Standalone Dynamic eBay Store Categories PHP Script
What are Dynamic eBay Store Categories?
This widget allows you to show your latest eBay Store categories in your eBay listings, without having to turn the eBay listing frame on, having to hard-code the categories into your eBay listing template or third party credits showing in your listings.
As I found out recently, this could be the only reason why you would want to stop paying a monthly fee to a 3rd party design company just because you can’t carry your shop categories over when you leave and now you can!
This addon can cost £99 or more to have it included in your custom design work and even then you’re unable to put it into your own hosting, so you know it’ll always be up and as fast a it can be for your business.
An Example
I’ve created an example of the standalone version, so that you can see what your categories could look like in your eBay listings.
CSS & styling is not a strong point of mine, however the example does clearly show what your eBay Store categories could look like in a very large eBay store example, that has many eBay Store categories 3 levels deep.
Why a Standalone Version?
The free version is now well used, however there were several users asking for more control, to be able to self host their own store categories widget, no credits to be included and wanted the standalone version to do so.
That is why there is now this version, which is a paid for script that you are able to have more control over the styling of your eBay Store categories, where the script is hosted to and with no third party credits being shown.
What’s Included
The standalone version has been rewritten from scratch in PHP. This script has no special server requirements and will work on all good web hosts that have PHP 5 & CURL enabled (which will be almost all of them).
While the core functions of the script are encrypted, you are supplied with a configuration file where you are able to set:
- Your eBay ID
- Your eBay Token
- The number of Levels of categories to show
- The eBay Site ID
- The cache time
- The cache directory
- Settings that allow you to have complete control over the layout of the categories
- Whether to include a shop search box
- The ability to set how the shop categories are ordered
Video Set-up Guide
And of course complete instructions are included, on what you need to do to create your eBay user token, configure and run the standalone version of the dynamic categories widget. I’ve even made a video to show you how to set this up and included it below for you.
Standalone Version Key Features
There are several key advantages of using the standalone version of the dynamic eBay store categories widget, these are:
- Self Hosted
Because the script is self hosted, you have absolute control over where and whom hosts the categories that are pulled into your eBay listings. - You Choose the Depth of eBay Store Category Levels
In the free version you can only have all three levels of the categories show in your listings, with the standalone version you are able to choose 1, 2 or 3 levels depending upon your own requirements. - Customised Locations
If you are based in the USA, then you can localise your categories to your eBay site, by specifying the eBay Site ID that is used to collect your eBay Store categories. This is very helpful if you operate over numerous eBay sites and wish to have different menu’s for different listing templates. - You set the Cache Time
By default the script is set to update every 24 hours however if you’d like for your store categories in your listings to update every four hours, you can set it to do so. - Unordered Lists for Ultimate Control
In this version, your eBay Store categories are in UL and LI lists, not DIV’s as in the free version. This means that if you wish to create vertical or horizontal menu’s for your eBay store categories, you can do.
New! Template System
In the latest version, you are able to have complete creative control over the way that each of the categories are displayed and the entire categories menu system.
An example of the template system is above. As you can see it’s easy to change the layout and structure of the categories. Included are simple to use keywords such as {{Category_ID}} so you can add unique selectors to categories and of course you can use {{eBayID}} and {{StoreURL}} too.
eBay Designer Version
Are you a eBay Stores Certified Designer or offer your clients custom eBay store and listing template designs? Then this version is for you.
This is a special version that has been developed for eBay designers and businesses with multiple eBay accounts who would like ease of deploying to multiple eBay templates.
This version has everything that is in the single account version, but allows you to deploy over multiple clients/eBay accounts easily and quickly with a special loading file (which is included).
If you have multiple eBay accounts or wish to include these features to your clients, then this version is the one for you.
What is Needed to Run this Widget?
The widget comes with the CSS (style sheet) to get you started, bespoke styling like in the examples in the beginning require a web designer to create and I can help you as best I can with CSS via the forums here.
If we ignore the obvious, such as you having an eBay store and items being sold on eBay, you will need the following:
- A Web hosting account that supports PHP 5 & Curl
This is almost all web hosts now - Approx 10 minutes to watch the video
You can read the readme file instead - 10 minutes to configure your settings
And you’re off!
100% Money-Back Guarantee
I’m here to help!
We both want “super happy customers” and if you’re not 100% happy with this product, just say and I’ll refund your payment ASAP, no questions asked.
If you have any questions just ask, I’m here to help you. You can see this in action in the example here.
This is a downloadable product, it can be with you in minutes and payment can be made using PayPal for ease.
- Product Options
# Option Price Download File Size 1 Standalone Dynamic eBay Store Categories PHP Script £49.99 eBay Dynamic Categories Standalone 42.85KB 2 eBay Designer Version – Dynamic eBay Store Categories PHP Script £99.99 ebayCatsSA-Designers-Version 43.07KB
Thanks so much Matthew for the categories widget, it was very easy to implement and works a treat.
I spent hours trying to implement a custom menu into the listing frame of ebay and was tearing my hair out, and then I came across your widget. It was a no brainer to purchase it.
Thanks Matthew, keep up the great work of providing easy to use widgets.
Thank you Matthew, the categories widget is amazing. I think it is very easy to use and I can always count for the help.
It helps me a lot in my work.
Really great work and thank you again.
Howdy diegoarragon,
Thank you!
Matt
Hi Matthew,
Just as Annette says, really easy to implement and thank you for helping me out with the styling, my listings look much better now.
Thank you, Charlotte
Hi Charlotte,
Oh yea it does look very cool in your listings now, I’m glad we were able to get the styling right for you.
Matt
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great work!
how can i delete the search box?
Howdy,
To hide the search box, just disable this in the config.php file
Matt
ahhh yes I see, that would be fine if I could use multiple widgets on the page as I would need to select different categories for each row e.g. A suit may have 2 items from the tie category 2 items from the shoe category etc.
I’ll keep checking back to see when this new version becomes available!
Cheers