Dealing with Software Updates when Things Go Wrong!
As many of you are well aware, this has been the week we all patiently awaited! The eBay transition began on April 1st just as they said it would and we waited on the edge of our seats for the new Build a Niche Store Upgrades to come out, to incorporate them and begin using the new system.
So how do you handle it when everything just seems to go wrong? To date, almost 48 hours after the changeover from eBay, I have updated exactly 2 websites. One of them went fairly smooth… ok it runs… the other is a complete washout so far, full of database errors.
What am I going to do? Nothing…
The two sites were semi-popular sites, but since I know the first one is working fine and I need to completely reinstall the second one, I will just go about continuing on the testing of upgrading some of my other stores. Sure, I spent many hours already trying to fix the errors… but I will spend no more! :-) Walk away… take a breath… and quite possibly, later today or early tomorrow, the easiest of answers may just pop up right in front of me!
So what do I know? I know there are other things to do.
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I KNOW that the 3.0 NEW EPN system works! That means I can install new stores… check!
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I KNOW that the 2.0 EPN update works when staying with 2.0! That means I can upgrade same series stores… check!
I would say with those two things to do… I can stay plenty busy for the short term while I cool. :-)
My advice… take it slow on these updates. Update 1-2 sites, test them for functionailty, wait 12-16 hours to see the stats in eBays tracking system, then go wild with the updates once you know the process is flawless!
Mark
Previously Published Articles You May Like to Read:
- What is Most Important when Buying or Trying New Software
- Update on all Build a Niche Store Site Updates
- Bug List and Updates to SimpleCSS Template for BANS and WordPress
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I have been doing my part to "Build the Internet" since 1994, when I built my first website! Since then, I have built hundreds of niche websites for myself and many others, focused on design, applications, ecommerce, search optimization and internet marketing.
Check.
Mark whats your take on the 2.0 stores with your site map mod seeing we have no choice but to install the ePN update. Can we just make sure the changes that were made are in the proper place if not just re-do those parts. I have some V2 stores making good sales and only want to do the very minimum. Or is the 301 redirect inevitable?
Thanks
Bill -
I havent gotten a 2.0 working yet… I updated a 2.0 to 3.0 and it works OK with the sitemap 301 redirect.
If you do a straight 2.0 update, you will have to recode the entire sitemap MOD into place.
That was the reason i decided to go to 3.0 on the site.. figured the title mod was less coding than the sitemap mod.
I am still working out the best way to do everything and will post an update and a few video walkthroughs when everything is in place.
Mark
Bill – I’m afraid the 301 redirect is inevitable for the sitemap. It’s not too hard. I have instructions written. If you need them just let me know and I’ll post the link.
Mark – I’m not so sure about the new EPN install. I just did my very first creation of a v3 EPN site. Brand new install using the files I downloaded this afternoon. The site installs fine but it won’t save any category numbers. I’ve even tried doing one of the EPN update folders and still no go. So, I’m hitting my head on the wall with you. This is the kind of thing that I will stay up until 1am trying to fix. But, I will take your advice and walk away…
Rochelle
I sure am glad its not just me! :-)
I have talked to several readers who had no issues at all, it makes me wonder if they are there, and just not seen yet.
I do agree about the 301 redirect… since the CurPageUrl section is no longer needed for anything, you just move that and the 301 code ABOVE the html tag of your header and it works like a charm.
Mark
@Mark
What was the 2.0 sitemap MOD, I missed that
Thanks
I have used the V3 EPN update and have been clicking all over the site and using the search box to try and ensure that everything is working. The only thing I can find is when I make a search for “boots” from any page, it returns no items. This is wrong because I have a category for golf boots and there are about 18 boots available. I have carried out the same search on ebay and it confirms there are about 18 items available. I have checked every page in the Admin section and all category numbers are correct and in place.
Am I missing something very obvious or does this indicate that there may be a problem?
Thanks
Denise -
Good question I cannot find the answer to! If you search for the same manufacturer of the boots, it does not find the boots either.
Mark
Mark – Just wanted to chime in that I was finally able to make my brand new store work. I deleted it and the database, and started over by installing a v2 store (not the EPN version). I then used the v2 to v3 EPN upgrade and now it saves category numbers. I don’t know if there are other issues with it but I’m glad I found a work-around.
I was wrong about something… I had said that i did a new store with the new software and didn’t do any updates and the ID stayed with no problem, well i was wrong :) i DID have to do the update on that site… although i didn’t have to get the very latest that came out today.. the original update fixed it…
also, has anyone else had any problems with the templates that Mark made? I had mentioned that the links at the top in the banner weren’t working and was wondering if i just need to reinstall the templates or what?
thanks!!!!!!
Mark,
You said, “Update 1-2 sites, test them for functionailty, wait 12-16 hours to see the stats in eBays tracking system.”
Please explain the process of checking the stats in the eBay tracking system.
Thanks,
Steve
Hey Guys,
How will all of this affect someone who is planning to buy BANs in the next couple of weeks? Or will it affect new Bansers at all?
Should I even bother registering through CJ? or will everything be done via the new eBay affiliate program (which I’ve already registered for)?
Cheers!
I have changed a few of my sites (Slow money sites) (2.0) to new ebay id and they are showing on ebay partner network. With all the problems that everone is having, I think I will wait on the others…Can someone post here on their site that has been changed and that the money is showing correctly on the new affilliate place at ebay?????
I’ve had no problems with updates and have updated all my sites.
I saw some people having problems with fresh installs of 3.0 EPN and that was because of an improper table entry that can be fixed by running the 3.0 EPN update.php file.
I have 5 stores and I think I am just going to scrap them and start again. There re allsorts of problems.
Can I ask for some guidance.
What would be the best way update them all? Which of the updates would I need to use?
I have posted several times at the BANS forums but there are that many problems they are being lost and not answered.
I think I will just delete them all and start afresh, and follow your guidance here and see if my income increases. I just don’t want to delete everything and still have problems.
Thanks very much for your help.
Well I don’t really like to leave all the work to others but in this case I think I would be doing what’s best for my BANS site.
Mark, I know you will figure it all out and make it easier for us. Then you will make a great video and Rochelle will make a great set of instructions so I would really be better off working on something I know I can do right. :)
@ All -
I installed 2 new stores last night to test all functionality of the new 3.0 EPN. I have only found one issue…
If your store uses multiple categories, the software only displays the first in your list. For example: I did one store with one main category, everything worked great. The other store though, uses (3) categories… 12345, 23456, 45678 (fake numbers) and the software ONLY displays 12345, the others are saved into the database, but do not display in the store pages section.
I WILL have some screenvids as soon as it is all sorted, I started one yesterday and had to scrap it when the pages started erroring out.
Aside from that small problem on new stores, which will be fixed shortly, everything else, including sales tracking, is great!
Mark
@ Steve -
Login to your eBay affiliate account and click on reports. Click on Campaigns, then just hit to enter button….
I can say with 100% certainty that the ebay system is WAY better so far than CJ. It actually shows all traffic as well as earnings. :-)
Mark
UPDATE: After some checking… I was able to get secondary categories into place.
Turns out that I made the same mistakes I have helped others with… I was using OLD category numbers!EDIT AGAIN: Nope… even using category numbers does not always work! It looks like the multicategory function goes haywire with 6 digit category numbers.
Mark
I just set up new store on the night of April 1. I am not seeing any stats in the ebay affiliate network yet. Are others seeing stats? Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks for your help.
-Fred
@ Fred -
I am definitely seeing both stats and sales. Try turning off your cloaking, and when you hover over a product link, look in your browser status bar to see if you recognize the campid variable.
If that makes no sense, click on a product to open it in eBay… in the address bar at the top of your browser, you should see campID=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (your ebay campaign number)
If you still see a reference to “PID” it is not done right.
Mark
That’s a good tip Mark, i just used it to check mine.. Dang I wish i would start getting some SALES!!!!!!!! 3 stores, not quite a month old, but plenty of clicks… i’m soo anxious to make that first sale!!
I did the upgrade without any problems. I have entered the campaign number but do not see a campid var at the end of the URL string and see no stats on ebay either. Do I need to do the upgrade patch that came through yesterday?
Doug
Mark – Where your sales Buy It Now? I’m guessing they must have been because it can take a few days for any bids to become sales.
@ Doug – Turn OFF link cloaking on the site… once you refresh your page and click over to eBay, you SHOULD see a campID variable in the top address bar. Post here when you have it turned off and I will take a peek.
@ Rochelle – I honestly dont know! I have not delved deep into the stats yet to see what the sales were. I CAN say that in less than 36 hours of the site being directed to eBay, there is already $56.00 in commission from ONLY this site…
Heres to hoping eBay does it better! (hand in air) Cheers! So far so good…
Also, I was able to get my second most popular site back up and running this morning. 6 hours of time to update that single site!! I have not heard from Adam or Kelvin, so I just rebuilt it with 3.0 and ran some heavy (9 on the difficulty scale) sql exports and updates from one db to the other. I still have several hours of template work to get it back to where it should be! :-)
Mark
Mark – That’s great that you already show sales! None for me, yet, but I do show
One thing I’ve noticed about EPN stats vs. CJ stats is that there is a much lower number of clicks. For example, my My Little Pony store in CJ showed at least 100 clicks a day. For the short time it’s been on EPN it’s been a total of 101 clicks. As far as I can tell everything is working correctly. Makes me wonder if there was something skewing the number of clicks on CJ?
Sorry, I accidently hit ‘submit comment’ before I was done…
What I meant to say was: None for me, yet, but I do show bids.
Rochelle, how do you know you have bids???
Jeff – Honestly, I can’t find it now but I know I saw the number of bids somewhere. I’m sure it’s just a matter of getting used to the new EPN format. As of this morning I believe I had 1 (as in one) bid.
cool, thanks.. I’d be happy to see somebody had BID haha, 3 stores, no $$ :( haha but.. i know they are all 3 not even a month old…. and it takes time..
how long before you started seeing income on your stores? days? months?
Jeff – I figured out how to see bids (though there may be other ways then this). Go to ‘Reports’ and choose ‘By Day,’ your time frame, and a program. If you leave ‘Program’ at ‘All Programs’ then you won’t see bids. But if you choose a program (i.e. eBay US) then you will see bids.
As to when I started making commissions, it was two weeks, I believe. The My Little Pony store was my first BANS site and I promoted it everywhere I could think of (which wasn’t many places because I didn’t know what I was doing).
Yes, it takes patience. But it also takes all the promotional work that Mark is teaching us. It could take as long as a year to really see the rewards of your work now.
Rochelle
@ Rochelle -
GREAT FIND on the number of bids!
Mark
Yup, i found it! Thanks!! That’s a cool feature, i’m sure i won’t be looking at that every day hahaha..
yeah, well i know the hard work will pay off.. I believe in it! I’ve learned alot and have a lot to learn, but i really enjoy it!! Thanks again for everyone helping. Everyone on here has been great!
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