There are number of Ubuntu (Linux) users and “would be” sellers that might want to stay within Ubuntu and not have to also have a Windows machine to bulk list on Ebay, their own shopping cart or Google base. Although there may be many ways to do this, we wanted to introduce a way that we found that is working for us. This took us quite a bit of time and research and we hope this article helps others.

In short, you have to have the right software that can do the job all the way to completion. We wanted to stay completely open source where possible and not use proprietary file formats. All of the software and resource below are free with the exception of web site hosting. We also decided to use a professional Joomla template that was not free, although there are free templates available.

Here is the software we found to be the most helpful: (OS = Open Source)

• Ubuntu (OS)
• Open Office Spreadsheet (OS and available on-line or within Ubuntu)
• GIMP (OS and available on-line or within Ubuntu)
• Joomla (OS and available on-line)
• VirtueMart (OS and available on-line)
• CSV Improved (CC BY-ND)
• Gedit (OS and available within Ubuntu)
• Firefox (OS and available on-line or within Ubuntu)

This article does not go into the zillions of details that are involved in setting up web sites, ebay, shopping carts and the like. Instead this article simply points the way and lets “would be” sellers that want to use open source software know there is indeed “a way” and what that way is. Again, this is not to say this is the only way.

Spreadsheets:
The key to this system is to create or move your listings into spreadsheet. This allows one to bulk upload (start, edit, update, end, etc) ones listings on Ebay, their shopping cart, Google Base and other venues. You will end up with one spreadsheet for Ebay, one for the shopping cart and CSV Improved will create a Google Base spreadsheet for you. The spreadsheets are each tailored specifically to the tasks they are to perform but the bulk of the information is the same for all of them.

Open Office Spreadsheet
In this article we are suggesting Open Office Spreadsheet as the tool of choice. There may be other editors that are just as nice but we know this one can do all the jobs that are needed.

Gedit
There can be occasions along the way where you might need to edit in “plain text” and Gedit can help us with that. Gedit is similar to the Notepad you find in Windows yet is more powerful than Notepad. This tool can be useful for converting text or code or something you have copied onto the clipboard into plain text also. For example, you can just paste into Gedit, re-select what you pasted, and click copy – now (like magic) what is stored in the clipboard is in plain text, ready to paste into a spreadsheet or XHTML code.

GIMP:
This is a great tool for editing and resizing images for your listings or creating logos and such.

Joomla:
Joomla is a CMS tool for creating web sites and managing content. CMS stands for Content Management System. On a web site you have lots of content to manage in the form of articles, images, artwork and possibly sound and video.

Joomla Template:
Joomla sites need to be styled with a template and there are many templates available. Be careful not to download “free” (as in pirated) commercial templates as they tend to have viruses and other bugs. It takes a lot of effort to set all this up and the last thing you need is your site hacked. Some templates can style both Joomla and VirtueMart. We chose to use a professional RocketTheme Template

Web Site Hosting:
Some web sites hosts like Dreamhost offer “one click installs” of Joomla and easy database management so installation is super is easy. We also like that our site is Green by going with DreamHost.

VirtueMart:
VirtueMart is a component for Joomla that adds a shopping cart into Joomla. This is nice in that you are not dealing with a cart and separate web site for the sake of simplicity, management and styling.

CSV Improved:
CSV Improved is an import export component for VirtueMart so you can import, manage and export your listings. You can even export your listings as a XML file. How to export a ready made XML file for Google Base using CSVI VirtueMart? Within Joomla: Components > CSVI VirtueMart > Export > CSVI Google Base Export XML > Choose the settings you need or leave them at the defaults > Export.

Click image for a larger version

Google Base:
Google Base is under going a name change to Google Merchant Services. When you upload your products to Google Base your products show up in the “shopping” tab (product search on Google) which is a free service offered by Google. Here is an example showing our product listings on Google: http://www.google.com/products?q=organic%20futon%20vitalbodies

Ebay:
Ebay tends to be very proprietary and can lead one down that path – to help avoid that fate you can use Ebay File Exchange rather than Turbo Lister which tends to only run on certain Operating Systems like Windows. If one learns Ebay File Exchange rather than Turbo Lister, they may only need to use Turbo Lister once to export their listings.  That is if they have a lot of listings already on ebay, otherwise one really does not need Turbo Lister at all. If you do have listing on ebay you need to manage, you must get the ebay item numbers to match up to the title and description within the spread sheet in Open Office. At the time we needed to download our listings we did not know about open source jAOLT that can also do the task that Turbo Lister does. I have not tried jAOLT but it is well worth a look and frees you from needing a Windows machine to run Turbo Lister to get your spread sheet started.
Additionally, if you leave Turbo Lister behind and switch to Ebay File Exchange you are are much more ready to load your own web sites cart with your spreadsheet and add your products to Google Base. This frees you from Windows, IE, Wine and Turbo Lister at the very least. We were able to do just that, using Open Office, Ebay File Exchange, Joomla, VirtueMart, and CSV Improved and the other software listed here. Consider keeping the item titles at 55 characters or less so they are compatible with Ebay.

Firefox:
I mention Firefox because I know it works throughout the whole process. Epiphany is nice for double checking web pages as it uses the Webkit engine to display web pages and Webkit which can pass the acid3 test for CSS.

Additional Learning: Some of the learning curve took a considerable amount of time to figure out so I wrote a few blog posts to help others flatten that curve.

Using File Exchange And Turbo Lister With Ebay Listings In Ubuntu:
http://www.vitalbodies.com/blog/2009…ngs-in-ubuntu/

You have to know a few tricks to get Open Office to play nice:
http://www.vitalbodies.com/blog/2009…file-exchange/

All in all, there are forums for each of the programs or web sites and the details-upon-details involved go far beyond this article but I am happy to share that there is “a way” to make bulk listing happen and stay in Ubuntu and Linux.

Here is another graphic I created to help simplify what needs to be learned:

VitalBodies bought a RocketTheme template for a job for a customer web site, only later to find out that you need to buy a special program (Adobe Fireworks) just to edit the graphics. VitalBodies uses all open source software so that did not sit all that well. In order to edit the logo and other graphics we needed a work around so we wrote this guide for us and all RocketTheme users. RocketTheme produces very nice templates for open source Joomla!.

CSS:
The first step is to find the logo and the basic things that relate to the logo like the CSS.

NOTE: If you right click on the logo on your new RT site you will not be able to access the logo as there is a blank image in front of that logo.

Instead log into the Joomla panel and go to EXTENSIONS > TEMPLATE MANAGER.
Click on your template.
The click on the EDIT CSS button.
On most RT templates there will be a CSS for the main document.
On Mynxx for example that is template.css.
Click the radio button and choose EDIT.

On most templates, right at the top you can see the size of the logo.
So for example in Mynxx:
/* This is the Main template logo, Edit this to match the width and height of your new logo image */
#logo {width: 260px;height: 44px;}

Remember that size.
It is easiest to make your logo the same size and not mess with the CSS.
If you create your own logo and make it a bit larger or smaller you will need to change this size.
If you change the height you might even need to change the height of the HEADER. That is advanced to some degree so you might want to avoid that if you are not sure.

And if you scroll down a bit farther looking for the word logo:
#logo {float: left;margin-left: 10px;position: relative;}
#logo:hover {text-decoration: none;}
.logo-text {position: absolute;right: 3px;top: 15px;text-transform: uppercase;font-size: 13px;}

Click CANCEL.
And then CANCEL again.

LOGO:
Next let’s find the actual logo itself using FTP.
FTP into Joomla on your site and navigate to the TEMPLATES directory.
Double click your template (in my case it was rt_mynxx_j15)
From here on out, your on your own, as it depends on the template where they store the logo and how many there actually are.
In Mynxx for example I found logo.png in a directory called IMAGES in subdirectories called LIGHT and DARK.
Download the the logo graphic(s) and remember where you got them from and where you downloaded them to.

FONTS:
If you downloaded the RT sources for your template, you received a font or fonts.
If you want to use them, you will need to load them into your Operating System.
For Ubuntu Heron, Ibex and Jackalope check out this blog post I wrote:
http://www.vitalbodies.com/blog/2008/07/01/installing-fonts-in-ubuntu/

EDITING THE LOGO:
Open the logo.png (or what ever yours is called) in GIMP, INKSCAPE or both or your favorite open source program for creating graphics.

In Ubuntu Heron, Ibex and Jackalope, these programs are free and super easy to install.
See this blog post I wrote for how to install literally hundreds of free programs that come with Ubuntu and many that do not:
http://www.vitalbodies.com/blog/2008/07/18/how-to-install-programs-in-ubuntu-hardy-heron/

You can also just start with a new document in your favorite open source graphic program and simply make the graphic the same size and your set to go.

I like to open the original graphic and study it:
Does it have a transparent background?
Are the letters light or dark of in the middle range somewhere?
Is the text centered or way off to one side?
High or low, bold or subtle?
Etc.
This gives a nice starting point.

In GIMP I like to check the IMAGE > MODE and see if the image is Indexed, or RGB or Grayscale.
If you want to change the original image you might want to change the mode to RGB if you want more or different colors.

As the creative types we are, we do not have to do what the RT people did, but you at least know they did the math (so to say) and worked out the bugs as far as what works for the template.

UPLOAD THE LOGO:
Once you have created and saved your new master piece logo you just need to FTP in to Joomla again (rename the original) and upload your new logo.
Some of you might need to change the CSS if you made the image larger or smaller than the original.

DISCLAIMER:
This is a brief tutorial (not exhaustive), use at your own risk and yes, there are likely to be typos…
Back up and all that other safety stuff and have fun!

FUN:
Did you use this guide to make a new logo? Show it off here, by adding it to a reply.

Here is what we created:

An additional note is that the little images for the variation chooser are located in the your_site.com/images/stories/styles folder if you decide to change them to match your site.