions you want to relist. The selection box appears on the left side of the line of information for an auction in List view. You should also make any desired changes to the auction listings — providing new titles and descriptions, lowering the starting prices, or providing new pictures, for example, can make items more desirable to prospective bidders. (Note: if the original auction was a reserve price auction and you choose to relist as another reserve price auction, the new reserve price cannot be higher than the original one.)
A confirmation dialog appears after you enter this command. Click the Confirm button to verify that you want to begin creating transaction status reports, otherwise click Cancel.
Post-Sales Panel. The command buttons in this panel let you perform a variety of activities on closed auctions, such as viewing lists of winning bidders, auctions not sold, and auctions not yet paid for. You can also create and send feedback on buyers as well as create transaction status reports for delivery to buyers via email.
After an auction successfully concludes it is important that you promptly add key information to its record in the eBay Selling database. This allows you to track the auction properly through completion and ensures that the lists shown by many of the commands in the Post-Sales panel are accurate. The information you need to add includes the buyer's contact information, the date when you received the buyer's confirmation, the date you received payment, the amount paid, and the date when you shipped the item. Enter this information while in the Detail view of the auction record. (See The eBay Selling Database section below for a description of the view modes.) Note that AuctionGenie automatically enters the date when you notify new winning bidders to pay using the Notify New Winning Bidders command, so there's no need to enter it manually.
It is also a good idea soon after an auction closes to delete its associated picture files from your FTP site, especially if you have limited space on your site. You can use an FTP client program such as Fetch, Interarchy, or Transmit to do this or, if you're using AOL, AOL's FTP utilities (keyword FTP).
The AuctionGenie Post-Sales panel.
The command buttons in the Post-Sales panel are as follows:
- Show New Winning Bidders. This command shows all closed auctions in the eBay Selling database that sold but where the winning bidders have not yet been notified. AuctionGenie examines the Notify field of the eBay Selling database to determine if a bidder has been notified.
- Notify New Winning Bidders. This command creates email notification messages for all winning bidders who have not already been notified. Only those auctions that are selected are processed; to select an auction, first display the list of open auctions with the Show New Winning Bidders command, then place a check mark in the selection box that appears on the left side of the line of information for each auction to be processed.
This command also puts the current date in the Notify field of the eBay Selling database for the auctions it processes so that these auctions will no longer appear in the list of new winning bidders.
AuctionGenie does not support automatic notification of winners of Dutch auctions so you will have to create and send notification emails yourself. For the list of winning bidders of a Dutch auction, and the number of items each has won, go to the eBay auction listing page, and click Winning bidders list (or Purchases if it's a fixed price listing) on the line that starts with History:. (You can go directly to the auction listing page simply by clicking the link icon that appears next to the Auction ID in List view.) After you notify all successful bidders, remember to enter the notification date in the auction record in the eBay Selling database (this field appears in the Result panel of Detail view) so that the auction will stop appearing in the list of new winning bidders.
The contents of the notification messages are initially defined by the default template shown in Appendix 5. See Appendix 1 for information on how to create a different template so that you can change the contents of the notification message.
This command requires a supported email client (see System Requirements and Helper Applications, above). The notification messages are placed in the email client's Outbox where you can inspect them before actually sending them. (With Mailsmith, this mailbox is called (outgoing mail).) For Apple Mail, the messages are kept open and not placed in the Outbox. Note, however, that if the AuctionGenie Send notification emails immediately preference is turned on, the notification messages are automatically sent as soon as they are created.
If the same winning bidder has won more than one recently-closed auction, AuctionGenie creates a supplemental notification message and puts it into the Entourage Drafts folder or, if you're using Eudora, into the Outbox as a Sendable message (the message status icon is a blue dot). (With Apple Mail, AOL, and Mailsmith, the message is simply left open and is not filed in any mailbox.) The purpose of this message is to advise the buyer of a reduction in the postage & handling fee because multiple items will be shipped together. The contents of a supplemental notification message is initially defined by the default template shown in Appendix 6. The default template puts two "USDxx.xx" placeholders for the new postage & handling fees (one for the standard fee and one for the fee for international buyers) in the draft message — edit the email message in order to reflect the actual fees. After editing, if you're using Entourage, move the message to the Outbox before sending it to the buyer. if you're using Eudora, change the message status from Sendable to Queued using the popup menu of icons on the left side of the email summary line (the message status icon changes to a Q) before sending it to the buyer. If you are using Mailsmith, send the message by clicking the Send button on the right side of the status bar beneath the message's title bar. For Apple Mail, click the Send button to send the message. For AOL, click the Send Now button in the email message window if you're already online otherwise click Send Later, then send the email after you have connected to the internet.
- Show Auction Items Not Yet Paid For. This command shows all closed auctions in the eBay Selling database that sold, but have not yet been paid for. To prevent an auction from showing up on this list unexpectedly, remember to enter the date you received payment (in MM/DD/YY format) into the Payment Received field of the auction record in the eBay Selling database (go to the Result panel of the Detail view to see it).
- Show Auction Items Not Yet Shipped. This command shows all closed auction items in the eBay Selling database that sold and were paid for but have not yet been shipped. When you ship an auction item, enter the date (in MM/DD/YY format) into the Item Sent field of the auction record for the item (go to the Result panel of the Detail view to see it) so that it no longer appears in this list.
- Confirm Receipt of Payment. This command creates email notification messages for winning bidders who have made payment and who have not previously received a confirmation email. The indicator to the right of the Payment Received field in the Result panel of the Detail view of the eBay Selling database is set to ✓ when you create the confirmation email for an auction.
The contents of the confirmation messages are initially defined by the default template shown in Appendix 7. See Appendix 1 for information on how to create a different template so that you can change the contents of the confirmation message.
This command requires a supported email client (see System Requirements and Helper Applications, above). The confirmation messages are placed in the email client's Outbox where you can inspect them before actually sending them. (With Mailsmith, this mailbox is called (outgoing mail).) For Apple Mail, the messages are kept open and not placed in the Outbox. Note, however, that if the AuctionGenie Send notification emails immediately preference is turned on, the confirmation messages are automatically sent as soon as they are created.
- Show Auction Items Not Sold. This command shows all closed auctions in the bidding database that were not sold, either because they received no bids or the reserve price was not met.
- Create Feedback on Buyers. This command creates feedback messages on buyers for all closed auctions in the eBay Selling database that sold and for which feedback messages have not yet been sent. A message is stored in the Feedback field of the Result panel of the Detail view of the auction record in the eBay Selling database. The contents of the feedback message are initially defined by the default template shown in Appendix 8. See Appendix 1 for information on how to create a different template so that you can change the contents of the feedback message.
After you create a feedback message, and before sending it, you should review it (switch to the Result panel of the Detail view in the eBay Selling database to see it) and edit it, if necessary, to add more personal comments. (Keep in mind that the feedback cannot be longer than 80 characters.) You should also change the Feedback Type from Positive (the default) to Neutral or Negative, if warranted. Remember that all feedback you create and send to eBay is public, so it is best to avoid inflammatory comments.
- Show Unsent Feedback. This command shows all closed auctions in the eBay Selling database that sold and for which feedback messages have been created but not yet sent.
- Send Feedback. This command sends all feedback you've created on buyers, but not yet sent, to the eBay system. After sending feedback, AuctionGenie checks the Feedback sent box in the Result panel of the Detail view of the eBay Selling database.
Note that you can send feedback only for those auctions for which a date has been entered in the Payment Received field in the eBay Selling database. If you want to specify feedback — presumably negative — for an auction item where you did not receive payment, fill in the following fields in the eBay Selling database:
- Enter a date in the Payment Received field
- Enter a feedback message in the Feedback field
- Set the Feedback Type field to Positive, Neutral or Negative
Once you do this, the Send Feedback command will process this auction item. After sending the feedback, clear the Payment Received field.
- Send Transaction Status to Buyers. This command lets you create transaction status reports for delivery to buyers via email. You will use it most often in situations where a buyer has not paid for an item within a reasonable amount of time, but you can also use it to report a successfully completed transaction.
Before using this command, you should clear the selection box for all the auctions shown in the eBay Selling database, then place a check mark in the selection box only for those auctions for which you want to send a transaction status report. (Do this by clicking the Clear All button in the column titles area of the eBay Selling database.) The selection box appears on the left side of the line of information for an auction in List view.
A confirmation dialog appears after you enter this command. Click the Confirm button to verify that you want to begin creating transaction status reports, otherwise click Cancel.
The contents of the transaction status report sent to buyers are initially defined by the template shown in Appendix 9. See Appendix 1 for information on how to create a different template so that you can change the contents of the transaction status report to suit your requirements.
After AuctionGenie sends a transaction status report, it adds a dated comment to this effect in the Notes field of the auction record in the eBay Selling database. You can view this field in the Result panel of the Detail view of the eBay Selling database.
This command requires a supported email client (see System Requirements and Helper Applications, above). The transaction status reports are placed in the email client's Outbox where you can inspect them before actually sending them. (With Mailsmith, this mailbox is called (outgoing mail).) For Apple Mail, the messages are kept open and not placed in the Outbox.
The eBay Bidding Database
Viewing. The eBay Bidding database organizes the data for all the auctions you've added to it from the Buying panel. The database supports three primary views you can use to inspect each auction. One is the List view where several auctions are shown in the database window at once but with only one line of information per auction. A second is the Gallery view which is a list of auctions that shows the auction title, description, and thumbnail picture as well as price and bidding information for each auction. The third is the Detail view where only one auction is shown in the window, but all information tracked for the auction is shown.
Two other views, the Print view and the Reports view, are also available. You can switch between views using the icon buttons that appear at the top of most database windows.
Print View
The Print view can be used to print mailing labels, a transaction record, and a standard cover letter directed to the seller of an auction item you've won. You can enclose this letter with your check when you send payment to the seller. See the section Printing Mailing Labels, Packing Lists, Cover Letters, and Transaction Records, below, for more information on Print view.
Reports View
The Reports view lets you prepare a report that summarizes lists of transactions. There are five different report types: Auction Items Won, Auction Items Not Won, Auctions Still Open, All Auctions, and Current Found Set of Items.
There are three different report styles: Sorted by Close Date with monthly subtotals, Sorted by Close Date with no subtotals, and Sorted by Category. All three styles include grand totals for number of transactions, average response time, amount payable, amount paid, and mailing costs. The first style also includes monthly subtotals.
You can choose one of the following transaction periods for the report: Any time, Year-to-date, Current month, Current quarter,
Last month, Last quarter, Last year, and Last year-to-date.
Note that the report style and period selections are ignored if the report type is Current Found Set of Items because all the items in the current found set are used in their current order for this report type. If you want the items to be sorted in the report, you must sort them explicitly before generating the report. For the three report styles supported, specify a sort order that begins with closeMonth, closeDate, or auctionCategory, respectively. See the discussion of how to use the Sort command of the database near the end of this section.
After you select the report type, the period, and the report style, click the Print Report button to print the report or the Show Report button to preview it on the screen. When you preview a report, move from page to page in the document by clicking on the top and bottom portions of the card catalog icon on the left side of the window. To return to the Reports view, click the Continue button on the left side of the database window.
The List view of the eBay Bidding database.
List View
The fields included in the List view, from left to right, are:
Note that you can sort the records shown in List view by any field by clicking the name of the field at the top of the window. Reverse the order of the sort by holding down the Command key.
The Gallery view of the eBay Bidding database.
Gallery View
Gallery view is another type of list view that shows, for each item, a thumbnail picture, title, description, start price, current bid, high bidder, close price, close time, and the time remaining until the auction closes. You can also enter the amount of your next bid here.
Note that the time remaining is initially calculated when you first enter Gallery view and is not automatically updated; to update the time remaining values, click the refresh icon to the left of the field.
Three icons to the left of the picture allow you to view the official eBay listing page for the item (link icon), go to Detail view for the item in the eBay Bidding database (magnifying glass icon), or delete the item from the eBay Bidding database (red x icon). You can click the thumbnail picture to bring up a larger view of the picture.
The Item Info panel of the Detail view of the eBay Bidding database.
Detail View
The fields in the Detail view are organized into three main panels: Item Info, Result, and Seller Info. The fields, from left to right and top to bottom, are:
- the eBay Auction ID. You supply this ID number when you add the auction to the bidding database with the Add New Auction from ID command in the Buying panel. If you use the Add New Auction from Browser or Import Auctions command instead, this field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie.
Item Info Panel:
- the title of the auction. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database.
- the subtitle of the auction. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database.
- the quantity of items available. This will be 1 for a standard auction and more than 1 for a Dutch auction. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database.
- the eBay category number for the auction. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database.
- the eBay category name for the auction. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database. Click the category name to display the eBay page for this category in your browser.
- the detailed description of the auction. This is the text provided by the seller, but you can change it to include any other useful information you want. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database.
Click the Description field label to increase the size of the description field so that you can see more of its contents without scrolling. Click the label once again to return to the normal size, allowing you to view all the other fields once again.
- the payment instructions for the auction. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database.
- the location of the auction item. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database.
- the start price. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database. It is preceded by the currency in which bidding is to be conducted, as specified by the seller (USD, CAD, AUD, GBP, EUR, JPY, CHF, INR, TWD, etc.). A red F next to the currency field indicates a fixed-price sale rather than an auction.
- the Buy It Now price. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database. This is the price for which you can buy the item if no bids have yet been placed or, for an auction with a reserve price, if no bids have yet been placed which exceed the reserve price.
- the current bid. This field is automatically updated by AuctionGenie when you update the bidding statistics. It is preceded by the currency in which bidding is to be conducted, as specified by the seller. A red Δ indicator after the current high bid amount indicates that the high bid has increased since the last time the bidding statistics were updated. If the reserve price has not been met, a red R appears next to this field.
- the eBay User ID of the high bidder. This field is automatically updated by AuctionGenie when you update the bidding statistics. (Note, however, that this information is not provided by eBay if the high bid is $200 or higher unless you are the high bidder.) If the auction is a Dutch auction, and there have been bids, this field contains the text, (Dutch bidders).
- Bids. The number of bids placed for this auction item. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie.
- your maximum bid. The amount of the last bid you successfully submitted to eBay. If you are the high bidder, this amount may be more than the current high bid because the eBay system initially records only the minimum amount needed to make you the high bidder; as others bid higher, eBay increases your bid just enough to maintain your high bidder status, until your maximum is reached; this is called proxy bidding and is used for all types of auctions except a Dutch auction. Note that a ✓ after the maximum bid amount indicates that you would win the auction if it were to close immediately.
- the amount of your next bid.
A bid must be at least one increment above the current high bid before it will be accepted by eBay. See above for the increments at various bidding levels.
- the time of your next bid. This field is not currently used by AuctionGenie. Bids are always submitted as soon as you click the Submit New Bids button in the Buying section of the AuctionGenie Panel.
- the quantity of items you want to bid on. This can be more than 1 for a Dutch auction, but must not exceed the quantity available.
- the auction picture. If you have checked the Download auction pictures box in the Bidding section of the Preferences form, the primary picture for the auction item appears here the first time you update a new auction you've added to the database.
Note, however, that some auctions post their pictures in nonstandard ways making it impossible for AuctionGenie to retrieve them automatically. In these situations, no picture will be shown here. You can manually paste the proper picture into this field by using your browser to copy the picture to the clipboard, then clicking the Paste button below the field frame.
There are also buttons to copy and clear the current picture. Click the Bigger button to bring up a larger view of the picture. To leave this view, click the Smaller button beneath the picture or the Detail View button at the top of the window.
The Result panel of the Detail view of the eBay Bidding database.
Result Panel:
- the Close Date of the auction. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database.
- the Close Time of the auction. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database.
The Close Date & Close Time are shown first for the time zone to which your system clock is set, then for the Pacific time zone of North America (this is the time zone eBay uses for displaying dates and times).
- Bid Count, the number of bids placed for this auction item. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie.
- Quantity Won, the number of items you would win if the auction were to close immediately or, if the auction has already closed, the number of items you did win. This number can be more than 1 for a Dutch auction.
- the Close Price. This will be 0.00 if the item received no bids or if bidding did not reach the reserve price; it is blank if the auction has not yet ended. A ✓ after the close price indicates that you won the auction.
- Amount Paid, the amount you paid the seller (including any postage and handling fees).
- My Postage, the amount of the postage for the letter you sent to the seller with payment. Completing this field allows you to track payment expenses.
- Notify date, the date when you received a notification to pay from the seller
If the Notify date field is blank, you can quickly enter today's date by clicking the field label. This also works for the Payment Sent and Item Received date fields.
- Payment Sent date, the date when you sent payment to the seller
- the Payment Method popup. Choose the Other... item at the bottom of the menu to specify the name of a payment method that does not appear in the menu. See Appendix 12 for information on how to customize the list of items that appears in this popup menu.
- Item Received date, the date when you received the auction item from the seller
- the Shipping Method popup. Choose the Other... item at the bottom of the menu to specify the name of a shipping method that does not appear in the menu. See Appendix 12 for information on how to customize the list of items that appears in this popup menu.
- the Tracking Number. Enter the identification number you can use to track delivery status. This could be a UPS or FedEx tracking number, for example.
- a Notes field where you can put any information of interest. AuctionGenie adds text to this field whenever you send a transaction status report to the seller. Note that the default transaction status report template (see Appendix 3) causes the contents of this field to be included in reports sent to sellers, so don't include any confidential text here.
- comments about the auction. This field is for any additional information you may want to save about the auction.
- the eBay feedback message. The feedback must be 80 characters or less. A default message is placed in this field when you click the Create Feedback on Sellers button in the Wins panel.
- the feedback type: Positive, Neutral, or Negative.
- a checkbox indicating whether the feedback has already been sent to eBay. This box is checked automatically when you submit feedback for the transaction using the Send Feedback command in the Wins panel.
Note that the response time, the number of days between the date you sent payment and the date when you received the item from the buyer, is shown at the bottom of this panel. This value is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when both of these dates have been entered. Also at the bottom of the panel is the eBay User ID of the seller.
Also shown at the bottom of the panel is the Bidding History for the auction — this is a list of who bid what amount at what time (only the highest bid made by each bidder is shown). This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when the auction closes. Click the Bidding History field label to bring up eBay's complete bidding history page for the item in your web browser.
Two buttons at the very bottom of the panel allow you to print mailing labels or a cover letter relating to the transaction. For more information, see the Printing Mailing Labels, Packing Lists, Cover Letters, and Transaction Records section below.
The Seller Info panel of the Detail view of the eBay Bidding database.
Seller Info Panel:
- the seller's first name
- the seller's last name
- the seller's postal address
- the seller's city
- the seller's state
- the seller's zip code
- the seller's phone number
- the seller's fax number
- the seller's country. Use the Edit item at the bottom of this popup menu to rearrange the order of the countries listed. You might do this, for example, to put frequently used country names at the top of the list so they can be selected more quickly.
- the seller's email address. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when an auction closes and you are the successful bidder. Note that you can click the Email field label to bring up an email composition window in your email client.
- the seller's eBay User ID. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database.
- the seller's eBay Rating. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you add the auction to the bidding database.
- comments about the seller. This field is for any additional information you may want to save about the seller.
At the bottom of this panel is a Show Seller Auctions Page button you can click to view in your web browser a list of all the seller's eBay auctions. (Hold down the Command key when you click to include closed auctions in the list.) Another button, Show Seller Feedback Page, lets you view the seller's eBay feedback page.
Three other buttons allow you to print mailing labels, a cover letter, and a transaction record relating to the transaction. For more information, see the Printing Mailing Labels, Packing Lists, Cover Letters, and Transaction Records section below.
At the very bottom of the panel is a list of other items sold by this seller which you have saved in the eBay Bidding database. If you were the winning bidder for a particular item, a ✓ appears on the right side of the item's line. Click on an item's line to go directly to the corresponding record in the database.
Note the Copy Address button opposite the seller's last name field. Click it to copy the entire mailing address to the clipboard.
You will probably use the List view most often because it provides a convenient snapshot of all your auction activity (or at least that portion that hasn't scrolled out of view). The Detail view is needed to access information not included in the List view and is most often used to enter and view the name and address of the seller for auctions you've won as well as post-auction information such as dates of payment and delivery. The easiest way to get to the Detail view for a particular auction is to start in List view, select the auction by clicking in any of its fields, then switch to Detail view.
Navigating. Moving from one auction record to another in the bidding database is straightforward. In List view, simply scroll until the line containing the auction of interest is visible, then click in any field on the line. (A small black bar in the left margin indicates the current record.) In Detail view, click the bottom portion of the card catalog icon in the top-left corner of the window to move forward one record; click the top portion to move to the previous record. Once you've moved to a record of interest, you can edit it by clicking the mouse in the field you want to change; you can also use the Tab key to move between fields.
Note that once you have selected an auction in the bidding database, you can display its eBay auction listing page in your web browser by clicking the link icon next to the Auction ID number.
Searching. Use the Find Mode command in the View menu to search the bidding database for a group of auctions that satisfy particular criteria. When you enter the command, a blank search form appears. Simply enter what you're looking for in the appropriate fields (switch to a different view if necessary), then click the Find button on the left side of the database window.
Here are some useful searching tips:
- To search for text that contains certain words, just enter the words, separated by spaces, in the appropriate field. All words that begin with the characters in a search word you specify are matched; to force an exact match, put an equal sign ("=") in front of a search word.
- To search for a particular number in a numeric field, just enter the number in the appropriate field.
- To search for an empty field, enter = (an equal sign) in the search field.
- To search a numeric field for numbers that are above or below a given value, you can use the > (greater than), >= (greater than or equal), < (less than), or <= (less than or equal) operators.
- To search a numeric field for numbers that fall within a given range, enter the lower number, then three periods (...), then the higher number in the search field. For example, to search for all auctions that sold for between $10 and $20, specify "10...20" in the Close Price field.
- To search for a range of dates in a date field, enter the starting date (in the format MM/DD/YY) followed by three periods (...), and closing with the ending date. For example, to search for all dates in September 2006, specify "9/1/06...9/30/06".
After a search, you may want to omit some auctions from the set of found auctions because you don't want to include them in a follow-up operation such as printing or sending transaction status reports. To temporarily omit an auction, click in any field for the auction, then choose the Omit Record command in the Records menu. It is important to realize that omitting is not the same as deleting; an omitted auction is still in the database, a deleted one is gone forever.
Searching, by its nature, restricts the set of auctions being shown to those that match the search criteria (the found set). To restore the set to all the auctions, use the Show All Records command from the Records menu.
Note that if you go to Find mode and then decide not to perform a search, you can return to viewing the auction records by choosing the Browse Mode command from the View menu.
The Sort Records dialog.
Sorting. To sort the found set of records, first select the Sort command from the Records menu. In the Sort Records dialog that appears, click the Clear All button to remove the current sort order. To specify a field to be sorted, click its name in the Field List, then click the Move button to move it to the Sort Order list. (Repeat for other fields, as desired.) Click the Sort button to perform the sort. (See Appendix 1 for the meanings of the most common fields in the database.)
Records are sorted by the first field in the Sort Order list. Records with the same value in this field are sorted by the second field specified, and so on. You can change the order of the fields in the Sort Order list by dragging the double arrow to the left of the field name up and down the list.
Deleting. Deleting auctions from the database is necessary from time to time in order to purge obsolete records that waste space on your hard drive and slow AuctionGenie operations. The general recommendation is to retain all open auctions and all those auctions where you were the winning bidder, but to delete others soon after they close. Of course, you may want to keep even losing auctions around if they serve some useful purpose such as making it easier to monitor price trends.
Deleting an auction is very easy, but remember that it's an action that cannot be reversed. To delete an auction, click the Delete Auction icon button at the top of the window in Detail view or the red x on the auction's line in List view. (Thrill-seekers can hold down the Command key to avoid the confirmation dialog.)
Printing. Use the Print command in the File menu of the bidding database to print an individual auction record or all the auction records currently being browsed. If you print when List view is active, you probably want to print all the auction records, so choose AuctionGenie DB in the third popup menu in the Print dialog, then click the Records being browsed radio button in the bottom portion of the Print dialog before clicking the Print button. If you're in Detail view, you probably want to print just the one auction you're looking at, so click Current record instead. Note that you should click the Print icon at the top of the window in Detail view, or the similar icon on an auction's line in List view, to perform three specialty printing operations for a particular auction — printing mailing labels, a transaction record, and a standard packing list (or a cover letter, for the Bidding database).
Using the Auctions Menu. The Auctions menu includes several commands you can use to show various groups of auctions. They are similar in function to many of the command buttons found on the Bidding and Wins panels of the AuctionGenie Panel. There are also commands to show in your web browser the eBay Auction Listing page for the currently selected auction, your My eBay page, and your eBay Feedback page. In List view, two rows of "Show" buttons near the top of the window can also be used to display common groups of auctions.
The eBay Selling Database
Viewing. The eBay Selling database organizes the data for all the auctions you've added to it from the Selling panel. The database supports two primary views you can use to inspect each auction. One is the List view where several auctions are shown in the database window at once but with only one line of information per auction. The other is the Detail view where only one auction is shown in the window, but all information tracked for the auction is shown.
Three other views, the Print view, the Report view, and the Defaults view, are also available. You can switch between views using the icon buttons that appear at the top of most database windows.
Print View
The Print view can be used to print mailing labels, a transaction record, and a standard packing list directed to the successful bidder in your auction. You can include this packing list when you ship the item to the buyer. See the section Printing Mailing Labels, Packing Lists, Cover Letters, and Transaction Records, below, for more information on Print view.
Reports View
The Reports view lets you prepare a report that summarizes lists of transactions. There are five different report types: Auction Items Sold, Auction Items Not Sold, Auctions Still Open, All Auctions, and Current Found Set of Items.
There are three different report styles: Sorted by Close Date with monthly subtotals, Sorted by Close Date with no subtotals, and Sorted by Category. All three styles include grand totals for number of transactions, average response time, amount receivable, amount received, and mailing costs. The first style also includes monthly subtotals.
You can choose one of the following transaction periods for the report: Any time, Year-to-date, Current month, Current quarter, Last month, Last quarter, Last year, and Last year-to-date.
Note that the report style and period selections are ignored if the report type is Current Found Set of Items because all the items in the current found set are used in their current order for this report type. If you want the items to be sorted in the report, you must sort them explicitly before generating the report. For the three report styles supported, specify a sort order that begins with closeMonth, closeDate, or auctionCategory, respectively. See the discussion of how to use the Sort command of the database near the end of the previous section.
After you select the report type, the period, and the report style, click the Print Report button to print the report or the Show Report button to preview it on the screen. When you preview a report, move from page to page in the document by clicking on the click the top and bottom portions of the card catalog icon on the left side of the window. To return to the Reports view, click the Continue button on the left side of the database window.
Defaults View
The Defaults view is handy for specifying the standard or default values to be used for fields in the Item Info panel of an auction record whenever you create a new auction record in the eBay Selling database. New records are created with the Create New Auction command in the Selling panel or the New Auction icon button at the top of the database window in List view.
The List view of the eBay Selling database.
List View
The fields included in the List view, from left to right, are:
Note that you can sort the records shown in List view by any field by clicking the name of the field at the top of the window. Reverse the order of the sort by holding down the Command key.
The Item Info panel of the Detail view of the eBay Selling database.
Detail View
The fields in the Detail view are organized into four tabbed panels: Item Info, Result, Buyer Info, and Inventory. To go to a panel, click the name of its tab. The fields, from left to right and top to bottom, are:
- the eBay Auction ID. This field is automatically filled in by AuctionGenie when you submit the auction to eBay using the Submit Auctions Not Yet Listed command in the Selling panel.
Item Info Panel (to be completed when you create a new auction; as noted above, the initial values for fields in this panel are those specified in the Defaults view):
- the title of the auction. The title must be 55 characters or less. This number of characters exactly fits in the box provided, so you'll know your title is too long if it extends to a second line.
- the subtitle of the auction. The subtitle is optional and, if specified, must be 55 characters or less; eBay currently charges a fee of $0.50 for using a subtitle, or $0.02 for an eBay Store listing.
- the quantity of items being offered. Set this field to 1 for a standard auction. If you're selling several identical items in a single Dutch auction, set this field to the number of items available.
- the duration of the auction: 1, 3, 5, 7, or 10 days. The auction begins as soon as it is submitted to eBay using the Submit Auctions Not Yet Listed command in the Selling panel unless you schedule a start time as described below. Note that for a 1-day listing, you must have either a minimum feedback rating of 10 or be ID verified with eBay. Also, 1-day listings are not allowed for fixed price listings. eBay currently charges a fee of $0.40 for submitting a 10-day auction.
If you prefer to add the item to your eBay Store inventory, rather than to the standard eBay.com site, select a duration of 30 [Store] or Until Cancelled [Store]. (The latter choice means that the listing automatically renews every 30 days until the item sells or until you cancel the listing using eBay's store management tools. A new listing fee is charged every time the listing is renewed.) These two choices are shown below the dividing line at the bottom of the popup menu.
- the eBay category for the auction. eBay has thousands of different categories, each with a unique identification number. Only a few are listed in the initial configuration of the category popup menu, but you can easily customize the list to include your own favorite categories. To do this, choose the Edit item at the bottom of the popup menu, then edit the list — using standard editing techniques including the commands in the Edit menu — and click the OK button when you're done. Each line in the list must start with a valid eBay ID number followed by one or more spaces and then by any descriptive text you want. For example, you could specify 29223 Rare Books to specify category 269 (which eBay assigns to "Books:Antiquarian & Collectible"). To include a dividing line in your list — perhaps to separate logical groups of categories — put a single hyphen (-) character on a line by itself. Note that you must end all lines by pressing the Return key.
Before you can add categories to the AuctionGenie category list, of course, you need to learn the eBay category numbers. One way to look them up is to go to eBay's Category Overview page at http://listings.ebay.com/aw/plistings/list/categories.html, locate the categories you're interested in, and make note of the numbers shown for them. Another way is to refer to the lengthy list provided in Appendix 15. (Click the Category field label next to the popup menu, or choose eBay Auction Category Numbers in the AuctionGenie Panel Help menu, to bring up the category list in your web browser.) This list is handy because it can be easily searched using the Find command in your web browser or printed out as one long document.
You can also determine the name and number of a category by browsing through a hierarchical list of items using the AuctionGenie Panel. To do this, select the eBay Auction Category Chooser item in the Help menu of the AuctionGenie Panel to bring up the entire category list. (It takes several seconds to bring up the chooser the first time because it needs to prepare some data; thereafter, it appears right away.) The disclosure triangle icon next to a subcategory name can be clicked to alternatively hide and reveal the items within the subcategory. When you click an item, a descriptive line containing its number and complete name appears in the Categories found text box below the list window. You can select and copy this line, then paste it when you edit the list shown by the category popup menu in the eBay Selling database. You can also click the Set Category of Current Auction button to set directly the category of the current auction selected in the eBay Selling database.
Alternatively, you can locate a category by searching for a word or phrase in the category name, or by specifying the category number. Do this by entering the text you're looking for in the box to the left of the Search button, then clicking the Search button. The names of the categories that contain the specified word or phrase appear in a list in the Found category box.
Keep in mind that eBay adds (and sometimes removes) categories from time to time, so the category list provided with AuctionGenie may not be as current as what's available directly from the eBay web site. To bring it up to date, you can use the Check for Auction Category Numbers Update... command in the Help menu of the AuctionGenie Panel. An update takes several minutes even with a high-speed internet connection, but you should not have to update more than once per month.
Note that if the category to which you want to assign an auction is not listed in the popup menu, you don't necessarily have to edit the list to add the new category so you can select it. Instead, you can choose the Other... item just above the Edit item at the bottom of the popup menu and then enter the desired category entry to use (category number followed by descriptive text as discussed above). Categories entered in this way are not kept in the popup list, so you might want to use this approach for categories you don't expect to use very often, thus keeping the list small and manageable.
- the eBay secondary category for the auction. eBay lets you optionally choose a second category in which to list your item. If you choose a secondary category, the eBay listing fees are doubled (except for the Home Page Featured fee and the Scheduled Listing fee). If you don't want to list in a secondary category, set this popup to None (near the bottom of the list). Note that the list shown is the same as the one used for the primary category popup menu and can be edited in the same way.
- the eBay Store category. The categories shown in this popup menu are those defined by you for your store with eBay's online store management tools. You can access these tools by clicking the Manage My Store link in the My Subscriptions section of the sidebar on your My eBay page.
- the eBay Store secondary category. Select None if you don't want your store listing to appear in a secondary category.
- the detailed description of the auction. The description is just plain text made up of standard characters or any of the special Macintosh symbols you can enter from the keyboard (such as • — the bullet); as usual, indicate the end of a paragraph or of a line by pressing the Return key. (Note to HTML wizards: there is no need to enter <p> paragraph tags or <br> line break tags because AuctionGenie inserts them automatically when it submits the auction listing.)
The more adventuresome may also want to use HTML tags in the description to change text color and size, insert headings and lists, and so on. Consult one of the hundreds of HTML books available for information on using HTML.
Note that when the auction description is submitted to eBay it includes not only the text in the description field, but also the text generated by the boilerplate template (see Appendix 4 for information on how to define a boilerplate template). Using this template lets you include a standard block of text with each of your auction listings without having to type it in each time you create a new auction record. It is convenient for including standard shipping terms and a description of postage & handling fees.
Click the Description field label to increase the size of the description field so that you can see more of its contents without scrolling. Click the label once again to return to the normal size, allowing you to view all the other fields once again.
- the names of the files containing the pictures of the auction item (six fields).
As discussed above in the Configuring AuctionGenie section, if you have access to an FTP site you can ask AuctionGenie to automatically upload auction pictures to the site. If you have enabled this feature, simply enter the picture file names in these fields. You must store the picture files in the Images folder inside the AuctionGenie Home folder so that AuctionGenie can locate them and transfer them to your FTP site when it submits auction listings. Even if you're not asking AuctionGenie to automatically upload the pictures it is a good idea to keep copies of them in the Images folder — doing this allows you to quickly view them in the eBay Selling database by clicking the disclosure triangle below the Picture Files field label as described below.
A simple file name is also all that is needed if you are using an image hosting service where all your pictures are stored in the same public folder. In this situation, be sure to specify the URL for this folder in the Pictures URL field in the Preferences form. Alternatively, you can enter the complete URL of a picture file in these fields in which case AuctionGenie ignores the information in Pictures URL. (If you're using an image hosting service that adds the references to picture files directly to the eBay listing page for your auction, leave the Pictures URL field blank. This includes eBay Picture Services, using the technique described in the Configuring AuctionGenie section, above.)
If you have only one picture for your auction item, a common scenario, put its name in the first of the six picture fields.
Picture files must be in JPEG format (with a file name extension of .jpg) or GIF format (with an extension of .gif); the JPEG format is recommended because the files are generally smaller with little difference in quality.
Note that if you are not uploading picture files automatically with AuctionGenie, you should upload them yourself before submitting an auction.
The file names or URLs are case sensitive, so take care to enter their names exactly. In addition, file names must not include space characters.
You can quickly view the pictures for the auction by clicking the disclosure triangle below the Picture Files field label to bring up thumbnails of all auction pictures and the gallery picture - if you see nothing, either a picture file doesn't exist (perhaps you haven't created it yet) or you misspelled its name.
When you move to another auction record from this view by clicking on the top or bottom of the card catalog icon, the picutres for the other auction are not shown automatically. To view them, click the reload icon next to the first row of auction pictures.
Note that when you load a picture, the database stores only a reference to it, not a copy of the original. This means that if you delete the original picture from the Images folder, or move it somewhere else, it can no longer be viewed in the database even if it had been loaded earlier.
To leave picture view, click the disclosure triangle below the Picture Files field label.
- the Use Gallery? selection. Choose No for no gallery, Yes for standard Gallery treatment where a thumbnail picture of your item appears in eBay search results, or Plus to display a larger picture in search results when buyers mouse over the word Enlarge ($0.35 fee). Note that when you submit a listing to the U.S. eBay site (the only site currently supported by AuctionGenie), you now get free standard Gallery treatment automatically, even if you set this option to No.
- the name of the file containing the picture to be displayed in the eBay gallery. Complete this field only if your auction is to be included in the gallery. If you don't specify the name of the gallery file, eBay uses the name of the file in the first of the six picture fields.
As discussed above in the Configuring AuctionGenie section, if you have access to an FTP site you can ask AuctionGenie to automatically upload auction pictures to the site. If you have enabled this feature, simply enter the file name in this field. The gallery picture file must be stored in the Images folder inside the AuctionGenie Home folder.
If you are not using an FTP site for your pictures, but rather an image hosting service that provides you with URLs for the picture f
