Last night I tried "other" as my auction choice -- hoping against hope that I could fill in a blank with the name of the auction, and instead, there were directions to 'cut and paste" to get the picture to the correct line on the "other" auction form -- which theoretically, I was NOT in the process of filling out, or why would I be at auctionwatch instead of the other auction site?

Can anyone help? An auction without pictures is an event I would just as soon skip!

Beth in the Catskills
 

There is really only one primary reason places like Auctionwatch don't create automatic listing pages for AU.

That reason is that AU's site is programmed differently than either eBay or Amazon. The difference is really rather simple, on those sites, you place your listing on a pageoutside the userID/password barrier. On AU, you first logon the site and then list your items. It is simply more difficult for third parties to create a listing page under these circumstances.

To address that situation places such as auctionwatch let you copy the "code" they actually place at the bottom of the item description they do for those other auctions.

What you see, and they direct you to cut and paste is something you'd place in your auction on AU.

The way to make this work, really quite easily, is to open "notepad" ... the little text editor (under accessories) that comes with Windows.

You go upload your pictures and it gives you the "code" to cut and paste.

Noting the picture in notepad kind of like this ...

(Steel ball)
copy and paste picture code,

(Old hat)
copy and paste picture code

... you go through that routine for each one, ultimately saving the notepad notes for retrival when you are on the AU auction site.

As listing is pretty much the same on AU as these other sites, (category selection is a bit different but the "title" description, price, etc. fields are almost the same) you simply copy and paste the code given you by Auctionwatch into the "description" field.

If you're wondering what it looks like, next time you do an auction for eBay or Amazon from Auctionwatch's page, scroll down in the description field (use the little scroll bar on the right) and you'll see the "magic" code you probably didn't know was there.

Finally, Beth, I'm hoping to have some news a little later this month or early next month that will mean you won't have to go through this at all. But until then, the above will work.

Thanks for your interest in AU.

Pat

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Neomax
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by neomax (edited June 12, 1999).]
 

I appreciate all you detailed directions -- also put in an urgent call to my "computer expert daughter" -- and between the two of you, I THINK I will be ready to participate in Auction Universe very soon. Many, many thanks for all your help!! If I cannot make it work, I'll be back with more questions!

Beth in the Catskills
 

One more quick suggestion.

Put up a little "momma quilts" picture ... it need not be big on a site that will give you just a plain picture URL and put that in the "picture" field.

The reason is that with the AW service, the picture information is put into the description area and our software won't know you have a picture in your auction unless you put a picture URL in the "stated" picture field. It will help entice people to view it if they know it has a picture.

Ask your daughter if you need some help or post again if you need help.

Pat

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Neomax
[email protected]