Ebay integration
The eBay Integration Module (also known as the eBay Inventory Manager Module) is a breakthrough in streamlining product management between 2 platforms. The X-Cart Integration for eBay is the fastest and easiest way for business owners to sync product info with eBay automatically, manage eBay inventory from X-Cart, and list items quickly on eBay.
Contents
Introduction
This module syncs product info with eBay automatically, allows users to manage eBay inventory from X-Cart, and make updates and list items quickly on eBay. Save time and effort because the eBay integration module maintains inventory and pricing information between 2 different platforms.
Requirements
General
- X-Cart 4.3.x or above
- Users must create or have an active eBay account
- The number of products you can upload is based on your eBay account
Server
- SOAP
- PHP5
- Ioncube
Installation
Instructions
Note: Before installing any module, it is recommended that you backup your database and all X-Cart files
- Upload all of the files and folders in the .zip file to your root X-Cart directory.
- Find the patch files that correspond to your version of X-Cart in the .zip file:
- install_ebay_inventory_manager_4.x.x.patch
- install_ebay_inventory_manager_4.x.x.sql
- Upload and run these files via the Patch/Upgrade section of X-Cart.
- Run cleanup.php to clear your carts cache.
- Setup the following cron jobs to run on your server, inserting your cart URL where [URL TO CART] appears:
0,30 * * * * /usr/bin/wget -O -q [URL TO CART]/cron_ebay_bulk_jobs.php
- /15 * * * * /usr/bin/wget -O -q [URL TO CART]/cron_ebay_download_orders.php
0 * * * * /usr/bin/wget -O -q [URL TO CART]/cron_ebay_upload_products.php
0 0 * * * /usr/bin/wget -O -q [URL TO CART]/cron_ebay_maintenance.php
That's it! The module should now be installed and ready to configure and use.
Troubleshooting
If your cart has been customized, one or more of the patch blocks may have failed, and you will have to modify the cart files manually by following the instructions in the file install_ebay_inventory_manager_4.x.x.html.
Configuration
Granting Acess to Your eBay Account
In order to list products on eBay, you must grant the module permission to make changes to your eBay account. The first time you visit the settings page for the eBay Inventory Manager (eBay Tools > Settings), the following message should appear:
Upon clicking the grant access link, a new window will open prompting you to sign in to your eBay account. After logging in, you will be redirected back to the settings page.
If the link redirects you to a log out page, the authorization link may have expired. Click on the second link to start a new session and retrieve a new login link.
Module Settings
All of the general configuration options are found on the eBay Settings page. For a detailed list of all of the module settings, as well as descriptions of what they do, please refer to this page.
eBay Categories
The eBay Inventory Manger uses a category mapping system to associate your categories in X Cart to their respective categories on eBay. This system allows you to quickly assign eBay listing categories to your products without having to modify each product individually.
For example, letís say that you sold cell phones, and all of your cell phones are in the X Cart category Cellular Phones, which is located under the root category Electronics (i.e. Electronics / Cellular Phones). You want to list all of the products in your Cellular Phones category in the Cell Phones & Smartphones eBay category, located under the root eBay category Cell Phones & Accessories (i.e. Cell Phones & Accessories / Cell Phones & Smartphones). Using the Map X-Cart Categories to eBay Categories page, you would assign, or map, Electronics / Cellular Phones from X-Cart to Cell Phones & Accessories / Cell Phones & Smartphones on eBay.
Enabling eBay Categories
The first step to mapping categories is enabling the eBay categories that you want to map to. The Map X-Cart Categories to eBay Categories page lists every category on the currently selected eBay site. Click on a category to see its subcategories. To return to the previous page, click on Go up a level or hit the back button on your browser.
Products can only be uploaded to leaf categories, i.e. categories have no subcategories of their own. A leaf category will not be clickable, and it will have a checkbox available in the Enabled column. Check this box and click the Update button below the category list to enable a category.
Mapping X-Cart Categories to eBay Categories
Once an eBay category has been enabled it will appear below the eBay category list on the Map X-Cart Categories to eBay Categories page. To remove an eBay category from this area, check the box in the Disable column, and click Save. There are two different ways to map X Cart categories to eBay categories:
Assigning Multiple X-Cart Categories to a Single eBay Category
The first mapping method available allows you to assign multiple X Cart categories at one time, making it a very fast way to map your categories.
You can select as many X Cart categories on as you like, and they will all be mapped to the eBay category shown on the right. You can also choose a secondary eBay category to list your products in, although some category combinations may be incompatible. If you have an eBay store and have checked the setting Enable mapping to custom eBay categories, you can also choose which of your store categories products will be listed in.
Once you have made your selection, click Save. See Fig. 1
Assigning Single eBay Category to Each X Cart Category
This method of mapping categories requires more work, but gives you more control over what categories your products are being listed under on eBay.
Here each X Cart category is listed alphabetically, along with Primary and secondary category selectors for eBay categories. If you have an eBay store and have checked the setting Enable mapping to custom eBay categories, you can also choose which of your store categories products will be listed in. Once you have made your selection, click Save. See Fig. 2
Overriding Category Mappings
If you find that you need even more granular control over which categories your products are listed in on eBay, you can set the eBay category per product and override that products category mapping. This can be done by adjusting the eBay Category dropdown menu on the X-Cart Product Modify page.
Listing an Item
Once you have mapped an X-Cart category to an eBay category, you are ready to start listing products. Below you will find various ways to list products.
Listing Single Products
From the Upload Products page
If automatic uploads are disabled, products from X-Cart can be uploaded to eBay manually from the Upload Products page (eBay Tools > Upload Products). This page shows all products that are in categories mapped to eBay categories. If a product is missing important information, an alert icon will be present in the right most column. See Listing Errors for more information on these alerts.
From this page, you are able to list single products by clicking on Upload. If the product has been listed before, the Relist link will be available. You can click on Relist to maintain your eBay search rankings and meta information instead of creating a new listing.
After listing a product, either by clicking Upload or Relist, you will receive a success confirmation in the upper right corner of the screen. If an error occurs, a notice will be displayed with error information.
From the Product Modify page
Products that are ready to be listed will also have a series of listing control buttons on the bottom of X-Cart's Product Modify page in the admin area.
Listing Multiple Products
In addition to listing products one at a time, products can be listed in bulk. To list multiple products, check the box next to the SKU column, and then click the Upload at the bottom of the page. This will create a bulk upload job, which you can check the status of on the eBay Bulk Jobs page.
Listing Products Automatically
If the option Automatically Upload Valid and Mapped Products is enabled, the module will check for new products to upload every hour.
Managing Listings
Viewing Listings
Once a product has been successfully listed on eBay, you can view the actual listing several different ways:
From the Products on eBay page
This page shows all products in your store that are listed on eBay. To view a listing, click on the Listing page link on the corresponding line.
Note: When you first use the module, you may not initially see your pre-existing eBay listings on this page. Clicking on the link at the top of the page will make the module search through your active listings for SKUs that exist in your cart.
From X-Cart Search Pages
Products that are returned from X-Cart searches in the admin area will have a Listing page link with the eBay logo next to them if they are currently listed.
From the Product Modify page
The listing controls at the bottom of the page will contain a View Listing button on the Product Modify page if the product is currently listed.
Revising Listings
Listing information is automatically updated in real time when it is changed in X-Cart. This includes modifying product information from the admin area, and updating quantity when products are purchased on your X-Cart store.
If the database is modified outside of X-Cart (e.g. by a third party application), or if changes are made to the module settings that affect all products (e.g. the html template code), you can update all of your listings at once by navigating to the Products on eBay page and clicking the Update All Listings button.
If for some reason one product becomes out of sync, you can update it individually by clicking the Update link on the Products on eBay page, or the Update Listing button on the bottom of the Product Modify page.
Ending Listings
Listings will be ended automatically when product inventory reaches 0 or whatever value is entered in the Remove Items from eBay When QTY Reaches setting.
From the Products on eBay page
Items can be ended manually from this page by clicking the Remove link on the corresponding line. Alternatively, multiple listings can be ended by checking the box next to the product SKU and clicking on the Remove button.
From the Product Modify page
Listings can also be ended manually from the Product Modify page by clicking on the End Listing button at the bottom of the page.
Downloading Orders
eBay orders are downloaded automatically into X-Cart every 15 minutes and decrement product quantities accordingly, they require no manual action. eBay orders function exactly the same as regular X-Cart orders, but contain an eBay order id and sales record number.
If Create User Accounts in X-Cart for New eBay Customers is enabled, customer accounts will be created for eBay orders from new users. Otherwise, the orders will appear as anonymous checkout orders (i.e. orders from users that did not login to your store).
Listing Errors
If a product is configured incorrectly in X-Cart, or does not conform to an eBay listing rule, the module will do its best to resolve the problem automatically. Sometimes, however, user action is required and in these cases the module will display informational messages explaining the conflict.
Before Listing
Before attempting to upload a product to eBay, the eBay Inventory Manager will run a preliminary check on the product data, and report back any missing or incorrect information. This information can be seen by hovering the mouse cursor over the notification icon in the right most column on the Upload Products page (eBay Tools > Upload Products).
A red circle with an ëxí indicates that critical information is missing from the product, and it cannot be uploaded to eBay until the items listed in the popup notification are taken care of.
A yellow triangle with an exclamation point means that there is information missing that is recommended, but not necessarily required. In most cases, these products will upload successfully, however there are situations where the extra data is necessary. For example, some shipping methods require an items length, width, and height to be specified.
A green checkmark indicates that the product has passed the preliminary check successfully and is ready to be uploaded.
Listing Failures
Sometimes an even though an item has passed the preliminary check, the upload can still fail due to one of eBayís listing policies. When this happens, an error notification will appear at the top of the page.
Errors from bulk jobs will return a list of SKUs that were rejected by eBay. Uploading these products individually
will return a more detailed error explaining why the upload failed.
Troubleshooting
Downloading missed orders from eBay
If orders are not downloading from eBay, you may need to re-trigger them for download. (A possible problem is mysql being down. Once mysql is running again, order downloads will resume.)
Manually trigger an order download by modifying orders. You can add tracking or comments to trigger a download. Update tracking information for your eBay orders. The module will check for new orders within an hour time frame, if any are missed due to an outage, touch the order (which will change the date), by adding comments or the tracking information, etc.
