Auction Poster Pro Help Manual 

Welcome to our Auction Posting feature for the AuctionTamer Sellers Add-on.  We have worked hard to develop what we believe is the most flexible auction poster on the market.

The way we developed the poster allows you to easily switch the item from using one auction site to another just by changing what template and category you are using on the main item entry screen.

Adding new items is a snap.  Just select what template you are going to use then fill in the Item Detail and press Save Item or the Copy Item button.  You can add duplicates simply by pressing the Copy Item multiple times.  Then to post your item(s) just highlight the ones you want to post and press the Post Item(s) button.  You can post 1 or 1000 it does not matter.  All posted items will be automatically added to the Selling tab in AuctionTamer WatchList.  AuctionTamer also has a Post Later tab where you can put the items you would like to have posted later and then set the time for it to automatically post your items at the time you set. (AuctionTamer must be running WITHOUT the Poster or My Bidders screen open for this feature to work).

Basic steps on using the auction posting feature:

Step One: Select Active Sites

First click on the Active Sites menu in AuctionTamer and then click on Select Active Sites.   This screen allows you to Check the auction sites you wish to work with.  See the Feature Chart for a list of Auction Poster supported auction sites. You can change the order of how the auction site tabs appear on the Browser Tab bar by changing the numbers in the Order column.  If you click on the Sample text column then you can change the color of the item in WatchList.

Step Two: Enter User ID's and Passwords

Make sure your auction User ID's and Passwords are entered in Preferences.  If you have more than one Seller ID for an auction site then have your Bidding or primary ID first in Preferences.  When you are finished in Preferences press OK.

Step Three:  Setting up Auction Poster in Preferences

Delay in seconds between posting multiple auctions: When highlighting multiple items in the To Be Posted or Post Later tabs the number of seconds placed in this box will be the buffer time between posting the items.

Enable Inventory Feature:  If this feature is checked then after an item is closed it will adjust the Qty Avail and Total Sold fields.

When item closes re-list if Qty Avail is > 0:  If you check this box then when the item closes AuctionTamer will move the item to To Be Posted if Qty Avail is greater than 0.  You can check the Auto re-list option to have the item automatically re-list for you.

Disable ImageTamer: Check this if you do not wish to use the AuctionTamer image hosting service called ImageTamer. Look here for additional information.

Wait for Item Specific Info. : This option is no longer used since the Poster now only uses the eBayAPI template for posting to eBay.

Auto re-list item: If this is checked then when the item closes AuctionTamer will automatically re-list the item if Qty Avail is greater than 0.

Also if the item is relisted it will now use the Relist feature and eBay should give you credit on the listing fee if the item sells this time. You can also change the item information before it is posted and still get credit. You won't get credit if you change from eBay US to eBay UK for example.

Re-list ASAP: If this option is checked then the item is relisted about 5 seconds after it closes instead of waiting for when it was last listed.

Except Buy Now: If you have Relist ASAP checked then when a item closes it will relist right away. If you check "Except Buy Now" then it will use the scheduled time to relist it.

Only re-list  once if not sold: If you check this option then the item will only be re-listed once. 

Disable Repost As Is feature: This option is no longer used since the Poster now only uses the eBayAPI template for posting to eBay.

Step Four: Starting Auction Poster

To use the auction posting feature, click on the Selling menu then select "Auction Poster".  

This will bring up the main Auction Poster screens below:

Step Five: Adding and Editing Templates

Each web site will have its own set of Templates.  To Add or Edit a template click on the Template menu and select the auction site you would like to work with as shown below.  

Now select eBay and you will see the eBay template. Choose a category for that template and if it is an eBay template then also choose your Item Location.  You can either create a template for each category or you can put [Cat] in the category field and then select the category on the Item Detail screen.

The main things you should enter and change is your Item location, select any listing feature, select your payment methods and shipping options.  You could put all your HTML description on the main item entry screen but the idea behind this new method is to have a generic template and only put the information that changes on the entry screen.  The item template works like the email template.  Take a look at the description of the Basic Red Title template and notice the tags [Title], [Text1] and [Text2] inside the HTML code.  This is what makes this Auction Poster so powerful.  You can also use the WYSIWYG Editor by clicking on the Description Editor button.  The Description Preview button will let you see how your template will look without the tags being filled in.  If you wish to see how it looks with your data then use the Preview button on the Item Detail screen.

Press Save Template and Close.  (If you make any changes to the template you must press Save Template).  Each template must have it's own name.  Use the Copy Template button to make a copy of the selected template.  But again don't forget to change the name.  Don't change the fields that have [ ] in them.  This is how AuctionTamer knows what to fill in from the Item Detail screen.

This is very important: It is best not to change the fields that have tags like [Seller ID], [Password], [Title], [Min Bid], [Buy Now] etc.  These fields will be filled in with the information that you will enter on the main Item Detail screen.

Step Six: Entering your Items

Now that you have done the above it is time to start entering your item information.  To enter your information you need to be at the main Auction Poster screen as shown below:

Select a template to use in the Item Detail section.  If you need to edit the template you can press Edit.

The template you select will depend what information gets filled in.  Notice the field names.  They all have [ ] brackets.  If you go into your template you will see the same field names with brackets.  This is how the Auction Poster knows where to fill the information into each field.  You will also notice [Misc] [Misc2] and [Misc3].  You can use those for any information you wish.  For example you can use [Misc] for the second category number.  Then you will need to edit the template and put [Misc] in the field where it wants the second category number.  This makes the Auction Poster very powerful and it is only limited to your creativity.

The [Picture URL] fields need to be URL's of the location of the picture so you either need to have your pictures stored on your server or on someone else's that is unless you use ImageTamer our image hosting service.

If on the template you choose to have a gallery picture you must put a picture URL there or have the tag [Picture2 URL] in the template then put your URL in the box on the Detail Item next to [Picture2 URL]. Supply a Gallery picture in either the .jpg, .bmp, or .tif formats -- but not .gif.

Entering in the [Qty Avail] when using the Inventory Feature. You must have the Inventory feature Enabled in Preferences.
Fill in the Qty Avail for this item. This number will represent the number of these items you have to sell that are not presently up for sell in active items. 
Another way of entering this number is directly onto the Auction Poster grid under the column called Qty Avail .

If you have selected to use this option then the default Qty Avail will be the total in Qty. That way you don't need to enter anything unless you don't want the item to re-list then you would type in a 0 in the Qty field.  In Preferences there is a "re-list only once if not sold" option so the item will only re-list once.

When you post the item it will deduct the total in Qty so if Qty Avail was 1 then it would become 0 and the item is moved to the Posted tab like before.

Now when the item closes and the item is moved to Sold in the WatchList then Qty Avail stays 0 and the Total Sold is increased by the quantity sold. If the item is moved to Not Sold then Qty Avail is adjusted and if Qty Avail is greater than zero then the item is moved back to the To Be Posted tab in the Auction Poster. This also works with dutch auctions.

If you started the listing with Qty Avail as 0 then it will not move back to To Be Posted if the item doesn't sell.

Now to complete the fill in the rest of the information on the Item Detail screen and press Save Item button.

To enter another item, press the New Item button or just change the information in the Item Detail screen and press the Copy Item(s) button.

If you are entering in a Store item then don't fill in the Min Bid field and put the price in the Buy Now field.  Then for the days select a number of 30 or more.  If it is a Fixed priced item then select a number under 30 days.

Step Seven: Posting Items

Post with or without preview box checked: On the Auction Poster screen next to the Post Auction button you should have the Preview box checked. That should allow you the chance to submit the item just before it posts. Without it checked your item will post without stopping. It must be unchecked for your multiple items or timed items to be posted automatically.

To Post your items just highlight one or many and press the Post Item(s) button.

We also have our Enhanced Posting Scheduler. You can have it repeat an Item at any interval and as many times you desire.

Highlight the item or items you want to post later and right-click and select Set Posting Time.

Enter the time you want these items to post.  The time would be your local system time.  Either use military time or add AM/PM to the time.  Post every means you can post that same item ever so many days.  If you use Post Every also put in the number of times you would like it to repeat.  If you highlight multiple items you can set the interval between posting.  If you just want it to post one after another then enter 0 (zero).  If you just want 30 seconds between posting then set the interval to 0 and then in Preferences under the Auction Poster tab put in your Interval between posting in there.  Once you set your times and close the Auction Poster screen you will see the next item that is scheduled to be posted in the lower right of the screen.  AuctionTamer must be at the main screen for posting to start.

To re-post the same item(s) click on the Posted tab and highlight the item(s) and press Copy Item(s).  The copied items will be added to the To Be Posted tab.

Posting the same item onto another site: Highlight the Item you want to post. Then click on the drop down box next to Template and click on the proper template. Then make necessary changes like the category and press Save Item or Copy Item.

Inventory:

When you post an item there is a field called Qty Avail. This is where you can specify how many of those items you have. If you have selected to use this option then the default Qty Avail will be the total in Qty. That way you don't need to enter anything unless you don't want the item to re-list then you would type in a 0.  In Preferences there is a "re-list only once if not sold" option so the item will only re-list once.

Now when you post the item it will deduct the total in Qty so if Qty Avail was 1 then it would be 0 and the item is moved to the Posted tab like before.

Now when the item closes and the item is moved to Sold in the WatchList then Qty Avail stays 0 and Total Sold is increased by the quantity sold. (It also works with dutch auctions too.) If the item is moved to Not Sold then Qty Avail is adjusted and if Qty Avail is greater than zero then the item is moved back to the To Be Posted tab in the Auction Poster or if you have the Auto re-list option checked in Preferences then it will be moved to Post Later and the item is either re-listing right away or if it is was scheduled before then it will go today but at the same time as before. 

If you started the listing with Qty Avail as 0 then it will not move back to To Be Posted if the item doesn't sell.

Also if an eBay item is re-listed then it will use the Relist feature and eBay should give you credit on the listing fee if the item sells this time. You can also change the item information before it is posted and still get credit. You won't get credit if you change from eBay US to eBay UK for example.

IMPORTANT: If you are using the Inventory features and you want to receive the eBay re-list credit then don't use the "Post Every" and "Repeat" options on the "Set Posting Time" screen.  Keep those 2 fields blank.

Using the WYSIWYG Editor

We have included a WYSIWYG HTML Web page editor in the Auction Poster module.  Plus we added some themes to get you started in designing your Auction Poster template.

To edit the information in [Text1] click on the Editor button next to [Text1] on the Item Detail screen.  Same goes for [Text2].  Also you can use the Description Editor button on the Templates screen to create a Theme on your template.

There are currently 3 themes under the Themes menu in the Editor. You can also save your own themes in the \AucTamer\APT folder so they will be listed under the Themes menu.  If you decide to change Themes you will need to select Themes New first so you will start with a blank page because selecting one of the preset Themes actually acts as an insert and not as a open.  This allows you to insert a theme within a theme.

Using ImageTamer

For Picture Hosting  you can use ImageTamer: (not available during trial period)

ImageTamer allows AuctionTamer users to easily insert images into their items that they post with the Auction Poster feature.

There's no need to mess with a FTP programs or do any image file management on a server somewhere because each time you post an item the image is copied right off your hard drive then reduced to the size you specify and stored on our image server for 6 months.

Each image that is copied to our server will use one ImageTamer credit.  To purchase ImageTamer credits just click on the Purchase button on the Auction Poster screen.

To add a picture to the [Picture URL] or the [Picture2 URL] tag.

Press the Browse button that is next to the tag you want to add an image to.



For more information on ImageTamer Click Here

What certain columns do in Auction Poster:

Refid - This the a reference # that AuctionTamer automatically assigns and should not be changed.  If you sort by this column then the items will be in the order of when they were created.

ItemSpecs - This holds the Item Specifics data for eBay items.   If you have items that have the same Item Specifics you can copy and paste this information to other items.

Reposted - Once an item is re-posted AuctionTamer will check this box so it will not post again if you have the Repost only once option selected in Preferences.

Total Sold - This is a running total of items sold for this item.

Total Posted - This number will increment by 1 each time this item is posted.

Repeat - This number is set on the Set Post Later Time screen and will decrease each time the item is posted until it reaches 0.

Every - Goes along with Repeat and is set on the same screen.

RepostAsIs - Not used anymore.

More info about the eBayAPI template

In Auction Poster Pro there is a new template called eBayAPI. You can start adding templates by going into the Templates menu at the top of the Poster and select eBayAPI.

On this template you can choose the site you want to post to. You can also select [eBay Site] for the location and then put in the 2 character country code on the Item Detail screen directly on the grid. You might want to move the eBay Site column all the way to the left so you can easily see it.

It is also used for auction, fixed priced and store items. The info you have on the Item Detail screen determines what type of item it is. If you have an amount in Min Bid then it is a Auction. If you only have an amount in Buy Now and Duration is less than 30 then it is Fixed Price. If you only have an amount in Buy Now and Duration is 30 or more then it is a Store item.

Other than the speed improvement the coolest feature is that you can select the Item Specifics information by using the Specifics button on the Item Detail screen. This button only shows when you select a category that needs Item Specifics filled in.

Also at the bottom of the template there are 2 new data fields that you can use for your own information that can transfer to the Watch List and to My Bidders. They are Application Data and SKU. You could put tags like [Misc] in there so you can enter the data on the Item Detail screen. To get them in the watch list create columns called SKU and AppData. You can also put those column in My Bidders and they will transfer to there also.

Once you get things converted over you can turn off the "Check HTML description of item for Amt Ship, Misc...." option in Preferences.

For now your old templates use the old method of posting. This way you can covert over slowly if you like and get used to all the new options.

If you would like to copy a template over to the eBayAPI section then first go into the eBayAPI template so it can create a default template then you can go into your old templates and there will be a Copy To eBayAPI button. Just highlight the template(s) you want to copy over and press the button.

Tips:

Photo symbol to Appear in List if you don't use Picture URL: Put this in the Picture URL box on the Auction Poster item detail box for each item you will be posting with images: http://www.imagetamer.com/images/blank.gif

HTML Color Charts:  http://www.auctiontamer.com/auction/htmlcolorchart.htm

To enter a eBay Fix Priced item: Use the eBayAPI template and only fill in the Buy Now price and don't put in a Min Bid and select a duration of less than 30 days.

Database Import Feature: We have the Import feature to Auction Poster under the File menu. Go to Selling on the menu bar then to Auction Poster. Now go to File>Import CSV file.

The Import Feature will add the items you specify from your database and it will match the column heading names with the field names on the template grid in Auction Poster. It transfers the data for you into a template/grid. You can edit the Heading names after you open the file to import by checking the Edit columns box. It is best if you change your headers before hand in your database to match the ones in Auction Poster. You can change them to Title, Text1, Text2 etc. 

This is very important: Do not remove the template tags [Seller ID], [Password], [Title] etc.  These fields will be filled in with the information that you will pull in from the database onto the main item entry screen.

You can put all your HTML description on the main by using the eBay [Text1] [Text2] template. Notice the tags [Text1] and [Text2] this is where you will drop in the code either from your database or it will be where you place your HTML code for a generic template.

More Tips: If you make any changes to a template, you need to press the Save Template button.  It will not warn you to save your changes before you close. 

If you post items into many categories then you can either make a copy of the template and put the category number in each one or you can put [cat] in the spot for the Category number and select the category number on the main item entry screen.

To add a column to the Auction Poster Screen: We created a utility to do this. First be sure you are out of the Auction Poster screen then download and run  BulkListAdd.exe. You are given the option to Add or Delete new columns. The new column will be added to the end of the list. You can move the columns to any order in the Auction Poster screen by left-clicking the heading and moving it.

Adding extra tabs:

You can add extra tabs to the poster by clicking on the File menu and selecting Extra Tabs.  These extra tabs can be used to organize your listings.

To add the tabs just double click onto the first empty grid row.  To move items to these tabs right-click on the item in the current selected tab and select Move To... And then your new tab name.

On the AuctionTamer Support Forum we have invaluable information that has been given by our users and staff. On the forum board there are specific support forums for Auction Poster and Auction Poster templates.

If you have not purchased the AuctionTamer Sellers Add-on you can do it now by Clicking Here.