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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
This page contains answers to common questions handled by our support
staff, along with some tips and tricks that we have found useful and
presented here as questions.
Revised: February 16, 2002
Table of Contents
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General
- Grid View/Item View
- Selling
- Email
- Errors
- Printing
General
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Q. How do I download an evaluation copy? |
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A. To download a free 30-day trial, go to http://www.foodogsoftware.com/download.htm
, then follow the instructions. |
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Q. What are the system requirements for Shooting Star? |
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A. Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
SS sends email through your ISP's SMTP server. If you use an email
program like Outlook Express or Eudora then you should be able to use
SS's email functions.
Some ISPs such as AOL and MSN don't provide their users with access
to a SMTP server. If you don't have access to a usable SMTP server
then you can register to use our FDS email server.
To use SS's functions for uploading pictures you will need access to
a server that allows transfers using FTP (file transfer protocol).
Most ISPs give you limited space on their servers. Or you can use a
paid service like bay-town. |
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Q. What is the best screen resolution for Shooting Star? |
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A. Use 800x600 pixels minimum. 1024X 768 is recommended. |
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Q. What are the differences between the trial version and the
registered version? |
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A. The evaluation version has all the functionality of the registered
version with one exception. The evaluation version does not
allow you to remove the Shooting Star ad from the auction ads created
by the program. |
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Q. How do I get new updates? |
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A. Open the "Help" menu and click on "Download Latest
Updates". Shooting Star will compare your program’s version
with the current version available at the Foo Dog server. If your
version is out of date, you will be asked if you would like to
download the latest update. You will also be asked if you would like
to download the latest Shooting Star data if your tables are out of
date. The data downloaded includes eBay URLs, categories, locations,
regions and ISP information. |
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Q. Can Shooting Star handle multiple users? |
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A. Yes - but you need to install Shooting Star for each user in
separate folders. We also suggest creating separate Windows shortcuts
for each user. To create a shortcut:
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Right Click on the desktop.
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Select New\Shortcut from the menu.
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Use the Browse button to find the ShootingStar.exe file.
Create a separate shortcut for each installation.
We plan to make this easier in a future version. |
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Q. Can Shooting Star handle non-eBay auctions? |
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A. Shooting Star’s automatic update feature currently works with
eBay auctions only, however, you can manually add items to the
Shooting Star database by selecting the Detail view and clicking on
the "Add New Item" button.  |
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Q. Can Shooting Star handle currency other than US? |
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A. SS supports the eBay US, UK, CA & AU sites. However, SS can
only support a single currency. The currency format in SS is defined
by your Windows settings (in the Regional Settings in the Control
Panel.) |
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Q. I'm evaluating Shooting Star and I changed the date on my
computer. Now I can't run your program. How do I fix it? |
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A. Shooting Star utilizes the system clock to determine the amount of
days left on the Free 30-day trial. Changing the system date locks
the program. Changing the date back to the original system date will
allow you to access the program again. When you register, the program
is no longer dependant on the clock. If you need further assistance,
please contact Foo Dog support. |
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Q. How do I purchase/register Shooting Star? |
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A. Please see
our ordering page for payment options |
Grid View / Item View
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Q. What happens if my local time is different than eBay’s time? |
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A. Shooting Star converts the auction date and time to your local
time zone based on your computer’s time zone setting. If your
computer’s clock is faster than eBay’s, Shooting Star may
change the status of an item to the post-auction stage even though
the auction has not yet finished on eBay. (This situation is
applicable to Dutch Bids only.) Since it is nearly impossible to
synchronize your computer’s clock with eBay’s, Shooting
Star utilizes a setting called "Buffer Minutes". The
"Buffer Minutes" setting is found in the Tools/Options menu
on the "Other" tab of Options form. The "Buffer
Minutes" is subtracted from your local time to ensure that the
auction has completed before setting the stage to
"post-auction". The default setting is 5 minutes. If
Shooting Star is setting items to the "post-auction" stage
before the auction has completed, increase the buffer minutes. |
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Q. How do I get rid of the "auction finished-lost" items
from the "Needs Action or In Auction" filter? |
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A. These items will remain on the items list for a day and then they
will disappear. They still can be viewed by selecting the "Show
All" filter. |
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Q. How are the deadlines set for each stage? |
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A. When an item enters a stage, Shooting Star adds the number of days
stored in the Stage Settings form to the stage date to determine the
deadline and the grace period.. You can set the deadline and grace
period for each stage in the "Stage Settings" form. Access
this form by opening the Tools menu and clicking on Stage Settings. |
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Q. What happens if I change the "entered stage on",
"deadline", or "grace period" dates manually in
the detail view? |
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A. Editing the "entered stage on" field will automatically
change the deadline and grace period. Shooting Star will add the
appropriate number of days to the stage date to create the deadline
and grace period. You can also change the deadline and grace period
manually. When you save the form, the color of the status bar will
reflect the new settings.
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Q. I accidentally cancelled an item. How do I get it back? |
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A. Go to the detail view and select "Undo Last Stage Change"
from the Set Stage menu. |
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Q. How can I list all of the items I've traded with someone? |
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A. In the Grid view or Item view, find an item that you've traded
with the person. Select "List Items Traded with Partner"
from the Tools menu. |
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Q. I can't see the scrollbar in the grid view.
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A. Your screen resolution is probably set at 640x480. The minimum
resolution for Shooting Star is 800x600 although 1024x768 is
recommended. If you can’t see the scroll bar and you’re
resolution is set to 640x480, you need to increase the display
resolution and then decrease the width of the grid. |
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Selling
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Q. How do I disable the ad that Shooting Star puts at the bottom of
my auctions? |
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A. We hope that you will display our ad to show your support for our
product. If you do not wish to display the Shooting Star ad at the
bottom of your ad, open the "Tools" menu and click on
"Options". Click on the "Posting" tab and then
remove the check from the "Include Shooting Star ad?"
checkbox. This option is available to registered users only. |
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Q. How do I repost an item? |
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A. If you didn't receive any bids, go to the Detail view and click on
"Repost Item" in the Select Action pane. Your browser will
open to eBay's sell page. Modify your auction data if you wish. You
will need to enter your logon and password. eBay assigns your item a
new ID number. When you are finished with eBay, return to Shooting
Star. A message box will be displayed, asking you if you reposted the
item. Click on "Yes" if you did. The old item will be
marked as cancelled. Your new item will be entered into Shooting Star
the next time you update your data from eBay. |
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Q. How do I use eBay's Mister Lister bulk upload with Shooting Star? |
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A. The first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with Mister
Lister (see http://pages.ebay.com/help/sellerguide/mr-lister-faq.html)
eBay has certain requirements that you need to meet before you can
use Mister Lister. In the "Sell New Item"
screen, create a new ad and then click on the "Post Mr.
Lister" button on the toolbar. Your ad will be placed in the
Mister Lister queue. When you are ready to send all of your ads to
Mister Lister, click on the "Mister Lister" button on the
tool bar in the "Sell New Item" screen. Review your items
and then click on the "Post Items" button. Shooting Star
will format and send an e-mail to eBay. When eBay finishes processing
your e-mail, eBay will send you notification through e-mail that your
batch is ready for review. |
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Q. How can I create a template for my ads? |
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A. Go to "Sell New Item" and create a new ad. Enter the
standard data that you want to include in all of your auctions such
as payment terms. Fill in the title field with something like
"Default Template". Save the ad.
When you need to post a new item to eBay, select your
"template" item from the "Auction Ads" list and
then click on the Copy button on the toolbar. Edit the copy and fill
in the data for your new item. |
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Q. How do you remove a gallery picture from an Auction Ad? |
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A. In the "Sell New Item" screen, click on the "Add
Gallery Picture" then click on the Cancel button. |
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Q. Why is my picture overlapping the ebay text in my ad? |
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A. This may happen when you set the alignment property of the picture
to Right or Left. The picture alignment property sets the alignment
of the picture in relation to the text next to the picture. If you
want to align the picture on the page, use the alignment buttons on
the toolbar. |
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Q. I posted an ad but when I pushed the Update button, Shooting Star
didn’t show the correct postage and insurance even though I
added this information when I created the ad. Why is this happening? |
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A. Shooting Star uses the title to match the ad in Shooting Star with
the ad in eBay. If you post the ad to eBay and then change the title
in the browser before you submit it, Shooting Star will not be able
to correctly match up your data. We suggest not changing the title of
an ad once it has been posted to eBay. |
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Q. I made a mistake in one of my ads posted to Mister Lister. How can
I edit it? |
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A. If you still have the ad saved in the "Sell New Item"
screen then Delete the old ad from the Mister Lister queue and make
your corrections to the ad and repost it to Mister Lister.
If you didn't save the ad, then open the Mister
Lister screen. Highlight the item in the list and click the "Copy
Selected Item to Ad" button. Click the "Delete Selected
Item" button and then Click OK to go back to the "Sell New
Item" screen. Make your corrections to the item and then repost
it to Mister Lister. |
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Q. Why does Shooting Star copy and rename the pictures I include in
my ads? |
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A. Shooting Star makes a copy of your picture file so that it can be
safely sent to your picture server. This makes it easy for people who
keep their pictures on floppy disks. We rename the file in order to
avoid any naming conflicts when we send the pictures to your picture
server. |
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Q. Why isn't the counter HTML added directly to my ads? |
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A. We put a marker in you ad: {counter} or {hidden counter}. Later
this marker is replaced with the actual HTML for the counter. This is
mainly done for performance issues. |
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Q. How do I combine multiple items bought/sold from one person? |
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A.
1.Put items to be combined into the "Post Auction" stage.
2. Select "Combine Items" from the Tools Menu
Combined items are designated with a "+" attached to the
item number. |
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Q. How do I use SS to handle C.O.D. transactions? |
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A. Send the Contact Email to the buyer as usual. After your buyer
responds to your email, print out an invoice and ship the item. Move
the item to the "Waiting for Payment" stage and manually
adjust the deadlines. After you receive payment, send feedback to the
buyer and move the item to the "Completed" stage. |
Email
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Q. How can I find the SMTP server setting? |
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A. The SMTP server (also called outgoing mail server) is provided by
your Internet Service Provider (ISP). You can find your SMTP server
by checking the configuration of your default email client. For
example, here is how to check out your settings if you are using
Microsoft Outlook.
1. Open the Tools menu and select Accounts.
2. Select Mail and then click on properties .
3. Select Servers then click on Outgoing
mail (SMTP) server . |
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Q. Does SS work with MSN and AOL? |
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A. AOL and MSN don't provide their users with usable SMTP servers. To
work around this problem you can register
to use our FDS email server. |
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Q. I have not been able to get my e-mail to work, what do I do? |
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A. If you have not been able to get your email to work, here are a
few things you can try:
Make sure your email server is up and running properly. Try
sending yourself an e-mail using your regular e-mail program.
If the e-mail goes through without error, your server is
working. If the e-mail errors out, your server is down.
If your server seems to be working correctly, check your e-mail
settings in the "Tools\Options" menu. Make sure your
email settings are correct for your Internet Service Provider.
Check with your provider for the correct settings. |
Errors
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Q. I get the error: "Shooting Star caused a general protection
fault in module GDI.EXE&ldots;" How do I solve this problem? |
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A. You may need to update your video card driver. Or you can turn off
the hardware acceleration: 1. From Windows - click
on Start. Move to Settings and then select Control Panel.
2. Double-click on System. Then click on the
Performance tab. 3. Click on the Graphics button
at the bottom. 4. Move the Hardware acceleration
slider to None. Then Click OK |
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Q. The "Partner" form and the "Payment
Information" form seem to freeze sometimes. How do I unfreeze
the form? |
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A. Press ALT + Tab twice to select another program. Then use the
mouse to click on the Partner or Payment Information window. |
Printing
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Q. I have a label printer. Does SS print labels? |
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A. Shooting Star doesn't print labels to label printers. Instead,
we've set up our invoices and payment letters to include a label at
the top that can be cut out and taped to your package or envelope.
When we designed Shooting Star we decided that most people don't have
label printers and we wanted to provide a solution that everyone
could use.
However, when the payment letter or invoice is
displayed, your partner's address is loaded into the clipboard. If
you are using estamps.com or stamps.com, you can simply paste the
information into your stamps program and print your label from there. |
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