Quickbooks, Ebay and Zen

[gonewild]

I have intagrated Ebay and Quickbooks to my ZenCart.
Zencart v138a + AuctionBlox + THub + Quickbooks.

The result is accurate inventory control and accounting between our retail store, our webstore and Ebay sales.

"AuctionBlox" connects ZenCart with Ebay and works very well to sync inventory automatically. All Ebay sales are converted into ZC sales. ZC items can be listed on Ebay from the ZC admin doing away with the need to use turbolister.

"THub" gets the sales data from ZC and enters it into Quickbooks and creates reciepts for each sale. So accounting is automated and inventory count is adjusted.

This combo is working well with only a few minor short commings. When we sell an item at our retail counter THub reduces the ZenCart available stock. Then AuctionBlox reduces the Ebay QTY available based on the current Zen inventory. If the item was listed in an Ebay auction, AuctionBlox ends the auction or if it was a unique Ebay store item it ends the listing.

Using this combo makes it simple to have a unique item for sale in a physical retail store, in a webstore and listed on Ebay all at the same time. This solved the problem of trying to delist web listings when someone purchases the item in the physical shop.

Although both AuctionBlox and Thub are not free they have been well worth the cost to use.

Is anyone else using these add ons or a different method to achieve the results?

[brmacrae]

You ROCK! This is exactly what I am looking to achieve.

Might I ask about what you paid for AuctionBlox to be installed and what fees you pay for use/ongoing?

I think I could skip THub..........all I want to do is sync inventory between my Ebay store and my ZenCart store........

Thanks!

[capybara74]

I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense to attempt to sync Zen Cart with Ebay without introducing a third man (in gonewild's case, AuctionBlox). Syncing zen cart with Ebay, without an inventory management system in the middle opens you up to all sorts of dirty-read issues.
Best to have Zen Cart and Ebay trigger incremental updates to the stock management system, and then every time the stock management system changes, it broadcasts the results back to its "client" programs.
Any attempt to sync stock levels and/or orders requires a certain amount of ruthlessness when it comes to assigning SKUs.
May I ask what operating system you're using? If you happen to be using a fairly recent Linux kernel, there's a handy tool for synchronizing file system changes (each mysql table has specific files associated with it!) with programs (like api calls to Ebay and/or Amazon).

[brmacrae]

I am going to try AuctionBlox..............the 1% of all Ebay sales + $59 a month could get pricey, but I can;'t see any way around it, and if I migrate enough business from Ebay----------> my own site, I will more than make up for it!

I figure if I can move appx 10% of my business over there, I'll be in great shape. Time will tell.......

Ben

[gonewild]

You ROCK! This is exactly what I am looking to achieve.

Might I ask about what you paid for AuctionBlox to be installed and what fees you pay for use/ongoing?

I think I could skip THub..........all I want to do is sync inventory between my Ebay store and my ZenCart store........

Thanks!

I don't think they charged anything to install AuctionBlox. There is a monthly fee and a % charge for each transaction. They have several different fee plans to choose from based on your sales volume. Our plan is $24 per month and I believe 2% of invoiced sales. Considering the time savings the system allows with inventory control it is well worth it. Also there are added benefits like Ebay sales and payment emails generated by AuctionBlox in Zen Cart rather than from Ebay. That way you can show up sell offers to your Ebay customers so they go to your Zencart without violating Ebay link policy. Also all Ebay customers are added to your ZenCart customer list for newsletter receipt.

You don't need THub unless you want to also sync with Quickbooks.

[brmacrae]

I don't think they charged anything to install AuctionBlox. There is a monthly fee and a % charge for each transaction. They have several different fee plans to choose from based on your sales volume. Our plan is $24 per month and I believe 2% of invoiced sales. Considering the time savings the system allows with inventory control it is well worth it. Also there are added benefits like Ebay sales and payment emails generated by AuctionBlox in Zen Cart rather than from Ebay. That way you can show up sell offers to your Ebay customers so they go to your Zencart without violating Ebay link policy. Also all Ebay customers are added to your ZenCart customer list for newsletter receipt.

You don't need THub unless you want to also sync with Quickbooks.

I am best off with the $59 a month plan and 1% fee, I think. Yes, there are some added features which will save time, just trying to recoup some of the costs............obviously, if I can gain some customers I never had before straight from the Web, or drive repeat business there and save the 13% Ebay fees, I'll do great. Thanks!

[gonewild]

I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense to attempt to sync Zen Cart with Ebay without introducing a third man (in gonewild's case, AuctionBlox). Syncing zen cart with Ebay, without an inventory management system in the middle opens you up to all sorts of dirty-read issues.
Best to have Zen Cart and Ebay trigger incremental updates to the stock management system, and then every time the stock management system changes, it broadcasts the results back to its "client" programs.
Any attempt to sync stock levels and/or orders requires a certain amount of ruthlessness when it comes to assigning SKUs.
May I ask what operating system you're using? If you happen to be using a fairly recent Linux kernel, there's a handy tool for synchronizing file system changes (each mysql table has specific files associated with it!) with programs (like api calls to Ebay and/or Amazon).

I think it would be a nightmare to try to set up a sync between Ebay and anything and then keep it up to date! The guys at AuctionBlox have already worked out integration that works. They service the program when Ebay does something off the wall like they tend to do. I've found their tech support and responce time to be very good.

Our ZenCart is hosted at Camelot and the system is whatever they have us on.

[capybara74]

They service the program when Ebay does something off the wall like they tend to do. I've found their tech support and responce time to be very good.

I guess that's really the key reason why one needs to use a "service" to stay abreast of Ebay's api--these things can be a moving target, in no small part b/c Ebay (and any other major ecommerce site) wants to "win" and they'd just as soon have you not sell your products on multiple channels.

When did the interwebs get so adversarial?

[gonewild]

I guess that's really the key reason why one needs to use a "service" to stay abreast of Ebay's api--these things can be a moving target, in no small part b/c Ebay (and any other major ecommerce site) wants to "win" and they'd just as soon have you not sell your products on multiple channels.

Probably everyone that has an zen cart store wants to win whether they are a major site or not. Yes, AuctionBlox is really a service and not a piece of software you can just buy or get for free. Even if it were free or you created it yourself it would not work for long without some form of service. That is how I see AuctionBlox, as a service. They saw a need and spent the time and effort and capital to make the sync with Ebay work. Now they offer their service for the benefit of ecommerce merchants.

When did the interwebs get so adversarial?

Isn't it natural to want to win the game?

[voodish]

This really does sound like the only truly automated option to integrate Zen Cart with Ebay.

I've been testing out Auction Lister Pro / Ebay Exporter / Turbo Lister 2 - they all require varying levels of manual input, and tbh seem quite tedious in comparison to this solution.

I have a new client that has requested this exact integration, so I think I will be trying them out too. Thanks for the thread