Guidelines For Vendors on

Managing Your Inventory

on cMarket Place

Introduction – Working With cMarket Place

This document should provide everything you need to manage your catalog of Items in cMarket Place. The overall process can be broken down into three simple processes: Adding new items to your catalog, Changing existing items, and Removing items. You will need to use the Insertion Order Form spreadsheet (you can find it under Vendor Tools on the cMarket Place website) when you add or edit items. Please email the cMarket Place Staff at anytime if you have any questions or comments.

Adding New Items To cMarket Place

When you are getting started with cMarket Place or when you have new items to add to your catalog at cMarket Place, please follow these steps.

  1. Get your information and the Insertion Order Form:

Gather the information and images on each item. Log into the site with your cMarket Place User Name and Password. Download the Insertion Order Form spreadsheet from the Vendor Tools/ Manage Inventory Page.

  1. Using the Insertion Order Form:

Enter the information in the form, one item to a row. If you have questions on what each column should contain, refer to the instructions at the top of the column or check the Insertion Order Form Information Appendix at the end of this document.

  1. SKU Number:

Assign each item a SKU or item number. What works most of the time is to create that number by starting with your two or three letter abbreviation for your company as a prefix, then your internal number for the item. Using the prefix makes the number unique across the whole cMarket Place catalog.

Note: Item numbering and whether or not your numbers need to be prefixed should have been covered in your company’s initial discussions with the staff at cMarket Place. Please email the cMarket Place Staff at with any questions.

  1. Item Names:

Please provide a long name (up to 100 characters) and a short name (50 characters or less) for each of your items. Why do you need to provide two names for each item? Some item names need to be long and descriptive, so there is a long name space. That is the name that shows on the item detail page in cMarket Place and it is the name that will be used for the item when it goes into our client's auction. However, there are some areas in the cMarket Place catalog where there isn't room for the full name, and those are the places where cMarket Place will display the short name. When the name for your item is 50 characters or less, please just copy it to both name columns.

  1. Using HTML:

You may use HTML to enhance how your description shows in the catalog. cMarket Place only support the use of the following tags:

  • Break tags <br /> for line breaks. Note – this is an XML break tag and different from a standard HTML break tag.
  • Paragraph <p>Paragraph text</p>tags to mark paragraphs and provide space between it and the text around it.
  • Unordered list <ul> </ul> and list item <li> </li> tags for bulleted lists.

Example:

<ul>

<li>Item One</li>

<li>Item Two</li>

</ul>

Will appear as:

  • Item One
  • Item Two
  • Ordered list <ol> </ol> and list item <li> </li> tags for numbered lists.

Example:

<ol>

<li>Item One</li>

<li>Item Two</li>

</ol>

Will appear as:

  1. Item One
  2. Item Two
  3. Strong <strong>text to be bold</strong> tags to make text display with a bold font.
  4. Emphasis <em>Text to be emphasized (italics)</em> tags to make text display with a italic font.

We recommend that you please use HTML sparingly because it can hurt the appearance of your items. The cMarket sites have been designed to look good with a minimum of enhancement.

Please make sure that you close all your tags and test your results in a browser before sending it to cMarket.

Please do not use HTML in either of the Item Name fields.

  1. Images:
  2. The image you provide for each of your items needs to be square and at least 300x300 pixels. You will get better results if you can provide a larger image, with 600x600 being optimal. The system will make a smaller thumbnail image from the image you provide. The thumbnail image is what is used on the pages showing multiple items. If your main image was square – the thumbnail the system generates will look good. If the main image was tall or wide then the thumbnail will look squished or stretched. In those cases you need to email the cMarket Place staff a square thumbnail image at .
  3. Images need to be provided in a Zip file and each image must have the same exact name as called for in the Insertion Order Form (the case and extension must match its listing in the file). To create the zip file you need to use a compression program. If you have WinZip on your Windows computer the process is as simple as highlighting the files, right clicking them, and selecting Win Zip then select Add to Zip File. Then give the file a name and location and it builds it for you. If not you can create a zip file in windows XP by right clicking on your desktop and selecting New then select Compressed (zipped) Folder. Rename that folder if you want a more meaningful name (but don’t delete the .zip extension). Then drag all your images into that folder. It will be a file that you can send to us at
  4. Publish the Items:
  • Send in the form: When the spreadsheet is complete, save it and email a copy to . Be sure to send the Zip file of images along too. The cMarket Place Staff will verify the data and upload it into the system as Draft items.
  • Review the Changes: Log into the site with your User Name and Password. To see just the Draft items in you catalog go to the Vendor Tools, select My Items, and change the Status selection to Draft and check out the items you added.
  • Confirm and Publish: When you are satisfied that the results are what you want, please send an email to and give us the list of item numbers and names to publish.

Changing Your Items At cMarket Place

  1. Notify cMarket Place:

When you need to change the images or any of the details on one or more of your items, send an email to , and let us know if the items you need to update are Published or in Draft or both. The cMarket Place Staff will download those items and send you the Insertion Order Form preloaded with your item information.

  1. Update the Items:

Find and edit the items you need to change on the spreadsheet, and save it. Feel free to delete the rows for items that you do not need to change. Refer to the instructions above for adding items to cMarket Place or the Appendix below – Insertion Order Form Information

  1. Change Image(s):

If you want to change the main image or the thumbnail image on an item, then insert the new file names into the Insertion Order Form and zip the images up into a zip file. (See the section on Images above for more information on images and also how to create a zip file.) Each image in the zip file must have the same exact name as called for in the Insertion Order Form (the case and extension must match its listing in the file).

  1. Send in your Form:

Send the revised form and zip file to .

  1. Update:

We will update the site with your changes and notify you. The items you are changing will be moved to Draft status until you can view them and insure that the changes are correct.

  1. Review the Changes:

Log into the site with your User Name and Password. To see just the Draft items in you catalog go to the Vendor Tools, select My Items, and change the Status selection to Draft and check out the items you edited.

  1. Confirm and Publish:

When you are satisfied that the results are what you want, please send an email to and give us the list of item numbers and names to publish.

Removing Products from cMarket Place

  1. Removing Items:

When you want to remove an item from public view on your cMarket Place catalog, you just need to notify the cMarket Place Staff. Items can be marked Draft or Discontinued. Either way, the items are no longer visible on your catalog in cMarket Place. Draft is normally used to temporarily hide an item while it is being edited or while temporary issues are worked out. Discontinued is normally used to indicate the item is being removed with no intention of bringing it back.

  1. Send a List:

To remove items, make a list of the items by Name and SKU Number and include whether they should be marked Draft or Discontinued. Email the list to .

  1. We Will Notify You:

As soon as the items are removed, the cMarket Place Staff will advise you by email so you can check the site and verify that the items have been removed.

  1. Confirm The Changes:

You can log into the site with your User Name and Password and verify that the items are no longer Published and that everything looks the way you wanted it to. To see just the Draft or Discontinued items in your catalog, go to the Vendor Tools, select My Items, and change the Status selection to Draft or Discontinued and verify that the items we changed have been assigned the correct status.

Appendix A. Insertion Order Form Information.
Field Name / Notes / Required
Item Name / Enter the long title for the item. This will appear on the detailed item page showing all the information for the item. It is also the title which will be inserted into the purchasing organization's auction.
Max length: 100 characters / YES
Item Short Name / Enter the short Title for the item. This will be used in the views of groups of items where there is not enough room to show the long title. This will only be used in the cMarket Place Catalog.
Max length: 50 characters / YES
SKU / Suggested Format - start with two uppercase letters abbreviating your name followed by your numbers and letters designating the item
Max length: 24 characters alphanumeric string This SKU cannot be duplicated in the file. / YES
Product Note / Please insert here any notes you just need the potential clients to see. This information will only show in the item in the cMarket Place Catalog, and will not get transferred into the purchasing organization's auction for display to the public
Max length: unlimited / NO
Item Description / Please insert your description of the item here. It should contain everything the auction bidder needs to know to make their decision on whether or not they want to bid. That means add any terms and conditions, blackout dates, etc.
Max length: unlimited / YES
Item Special Note / This field is available for any additional notes or information that you think is needed. It will be open for the purchasing organization to edit on the copy in their auction
Max length: unlimited / NO
Item Image / Acceptable input: filename.
Images must be .jgp, .jpeg, or .gif not exceeding 500 MB. The filename in the spreadsheet must exactly match the filename and extension of the file you provide.
For the best results, the images should be square, and at least 300x300 pixels. If the image is larger, the potential buyers will be able to click a link to see the larger image.
Field may be blank if updating an existing item / YES
on New Items
Estimated Value * / Enter the Retail or Market value of the item rounded to the nearest whole dollar. This will show on the auction listing and should give the bidders a reasonable idea of what this item is worth. / YES
Cost * / Enter the cost the Organization will have to pay when they sell the item. This cost must be expressed in whole dollars. / YES
Vendor Name / Please enter your company name exactly as it appears in the cMarket Place catalog / YES
Notes
* / For Amount fields, input can be in either '$xx.00' or 'xx' format ('$56.00' or '56').