Commonly Required Updates (MODx) to the PHPAuction Enuuk Platform
Proof
Reading Software
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The current release of the Enuuk
Auction Platform is v2.8 and this is a stable auction
platform, which is being used across a range of sites. The
code is well laid out and easily modified to add your own
improvements and extended features. We have found the phpAuction support team to be
responsive and very helpful and can supplement this with our
own services in tracking down and identifying issues with PHP
and SQL as well as optimising code to ensure that the Enuuk
Auction Platform provides an excellent engine for an auction
site. We have also developed our own custom built
modules (also known as modx) and changes, which may be of
interest to other users of Enuuk and these are set out below.
We are happy to help install them on your server at an extra
charge, or provide the full details of all changes required in
order to implement them. These modules appear on the Sell My Retro
website so that you can see them in action for yourself and
compare them against your own website's performance. Please note that in order to install any of
these updates to the code yourself, you will need an
unobfuscated version of the code (ie. it is unprotected),
otherwise we can install them for you for an additional fee. We welcome feedback on our modules and changes,
and how they may be further developed in order to continue to
increase the facilities and user friendliness of the Enuuk
platform. Finally, we have now linked up with a website
designer who is able to provide a bespoke website design
service to provide a true professional design for your auction
website. Standard chargeable modules we have produced to
date:
A late addition to the Enuuk auction platform
has been the ability to upload auction details in bulk. The
Enuuk auction platform currently only supports a plain text
file, with the auction fields in a fixed order and separated by
either tabs or a double hash (#) sign. We found this too constrictive and following a request from a trader, decided to launch this new module, which allows you to create a CSV file containing all of the auction details. This has two benefits: 1) You can export auctions from the eBay Turbo Lister program and upload the exported file direct to a site running the Enuuk auction platform. 2) As the CSV file utilises column headers to
differentiate the fields, you can now edit the auctions more
comfortably using a spreadsheet program, such as Excel. We
recommend that you use the Enhanced Item Details and the
International Shipping Modules with this.
We have now implemented a new module which allows you to set different fees for each category - these can be any of the currently active fees. You can specify whether the fee is to be inherited (the default) - in which case, the system works its way up the category parent tree until it finds a category with the fee set (or ultimately, the default fee). A useful module, which allows you to have some categories which are cheaper to list in that others.
As supplied, the Enuuk auction platform, allows you to add additional language sets to cover the use of auctions, the website pages and emails, which makes it into a powerful auction platform which can be easily adapted for use in multi-national auctions. Unfortunately, the default language remains steadfastly as English US which means that is the standard language used by users who do not select another default, and by internet search engines, such as Google. We encountered an issue with the dates which are displayed, as we are based in the UK - we did not want to create an entire new language folder just for UK English, and so decided the best way would be to amend the default. Unfortunately, the default is hard coded and so we have identified all of the changes required throughout the code and the SQL database engine. **WARNING
this may cause issues on a live site**
As supplied, the Enuuk auction platform, shows all currencies as the value, followed by three letters indicating the currency type. However, in many cases, where it is not an unusual currency, users would prefer to see the symbol for the currency. For example, v2.00 would show 2.50 GBP as the current value of an item. Most users would prefer to see £2.50. This currently supports GBP, USD, CAD and
Euros, but other currencies can be added easily.
Current versions of the Enuuk auction platform,
do not allow you to edit an auction when there are already
bids. This module has been devised to allow you to
edit auctions, even when there are bids, although your options
are restricted. You can add to the item description, amend
pictures, and alter the reserve price (provided it has not been
reached). You can also edit the Buy It Now price if it is
still active - in both instances, you cannot reduce them to
less than the current price of the item. All other details can be edited as if there
were no bids on the auction, as we feel that this would not
impact on a user's decision to bid. When the auction is amended, all existing
bidders are then notified by email that the auction has
changed.
v1.6 of the
Enuuk auction platform added the ability for users to
select favourites which can then be linked to quickly using the
link to My Favourites in the top right hand menu. You can add
webstores, users and auction listings as your favourites. This module changes this in a couple of
ways. 1. Popular items are now shown on the index
page - we added a small section which calculates the top 5
(maximum) items which people have marked as favourites and
shows them on the index page, in order of popularity. 2. When you add an offer to your favourites, if
you are viewing the offer at the time, you are now returned to
the view offer details screen. This also similarly works for
add user / add store to favourites. 3. When you go to My Favourites, Enuuk lists
details of all of the offers which you have marked as favourite
plus all of the offers listed within any webstores which you
have marked as favourite, plus any auctions listed by users
that you have marked as favourite. This leads to an extensive
list of offers - although duplicates are removed, even closed
offers are included in the list. We therefore decided to turn this around
completely. On My Favourites page, you now get three
different headings: Nice and simple.
When listing items for sale on SellmyRetro.com (or any Enuuk auction based site), one of the main features which is missing is the ability to state whether an item is new, used or refurbished. We also wanted to ensure that if an item is
listed within a "Books" category (or sub-category), then
details of the ISBN for the book can be added (with validation
of the number). This module adds that ability to the software
and is essential if you intend submitting details of your
auctions to Google Base. If you are selling cars on your auction
website, you may also want to consider the Vehicle Reports module.
This is one feature that is perhaps most
crucial to maintaining good relations between buyers and
sellers. It builds upon the features in the Simple Payments module , the Currency Display Module and the International Shipping Module (all of which are included) and includes the following additional features:
On the search page, you can now select whether you wish to search for a) any of the keywords b) all of the keywords c) the exact phrase The filter for search types is now more sensible, and lists just: - Fixed Price Items - Standard Auctions - Scheduled Auctions - Penny Auctions (if enabled) - Reverse Auctions (if enabled) Fixed price items lets a user search quickly when they want to purchase one item now rather than waiting until an auction finishes to see if they have been the highest bidder. This therefore returns matching searches in either Fixed Price Auctions, Lot Auctions, or where a standard auction has a Buy It Now price available. Scheduled Auctions lets users find out what is coming up on the site and mark them as a favourite auction for future reference.
When you browse categories of auction items in the Enuuk auction platform, it currently lists all items which are listed within webstores and fall within that category at the bottom of the page. This can lead to a long list of items if you are not careful. We have changed the whole focus of this:
If you create an auction with a start date in
the future, in the current versions of the Enuuk Auction
Platform, you can only find them in your profile under Closed
Offers. This module creates a new section in your user
profile for Pending Offers, where all auctions with a start
date sometime in the future are found. You can also activate
them early if you so wish without having to edit the auction.
This can also be useful for the Enhanced Search Module. v1.2 also now incorporates enhancements in the
admin backend, so that you can view auctions by reference to
closed, active, inactive and sold. It also details the number
of active (or sold) items when it is a lot auction.
In current versions of the
Enuuk auction platform, although you can select different
shipping methods in the admin backend, the buyer of an item,
sees all shipping methods chosen by the seller, even if they
are not applicable to goods sent to them (eg. for overseas
buyers). Also, although there is a tick box to indicate if you
are willing to ship items internationally, there is currently
no ability to charge different rates dependent on
destination. We have therefore created this module which allows the admin backend to set up postal regions, and decide which countries appear in each postal region. Different shipping methods can then be created in the admin backend for each postal region - you can also mark some shipping methods (such as collection) as free methods. When a seller creates a listing for sale, they can select which postal regions they are willing to ship to, and then select which of the shipping methods applicable to that region that they will offer, plus setting shipping rates for each method. If a free method is chosen, the seller is no longer required to enter a value. If the seller is listing a Lot Auction, the seller is then asked to enter a further amount to be added for shipping of additional items (ie. if the buyer purchases 2 of the same item). When viewing an item, the buyer only sees the shipping methods and prices set by the seller, which are applicable to the buyer's country. If the seller has chosen not to ship to that postal region, then the buyer canot bid (and a warning is displayed). Having purchased an item, the buyer can then
select which shipping method for their region that they wish
the seller to use, and the prices are adjusted accordingly,
before payment is made.
This Module improves the way in which a user
can increase their maximum bid against an item. In current versions of the Enuuk auction
platform, the user sees no difference to an items listing, even
if they are the highest bidder. The Maximum Bid module implements various
changes:
We found that sellers tend to browse categories
before listing an item in order to check what items are already
being offered and also to choose which is the best category to
use for their auction listing. We therefore created this mod, which adds a link to "Sell an Item in this Category" below the breadcrumb trail. It takes you straight to the sell item form, with the category already chosen.
This useful module sends two emails as an
auction nears the end time. You can set the period for each of
the two emails to be sent (in hours) in the admin backend. The emails are: We find that this has helped to encourage users to return to the site and place more bids.
This includes some minor improvements to the
Enuuk auction platform in order to provide Search Engine
Optimisation as well as the following new features:
NOTE: Google Base is a new means of searching the internet for items to purchase. With our automated submission module, you can add this feature to the Enuuk auction platform, ensuring that your new items are listed on the Google Base search engine for the time that they are live auctions. If you wish auction
items to be submitted to Google Base, you will need the Item Details module and also the Simple Payments Module for this to be
accepted by Google Base. You will also need to open your own
Google Base account and to ensure that your auctions meet with
the terms and conditions of Google Base. The same Google Base
feed can also be submitted to Yahoo Site Explorer.
One thing we found confusing with the
Enuuk auction platform is that having purchased fixed price
items, you have to go to My Profile and Auctions You have Won
in order to actually pay for an item. We have created this module which adds an extra
page once you confirm that you wish to purchase a fixed price
item (or part of a lot auction), confirming the item you have
purchased and providing you with PayPal and Google Checkout
buttons to enable you to pay for the item (provided the seller
has activated these options). We have expanded on this module to include many
more important features, as part of the Enhanced Payments Module.
TThis module has been devised to help encourage interaction between users.
When selling vehicles over the internet, the
purchasers want as much information as possible about the
history and condition of a Vehicle. This module adds the ability to create a
vehicle report for each item listed within selected
categories. The Vehicle Report includes all elements
required for a Disclosure Declaration Statement (under Canadian
law - MDA 2002), as well as details of the bodywork, internal
and external options, odometer reading, engine type, condition
of each section of the car and mechnical defects and much
more.
One of the problems with any auction website is
in attracting sufficient people to the website to ensure that
sellers can find enough people interested in bidding, and
conversely, bidders can find enough items to purchase. We thought the best way of doing this was to
incorporate a wiki, which can be displayed for each category
listing, so that you can provide more information on the types
of auction items which can be found on the website. This
modification to the
Enuuk auction platform provides the ability for the
administrator to create wiki text for each category from the
admin backend - the administrator can then decide whether the
Wiki is editable - we decided to restrict editing to webstore
owners, as we felt that they would be the best ones to provide
the content. As with all of Enuuk, the wiki can be created
in each language supported on your website.
And finally.... Don't forget that all of these modules can be seen in action on our retro electronics and computing auction site - SellMyRetro. |