Some of the great time saving things you can do:

• Update Inventory
• Change Images
• Update your Descriptions
• Add in Custom Fields and Labels
• And so much MORE!!

A few things to note that will make the update process smoother:

1. Don’t’ change the columns on the downloaded CSV file. If the label is “title”, don’t change it to “Title”. The column headers must be exact, so best practice would be to use what is provided
2. Leave fields blank that you don’t wish to update.
3. Updates are based on SKU (Inventory number), so any updates you make will be applied to an existing SKU.
4. You can update multiple times, so don’t try and fit everything into one update. We’ll even provide an update history. Try and group your updates into groups of not more than 500.
5. Make sure that you don’t set any conflicting data, such as selecting an auction format and not putting in a start price or beginning a sale in your Vendio Store and not putting in a start and end date.
6. Under Import>Items>CSV Import view the “How to prepare your import file” document to view all the available fields and get additional tips and information.

Wishing you Happy Holidays and Happy Selling!!

Well, you can use Find and Replace to do those changes in bulk.

Let’s suppose you wanted to put all your red sweaters on sale. Just go to My Items, and select the Find and Replace button, Find “red sweaters”, and change the price either by % or dollar amount.

You’ll want to find the same items again and set a sale date, and again for sale end date.

Find and Replace is a method to replace fields that you used or did not use when you were creating your items so while it does take above three steps to put items on sale, find and replace allows so much flexibility that the possibilities are endless.

Below are step by step instructions for putting items on sale and after you do this once, it will be a snap and you’ll be having sales and attracting new business in no time!!

Find and Replace for Vendio Store Sale Items

Step One: Set the Sale Price

a.    Select the Items:  From Items > My Items, select items

by clicking the check-boxes next to them, or use the Find and Replace button to find a specific group of items.

b.    Set the Sale Price:  Click the Find and Replace button, select Replace and select Price: Sale Price

c.    Select one of the following:

i.      Change to:  Sets a specific price

ii.    Increase by:  Increases the already specified sale price by a specified  amount

iii.   Decrease by:  Decreases the already specified sale price by a specified amount

d.     Set the sale price by doing one of the following:

i.      Defining the exact dollar amount of the sale price.

ii.    Defining the sale price based on a dollar or percentage amount over or below one of the item’s other prices (Default Item price, Item cost or Store price).

iii.   Defining the dollar or percentage amount by which to increase or decrease the sale price.

Example:

In the below example, we use Find and Replace to locate all items that have the word “sweater” in the title, then set the sale price on all items to be decreased by 10%.

Step Two – Set the Sale Start Date

a.    Re-select the same items:  From Items > My Items, select items by clicking the check-boxes next to them, or use the Find and Replace button to find a specific group of items.

b.    Set the Sale Start Date:  Click the Find and Replace button, select Replace and select Sale: Start Date

c.    Select the sale Start Date from the calendar.

Step Three – Set the Sale End Date

a.    Re-select the same items:  From Items > My Items, select items by clicking the check-boxes next to them, or use the Find and Replace button to find a specific group of items.

b.    Set the Sale End Date:  Click the Find and Replace button, select Replace and select Sale: End Date

c.    Select the Sale End Date from the calendar.

Today’s brand of internet consumer is much pickier, and the success that eBay magically provided has gradually diminished. It now takes much more effort, much more knowledge, and much more patience to be an online merchant or an eBay seller.

There are things that can be done, but they take work.

Take the Vendio Stores for example. You can set up a store in minutes and have products for sale. But what then? Do you just sit back and hope someone finds you?

There are things that we have done, such as creating a directory to share our page ranking with our sellers. But it’s more about utilizing tools to help you become successful.

Building a business on the web is not just about adding items anymore. It’s about what you do AFTER your items are added. I cannot tell you how many folks think that if they add the items, their job is done; when in fact, adding items is only the beginning.

So here are some things you can do (and we’ll tell you how to do each of these things in your Vendio Store:

1. Your Store Title
Make sure you have a great descriptive title. Your title is more than just the name of your store. You title is the bolded section that appears in search engines.

Vendio Store: Enter your Store Title on Vendio under Store Info

2. Add Meta Keywords and Description
Meta Keywords and descriptions are how search engines find you. Using them correctly, can have you move to the head of the pack. Use them incorrectly, and you’ll find yourself falling behind. A rule of thumb is to use keywords and descriptions that ACCURATELY describe your store. If you sell Blue Widgets, don’t stick in White Widgets as a keyword if you do not have White Widgets.

Make sure you have the right keywords. Try out Google Keyword tool

Vendio store: Enter your Global Keywords and Descriptions under Store Info
Vendio store: Enter Category Specific Keywords and Descriptions under Store Editor

3. Google Analytics
Once you have your Store Title and your Meta Data, you’ll definitely want to make sure that your keywords are working. This is where Google Analytics comes in. You’ll want to know what work is paying off! Using Google Analytics will tell you what keywords are working for you.

Vendio Store: Enter Google Analytics under Store Editor>Advanced>Google Analytics

4. Create Additional Pages
Your store does not have to be all products for sale. Make sure you personalize and make it a good experience for the buyer. Are you an expert? Can you impart knowledge? Do you have a brick and mortar store?

Create “information” pages (and by the way, think of your keywords) that convey additional items of interest.

Vendio Store: Add New Pages form Store Editor>File>Create New Page

5. Write a good description
Remember in the intro, I told you that getting your item in your store was only the beginning? You might think that writing a good description is part of the getting the item in your store and that you have already done that. However, think keywords. Taking all of the information that you learned from the above steps, you might want to revisit your descriptions and make sure they have the right keywords (which is keywords that are driving traffic).

This is something you’ll probably want to review regularly.

Vendio store: To edit description: My Items>Edit

In addition to the seasonal templates, we’ve added many general templates that can spruce up your listings.

You can find the new eBay templates by logging into your account and going to eBay Templates>New and Most Popular.

So if you needed some motivation to spruce up your listings, check out the new Vendio Templates!!

1. FREE Store Sign Up: Earn $0.50 for referring users to our free store. With just five quick fields to complete, you’ll enjoy conversion rates up to 50%.

2. Multi-Channel Management Registration: Earn $25.00 for every seller you refer that completes multi-channel management registration on Vendio (this means a sign up to use our services for eBay or Amazon selling.

3. Vendio Research: Earn $20.00 for every new user you refer that subscribes to Vendio Research.

Affiliate Program benefits include excellent partner customer service, 90 day referral cookie duration and unique, gorgeous high performing banner ads, and unique, optimized landing pages for each campaign.

Access our Affiliate Program at ShareASale.com or to learn more, visit our Affiliate page.   It’s free to sign-up!

Click here to JOIN NOW!

“Well first and foremost Vendio offered me a deal plain and simple! With Auctiva it was the free deal and then with almost no time to plan they switched to a fee based platform. I know that nothing is free forever, I can accept that.  That’s why I jumped at the offer to join Vendio. I can plan for the next year and half and know exactly what lies ahead of me.  While I am just a small time customer I do plan on increasing my sales and doing it with Vendio!  Thanks again Gary Kilduff ( isellstuffon )”

Therefore, first, we’d like to thank those of you who’ve made the switch.  We hope that the transition has been smooth and hey, by the way, did you notice that you also have a free online store to play with?

We also know that it’s the middle of summer and some of you may be busy with plans for the kids or taking a long, overdue vacation.  Perhaps you’re an Auctiva seller who hasn’t noticed that today (6/30) is the last day that Auctiva will remain free.  Have no fear, however, as we are extending our offer of “Free for 2009 and just $10/month in 2010″ until July 15th, 2009.

In an earlier blog post, we talked about why Vendio is a better choice for all types of sellers.  Here’s a recap:

Are you using Auctiva for image hosting and the sliding gallery? Here is why Vendio is a better choice:

• FREE for 2009 (and buy yourself something nice with your $60 savings)
• $10/month in 2010 for 2GB of images and no per listing image limits
• Images for your FREE STORE are always FREE
• Import your images to get started without any hassle
• Advanced image management, bulk uploading, and more
• Get the ORIGINAL sliding gallery FREE

Are you only selling on eBay?  Here is why Vendio is a better choice:

• Get Multiple eBay ID support
• Create new phone orders on-the-fly to augment your eBay sales
• Use Coupons to encourage repeat sales
• Customize all the forms and tables to your needs!
• Enable bulk find and replace for most item data
• Advanced profiles for common data
• Advanced schedule automation (FREE!)
• Audit your post-sale fulfillment
• Access to advanced eBay Research and Analytics

Are you thinking about selling on Amazon or your own store?  Then Vendio is clearly the best choice.

• Access to a fully customizable hosted FREE Hosted Store (Auctiva Commerce charges $9.95 plus 5% FVF!–Save hundreds or even thousands of dollars!)
• Access to millions of Amazon.com buyers
• Single listing form for ALL channels. Auctiva talks about a “one-page Lister,” but Vendio’s single page lister includes your store, eBay, AND Amazon.com in one page that you can customize to your needs
• Inventory control across all the sales channels to ensure you don’t oversell
• Sales fulfillment management from all channels in a single process
• Automated feeds to comparison shopping engines

To sign up, click here.

Have questions?  Feel free to drop us a note.

We look forward to welcoming more new sellers coming onto the Vendio Platform.

Best regards,

The Vendio Team

• To import inventory from spreadsheet, all you need to do is download the spreadsheet template, prepare your inventory file to match it and upload it into your account.
• To import inventory from Amazon, you simply need to provide your alphanumeric Amazon seller ID (instructions are available on the import page!)

View a screenshot, click here.

You can also apply existing selling profiles (shipping, payment, tax, policies) to incoming data so your items will be ready to go as soon as they are imported into Vendio.  You can even set items to be automatically available for sale in your Vendio store upon import.

These file import capabilities, in addition to our eBay import, means that regardless of where you sell or how much you sell, switching to Vendio is fast and easy.

And remember, the Vendio Platform includes a robust, feature-rich online store, Google Base product distribution as well as item, order and customer management for FREE.  Whether you sell 10 or 10,000 items in your Vendio store – you’ll pay no web hosting fees, image hosting fees, listing fees or success fees.  Import your entire inventory and sell it in a Vendio store for free!

If you’re interested in extending the Vendio Platform to marketplace such as eBay or Amazon, it’s just 10 bucks a month plus a small percentage of total sales.  We’re offering a free 60 Day trial and waiving our Amazon fees for the rest of 2009.

If you’re an Auctiva customer seeking a better alternative, please check out our Bailout Plan for Auctiva Auctiva Sellers.

There’s no reason not to join, so sign up today. Have questions?  Please leave a comment below or tweet them to us.

The Vendio Team

]]> http://www.vendio.com/vendable/2009/06/24/vendio-platform-announcement-ready-set-import/feed/ 1 http://www.vendio.com/vendable/2009/06/17/vendio-platform-adds-store-directory/ http://www.vendio.com/vendable/2009/06/17/vendio-platform-adds-store-directory/#comments Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:20:09 +0000 crystalwells-miller http://www.vendio.com/vendable/?p=336 We want to update you on a link you might have seen on the Vendio Site (if you are one of those who like to find things before we announce them – and you know who you are!!). We’ve compiled a directory of Vendio Platform stores to aid you in SEO (search engine optimization). (And if you are curious, you can see what other are doing (or ahem..”not” doing) with their Vendio Stores.

By compiling this directory, Vendio Platform store owners can benefit from our SEO and they also get a back link which is great for YOUR store SEO (back links count!).

In other words, we’re sharing the benefits of our high SEO rank (which is really, really high) with the Vendio Store owners.

The directory is located on the Vendio site under our Education and Training Tab, and from the site map..(and while you are there, look around, you might find some interesting items).

And while I have you captured here, let’s chat about what YOU can do to improve SEO.

1. From Items>Store Manager make sure you have your Title, Description and Keywords entered.

2. When you create categories, also enter your description and keywords. Categories need love too!

3. Set up Google Product Search located under Channels>Comparison Shopping

These items can really assist in propelling your store traffic – which is what WE want for you..and what YOU want for you. There’s a lot of win/win here!

]]> http://www.vendio.com/vendable/2009/06/17/vendio-platform-adds-store-directory/feed/ 0 http://www.vendio.com/vendable/2009/06/03/vendio%e2%80%99s-bailout-plan-for-auctiva-sellers/ http://www.vendio.com/vendable/2009/06/03/vendio%e2%80%99s-bailout-plan-for-auctiva-sellers/#comments Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:12:06 +0000 Vendio_Helen http://www.vendio.com/vendable/?p=305 Introducing the Auctiva Seller Bailout Plan Vendio will provide any Auctiva user switching to Vendio free access to the Vendio Platform for the rest of 2009 along with a guaranteed rate of just $10 per month for 2010. Sellers will receive:

· The Vendio Platform, including a full-featured, branded, customizable free online store and shopping cart

· eBay, Amazon and Google listing automation as well as item, order, and customer management in a single interface

· 2GB of image hosting at no extra charge (can be used as a standalone service). Vendio Store images are always free!

· Vendio Gallery, the original eBay sliding gallery that cross-sells your eBay items

· Vendio Buyer Appreciation to increase buyer satisfaction and communication ratings

So, what does this mean?

For the rest of 2009, Auctiva sellers do not pay Vendio a dime to sell on eBay or Amazon (Vendio Store is a Free service generally). In 2010, sellers will only pay $10 a month for a robust, multi-channel eCommerce solution. We expect to continue providing the best value available to you in 2011 and beyond.

Get Started

1. To take advantage of this offer, please click here to view the offer page and sign up for the Vendio Platform.

2. After a quick registration, you can import existing items from eBay.

Have questions? There are over 20 customer facing employees here to help you via e-mail, phone, or chat inquiries along the way.

The set up for the Google checkout is located under Preferences>Items

First, you want to make sure that your items CAN be sold through Google checkout – Spend a few minutes reading through the unacceptable items list if you have any doubts about your eligibility.

To get started, you will first want to register or have a Google Checkout account – then paste in the Merchant ID and Merchant Key that is provided by Google.

Now, you’ll need to “connect” your Vendio and Google account. In your Google account, you will need to check the XML option and paste in the URL provided in your Vendio Preferences section.

The last step is to check the box to “Add Google Checkout Button”, which will add the Google Checkout to your Vendio Store items.

It might sound “complex”, but it is very simple to add and only has a few one-time steps.

Happy Selling !!