WhiteOakBooks BookSite Forums / Announcements & Feedback / General Announcements

Website Errors - 2/13/2011

AndyLL — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:32:07 GMT

Amazon has made some changes to how they supply data that the websites use.

I have seen 2 different symptoms of this issue:

1) If Amazon reviews are turned on the 'add to cart' button disappears from the detail page.

2) If the website has not set its own Access Key ( general store settings - bottom of page ) and is using mine it is receiving an error.

I am researching both of these errors.

Until I have a resolution I would suggest turning of your websites link to Amazon ( shopping cart settings)

AOB Inventory Control

vintageshelf — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 11:57:11 GMT

Andy, if we sign up for AOB to handle our inventory, you can support this with automatic uploads? if so do we just sign up and them let you know?

Tamera

Amazon changes that affect the websites

AndyLL — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:10:04 GMT

Amazon has made changes to their API that affect your website. The changes were:

1) The API only returns sale offers for the cheapest new book and the cheapest old book.

This means the website can no longer add items to the Amazon shopping cart. To do so requires the ability to get the official offer information from Amazon. The Amazon Buy Now button does work and you are required to use it if linked to Amazon. Over the next few days the website software will be updated to enforce this new rule but until then you should make the change yourself.

2) The API has disabled any access to Marketplace Seller data.

Several customers have me read their inventory directly off of Amazon and I will no longer be able to do this. If you are pro merchant you will be able to populate your website inventory using an open listings file. If you store your inventory in a inventory program you likely can populate your website inventory from the files it creates. We can talk about how to do this and any other options on my forums: mb.whiteoakbooks.com . I will create a topic in the support forum just to discuss this issue.

I realize that these changes came with no advance notice. While Amazon had notified us they were making this change to the new API on 10/28/2011 they implied the old APIs would work until 2/21/2012. This does not seem to be the case with most sellers.

Any of my customers that feel that these changes make the website unusable can cancel their service now and I will keep their websites up and running though out the holiday season until 1/1/2012 free of charge.

For the last 5 years Amazon has consistently restricted access to their API, especially in the area of retrieving marketplace seller data. In the past I have always been able to work around their restrictions.

At this point it seems pointless to spend additional time trying to support Amazon. The future direction of the WOBBooksite software will be towards a totally independent solution. We already link with OpenLibrary.org for cover images and we will continue to strengthen the integration with OpenLibrary.org and other book sources.

WOB TOS as of 10/23/2011

AndyLL — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:36:26 GMT

Specific changes to the TOS will be detailed in the following post.

General Information

Service is provided by White Oak Travel Services, Inc. - Incorporated in the State of Colorado.
White Oak Travel Services, Inc. is also known as: WhiteOakBooks and WOBBookSite.
White Oak Travel Services, Inc. will be referred to as WOB in this document.
WOB leases servers and services from JodoHost.com.
WOB links to 3rd parties: Paypal.com, mals-e.com and Amazon.com.
WOB attempts to adhere to all Terms of Service of the linked to 3rd parties.
Upon request and if possible, WOB will modify the software if those 3rd parties request it.
The ability to link to 3rd party companies is not guaranteed.
If WOB is not able to link to 3rd party companies WOB will not refund past payments for service.
WOB provides a standard service to all users of the service. If custom programming or actions is requested WOB will charge the user a standard rate of $30/hour. It is at WOBs discretion on if the user will be charged and the exact hourly rate that will be charged. WOB will receive the users agreement that they will be charged for custom programming and what the hourly rate will be before performing any billable actions although WOB will not be able to specify the total amount until the billable action is complete.
These TOS are dated: 10/23/2011.
These TOS are retroactive to service provided prior to that date.
These TOS are posted on mb.WhiteOakBooks.com
Notification of changes to the TOS will be posted on your website control panel.
Email notification will be given if WOB deems significant changes where made to the TOS.

General Terms of Service

You are not buying Software... you are leasing it as a service.
You are not buying a Website... you are paying WOB to provide tools and services to display your website.
The WOB service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of your ability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. Neither this agreement or any documentation furnished under it is intended to express or imply any warranty that the service will be uninterrupted, timely or error-free or that the software will provide uninterrupted, timely or error free service. WOB and its officers, shareholders, employees and agents, shall not be liable, under any circumstances for any loss of business, profits or goodwill, loss of use of data, interruption of business, or for any damages of any character that result in any way from your use or inability to use the WOB service, or that result from errors, defects, omissions, delays in operation or transmission, or any other failure of performance of the service. WOBs liability to you shall not, for any reason, exceed the aggregate payments actually made by you to WOB.
You agree not to download or disassemble WOB software.
We do not guarantee there will not be errors displaying your data.
WOB will not hold any liability for any damages your business may suffer as a result of the website.
WOB does not guarantee uninterrupted service.
If the website is not available for 48 continuous hours because of hardware, JodoHost network, or software issues WOB will refund the monthly fee prorated daily for every 24 hours the website is not available. The amount of refund will never exceed the payments you have made within the billing period.
Either side can cancel the service with no penalty. The service will stop at the end of the current paid for month cycle.
If you have paid for service past the end of the month and WOB cancels your service you will be refunded the prorated amount of unused service.
If you have paid for service past the end of the month and YOU cancel the service it is at WOBs discretion on if you will be refunded the prorated amount of unused service.
If you are in violation of these TOS or perform actions that WOB deems harmful to WOB or its partners WOB reserves the right to immediately cancel your service with no refund for unused service given.
You agree not to resell or assign or otherwise transfer your rights or obligations under the User Agreement without the express written authorization of WOB.

Backups

Your inventory and some seller data are stored in various JodoHost database on JodoHost's database servers. Jodohost backs up those servers nightly. In the event of data loss from hardware failure, software errors, or user error WOB will attempt to restore the data from the backup. Neither WOB or Jodohost.com guarantee that the restoration will either be successful or timely.
It is expected that the user of the WOB services will have the ability to upload new inventory in the event of a data loss without the intervention of WOB.
Email settings and sent/received email are not backed up. It is expected the user can re-setup all accounts without the intervention of WOB.

If you use the cp.wobbooksite.com control panel. (hSphere)

· JodoHost.com backs up the servers nightly. In the event of data loss from hardware failure, software errors, or user error WOB will attempt to restore the data from the backup. Neither WOB or Jodohost.com guarantee that the restoration will either be successful or timely.

· It is expected that the user of the WOB services will have the ability to re images and recreate the website look and feel and settings in the event of a data loss without the intervention of WOB.

· User uploaded images (though WOBs control panel) are stored in the images and bookimages (covers) directories under your active domain. General website settings are stored in the data directory under your active domain. You have access to these directories through standard FTP to perform you own backups.

If you use the control panel using the 8443 port through your domain name or our direct IPs. ( Plesk )

· We backup your of General website settings nightly. They are first backed up to the web server then downloaded to a WOB computer. Uploaded images ( excluding cover images) are backed up weekly. In the event of data loss from hardware failure, software errors, or user error WOB will attempt to restore the data from the backup. Neither WOB or Jodohost.com guarantee that the restoration will either be successful or timely.

· The Plesk control panel has backup ability that you can use. The standard backup method is to the server. If you have access to FTP data storage you can back up a non-WOB server.

· It is expected that the user of the WOB services will have the ability to re images and recreate the website look and feel and settings in the event of a data loss without the intervention of WOB.

Hosting/Website Terms of Service

You will not take input of credit card information on your website. ( this excludes 3rd party payment processes your site links to)
We do not guarantee there will not be errors displaying your data.
You assert that you have the legal right to all data, content and images your provide and display on the website.
You retain all rights to the data, content and images your provide and display on the website.
You retain all liability that results from the data, content and images your provide and display on the website.
If your service is canceled for any reason the data, content and images your provide permanently deleted off our servers.
Any attempt to cause harm or undermine WOB software or JodoHost's servers, computers, network or customers is prohibited. Use of the Services to carry out any activity that is illegal under US and International laws is also prohibited.
Prohibited uses of the Services also include, but are not restricted to:
1. Use of IRC, bots or clients
2. Unsolicited Bulk Emailing
3. Newsgroup spamming
4. Hosting, promoting or linking to pornographic content
5. Illegal Content
6. Copyright infringement
7. Trademark infringement
8. Hosting and linking to pirated computer software and music.
9. Hosting/linking to software or information (such as software cracks, software cracking tutorials and software serial numbers) that may help any individual to obtain copyrighted software or music illegally.
10. Hosting or linking to computer software that may be used for spamming (know as spamware)
11. Providing/Promoting material that is grossly offensive to Internet Users which includes blatant expressions of bigotry, racism or hatred
12. Providing/Promoting material about illegal activities or promoting physical injury or harm against any group or individual
13. Providing/Promoting material about exploitation of children under the age of 18
14. We do not allow any spyware, chat software on our Windows VPS servers.

Support

WOB offers support through our forums: mb.whiteoakbooks.com
WOB offers no guaranteed response time for support issues.
WOB determines the priority of support issues.

Email Terms of Service

WOB agrees to provide you with a Web-based mailbox (with POP/SMTP access) to send and receive email along with an address book for storing contact information.
While total disk space is fixed there is no limit on emails sent/received. WOB reserves the right to limit email if WOB feels the service is being abused.
WOB assumes no responsibility for the deletion of or failure to store, deliver, or deliver in a timely manner email messages.
If your service is canceled for any reason emails and other content in your account will be permanently deleted.
WOB will not monitor, edit or disclose the contents of your email with third parties unless required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (1) conform to the law or comply with legal process served on WOB; (2) protect and defend the rights or property of WOB or its customers; or (3) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of our customers or the public.
If you request support on your email account it might be necessary for WOB to access your mailbox and emails.
You, not WOB, are entirely responsible for all content that you upload, post or otherwise transmit via Email.
You agree not to use Email to engage in or assist or encourage others to engage in illegal, harassing or abusive conduct.
We are required to investigate any complaints of SPAM (unsolicited bulk e-mail).
Any email that we deem not to be protected under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 can result in your email account being suspended.

WOB TOS as of 5/27/2010

AndyLL — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 17:04:44 GMT

These were posted somewhere on the forums originally but I can't find them. I am reposting these original TOS before I update them.

These TOS were agreed upon by anyone who signed up for my service past that date.

General Information

Service is provided by White Oak Travel Services, Inc. - Incorporated in the State of Colorado.
White Oak Travel Services, Inc. is also known as: WhiteOakBooks and WOBBookSite.
White Oak Travel Services, Inc. will be referred to as WOB in this document.
WOB leases servers and services from JodoHost.com.
WOB links to 3rd parties: Paypal.com, mals-e.com and Amazon.com.
WOB attempts to adhere to all Terms of Service of the linked to 3rd parties.
Upon request and if possible, WOB will modify the software if those 3rd parties request it.
The ability to link to 3rd party companies is not guaranteed.
If WOB is not able to link to 3rd party companies WOB will not refund past payments for service.
These TOS are dated: 05/27/2010.
These TOS are retroactive to service provided prior to that date.
These TOS are posted on mb.WhiteOakBooks.com
Notification of changes to the TOS will be posted on your website control panel.
Email notification will be given if WOB deems significant changes where made to the TOS.

General Terms of Service

You are not buying Software... you are leasing it as a service.
You are not buying a Website... you are paying WOB to provide tools and services to display your website.
You agree not to download or disassemble WOB software.
We do not guarantee there will not be errors displaying your data.
WOB will not hold any liability for any damages your business may suffer as a result of the website.
WOB does not guarantee uninterrupted service.
If the website is not available for 48 continuous hours because of hardware, JodoHost network, or software issues WOB will refund the monthly fee prorated daily for every 24 hours the website is not available.

Hosting/Website Terms of Service

You will not take input of credit card information on your website. ( this excludes 3rd party payment processes your site links to)
We do not guarantee there will not be errors displaying your data.
You assert that you have the legal right to all data, content and images your provide and display on the website.
You retain all rights to the data, content and images your provide and display on the website.
You retain all liability that results from the data, content and images your provide and display on the website.
Either side can cancel the service with no penalty. The service will stop at the end of the current paid for billing cycle.
If your service is canceled for any reason the data, content and images your provide permanently deleted off our servers.
Any attempt to cause harm or undermine WOB software or JodoHost's servers, computers, network or customers is prohibited. Use of the Services to carry out any activity that is illegal under US and International laws is also prohibited.

Prohibited uses of the Services also include, but are not restricted to:
1. Use of IRC, bots or clients
2. Unsolicited Bulk Emailing
3. Newsgroup spamming
4. Hosting, promoting or linking to pornographic content
5. Illegal Content
6. Copyright infringement
7. Trademark infringement
8. Hosting and linking to pirated computer software and music.
9. Hosting/linking to software or information (such as software cracks, software cracking tutorials and software serial numbers) that may help any individual to obtain copyrighted software or music illegally.
10. Hosting or linking to computer software that may be used for spamming (know as spamware)
11. Providing/Promoting material that is grossly offensive to Internet Users which includes blatant expressions of bigotry, racism or hatred
12. Providing/Promoting material about illegal activities or promoting physical injury or harm against any group or individual
13. Providing/Promoting material about exploitation of children under the age of 18
14. We do not allow any spyware, chat software on our Windows VPS servers.

Email Terms of Service

WOB agrees to provide you with a Web-based mailbox (with POP/SMTP access) to send and receive email along with an address book for storing contact information.
While total disk space is fixed there is no limit on emails sent/received. WOB reserves the right to limit email if WOB feels the service is being abused.
WOB assumes no responsibility for the deletion of or failure to store, deliver, or deliver in a timely manner email messages.
If your service is canceled for any reason emails and other content in your account will be permanently deleted.
WOB will not monitor, edit or disclose the contents of your email with third parties unless required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (1) conform to the law or comply with legal process served on WOB; (2) protect and defend the rights or property of WOB or its customers; or (3) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of our customers or the public.
If you request support on your email account it might be necessary for WOB to access your mailbox and emails.
You, not WOB, are entirely responsible for all content that you upload, post or otherwise transmit via Email.
You agree not to use Email to engage in or assist or encourage others to engage in illegal, harassing or abusive conduct.
We are required to investigate any complaints of SPAM (unsolicited bulk e-mail).
Any email that we deem not to be protected under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 can result in your email account being suspended.

Websites down 1/25/2011

AndyLL — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:05:05 GMT

We are having database problems today. It started random but is not at a point that the website are not functioning.

It looks like an inventory update process has blocked everyone else out.

We are trying to track down the offending process and stop it.

Andy

January 2011 Enhancements

AndyLL — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 02:17:58 GMT

As promised I'm really trying to devote the majority of my programming time to adding enhancements to the websites.

WhiteOakBooks is proud to announce two new major website features that we feel really set us apart from our competitors.

Discounts

Discounts are different then coupons in three major ways:

1) Coupons offer an amount off the order based on a coupon code the customer has to have. Discounts are amounts off orders or individual items that are automatically triggered by the items the customer purchases.

For example you might want to offer $5 off if you purchase 2 items at once... or offer 10% all items purchased from the 'Bargain Bin' category of books.

With coupons it would be hard to offer these specials but discounts would be applied automatically as they added eligible items to the shopping cart.

2) Coupons tend to apply to the whole cart. Some systems allow coupons based on a number of items bought but the items bought are generic. Discounts allow you to offer specific discounts based on specific items bought. (without the customer having to do anything other then buying the items)

3) Shopping Carts tend to only allow one coupon at a time. Since discounts are triggered by specific items added to the cart multiple discounts can apply to one order.

WOBBookSite Discount Specifics

We currently offer 4 discount triggers.

1) Buy 'all' of a set of SKUs. You have a related 2,3,4 whatever items and you want to offer a discount if the customer buys all of them.

2) Buy 'a defined' number of a set of SKUs. You have a related group of items and you want to offer a discount if they buy 3 ( or any other number ) of the group.

3) Category Trigger. A discount is offered if the customer buys an item from a specific category. You might offer an additional 10% off items bought from a 'Bargain Bin' category ( using our multi-category feature ).

4) Total cart amount. You can offer a discount based on the total amount of items bought.

We at WhiteOakBooks are excited about this new Discount functionality and look forward to offering more enhancement to it in the future. The biggest next enhancement in the area will be the shopping cart automatically letting the customer know that they have added a piece of a discount to the cart and letting them know what else they need to purchase to be eligible for the discount.

The functionality is available in Release 4.04.2 by request.

Website Announcements

Having a sale you want to advertise on all pages of your website? Offering a discount on a certain category of items? Offering a 'buy 2 specific items and receive a discount' that you want to advertise on those product detail pages? Want to let customers know early December that they need to choose an expedited shipping method for items to be delivered by Christmas?

How do you let your website visitors know about these temporary events?

You can put it on your homepage... but not everyone sees the homepage.

You can add it to the individual product descriptions... but that is time consuming and you have to remove it later.

WOBBookSite websites have solved the problem with Website Announcements.

It is really a simple concept. You go to one place in your Website Control panel and enter the text of your announcement. Then you choose where you want the announcement to appear.

The current choices are:

1) On All Pages

2) On Home Page only

3) On All Product Category Pages

4) On All Product Detail Pages

5) On All Search Pages

6) On a specific Category Page

7) On one or more specific product Detail Pages.

You can also keep a standard announcement and turn activate/deactivate it when necessary.

The functionality is available in Release 4.04.2 by request.

Other Recent Functionality Added to the Websites in the last 6 months

Enhanced user supplied image functionality.

Support of multiple user images for an item

Multiple categories for an item supported.

USPS postage API integration

Override standard shipping per SKU

Append AOB private fields to any other field

Recent WhiteOakBooks BookSet Website Enhancements (12/29/2010)

AndyLL — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:11:02 GMT

User Supplied Images

All these enhanced settings are in the ‘Image Display Settings’ screen.

This pertains to images you supply:

Resize User Images & Resized Images width – This allows you to provide a larger images but shrink it down for display

This pertains to images you supply & OpenLibrary Images:

Larger Image link – If you are showing a resized image (above) this displays a ‘Larger Image’ link

This pertains to images you upload:

Multiple Images – The normal format for uploaded images is: sku.jpg . You can add additional images in the format: sku_2.jpg, sku_3.jpg and so forth.

These additional images will display under the product attributes on the detail pages.

Multiple Categories Supported

AOB allows you to have multiple categories on the Browse Path by separating them with a ~.

For example:

Books:Fiction~Books:Stephen King

The websites can now support these multiple categories. Under ‘General Store Settings’ check the ‘Enable Category 2’ checkbox.

If you are a non-AOB user and wish to use these functionality contact me and we’ll figure out the best way to get multiple categories from your inventory program.

Integration with USPS for postage calculation

The websites now have the ability to query the USPS website for rates. It then presents the user a drop down of applicable choices and their cost.

This will only work for non-amazon payment processors and requires that EVERY item in your inventory has a weight assigned to it.

See http://shopping.disneymouselinks.com for an example. ( this is a live website )

This is in BETA and if you have interest in this functionality please contact me.

This functionality is in release 4.03.0 and (higher ) which is an optional release and not automatically applied to every website. Please contact me at http://mb.whiteoakbooks.com if you need this functionality.

Other Recent Enhancements

Display you visitors ‘Recently Viewed Items’

Social Networking ‘Share’ button bar.

Amazon New Data Requirements - 10/2010

AndyLL — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:22:38 GMT

Website Users,

This email only applies to websites that are linked to Amazon and display Amazon information on their website.

In the past the websites have used WhiteOakBooks’ Amazon AWS account to pull data from Amazon to display on all the websites. Due to changes Amazon is making this month the amount of data that a single account can pull from Amazon is being limited.

This means you will be required to sign up for your own Amazon AWS account and provide the website information to uses your AWS account.

On the website under ‘General Settings’ | ‘General Store Settings’ towards the bottom is more information and links to sign up for your own account.

Failure to do this could result in occasional outages of Amazon data on your website.

If you wish to de-link your website from Amazon instead of doing this here is the information on how to do it:

http://mb.whiteoakbooks.com/Topic858-15-1.aspx

Please address any questions to me on the forums:

http://mb.whiteoakbooks.com/

Andy

WOBBookSites E-Commence Website 3rd Quarter Changes

AndyLL — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:29:18 GMT

A significant amount of new functionality was added this quarter.

Recent Changes

Seller Metrics Dashboard - This single page in your website administration control panel shows total sales by all payment processors broken down into several time periods, detail of the last 10 orders, items added to the cart, Amazon Buy Buttons clicked, and items your visitors have searched on.

Social Networking 'Share' Button Bar - Allow your visitors to easily share your item's URLs on the social networking sites.

Recently Viewed Items - The website can track the items your visitors are viewing and make it easier for them to re-visit those items.

Advanced Search - Adds Title and Author specific searches to the Website.

Earlier Changes

New Servers - The default free website hosting has moved from shared servers to dedicated VPS high end servers for new users.

Amazon Not Required - For website owners that provide their own product information the link between Amazon and the website can be turned off.

No signup fees and 30 day free trail - We want to make sure you don't have buyers remorse when you join our service.

OpenLibrary.org - We support the use of the Open Library project for images when not tied to Amazon.

For more information on WOBBookSite websites please visit:

http://wobbooksellers.com/

or our forums at:

http://mb.whiteoakbooks.com/

Andy

WhiteOakBooks

New Servers - New pricing options

AndyLL — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:46:26 GMT

Websites run on new big fast servers. We control how many domains reside on the servers allowing us to provide superior performance.
Websites no longer have to be linked to Amazon.com ( you lose Amazon images/product details when not linked to Amazon)
Can switch being linked to Amazon on/off to see which works best for your store.
No longer required to offer Amazon Payments. ( when not linked to Amazon)
No Signup Fees.
30 Day Free Preview.
UK and Canadian sellers are supported.
We can categorize your inventory for you.
The website can check OpenLibrary.org for images ( when not linked to Amazon )
We can read your inventory directly from Amazon. ( < 5000 listings )
Google Base (Froogle) Files can be created.
Sitemaps (for search engines) can be created.
You can upload inventory items outside of your main inventory source. ( a spreadsheet of ARCs could be added to your normal AOB listings)
Paypal Payments, Amazon Payments, Credit Cards and Google Checkout ( Using Mal's e-commerce ) Checkout Options.
If you choose to accept Amazon Payments... Images, Item Detail and reviews are automatically displayed on your website from Amazon.
Once setup, your website is almost maintenance free. We read your inventory directly from The Art of Books, Fillz, or Amazon..
We do not create just bookstores. Other media sellers are fully supported.
Highly Advanced Control Panel

Configure the Look & Feel of almost every section of your website.
Enter your website text using a Word Like application.
Featured Item Wizard - Walks you through building the featured item code.

WhiteOakBooks has been providing websites for media sellers since 1996. We've had 1000s of happy customers over the years.

Please visit http://wobbooksellers.com for more information

Andy

WhiteOakBooks

New Functionality for 1st quarter 2010

AndyLL — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:10:39 GMT

New functionality and functionality you might not know exists...

Websites no longer have to be tied to Amazon

If you turn off the Amazon link in the website control panel the Amazon Payments option is also turned off which means all payments will go through the Paypal or Mal’s Ecommerce payment processer.

The flip side is that the website will not pull Amazon product detail, reviews or images when not directly linked to Amazon.

That data has to be supplied by you through AOB, Fillz or your own uploads.
Images can be supplied as an URL on the upload, uploaded directly to the website by sku/isbn, or pulled from OpenLibrary.

This is not an ‘all or nothing’ choice. You can flip between the ‘Amazon Linked’ and non-linked as often as you wish with a single checkbox allowing you to decide which works best for your website.

Google Product Base

We will automatically generate and upload your listings to Google Product Base (Froogle)

Site Maps

You can general a SiteMap that Google and other search engines will use to help index your website.

Inventory Source

AOB/Fillz can automatically be configured to send inventory updates to the website

Amazon – For smaller sellers WOB can pull your inventory directly from Amazon

Other Inventory Uploads – You can upload inventory files from just about any source. We currently have customers uploading files from Homebase, Monsoon and excel CSV spreadsheets.

Mix and Match Inventory Sources

Even if your main inventory source is AOB,Fillz or Amazon you can upload additional inventory from any CSV file that will be added along with your current inventory.

Payment Methods Support

Amazon Payments – Required if the website is linked to Amazon.

Paypal Payments

Mal’s Ecommerce – A secure payments processer with a host of payment options.

Paypal and Mal’s send back the status of the payment back to the website.

AOB/Fillz Order Integration

Non-Amazon Payments the order will be sent directly to AOB or Fillz.

Mal’s Ecommerce

When you enable Mal’s you can accept Checks, Credit Cards, and Google Payments.

True Hosting Account

You have full access to the hosting account your website is running on. You can add additional domains and scripts (such as blogs) that require their own database.

Please visit my website for costs and instructions for signing up.

Andy
White Oak Books

February 2010 Announcement

AndyLL — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:45:00 GMT

Greetings Booksellers and a happy new 2010 to you.

My goal is to make this the year of enhancements to the WOB Website product.
The initial enhancement is a big one.

You will have to ability to remove the linkage between the website and Amazon which forces the use of Amazon Payments.

The data displayed for inventory will be only the data you upload. If I pull the data directly you’re your Amazon inventory then there likely will not be enough detail… but you are welcome to try and see how it looks.

Images will have to be either: Uploaded to the website, linked to by an image URL on the inventory data , or pulled from www.OpenLibrary.org .
I need ONE seller to test this. Please send me an email if interested. If everything goes well it will be available to everyone this month.

I also need a seller that already has a Google Tools account linked to the website that can do a minor test of a search engine sitemap.

In other news….

Please use the forums ( http://mb.whiteoakbooks.com ) for support. It can be done privately through the private message functionality. Support through email is very unreliable and leads to miscommunications.

If you haven’t already done so… create an account on the forums and subscribe to the Announcements forum. (and others that make sense to you)To subscribe to an entire forum open the forum and click on the ‘Forum Options’ link in the headers.

I will be creating a new thread in there with a list of expected future functionality and allow everyone to add their input on what they want to see.

I am also creating a thread on functionality that is added that many users do not know about.

As usual… please contact me if you have any questions/issues.

Andy
WOBBookSite

Google Base (Froogle) for the websites

AndyLL — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:01:38 GMT

Booksellers,

I have been approved by Google to upload all of my website customers inventory to Google Base.

You are not allowed to have duplicate domains uploaded so this is only available to sellers that do not already have a Google Base account.

I therefore need to know which sellers want to have their inventories uploaded.

I will use 1 or 2 sellers to test the uploads and hope to have all sellers inventory uploading my the end of the year.

Please let me know through email or the forums if you wish to be included.

Andy

WhiteOakBooks

Website Version History (Updated 02/22/10)

AndyLL — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:09:17 GMT

The version numbers is at the bottom of the home page and looks like this: (v3.52)

Unless it is a critical update new versions are not automatically uploaded to your website.

If there is a fix or feature you want you can request the newest version through PM.

Version History:

[b]3.60.6 & 7[/b] - Category Edit. Binding Type on Uploaded items(non-amazon)( by request)

[b]3.60.5[/b] - Featured items by search category was failing.( by request)

[b]3.60.3[/b] - Amazon ties can be turned off. Search Engine Sitemaps. ( uploaded to all websites )

[b]3.59.5[/b] - Some inventory files were so big that the website timed out processing them.( by request)

[b]3.59.4[/b] -User Pages with User Categorypagation was not working( by request)

[b]3.59.3[/b] -Better UPC processing through direct inventory uploads( by request)

[b]3.59.0[/b] -Many inventory upload fixes.( by request)

[b]3.58.11[/b] -Missing final page on category browse. Coupon Dates not working ( by request)

[b]3.58.6[/b] -Fixed Featured Items by ISBN ( by request)

[b]3.58.5[/b] -Support Monsoon action codes ( by need )

[b]3.58.4[/b] -Fixed search paging issue, fixed blank category issue, Inventory uploads ( uploaded to all clients )

[b]3.57.4[/b] -Turning onMals was not available( by request )

[b]3.57.3[/b] -Fixed Paypal notification to Website ( uploaded to all clients )

[b]3.57.2[/b] -Fixed Featured by Random(current version) ( uploaded to all clients)

[b]3.56.1 & 3.57.1[/b] -Canadian Support ( by need)

[b]3.55.1[/b] -Homebase file processing & Generic Header file processing(current version) ( by request)
All uploaded file types will now be processed throughout the day.

[b]3.54.1[/b] -Fillz file processing & Featured Items fix( Fillz users and by request)
Fillz Inventory files will be processed by the website through out the day. Feature item with price filter was not working.

[b]3.53.1-10[/b] -Various bug fixes( uploaded to all clients)

[b]3.53[/b] - AOB file processing ( uploaded to AOB clients)
Inventory files will be processed by the website through out the day.

[b]3.52[/b] - Editor Fixes
Fixed Editor bug. ( uploaded to all websites )

[b]3.51 [/b]- Emergency Fix
Fixed crash on EditCartSettings and EditUserPages

[b]3.50[/b] - ( Uploaded to all websites )
Added security signing to all calls to Amazon
Software was moved to .Net 3.50

[b]1.80 [/b]- Last Version on .Net 1.42. [b]If you are on this version your website does not work[i][/i][/b]
Added order pulls for Filtz users. Still a little rough so not rolled out to all Fillz users.

Change for AOB users August 21st 2009

AndyLL — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:19:08 GMT

Dear Booksellers,

This email applies to AOB users only. The rest can delete it.

The release uploaded through the night August 20th contained significant AOB file processing improvements.

There are steps you must do for files to continue processing.

If you are not already pulling orders from your website
You must complete the following set of tasks:

http://mb.whiteoakbooks.com/Topic158-15-1.aspx

(step 2 is critical…the files must be sent to the path Inventory)

Everyone
You must do a refresh of your venue! ( do it after the above )

Inventory is being moved to a new server and will not be populated without this.

Everyone
You must notify me when this is done. Either through email, my forums mb.whiteoakbooks.com or AOBs forum http://www.theartofbooks.com/forum/YaBB.pl

The change will allow the websites to process inventory files throughout the day instead of just overnight.

Andy
whiteoakbooks

Major Website Upgrade

AndyLL — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:57:15 GMT

Dear Booksellers,

Amazon recently made some changes to how there data is accessed which resulted in some significant modifications of the website software.

While implementing the changes in the software I quickly came to realize I would have to do a full internal software upgrade so support them.

While the move from ASP.Net version 1.4 to version 3.5 has been in the works for months there was now an urgency to complete the upgrade to meet Amazon's deadlines.

It also meant that all websites had to be upgraded at once.

During the weekend starting Friday the 14th my host and I have been upgrading the websites almost non-stop. The majority of work was done overnight although on Sunday about 10 websites had 1-2 hour outages.

I made every attempt to verify that every website was upgraded and tested but with the amount of websites converted I'm sure there were several missed.

If at the bottom of you home page the version does not say: '3.50' or '3.51' then your website was missed and you need to contact me.

I have found 3 issues with the new software:

1) Error accessing the 'Cart Settings' page.
2) Error accessing the 'User Defined' setup page.
3) Changes made in the HTML editor not taking effect.

#3 is an issue with the new Editor. If you change to the Preview Mode before saving ( the magnifying glass on the bottom ) it will save properly.

I am trying to find a fix for #3 and if I do not have one if a few days I will switch editors.

1 & 2 are fixed in 3.51 but I am waiting for #3 to be fixed before upgrading all the websites.
If you need 1 or 2 fixed right away on your website please let me know.

Please let me know if you have any issues with the new software on my forums at: http://mb.whiteoakbooks.com

Andy
WhiteOakBooks

Are the websites down?

oscarsbooknook — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:57:38 GMT

Hi,

I received an alert that my website is not responding. I tried to get onto the site and no response. Thanks.

Shipping Calculation with multiple product groups

AndyLL — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 22:35:24 GMT

The shipping matrix allows a different shipping charge for the 1st item from the other items.

By default the 1st item added to the cart uses the 1st item shipping charge and all other items added to the cart use the discounted shipping charge.

If you have different product groups and the 1st item shipping charge is wildly different between them then you might want the item with the highest shipping charge to use the 1st item shipping charge and all other items to use the 2nd item shipping charge.

To turn on this functionality log into your control panel... click on Shopping Cart Settings and about 1/2 way down the page is a checkbox ' Use Highest Shipping in Cart 1st Item'

You must be on version 1.66 or higher to use this functionality.

ANdy

Server Application Unavailable Errors

AndyLL — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:58:26 GMT

On my hosts new server (Win27), which most customers who signed up in 2008 are on; it is possible to get random Server Application Unavailable errors. This error is because the server defaults to a different version of Asp.Net then the bookstores run.

I have asked my host to place all the domains that I know are affected to reference the proper setting.

If you see this error in past February 1st, 2008 please send me a PM.

Andy

WOBBookSite Websites now offers a referral program

AndyLL — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:16:14 GMT

If you are a current WOBBookSite website owner and you refer a new customer to us then you will receive a 20% of the setup fee credit towards your next payment.

Please visit this page for details: http://www.whiteoakbooks.com/WOBSellers/Referral.asp

Other 2008 changes to our website service:

30 day money back guarantee. (Minus a $10 fee). We want you to be happy with your purchase. We have always unofficially offered this guarantee but now it is an official policy.
Support of Mal's Ecommerce for credit card sales.
Ability to move items into different categories.
We can take inventory uploads from any source.
High Quality Forums for pre-sales questions and on-going support. (http://www.wobbooksite.com/forums/default.aspx)
Non-Amazon items can be listed on the website. (There are some additional requirements and there is a small additional quarterly charge for this)

For more information on creating your own website visit us at: http://www.whiteoakbooks.com/WOBSellers/default.asp

Andy

WhiteOakBooks

01/04/07 - Websites down

AndyLL — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:59:58 GMT

There is a database issue and the websites are currently down. The ETA for getting them back up is about 15 minutes

Andy

Access to the Customer Only Forums

AndyLL — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 15:10:07 GMT

There are 2 customer only forums.

One is a Website Marketing forum and the other is a generic Customer Discussion forum.

If you are a WOBBooksite customer and do not see those 2 forums please PM your store name and I'll take care of it.

Andy

Welcome to The New WOBBookSite Forums

AndyLL — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 15:08:40 GMT

The other free forums were not very useful so I decided to purchase a better quality product.

One purpose of these forums is to provide better support to my customers.

I receive 1000s of SPAM emails daily and I know emails sometimes are getting lost.

I also know that many of my emails end up in peoples SPAM folders.

These forums allow us to avoid all of that.

These forums also allow you to interact with other website owners. Getting traffic and sales through a website is tough and these forums allow us to share ideas.

Please make use of these forums. It will be slow going for awhile but eventually they will pick up.

Subscribing to the forums you are interested in is a good idea because you will receive an email when someone posts to that forum.

Andy