Need help with CSV or Excel File for Bulk Listing of 9000 Audio Book Titles

[timlodgebus]

So, I'm very computer literate, familiar with excel, etc., but still having the hardest time getting a bulk listing template (CSV or Excel file) to actually work properly.

All of my listings will have the same fixed price, same option to accept offers, auto accept at a

certain price point, same shipping policy, same payment policy, same return policy and

for sake of argument same 3 pictures ....   Only thing I need to change from line to line in

the CSV or excel file would be Name of the Audiobook, Author and Genre.    If there was a way to

include ISBN which would then auto-populate everything else (such as author, genre, etc.), that

would be even better.

   I've tried the Ebay created listing template specifying audiobooks but it gives me several

errors every time I try to upload it.  I've also looked at other's templates out there, and I can sometimes

get it to work, but I absolutely CANNOT add my own fields (such as Author, ISBN and genre) to existing

example templates ....

     I'd even pay for a proper CVS or excel file at this point.....I just need it all to be standardized so that

all I have to do is either enter the ISBN for each title/listing OR book title, author and genre.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Tim

[mcdougle4248]

@timlodgebus 

I am tagging a community mentor who is very knowledgeable in this area.  

@shipscript can you help the OP?

[postcardcountry]

You should take a look at listing tools.  There are different products out there.

I use sixbit software, a desktop listing tool.

I can do a lot of bulk editing (just did recently to get my shipping size/weight into my listings.)

I can create a master I can duplicate over and over and over, then just fill in the information that's different for each listing.

It comes with US based customer support. 

I have been using the current product since 2013, however, a different version of the same software was available as far back as 1998 or so.

I believe they are still offering the first month free.  There is no contract, it's purely month to month.

[kensgiftshop]

Will your listing limits allow you to list 9000 items?

Are these legit CD's or are you burning them?

[shipscript]

@timlodgebus 

I would recommend downloading the XLSX file from eBay as your template as it includes scripting to help automate the process. You will find that as you move from left to right and make selections within each row of cells, valid entries will become available in the cell droplist for each product.  It should be relatively straightforward to work out the kinks for a single listing by reviewing the results file that eBay provides after the file is submitted. 

What kind of errors do you encounter when using eBay's template?

[timlodgebus]

I believe with a business account eventually we can list 9000..... And yes these are legit brand new still sealed from the publisher audiobooks.

[timlodgebus]

When I try to work with the ebay created excel spreadsheet for the "add" function, it wants me to list a main image (that is hosted someplace) -- which is fine, but I want to also add three additional pictures.  When I tried to list them all under the main image field with the | as separator for the URL addresses, it won't show me the pictures and does this wierd blinking thing .....

  From what I understand I cannot then manually add pictures to a listing afterward that are hosted ON Ebay if my original excel file called for 3rd part hosted pictures ...This is a real pain because for all listings we want the 3 main storefront pictures -- but each listing has also an individual picture of the audiobook cover ......

    Any thoughts?  For now, all I can see to is publish as DRAFTS without any pictures and go in individually and add the pictures afterwards-- however this gets potentially very time consuming with upwards of 3000-4000 unique titles ....

[shipscript]

@timlodgebus 

Drafts can be somewhat limiting. To accomplish the same deferred completion, I prefer to list with a scheduled start time, and then remove the start time to go live immediately when the missing details are resolved. The scheduled start time creates an actual listing number that can be used to programmatically revise those pending listings, which can not be accomplished with drafts.

See this post for scheduling:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Seller-Tools/Scheduling-Templates/m-p/33957125#M44383

It is true that you can not mix eBay (EPS) hosting with self (external) hosting. So, if using a single placeholder in the CSV upload, that single photo can be deleted during the manual revision and then all photos can be manually uploaded. 

I saw a few of your test listings where the non-item stock photo was first in the lineup. For better customer response to listings, the item photo should be first and the stock warehouse photos would appear second and third. But perhaps that was your intent all along.

I also see some test listings where there is no photo. What were the circumstances on those?

There can be issues when uploading photos if the external server is unable to keep up with eBay's request for the photos (or if the external server does not allow public access).  Can you provide more detail on the failures?

I might also suggest, after the first stock photos are hosted on eBay, that you collect those URLs and resubmit them with your subsequent uploads to avoid refetching new versions every time. I "think" this might allow you to manually add the item photo, if that is your intent (haven't tested in a year or more).

Otherwise, you would want to upload all photos from an external server each time.

eBay has an API to upload photos to EPS ahead of their use, and then the CSV can use all EPS photos in the spreadsheet. However, this would require some server programming capability.

[onefootflipper1]

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@timlodgebus wrote:

So, I'm very computer literate, familiar with excel, etc., but still having the hardest time getting a bulk listing template (CSV or Excel file) to actually work properly.

All of my listings will have the same fixed price, same option to accept offers, auto accept at a

certain price point, same shipping policy, same payment policy, same return policy and

for sake of argument same 3 pictures ....   Only thing I need to change from line to line in

the CSV or excel file would be Name of the Audiobook, Author and Genre.    If there was a way to

include ISBN which would then auto-populate everything else (such as author, genre, etc.), that

would be even better.

   I've tried the Ebay created listing template specifying audiobooks but it gives me several

errors every time I try to upload it.  I've also looked at other's templates out there, and I can sometimes

get it to work, but I absolutely CANNOT add my own fields (such as Author, ISBN and genre) to existing

example templates ....

     I'd even pay for a proper CVS or excel file at this point.....I just need it all to be standardized so that

all I have to do is either enter the ISBN for each title/listing OR book title, author and genre.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Tim

---

Tim, your business plan is flawed from the start. All items do not have the same market price. 

Here is what listing them all at the same price does. Everyone that normally sells for more will sell fairly quickly and then you will never sell another one again.

You have to research prices, just guessing or doing "EVERYTHING SAME PRICE" is a recipe for disaster.

[krazzykats]

So you then reduce prices by 10%, sell a few more, then maybe make some discounted groupings, reduce the price a little more...but of course, if you leave it set at the initial list price it dies a slow death someplace in the recesses of the internet.

Update, revise, redo the pictures, or donate when you've finally given up...🤣