Looking for Ideas and Feedback On Synchronizing Prestashop With Auction Sites

[NickTG]

Hello Everybody.

 

I am looking for advice on how to manage a Prestashop store and Online Auction Sales.

 

I am a micro retailer with big dreams. I am not a programmer / developer so I expect to be paying for programming services. At the moment my turnover doesn't warrant having a full custom system, and I couldn't afford it, so I am hoping to do it in piecemeal fashion, as my store grows.

 

The reason for this post: I need to choose a path to go down and develop some idea of how my end solution will function.

 

I would like feedback on my ideas.

 

The Current Situation

 

 

Currently I sell all my products on a New Zealand Auction Site called Trademe

Trademe provides a listing management system, So all I need to do is keep my product details and quantities current, and it will manage my auctions.

 

I manage My orders, Invoicing and Inventory with inFlow Inventory

 

I keep inFlow Inventory updated by manually entering sales details each night.

 

I update my TradeMe products when items I have purchased are delivered.

 

I have hosting and the current PrestaShop. I have StoreManager Pro and am in the process of loading my products into my new prestashop store.

 

The Problem

 

The thought of trying to keep everything synchronized manually fills me with terror.

 

My Proposed Solution

 

 

Stage 1)

 

Use Prestashop To manage Invoicing, Inventory and Orders

 

Create a "TradeMe" Category (Not Displayed in the store) in prestashop to hold my TradeMe items. I will make them all packs, even if there is just one item in the pack. That will allow me to set different pricing levels, and reflect the fact that many of my auctions are combinations.

 

Find someone to write a script to

 

--> Export the contents of my "TradeMe" Category to a CSV that is compatible with TradeMe

 

I will manually enter any trademe orders into prestashop each night and upload the CSV to synchronize stock levels at this stage.

 

Stage 2)

 

Get scripts written to

 

--> Query TradeMe through their API for sales

--> Generate or update PrestaShop orders with any new sales

--> Automatically update my products on TradeMe when I have any changes in stock levels

 

 

Stage 3)

 

Stop using the TradeMe auction management facility and upload auctions automatically using the TradeMe API

Reserve Items on prestashop, that are listed on TradeMe, to remove the risk of overselling

Be Able to extend system to multiple auction sites.

 

 

Thanks for your time, Any Feedback Appreciated.

[preserver]

I am also very new to all of this, but the only idea I have is to synchronize your computer files (as you enter your new inventory) to your server- this could hook up with prestashop and then maybe your TradeMe site. I have no idea about the trademe site, but maybe it could work for prestashop. If you run Prestashop and TradeMe from one or two servers then so long as the files (one or two copies depending on how TradeMe works) are synchronized to your computer, it should save you from the issue of double-orders.

 

If anyone else has tried this, please say if it worked.

[dddanny123]

Hi Nick, did you end up finding a solution to this? I'm also looking for a way to sync my TradeMe and Prestashop inventory. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!