Yesterday I finally got around to working on my Yahoo listings. I had been ignoring Yahoo because I need to use a different template there because of the different HTML it takes, but that's another story.

I had printed the column guide quite a while back. Set up an OOo spreadsheet for the columns. Nice part compared to many, is that if you don't need a column or accept the default, you don't have to put it in. The only problem I had was the first time I submitted a CSV, it claimed there were more columns than headers. I guess the html spread out and filled too many columns.

Their CSV is a little dif than most in that you keep your header row in the sheet. Many others, you delete the first row when you save it as CSV. So the next try, I formatted the first row as "header" and that seemed to work.

Another dif is if you want a gallery image, in the column for Image 1, you put just the name and file type (bunny.jpg) no path. When you are done with the CSV, instead of just uploading the CSV, you make a zip of the CSV and all the images you referenced in that file. Everything is uploaded at once.

The big trick is to make sure everything matches, #of pics and references to pics. but the program has a check feature that will find the errors for you too.

After you upload the zip file, all the files are in a "staging" area. At the bottom of that page you click to "post" the listings. When it moves to the next page, it checks to see that everything is matched up. If not, it will not post the file, but instead will list the errors and even tells you what line they are on so you can find it. That is SOOO nice.

I had 1 line with the Title too long and a couple of pics that didn't match up (typos). Sometimes you have to go back and delete an offending file and then upload the correct file. Sometimes it will be the CSV file as in the case of the Title too long. You go back to the spreadsheet, make the correstions, save, upload and go to "post" again.

When it doesn't find any errors, you have an option to "preview" the listings or just "post" them. If you just go to "post" they aren't up instantly but are in the Yahoo Que to be posted. Mine took less than 1/2 hour to show up.

One thing that I didn't use in my spreadsheet that I think some people might like -- there are 3 columns you can add to "schedule" the start time of the listing -- anytime within 30 days of when you upload. There is also a column that I did use for "closing time" where you put in any # from 0 - 23 for military hours of close.

Over all, I really liked this bulk lister. Much easier than any of the others that I've used. The eBid lister is the only one I've used that comes close to this one. There are several not to be named that I won't use again as I could have listed 1 by 1 faster after all the time I had to spend fixing the errors in the listings after it uploaded. (if you see me listed as West Bend, Wi, Afganistan you will know where I mean)

Carol

lol Good info to know !

Are you able to get the Thumbnails to appear when you use Bulk Loader?

My thumbnails does not seem to appear.

Can buyers get to all of your auctions? I had one tell me this morning that she couldn't get past page 10 of mine. how aggravating this is on top of not getting my EOA and 'ask seller a question' notices!

babymushy wrote (View Post): › Are you able to get the Thumbnails to appear when you use Bulk Loader? My thumbnails does not seem to appear.

Hi all, I have the same problem with the Yahoo! auctions thumbnails not appearing when I use the bulk upload feature. It doesn't matter if I zip up the images with the CSV or if I upload the files separately.

The thumbnail showed up just fine if I added the auction singly using the web interface... but I'm hoping someone has a solution to the bulk upload thumbnail/gallery image thing.

Sarcee

Welcome to PSU Sarcee - I list at Yahoo, but have not used the BL! I'm hopeful Carol can come along and share - she's IMO an expert on this kind of stuff!

Glad you're here and best of sales to ya!!

Well I did start this thread, but if you guys will notice, that was over a year ago.

At that time, the lister worked fine for me with the spreadsheet and all the pic files zipped up and uploaded.

But since then I tried to use the same zip file and the site gave me nothing but fits and wouldn't accept anything properly. I've let my Yahoo listings expire and frankly I don't give a S*** about that site. I've only had 1 actual sale there in nearly 2 years. The rest were just NPBs. Between that and all the glitches, I don't need the headaches any more.

I had spread out to plenty of sites and now those that are more trouble than they are worth to me are getting the heave ho.

Last week on the E stores board people were wondering about having listings end on Super Bowl Sunday. Well I had a great SB Sunday. I had 5 orders yesterday, ALL from my web site. Not so much as a question or comment from any other site at all.

Carol

The thumbnails didn't show up with my last batch of uploads
with Yahoo Seller's Manager. This seems like a new problem.
The problem with search has been on and off for over a year.

In case we have any new readers to PSU:

You can build up more repeat customers and sales with your
own Yahoo and Google Groups.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/altcollect/

http://groups.google.com/group/altcollect

http://groups.google.com/group/altcollect/web

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Hey all,

Thanks so much for the welcome and replies I did email Yahoo! and they emailed me back:

"We're happy you've taken the time to participate in Yahoo! Auctions.
Unfortunately, as you've noticed, we're experiencing some technical
difficulties with thumbnails not appearing in auctions submitted via the
Bulk Loader tool. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have
caused you.

Please be assured that we are aware of this problem and working to fix
it as quickly as possible."

So, hopefully they'll nail that bug. Interesting to hear on the low sales on Yahoo! Auctions. Anyone else have a similar experience, or has great sales using Yahoo!?

Have a great night,

Sarcee

Thumbnails have not been generated for listings uploaded with bulk loader for some time now. I've emailed yahoo several times, but they keep saying we're working on it.

Without thumbnails images, sales have decreased a lot.

Anyone using Yahoo Bulk Loader and having this issue with thumbnails not being generated, please email yahoo and keep emailing pressing about this issue until they fix it. A thumbnail image showing up on search results is essential to selling on yahoo auctions.