Google Base is a wonderful thing, when it works... With Google Base and the store connector (works with more than eBay) a feed of product can be uploaded to Google shopping (the old Froogle) for free!
The idea is to create a data feed from your eBay or Yahoo store, directly to Google shopping. All of the information to populate a listing in Google is scraped from your eBay store or yahoo stores listings - automatically.
The only problem being that the Google Base Store connector mysteriously stopped working. I can't speculate on the cause of this mysterious failure (possible re-kindling of the eBay/Google feud?) but in any case this connection is a vital part of eBay stores marketing and I have been searching for a way to get it up and running.
It seems the only way to use Google Base at this time is manually and I have had trouble with that at times. It may be a bit of a bother, but if you put it in your schedule once a week or so, it should help you to put your eBay stores products in front of more shoppers. (This is a feature which should be built in to eBay Stores accounts with an automatic feed, but....)
So, I found this great step by step instruction guideline posted by a Google Base help board user "Collectorgirl". Thanks Collectorgirl, I hope your time and effort in creating these well written instructions helps many eBay & Yahoo stores owners!
-------------------------
By collectorgirl:
JUST UPDATED THESE INSTRUCTIONS....JUNE 18, 2008 - 1:38pm
I don't work for Google, but I have an eBay store on eBay. My seller
name on eBay is snifflesmouse.I am sharing how I successfully scheduled eBay store items for upload
to Google Base because I want to help other people like me, but any
use of this information is your responsibility. Only store items will
be uploaded, not fixed price or auction items.How to Schedule your eBay Store Items for automatic upload to Google
Base:
1. Go to eBay and click "My eBay"
2. Click "Manage My Store" on the left side of the page
3. Click on "Listing Distribution" under promotional tools
4. Click "Activate your Store listings via RSS. (not sure if this
is needed for Google)
5. Click "Make a file of your Store Inventory listings available"
6. May need to wait at least 12 hours before you continue with
these instructions
7. When eBay provides you with a URL of your Google Base-specific
file, COPY THE URL - looks something like: http://esssl.ebay.com/GetListings/yourstorename?fmt=g
8. Login to Google Base
9. Click the "Settings" tab
10. Change your Website URL to match the Google Base URL provided by
eBay - again, looks something like: http://esssl.ebay.com/GetListings/yourstorename?fmt=g
11. Click the "My Items" tab
12. Click on the "Data Feeds" link
13. Click the "New Data Feed" button
14. Type a file name with the .xml extention - should be the name of
your store with no spaces - for example, "mystorename.xml"
15. Change the item type in the drop down menu to "Products"
16. Click the button that says: "Register data feed and continue to
formatting instructions"
17. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the button that
says: "I'm done formatting my file. Continue to upload"
18. If you need to, click the "My Items" tab, then click on the "Data
Feeds" link (or continue to step 19 below)
19. Click the "create" link next to Schedule
20. Choose when and how often you would like Google to upload your
file
21. Type the URL of the file - should match the URL provided by eBay
- the same one used in step 10 above
22. CLICK THE SCHEDULE BUTTON
23. Come back and check to see if your products have been uploaded as
scheduled - login to Google Base, click the "my items" tab, click the
"active items" link. You should see all of your store items listed
(they will not upload auction or fixed price listings)
HOPE THIS HELPS!!
Readers - Let us know if you have found a quicker, easier, or automatic solution which works....