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What l would have wanted as part of large demographic that wants shop to mirror online marketplace inventory


cubicsquare

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Firm but polite criticism here: I see little consideration here for people that want to bulk upload an inventory, especially one that already exists on, say, an online marketplace. What l would have hoped for would be:

- A template bulk upload spreadsheet, really this is essential. I guess this table, put into spreadsheet form, with guidance notes and all: https://support.cubecart.com/knowledgebase/article/View/32/41/how-do-i-use-the-bulk-product-import-tool

- Privatisation of SKUs by default (but hey ... uploader can check box if he wants it visible on the actual advert), only to be made visible in system notifications (i.e. "Your item has sold - ship now" eMails) - because on my existing online marketplace, they don't reveal SKUs so l made the SKUs tell me when the item was first uploaded etc. etc. and l really don't want customers to see this type of info, it makes a product look bad if they see it's been available for 8 months with no buyers.

- The spreadsheet would allow for multiple categories to be selected for a single inventory item

- The spreadsheet would allow for one category to be the "main" category (although personally l don't care for this)

- The spreadsheet would allow for image filepaths to be given for inventory items, with one of those images being the main image.

- The image filepaths can point to stuff in any folder of your server, e.g. your existing images folder that you already use for your existing online marketplace inventory that you are trying to mirror on your own website

- Any image size must be allowed. Too big for PHP to cope? I can't get my head around that but okay, then auto-resize, don't involve me in it, just make the software do it. Remember, if you already have an existing online marketplace, you have a zillion images already done. CubeCart is saying: "existing images? What existing images?" You know that sinking feeling when you realise a situation is pretty much untenable and out of your control?

- A synopsis of PCI DSS compliance (user is no longer under eBay / Amazon's wing now, when setting up own website shop), not a curt knowledge base article. An idea: explain legal obligations for a small business online shop and give one suggestion for *quick* compliance for a small business online shop, which l'm guessing would be: * Separate computer for online business * Regular updated antivirus and firewall software & regular malware scans on the machine * Regular password changes esp. after a techie visits in person * Use a managed 3rd party payment provider, and what this actually means, plus example providers too, and how to ensure they are actually PCI compliant * How to obtain regular cart patches * Recommended business insurance companies and plans

- Offer a free panoply of your own boutique security challenges that are required to authorise any changes to the online shop e.g. upload a photo as security key plus myriad other challenges (probably not gonna make a huge diff if online shop isn't actually handling payments themselves) * Show how to quickly rollback in event of disaster (l'm thinking manually restore a folder backup as the most simple solution, l just now noticed you also recommend a prog called Beyond Compare, and you also offer a paid cleanup service, good stuff) * Hide the identity of the cart brand if possible (probably not much use but l just thought it might be an extra layer)

- Feature request subforum requires a separate account to be created? Serious? Too much bother.

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Thanks for taking the time to feedback! Always good to hear of how we can do better. Much appreciated. 

5 hours ago, cubicsquare said:

then auto-resize, don't involve me in it, just make the software do it.

It many situations is can but for those who use cheap $5 a month shared hosting it may not be possible due to resource limitations imposed by the hosting company not CubeCart. Taking a big image and creating thumbnails can need a lot of memory. Our hosted customers shouldn't have any problem. 

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Also:

 

- You seem to demand a very narrow set of Condition labels e.g. New, Used.

Turin shroud would be "Used" but that isn't really good enough. I'd like to formulate my own condition labels, or at least expand the available list of given labels to bring them in line with, say, the labels available on eBay, e.g. New, New - Other, Used, and *blank* for antiques.

Personally l'd also add "New - Oldstock".

- As for route to PCI compliance, l meant maybe recommend a 10-minute route to compliance e.g. use a PCI compliant payment provider and a dedicated PC, job done.

- Please understand that at least one *MAJOR* online marketplace is widely thought to be constructively dismissing its bric a brac sellers in favour of global retailers, penalising them here and there because bric a brac is generally a nuisance so my point is: there is going to be a big influx of people looking to set up their own website shops to mirror their existing online marketplace shop. That paradigm isn't being much considered, l feel. Consider that most people will attempt to do it manually, rather than pay up front (or even merely trial) a cart 3rd party add-on that could, maybe, should do the job automatically, but it'd help to be a computer scientist to get the ball rolling etc. No ... most people will attempt to do it manually first off. So that's where l'm coming from. I want to manually mirror my online marketplace shop, by setting up a website shop using CubeCart or any other cart.

 

I shall still perservere. I'd like to eventually submit a trip report for how l got it up and running, if indeed l ever succeed. Bye for now!

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