Beta isn't going so well for me - I've emailed Thom with 2 of the probems, but in case he isn't working this weekend, thought I'd see what you all have to say. I've sold two items since the beta was installed but AW2K is telling me there are no auctions that meet the update criteria. Sigh.

Then I list 19 auctions tonight, my gosh, the auction are HUGE - you have to scroll way over to see everything and they are a mess. Take a look here to see what I mean - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320023691132

This is what they look like BEFORE installing the beta -

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320023453501

Any thoughts? Thanks, Sharon

Here I am replying to my own post. I think I figured out the updating problem - they were GTC store items with closing dates a couple weeks out. When I changed the closing date to today, they updated OK.

But I still don't know what happened re: my other problem so if anyone can help I'd appreciate it. Thanks, Sharon

Sharon:
I too had the same problem tonight on auctions on Overstock and on eBay. On both of them there was the same problem. If you go in and revise your item and view the HTML code (on eBay - I won't discuss Overstock) you will see your images listed. It will look something like this:

<IMG SRC="http://www.crimcase.com/images/ebaystore/aw2k/LotImg36916.jpg" BORDER="0" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5" WIDTH="362" HEIGHT="128"><IMG SRC="http://www.crimcase.com/images/ebaystore/aw2k/LotImg36917.jpg" BORDER="0" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5" WIDTH="359" HEIGHT="129"><IMG

IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE THIS:

<IMG SRC="http://www.crimcase.com/images/ebaystore/aw2k/LotImg36916.jpg" BORDER="0" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5" WIDTH="362" HEIGHT="128">
<IMG SRC="http://www.crimcase.com/images/ebaystore/aw2k/LotImg36917.jpg" BORDER="0" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5" WIDTH="359" HEIGHT="129">
<IMG

note the "IMG" tag at the END of the line and not at the beginning. Easiest way to fix it is to insert your cursor between the > & < so it looks like this: >[<img

hold down the SHIFT key and hit ENTER

that will space the stuff out correctly.

here is the auction I had to fix:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230024991341

it is right now. And you are correct it was WIDE oh boy was it WIDE because all of the images were side by side and so then the text was all in one huge sentence.

Hope this helps for now at least you can get your auctions looking ok until Thom can fix the upload.

Garry

Sharon:

I forgot to add that it appears the problem only shows up if you have multiple images and or they are big images. If you post to Overstock it is easier to fix. They allow you to edit in "graphical" mode - you are seeing the auction not the HTML. So just go to EDIT the auction. Insert your cursor between two pictures and hit the ENTER key it will space them one below the other. If you have a hard time with the cursor - getting it between the two pix. put your cursor at any point where there is type above the pictures then use the down arrow or right arrow until you see the cursor go between two pictures and you're ready to do the ENTER thing.

Again, hope this helps fix things for now.

Garry

Sharon,

I am glad you figured out the GTC date. After you perform the very first eBay Stores auctions updating process, other updates require much less time.

Keep in mind the API version only affects the manner in which AW2K communicates with eBay. Installing the API does not affect the Listing templates, Email templates, Inventory Items window, Auction lots window, Images, descriptions, JPEG quality output settings, etc.

I looked at the 2 auctions in my browser. How do you have the Page Layout ordered? Images across the top? Down the side?

Which Listing template are you using?

Judy/blue

Sharon,

Something I failed to mention concerning the Update. You mentioned that AW2K prompted you that no Auctions met the criteria. Do you change the "Update Auction Lots options in the Program Options | Auction lots? I change my Update Auction Lots options all of the time. But with the API, it is better to leave the selection to "update all online lots". Thought I might mention it.

Judy/blue

Oh, thank you Gary. First, it was so nice to know I was not the only one having these problems. I used the fix you wrote out and the auction revised fine. Now to do the next 18! Hopefully Thom will get a fix out soon - I had a big listing weekend planned

I was so worried about this - here I am up at 3:00 am, hoping someone had responded to my post. Thanks again, Sharon

Hi Judy - I changed the program options to update all lots like you suggested. I bet that will solve it - will have to wait for another store item to sell though to see if it does. Thanks! sharon

Sharon,

Oh, I bet that'll solve the problem. Ask me how I know

As far as the images, What page layout for the images do you use. Images across the top or down the side? And do you use primarily 1 listing template? Or do you have a selection? Which listing template do you use?

Judy/blue

Sharon:

You're very welcome. I'm glad I was able to help. Last evening, shortly before you posted, I found that the problem surfaced if more than one image was on the page that were of pretty good size. It didn't mean simply two images but large images or several images - and the HTML didn't cause the display to go to the next line and display the image. From what I could figure out when the HTML was posted the first IMG tag was being left at the end of the line rather than at the beginning of the line.

IIt didn't matter what template you used and it didn't show up in preview. Sometimes an auction would appear OK and other times not and as far as I can tell it was all dependant on the size and or number of the images.

Anyway, I'm sure Thom will be able to fix this. From what I can see it is a simple fix but that's easy for me to say 'caus I don't have to do it.

Until Thom has an opportunity to check out the problem we do have a way to fix it. Have a good weekend and good luck posting.

Garry

Garry,

It looks like to me, the page break <BR> tag is missing from the Image syntax. I compared the code from my Auction listings to the one you posted. All my image syntax have page <BR> tags in-between each image within the listing template.

Now I am wondering about something else. Do you Resize your images in the AW2K image editor and shrink the image(s) by factor x? Or crop the images? Do you adjust the JPEG Image quality output settings in Program Options?

Judy/blue

Judy:

The best way to explain is with a show and tell. The auction I posted last evening that had problems had been posted before with no problems and all that I did last evening was Relist the auction using the Beta software. To make it easier I posted the same auction again just now and haven't edited it so you can see what happened last evening.

So the example has listed below: pre beta auction, beta auction fixed, beta auction unfixed.

The images have never been handled in the AW2K software. I do not use it's image editor at all. All image editing is done before importing them into AW2K. The size is set in the program options section: 500 x 500 and resize is checked. Also I don't let the software fool with the image quality it is set to highest quality jpg level 2. That has been the same way since the first time I set up the program way back when.

Anyway check out the eBay auction ID numbers I've listed at the end of this post and you will see what I'm talking about. The <BR> doesn't have anything to do with it. As far as I can tell the problem is the image tag at the end of the line:

SRC="http://www.crimcase.com/images/ebaystore/aw2k/LotImg36908.jpg" BORDER="0" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5" WIDTH="357" HEIGHT="152"><IMG SRC="http://www.crimcase.com/images/ebaystore/aw2k/LotImg36909.jpg" BORDER="0" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="129"><IMG

Where it SHOULD be:

SRC="http://www.crimcase.com/images/ebaystore/aw2k/LotImg36908.jpg" BORDER="0" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5" WIDTH="357" HEIGHT="152">

<IMG SRC="http://www.crimcase.com/images/ebaystore/aw2k/LotImg36909.jpg" BORDER="0" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5" WIDTH="360" HEIGHT="129">

<IMG ...


Auction posted with PRE-Beta software: Auction ID: 230000687386

paste this URL: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230000687386&ru=http://search.ebay.com:80/230000687386_W0QQfromZR18QQfsopZ1QQsspagenameZADMEQ3aBQ3aTB2Q3aUSQ3a2QQfviZ1


Auction posted with BETA and NOT edited: Auction ID: 230025091187

Paste this URL: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230025091187&ru=http://search.ebay.com:80/230025091187_W0QQfromZR18QQfsopZ1QQsspagenameZADMEQ3aBQ3aTB2Q3aUSQ3a2QQfviZ1


Auction Posted with BETA and then edited on line: 230024991341

Paste This URL: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230024991341&ru=http://search.ebay.com:80/230024991341_W0QQfromZR18QQfsopZ1QQsspagenameZADMEQ3aBQ3aTB2Q3aUSQ3a2QQfviZ1

Again, Judy, I think it has to do with the number of images and once they get to be too many the page just keeps getting wider and wider.

Anyway, that's what I've been able to find out so far.

Garry

Garry,

Thanks for the info. I just love this "techy" stuff. Off to investigate

Judy/blue

Judy:

LOL -

have fun Columbo

Actually you should be able to see the problems and if you view source it may be even better.

Garry

Garry,

Done did that. checked the Source right off the bat. Saved the source into notepad, and the webpage as well. So Columbo has something to compare.

Judy/blue

Judy:

Great. Hope it helps you. Because I knew there had to be a problem with the pix I went right away to the pix section and saw the problem immediatly. However, you'll see on the "Fixed" one I also changed some of the coding above the images. But later realized I didn't need to do that. Watson . . . The game's afoot.

Garry

Garry

My dear fellow Watson, what would I do without you.

And I don't mean to leave you all hanging. but my husband finally got to come home. For only a couple of days. He & I are running away together this afternoon. Before he has to hit the road again.

Judy/blue

Edited by bluepennylady on 09/03/06 10:39 AM (server time).

Judy:

Quite well Holmes, quite well. LOL I guess we still should be at the ready for Professor M.

Enjoy the time away!

Garry

Edited by AquilaStamps on 09/03/06 10:44 AM (server time).

Garry,

Okay I lied just a tad. We are escaping but my husband has a laptop with the Cellphone connection he uses when he travels so we can communicate. SO he suggested using it while traveling so I won't miss anything. He is the best hubby!! I could be just a tad partial though.

Judy/blue

Garry,

Okay, I have looked at the auctions. And then got to thinking. I am wondering if the image size isn't the key here. I have lots of images on some of my auctions and have not had any trouble with the images displaying like you and Sharon. But I resize all images and shrink by factor 2. I also changed the JPEG image quality settings and moved the setting closer to Lesser quality. That was just for browser loading.

What is so strange, none of my image tags look like yours or Sharon's. I don't have access to my company stuff but when I get back home, I am going to work and upload an auction or 2 just to see if the images do the "stretch" armstrong look.

I wouldn't want to miss out on the fun!!

Judy/blue

Judy:
Hmmm, sounds as if you have Capt. Hastings with you on the trail. A laptop is so great huh? Your husband is very understanding of this eBay thing that's going on.

I know what you are saying. However, using a prebuilt Thom Template or any version that I could come up with before the Beta (since January of 2003 acutally) AW2K has never done this before. Auctions, even on Yahoo have looked the way I expected them to look. I have always done the images the same way. And did I tell you it did the same thing on Overstock last night as I had to go in there and move the pix around. And that is a different template. Also on all templates I use Images On Top.

Checking way old eBay auctions of mine on several different templates I find that the HTML that places pictures has NEVER ended with <IMG and it shouldn't as that is the beginning of a next line of HTML that defines another new image.

So it's not the images, remember the auctions I had you look at. One was before Beta and it was fine. The other was Last night and had the <IMG problem until I fixed it.

I know that it doesn't have anything to do with the way a Pix was handled before posting as both the old auction and last night's used exactly the same images. The only thing done was to relist.

Well you and Capt. Hastings have a good drive, and maybe you can try relisting an old auction so you can try it. I do know also that it doesn't happen with one image. If there are more than one it may not be extra wide but that is because of the size of the image. The HTML will show though the <IMG problem.

Garry

Garry,

We are back. Had a great day! Hubby is watching the news and I am, well back on the boards again

I understand what you are saying--completely. Just seems really strange for the images to start acting weird out of the clear blue. I know that images have been uploading and displaying correctly all week on new listings and relists both at Overstock, eBay and eBay stores. I think there is an image gremlin out.

I will try listing again but not tonight. Don't want to go into work at this hour.

Judy/blue

Judy:
Glad you had a good time. I'm not sure why the gremlin has stepped in either. I didn't list anything tonight as I didn't feel like fixing all of the auctions that had several images. I'll wait a day or so to see what Thom has to say. Probably he won't be back until after the holiday.

I'm not really up for going "into" work either right now - guess I'll leave everything alone until morning and attack it again then.
Maybe a refreshed brain will help me look at it in a different light.

Garry

Judy:

Well I decided that I won't try to list today. I'm pretty sure the same problem will happen. Fortunatly Monday's as listing/closing days aren't so hot for me. I thought of trying a simpler auction with smaller & fewer pix. But decided I'll wait until Thom has a chance to look at this problem/situation and see what's happening.

Garry

Garry,

You might go ahead and email Thom letting him know you are experiencing the problem too.

Judy/blue

Judy:

Will do.

Garry

Judy:

I sent Thom an email briefly explaining the problem as well as a link to the three same auctions showing what happened. In less than an hour I got a patch.

I applied the patch and sent that auction up again and Lo and Behold a correctly dfisplaying auction!

As usual Thom outdid himself. It works it works it works.

The new eBay auction id # is 230025683974
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230025683974

Garry

Garry,

Great! I am so glad. I bet the images look much better. Thom can fix anything.

Thanks for letting me know,

Judy/blue

Hi:
Last evening (04 Sept 2006) Thom issued a patch that fixed the problem. I did all kinds of posting last night (and then would delete the aution) and every one of them worked. So if you haven't contacted Thom - do so and he has the patch. Everything works perfectly now.

Garry

Judy:
I spent most of the night (04 - 05 Sept 2006) sitting here working with eBay and a few Overstock items. I would find an old item that had posted properly as an auction and one that I had posted with Beta Software. After the patch had been applied the same auction listed just fine. I'd post them in the store so I didn't have to spend so much and if they looked OK would either delete them or let them remain as an additional store item. Regardless of which item ID I picked out they all worked fine and as expected.

Now I will be able to post without any worries. He did the patch actually only moments after I sent him an email with a brief explaination of the problem. As you say he can fix Anything.

Thanks for your help and input through all this too.

Garry

Garry,

I am very glad the patch fixed the image issue. And it just blows my mind how Thom can create a patch so quickly. And the patch works.

thanks for checking the patch out.

Judy/blue

Hello all you lab rats......

I've been reading this thread with much interest, though only partial understanding. I'm considering taking the beta plunge, but I have one quick question: Does publishing the patch mean the beta version one would download CONTAINS that patch?

Sue

Sue,

First let me say, patch or not, Installing the Beta API version is the thing to do, at least in my books. It is super stable, runs like a champ. Reduced my updating time to almost nothing. My staff can begin work in the mornings a full hour earlier. Do you know how much more "stuff" they can get put into Inventory items in a hour?? I am really impressed with it.

And since you would be among other "lab rats' you are in good company. I am never afraid to install something Thom has done especially since he is only an email away for a problem fix, it one pops up.

Now about the patch--The patch is not included in the regular installer. But not everyone experienced the problem. I did not have any difficulties with my images. If you should have a problem with your images, just email Thom and he'll sent that little patch right out to you.

Come on Sue Be brave I am just a mess aren't I.

Judy/blue

Sue:
You really need to take the plunge and go to the BETA. You will love it and find that after the first couple of uploads and downloading of closed lots that the time it takes will be minimal. In fact the stuff just flies by when it is updating.

The patch as far as I know - at least the one issued tonight isn't in the BETA. If I was doing it I would download and install the BETA. Then check for updates, 'cause if you need it then it will say so and have you install it.

This BETA is so very good. As you know a few of us had image problems and Thom took care of it right away. I just noticed a problem in some type about 1/2 hour ago tonight (Tuesday) but that too can be fixed. Even though I had a few problems I really like the BETA.

Heck, just hold your breath, downloa, install, and never look back. And joing the Rats From The Lab club.

Garry
Lab-Rat

Thom just released a Beta API update that addresses all known issues as of today. SOOOO Sue, just install the Beta and then update it you'll be good to go.

Now Garry, what problem did you notice a few minutes ago??

Columbo here ready and waiting

Judy/blue

Judy:

This one was strange. Thom had sent me a patch for the pix problem and it worked like a charm. Everything posted just fine - I tried it on the one that had messed up before and all was well as the pix displayed properly. Hmm, notice I said the pix.

Last evening I posted auctions to eBay Auctions, eBay Stores, and Overstock.

Once they were done I noticed on the AW2K page for each individual eBay auction the start and end dates were wrong. They were off by exactly one day. The start date read 09/06/2006 and the end date read 09/13/2006 not 09/05/2006 and 09/12/2006. However, the actual auctions if you looked on eBay had the correct dates in them. Not a real problem I just adjusted the date in AW2K and that was it.

Then I noticed that a couple of text boxes the type was getting jumbled up - words being put together without spaces between them and font changes were happening within the same text box that were not supposed to happen. All this on a tried and true template.

So I fixed a few and then just sent Thom an eMail letting him know what had happened. By the way the text problem also appeared in Overstock but eBay was the only one that had the date problem.

Tha's it so far - and I still love the new version. I couldn't believe how FAST it posted to eBay last night. Hmm, maybe that was it - it posted so fast it went into a time warp and thought it was the next day that's why the date problem. Prolly should check that out just in case there is something awry in the time space continium or in the warp factor 11.665a/J15 posting speed device.

That's it for now Columbo! LOL

Sorry it took so long to reply but I spent hours with eBay last evening ane early this morning over a guy who did a BIN and then wanted to pass off a scam on payment. He said he already had the money order written out and it was for too much so I should send him the "change" in AFRICA! Sure I was gonna do that. Now he's a NLR user. eBay just refunded the fee and I'll start that auction over.

Garry

Garry,

Now that is weird. But I think you have it figured out, warp speed

The only thing that comes to mind is your computer date/time. 'Cause AW2K is date and time sensitive, which I know you know.

Daylight savings time could play a factor if the Auction was posted at the break over time between you and eBay. Your computer would record the date as tomorrow while eBay was still on today.

I have had the "text" thing happen before to me. Seems to me, if memory serves me right, it was a Windows issue. I had copied and pasted text from another source into the description field and Windows was displaying the RTF. So the font changed, weird characters displayed, jumbled up or really stretched out across a page like your images did. I corrected it by pasting the text into Notepad, which strips out all that RTF stuff, and pasted the text from Notepad back into the AW2K description field.

I don't remember if I went to Microsoft and there was a patch for anyone experiencing the problem. Or if Thom created a patch.

You'll have to let me know what Thom says about the dates. And the text getting all weird on you.


change to AFrica! That is about the same as the 2 buyers I had from Germany recently who wanted me to send them my banking information as they needed it in their country to secure the funds to pay me for an Auction. I turned them into Trust & Safety. Filed an Unpaid Item Dispute and received a Final Value Credit. And even got a negative feedback from the buyer

Judy/blue

Judy:

My date and time settings are correct. The date problem only happened on the eBay auctions. The Overstock auctions were correct. Strange huh?

The text problem is similar in a way to the image problems encountered earlier. By that I mean that the template is an oldie from forever ago. So it had posted correctly a bajillion times and now it posts messed up. So by default I think it is probably a Beta issue in how it transmits data to the auction site.

I wrote an email to Thom last evening about this & I'll let you know what he tells me.

The scammer didn't get a chance to leave me negative feedback as he was bounced off of eBay before he even had a chance to do anything. I have a feeling that he pulled the same scam on lots of other sellers and someone got to Trust & Safety before I did. I applied for a NPB credit and figured I would have to wait 3 days past forever to get the refund. To my surprise the refund was issued as soon as I filed the dispute. I think that because he is no longer registered the refund is applied right away.

The funny thing about this is that after talking to eBay about the problem and getting reassurances from them I was asked if I wanted to relist the item. I replied that I did and the next thing eBay types at me is that it had been relisted. THANKS - relisted and CLOSING at 4:39 AM Eastern time. Grrrrrrrrrr, thanks for the help but jeeze 4:39 in the morning. I never thought that they would do the relist for me. Next time I'll know better and tell them I'll relist it myself. I never knew that the ebay live chat people could do that.

Garry

Garry,

Overstock's API calls are a bit different than eBay's. And it could very well be Beta API related. My guess though is that it is a Windows issues that is now affected by the API as theeBay API strips out something formatting. Overstock strips out some formatting too. And boy howdy, if you try and use formatting Overstock does not allow, you can certainly make a fair size mess of your auctions at Overstock. Ask me how I know

They relisted the Auction for you? Really! How thoughful of them to start and end an auction at 4:30 in the morning. Like anyone is up but you and me at that hour of the day

Judy/blue

Gerry,

Did you notice that your "title" has changed on the boards?? You are now a "journeyman." Congratulations!

Judy/blue

Judy:
I wonder how many will be up to snipe that auction at 4:30 in the morning. LOL

As far as the listing goes, remember, that template has listed just fine for a long time on eBay, and Overstock. So it isn't a stripping out of stuff problem. It started only after the BETA software was installed. Will have to wait to see what Thom says I guess.

I copied and pasted both Overstock and Ebay pages into Frontpage. Got the same problem on display. Then copied and pasted the template into FP and no problem. Then uploaded one more time this morning to OS and EB and guess what - same problem :( I even tried using Adobe PageMill and got the same results. So I canxed the auctions and will wait and see.

Garry

Judy:

Yea, noticed that. Ummm, does that come with a raise and a corner office? Thought not but no harm in asking. Guess it's dependent upon number of posts or something.

Garry

Garry,

If the title change comes with something, please let me know, 'cause I want one too. Well, maybe not. Perhaps I better wait until I know what it comes with

Concerning the description problem, I realize the template listed fine prior to the Beta API. What I mean is that eBay's API strips out some formatting and tags etc. Just like Overstock. So it is completely possible that the Beta API version has stripped out some of the formatting necessary for Windows to display your template correctly. Regardless, I just bet you Thom can fix it.

Judy/blue

Ok, I'm API-iated! Lab rats rule!

Everything's going pretty smoothly (boy, do auctions upload fast!), although I haven't gone over my newest auctions with a fine-toothed comb, which I guess I should do if Garry's experience is any guide.

But I hit a little snag tonight. Can't leave Feedback. The Error Message is:

Feedback was not accepted by eBay: API Error Code 50: An error occurred while processing your request. We are currently unable to obtain your feedback rating.

Anyone know the solution? Or maybe it's just some temporary eBay nonsense.

Thanks, Sue

sue,

Congratulations! You lab rat you!!

I have submitted feedback using the API a couple of times. I don't have my notes in front of me as those are at work. but I didn't experience any trouble. Just the normal eBay stuff. No auction id or the user had changed their user id.

I can't find the API error code 50 definition. What is weird is "we are currently unable to obtain "your" feedback rating." Today eBay has been throwing API errors all over the place. None were Aw2K issues.

Was the error returned for all feedback? Or just one Invoice/Invoice item? Or you could not even begin the feedback process because of the API error 50?

Be sure the Invoice/Invoice item in question has the correct Auction id. Did the buyer change their user id? Or is the buyer no longer a registered eBay member.

You might try submitting feedback later and see if it happens again. If it does, email Thom with the complete error message text. He'll probably want to see the feedbacklogfiles. so don't shut down AW2000 after submitting feedback if you receive the API error message again later on. That way you'll still have the feedback logfiles to send him.

I am so glad you joined us. I dearly LOVE being a lab rat.

Judy/blue

Hi Judy,

I think this may be a temporary eBay issue. When I visit My eBay, every section says, "Some of your information is not available at this time. Please try again later." This is true of two of my three IDs, so I don't think it has anything to do with the new API version. And I did sign out/back in. Closed/reopened the browser. Signed off/back on the internet. Nothing on the System Status board, however.

Thanks for the congrats.

Sue

HI there Sue,

I would have to agree as I have had trouble with eBay pages as well today. Must be in the air. Overstock servers were hiccuping today too.

Let us know if the feedback submits later. I can tell you the feedback submission process is MUCH faster. Just wait until you watch it. Or I should say try to watch it. Man it is fast. Much quicker than Overstock.

Judy/blue

Yup. Was eBay.

Each Feedback posting flies off in the blink of an eye...LITERALLY! You can't even see it happen. Amazing.

Thanks for your support, Sue

Garry, my eBay auction dates are off by one day, too (you've got a good eye! I would never have noticed the discrepancy). Those listed on the 6th say Start Date the 7th; those listed tonight say Start Date the 8th. But like you said, they are correct on eBay. Did you email Thom about it?

Sue

Sue,

Isn't it just amazing!! The human eye can't even see the submission. I don't remember, Have you listed yet?? Just wait until you do regular Auction updating!1 Talk about cool! And if there are no events, then you'll receive a prompt indicating nothing has changed so there isn't anything to update. What a time saver!!

Judy/blue

Garry wrote: "The funny thing about this is that after talking to eBay about the problem and getting reassurances from them I was asked if I wanted to relist the item. I replied that I did and the next thing eBay types at me is that it had been relisted. THANKS - relisted and CLOSING at 4:39 AM Eastern time. Grrrrrrrrrr, thanks for the help but jeeze 4:39 in the morning.....I never knew that the ebay live chat people could do that."

This boggles my mind. The chat staff can do that??? Hope those folks are more honest than they are sharp.

And what's with these scammers in Africa? Do they think we were all born yesterday? How many suckers can they possibly find? Are one or two easy marks worth going through all the effort to place bids and send out customized emails to all the sellers? Doesn't make sense.

Sue

Sue,

Isn't that the truth! I didn't know Live Chat could launch auctions either. I am glad Garry said something as I have had a similiar incident. Ebay asked if I wanted to relist the Auction. And I said not at the present moment. Otherwise, I could have ended up with a 2:00 am CST auction and been growling as well.

Judy/blue

Sue,

Email Thom about the date. I believe he has a patch or fix for the date.

Judy/blue

Sue:

Well it appears the cage is gonna have to have an addition built on for all of the new lab-rats moving in. I'd suggest something in bright colors, special conveniences, and plenty of desk space with good network and internet connections. And those sippy water bottles hanging on the wall just gotta go. Maybe Judy could see to heading up renovations. LOL

Well I was away from the board for a day and 1/2 'cause Thom checked my templates and found that there were spaces at the end of some lines and if the line broke between two words such as " hello -- new line -- there" it would appear on ebay as "hellothere". Sooooooo, went through all of my templates and took out all the stuff that Thom said shouldn't be there using the API and holy cow everything is close to fantastic now.

The only problem that I've got is still the strange date thingie that the AW2K page for each auction shows. If I upload an auction to eBay (this only happens with eBay not Overstock or "Nahoo") on 09/08/06 and it is to close on 09/15/05 the dates posted in AW2K are 09/09 and 09/16. I have to go back and use GridView and search by the 09/09 date and change start date and end date back by one day. Thank God for GridView. I have no idea why this is happening. Wonder if anyone else is having that problem?

Otherwise hope all goes well with your switch over to BETA. You gotta love the time it saves in just the updating. Before I would selectively update by hand rather than take the long time to update everything. Now it is so easy just click on the update button and you barely have time to look away and it's done. And uploading is a breeze now. Sometimes if I was uploading 100 or so auctions I could plant, harvest, roast, grind, and make coffee before they were done. Now I have about just enough time to take a few sips of the coffee.

This is a fantastic upgrade to an already great auction management program.

Oh, you think that maybe we may need extra Lounge Room/coffee room furniture in the expanded cage?

Garry

Sue:

I forgot to tell you earlier - so far I haven't had any problems with leaving feedback. The only time was similar to what Judy told about - the person had left eBay and of course it wouldn't post. Other than that the feedback posts like the wind now and no problems.

Garry

Sue:
Yea, I did email Thom about it. Haven't heard back yet, but as soon as I do I'll post his reply here. I emailed that the first time I told him about the problem of the way the page looked on eBay. And he spent a lot of time looking at my files so I think it got overlooked in favor of the bigger problem. I emailed that to him again last evening rather late (late my time Eastern). So I'll keep checking today and let you know what he finds.

Garry

Hi Judy:
I agree the feedback is greased lightning now on eBay. Everything is so much faster when talking to eBay. Sue said something about eBay had a notice that "all your stuff isn't available". I've experienced that a few times during my late night sessions. And even under the old version of AW2K you couldn't leave feedback. So that is probably what was causing her problem too.

Garry

Hi Garry & Sue,

Okie dokie I'll head up the rennovations. I am good at remodeling and redoing. Seems like I sure do it quite a bit. In fact I am getting to do some more rennovations here at work to the newly remodeled offices. Should have added on that extra room my husband wanted to do and I wouldn't let him. So now I have to eat my words and we are adding it on. But I have to move 2 sections of pallet racking first. Which we are in the process of emptying all the Internet product from right now. Geez, that will take a week to do.

eBay has been throwing errors for 2 days. I suspect they are in the process of making changes----again.

I am so glad that Sue has joined our lab rat group. I dearly love to Beta test. I am addicted to it. My husband just shakes his head at me. I can sit and poke through all the functions all day long looking for something. Thom sure makes it hard though as he does such a good job it is really hard to find problems. If there is a problem, it is usually a very small hiccup not a major bump. Not so with other programmers, I promise you. Some of the other software programs I have done Beta testing for are terrible. Their Beta releases should be called pre-Alpha releases.

So Garry, if I understand you correctly, your Listing templates had code in them that was causing problems?? boy I have done that before. Had a small character in one template that caused all sorts of havoc. Took quite a while to find the elusive little booger.

Judy/blue

Judy:
Not sure if I told you this or not - Thom asked me to send him my logs etc from the Backup. I did. He got back to me and told me that the templates had carrige returns and line breaks in them and eBay using the API was stripping them out. So spent a day going through all the templates and took all that "stuff" out. Now the auctions post the way they were intended to. Part of the problem I had was as of the result of an occasional quick change in a template. Rather doing it the right way I'd go in and just type the html into the template and sheesh that caused problems too. When AW2K was posting using the eBay FORM it didn't matter but using the API it made an unholy mess out of the page. The best thing out of this is it afforded me an opportunity to tweek my pages and make a few changes that I have wanted to for a long while but just didn't feel I had the time to do so. Anyway, thanks to Thom and his fast reply, it's all done. And now all is well at the "Hundred-Acre-Woods" - the bee tree has settled down.

Judy:

You're never gonna guess! I just was speechless. I knew there was a title change. And we joked about the corner office and stuff.

Well yesterday afternoon - kinda late - UPS came to the door. And they delivered the "something" that comes with the title. Change. Now I don't wanna look a gift horse in the mouth but really!

I've heard of purchasing old outdated merchandise and putting it to use but this has got to be the ultimate in repurposing stuff.

Now, don't get me wrong, you or Sue may appreciate the special something that gets sent. I thought well ... maybe ... but it just didn't go with anything I had. Now I don't know what to do -- I got it. I'll eBay it.

Garry

Garry,

I have experienced the same problem before only at Overstock when I did the testing there for AW2K.. Since there were problems like you had, I tweeked my stuff a while back which is probably one of the reasons I didn't have any problems with my templates displaying incorrectly.

Isn't testing stuff fun! All the little things you have to do.

I am glad the bees have stopped swarming.

Judy/blue

Garry,

eBay that dude! It will go with something someone has somewhere in the world. And besides, it was worth a good laugh.

Judy/blue

Judy:
It's strange, but I should have thought about it. When I did the first foray into Overstock with AW2K I didn't take a template and convert it. I started from scratch and did it in FrontPage. So when the first one posted I didn't have problems. Then .... with this Beta I tweeked it. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. that alone should have told me what the problem was. The pix problems were fixed by Thom's patch but the display problems of HTML and text were my fault because I couldn't keep my grubby keyboard fingeres off of the template. Just had to fine tune, just had to make it different, just had to .. well you get thie idea.

By the way I also asked Thom if there was a way to test the templates. Using the preview button only uses the HTML without stripping off stuff - just as if you had written a bad HTML web page. The code is messy but it displays properly. So the only way to test is to post on eBay and if you got lots of problems you are posting and taking down a ton of auctions and that can get costly even posting in stores. He replied and told me that currently there was no way to do a template test to see what it will look like live on line. However, he did add - "we're working on something now that will do that". Now that is cool! That man never stops does he?

Garry

Sue:
It doesn't make sense unless:

1. The already made out Money Order is for $2,000.00
2. You bite on the scam
3. You send them the "change" from a $200.00 eBay purchase via Western Union.
4. DHL Picks up the package as they said.
5. You deposit the money order from them and it's a fake and bounces.

You're out a ton of money - no way of finding them. Their Yahoo email address is closed and DHL shows a delivery address to a PO Box and it is reshipped by them somewhere else.

Oh, it will work when all it takes is one sucker to fall for it. Let me find the email and I'll post it so you can see how convoluted it was.

Garry

I'm glad I did say something. At least maybe it won't happpen to anyone else. I know they were trying to be helpful and all. But there needed to be some sort of verbal warning after I said "yes" - such as "ok we'll do it for you right now".

Garry

Garry,

No Thom doesn't stop. He truly doesn't. I know for a fact he is continually working non-stop on features, functions and improvements. He takes suggestions and input into consideration when re-doing anything. OR adding anything.

What I do when I have tweeked a Listing template is I will Queue and list only 1 auction. Then I'll see how it displays. If it isn't right, I can edit it on ebay and then change the template in AW2K.

Judy/blue

Judy:

That's a great suggestion. When I was doing it though there were about 20 different templates and I thought it would be just too much to post them all. I had no intention of posting more than one as it was - but your suggestion would have worked pretty well on many of them As, most of the time the change from one to the next template is minimal.

Garry

Hi all:

I just heard from Thom via email concerning the date problem. He said:

{CLIPPED FROM EMAIL}
Hi Garry,

I am aware of the problem. Starting and ending dates are being stored in GMT instead of your local time zone. That will be corrected in the next update. Any Auction Lots that are updated will have their dates corrected.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Regards,
Thom Withgott
{END OF CLIP}

I replied with a huge thanks and told him I loved the Beta and would be able to fix the date thingie using GridView until he issued the update.

So he's on it.

Garry

GArry,

That makes perfect sense that the dates being stored in GMT instead of local time would cause the problem. I think maybe Thom has worked his fingers to the bone lately Thanks for sharing his response.

Judy/blue

Hi Garry,

He is aware of the date problem (the program thinks we are all in Arizona, apparently, and isn't translating the times to local time zones). It will be fixed with the next build of the beta, and in the mean time, whenever you run an update of your Lots, the dates will be corrected.

Sue

Sue,

Too bad when its cold out that AW2K can't translate us all to Arizona where it is warm. It gets so cold here in the Southeast corner of Kansas.

Judy/blue

Sue:

Thanks for the info. I appreciate it. It's a strange problem and I almost didn't catch it. I was looking over a particular auction I had just uploaded to eBay and that's when I saw the date was the next day. At first I thought I didn't know what day it was LOL. But I checked and at least that part of my faculties still works. I checked further and realized then that a problem had worked itself in.

Garry