We regularly have clients ask us our opinion on the best way to migrate from their current listings provider to ChannelAdvisor. Although there is no exact science of how one client should migrate versus another we have outlined a few approaches that you should consider.
Importing Live Listings
The first question asked is whether we have the ability to import open (live) listings from eBay. At this time, we do not. Any listings / orders you have through your current provider will need to be managed through that provider.
Store Listings
Because
store only listings are relatively inexpensive to list, most clients choose to simply pull these down via their existing provider and relist them through ChannelAdvisor. To minimize downtime, we strongly encourage you to have your ads already created in the system. If you choose to, you can also have schedules created and assigned to your ads with a beginning date right after the date you know your listings are being pulled down, thus further minimizing down time.
Auction Listings
There are essentially two approaches available for Auction and Fixed Price (non-eBay Store) listings.
- Pull down your listings via the current provider and list them through ChannelAdvisor
- As the listings expire via your current provider, list these through ChannelAdvisor
For Option 1, above, you can address these listings similar to the approach we detailed above in the Store Listings section - essentially pull them down and relist them via ChannelAdvisor. The listing fees for these style listings are much higher so you'll have to weigh the benefit of moving everything at one time against the fees associated with listing those initial items.
For Option 2, above, you can take a gradual approach and list items in ChannelAdvisor as they expire through your existing provider. If you take this approach, there are several things to be aware of:
- It is OK to have your seller ID credentials in both ChannelAdvisor and your current listing provider. eBay will send the orders to the system that created the listing.
- Order Consolidation. If you don't offer this, then all orders will go to the system that listed those items. While this may eliminate confusion, the downside is that if a client wants to buy multiple items (both listed from the same provider) you will be unable to consolidate those, thus loosing some shipping efficiencies. If you want to offer Buyer Consolidation during this time, we suggest that you have your buyers checkout directly on eBay, thus avoiding buyer confusion. You would need to make the following setting changes:
From Sales-> Settings > Sales Settings:
1. Turn off checkout redirect in both ChannelAdvisor and your current provider (if applicable).
2. Turn off automated emails in ChannelAdvisor.
3. Turn off UnPaid Item (UPI) automation.
4. Turn off any other automation from your current provider.
5. Your buyers will go directly through eBay's checkout.
6. Manually update order status as paid offline in ChannelAdvisor & your current provider until you are posting only via ChannelAdvisor.
Additional Notes and Suggestions
- You may use your current Paypal account for both your previous provider (eBay directly or any other Service Provide) and ChannelAdvisor Complete. It is important to know that you must not have any payment blocks or "Item Payment Notifications" (IPN) setup until you are solely listing through one provider.
- We suggest your verbiage on the winning bidder emails going out from ChannelAdvisor Complete - Marketplaces (or eBay) and your current Service Provider should let your buyers know that you are going through a migration and would greatly appreciate their patience.
- Additionally you could set up a Featured Ad on eBay that apologizes in advance for any inconvenience while you switch providers. This ad can show on several pages in your eBay store. As well as use this same verbiage in your email templates you have set to be sent to buyers automatically. You can edit these templates by going to Sales--> Email Templates within ChannelAdvisor Complete.
We regularly have clients ask us our opinion on the best way to migrate from their current listings provider to ChannelAdvisor. Although there is no exact science of how one client should migrate versus another we have outlined a few approaches that you should consider.
Importing Live Listings
The first question asked is whether we have the ability to import open (live) listings from eBay. At this time, we do not. Any listings / orders you have through your current provider will need to be managed through that provider.
Store Listings
Because
store only listings are relatively inexpensive to list, most clients choose to simply pull these down via their existing provider and relist them through ChannelAdvisor. To minimize downtime, we strongly encourage you to have your ads already created in the system. If you choose to, you can also have schedules created and assigned to your ads with a beginning date right after the date you know your listings are being pulled down, thus further minimizing down time.
Auction Listings
There are essentially two approaches available for Auction and Fixed Price (non-eBay Store) listings.
- Pull down your listings via the current provider and list them through ChannelAdvisor
- As the listings expire via your current provider, list these through ChannelAdvisor
For Option 1, above, you can address these listings similar to the approach we detailed above in the Store Listings section - essentially pull them down and relist them via ChannelAdvisor. The listing fees for these style listings are much higher so you'll have to weigh the benefit of moving everything at one time against the fees associated with listing those initial items.
For Option 2, above, you can take a gradual approach and list items in ChannelAdvisor as they expire through your existing provider. If you take this approach, there are several things to be aware of:
- It is OK to have your seller ID credentials in both ChannelAdvisor and your current listing provider. eBay will send the orders to the system that created the listing.
- Order Consolidation. If you don't offer this, then all orders will go to the system that listed those items. While this may eliminate confusion, the downside is that if a client wants to buy multiple items (both listed from the same provider) you will be unable to consolidate those, thus loosing some shipping efficiencies. If you want to offer Buyer Consolidation during this time, we suggest that you have your buyers checkout directly on eBay, thus avoiding buyer confusion. You would need to make the following setting changes:
From Sales-> Settings > Sales Settings:
1. Turn off checkout redirect in both ChannelAdvisor and your current provider (if applicable).
2. Turn off automated emails in ChannelAdvisor.
3. Turn off UnPaid Item (UPI) automation.
4. Turn off any other automation from your current provider.
5. Your buyers will go directly through eBay's checkout.
6. Manually update order status as paid offline in ChannelAdvisor & your current provider until you are posting only via ChannelAdvisor.
Additional Notes and Suggestions
- You may use your current Paypal account for both your previous provider (eBay directly or any other Service Provide) and ChannelAdvisor Complete. It is important to know that you must not have any payment blocks or "Item Payment Notifications" (IPN) setup until you are solely listing through one provider.
- We suggest your verbiage on the winning bidder emails going out from ChannelAdvisor Complete - Marketplaces (or eBay) and your current Service Provider should let your buyers know that you are going through a migration and would greatly appreciate their patience.
- Additionally you could set up a Featured Ad on eBay that apologizes in advance for any inconvenience while you switch providers. This ad can show on several pages in your eBay store. As well as use this same verbiage in your email templates you have set to be sent to buyers automatically. You can edit these templates by going to Sales--> Email Templates within ChannelAdvisor Complete.
