CUS Notes June 2014
See you in Louisville!
CUS will be an exhibitor at the 2014 National Auctioneers Conference and Show in Louisville KY, just as we’ve done for more than 30 years. Please stop by Booth 54 in the Trade Show to catch up with old friends and network with other CUS clients.
Reminder: CUS Emergency Contact Information – Please Read!
You don’t need to keep two different phone numbers on file for CUS support anymore. We have a new phone system that will easily forward after-hours emergency calls to our support staff. Just call our main phone number 954.680.6545 at any time, day or night. If our office is closed, you’ll have the option to transfer immediately to our emergency support line by choosing extension 501. If it isn’t an emergency you can leave a voice mail message as usual. The old emergency cell number (954.483.6778) has been discontinued, so please remove that from your contact list immediately!
Schedule your CUS Version 10.0 Update Now
If you haven’t installed the CUS Version 10.0 update for 2014 yet, please contact us to schedule it soon. There are important new features for the desktop and online systems in this new release. If you use CUS for your online catalogues, pre-bidding or timed online auctions, it’s very important to get this update done now. We’ve also revised the imports from many of the other online providers to work with their latest data structures. Here are a few highlights:
Desktop
- Credit memo feature – Preserves copy of voided invoice and generates offsetting credit memo document, both viewable and printable
- Ability to send BCC invoices to two email addresses
- Improved Auction backup utilities
- Quickly pay a seller directly from Seller File Maintenance
- Group affiliations in Mail – Identify people or businesses affiliated with each other
- Dormant Mail records – Hide records as Dormant instead of deleting from Mail
- New bidder imports from LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable/Artfact, Bidspotter and Proxibid
- More tracking for bad debts and multiple cash payments at checkout
Online
- Buy It Now – List a lot with a Buy It Now price available until bidding opens or until a reserve price is met.
- Automatic browser screen refreshing in the online catalogue and lot detail pages.
- Display your online catalogue without lot numbers if you haven’t assigned them yet.
- Execute bids as sales for a range of lots instead of all lots at once.
- New live administrative monitor to view bid activity on server without retrieving bids so desktop activity isn’t disrupted.
- Easier editing of online headings and verbiage
CUS Maintenance and Rental clients receive program upgrades included with their plans. Others should contact Ellen at 954.680.6545 or sales@cus.com for upgrade details specific to their licenses.
CUS Maintenance Plan Deadline Coming Up
The CUS Maintenance Plan is a popular package, bundling together annual program release upgrades with a monthly support allowance into one low monthly fee. It’s optional, but most clients find this a great value. In order to receive the next year’s CUS program release at no charge, you must be enrolled in the Maintenance Plan by June 30 of the current year. If you’re not already participating in the CUS Maintenance Plan, contact Ellen at 954.680.6545 or sales@cus.com for more details.
CUS Client Workshops
We’ll resume the CUS regional client workshops later this summer with group classes planned for the Northwest and Midwest. Contact Ellen at 954.680.6545 or sales@cus.com for more information about the workshops.
Try the CUS Online Auction or Catalogue
You can see a sample of the CUS Online Auction here:
http://cus3.cusauctions.com/?auction=sample12&toa=splash&splashpage=splash3.htm
Your own privately branded auction blends in with your company’s image, color scheme and logo. The “Welcome” page has all of the auction details and pictures of featured lots. There’s a photo slideshow display, a “Watch this lot” feature and bidding from the individual lot page or the catalogue screen. We’ve added Buy It Now features too!
The CUS Online Auction is a seamless extension of your regular CUS Auction System, with one-click uploads and photo size management built right in. There’s no need to import or export data because it’s all in one system. Add a new lot or a few pictures at any time, adjust your opening bid amounts, or change the closing date. See who is looking at your auction at any time and watch your bids as they happen. After closing, instantly execute all of the high bids as sales; there’s no data entry needed! Email the invoices to your bidders and display post-auction sales results in an instant. Everything is in CUS and it’s all under your control.
It’s easy to publish a catalogue with pictures too, allowing pre-registration and absentee bidding if you like. Don’t send your customers somewhere else to see YOUR catalogue. The advertising clutter distracts them from your important event. Contact Ellen at 954.680.6545 or sales@cus.com for more information and a private demo of the CUS Online Auction.
From the Technical Support Team
Data Imports from Live Online Bidding Providers
Do you use any of the “live” online providers to handle online bidding during your in-person auction? If so, you may know that you can import the bidder registrations from many of these providers into your CUS auction. Sometimes these services change the format of the data without notifying any clients. Each year, our new program release includes support for any recent format changes as we find out about them. The CUS 2014 Version 10.0 release includes revised imports for many of these providers.
This brings up an important point for you to remember: Anytime you plan to import data from an outside source into your CUS auction, you must do two things first. Take a backup copy of the CUS auction before importing the outside file, using the Zip function in the Utility Menu. Then open the file you’ve downloaded from the live provider in your Excel program and look at it. Be sure that the format follows the column header instructions in your current CUS program version. This is true even if you’ve done this same import many times in the past. If you follow these guidelines, you can avoid unexpected complications if the provider’s data has changed.
WIN2PDF for Windows 8 Operating Systems
A few clients have had conflicts between Windows 8 computers and WIN2PDF, the PDF printer driver that is used to email buyer invoices automatically from CUS. There is a newer release of WIN2PDF that has resolved the problem in most cases. Contact Steve at techsupport@cus.com for advice.
Using CUS on Windows 7 or 8 Operating Systems
We’re satisfied that current CUS versions are compatible with Windows 7 and 8 operating systems, although we’ve had some reports of slower network response time. Some IP network configuration changes may be necessary to improve performance. For any CUS network containing Windows 7 or 8 stations, please contact Steve at 954.680.6545 or techsupport@cus.com for guidance.
You may be aware the Microsoft has discontinued all support for Windows XP operating systems. This means that your anti-virus applications may not be fully protecting you, even if you subscribe to anti-virus updates. We recommend that you keep XP computers off the internet, especially on a network. If you are replacing your old XP systems in the near future, you may want Windows 7 for staffers who aren’t comfortable in new computer environments. Windows 7 systems are still available online but may not be easy to find in your local retail store. The user interface in Windows 8 is very different from Windows 7 or XP. It’s also possible that some of your older devices (printers, scanners etc.) may not be compatible at all. To run CUS on Windows 7 or 8 computers, there are some Windows Registry changes necessary. We install a utility file to handle this for you.
In general, Windows 7 is compatible with CUS Versions 8.0 and higher, but not older CUS versions. Windows 8 has been satisfactory thus far, but we have only tested it on CUS Versions 9.0 and 10.0. Contact us at 954.680.6545 or techsupport@cus.com for further information before buying any new computers, especially if you aren’t licensed for CUS Version 8.0 or higher.
Note: DOS versions of CUS are NOT compatible with any Windows 7, Windows 8 or Vista computers at all.
Advantage Database Server for CUS
Many of our larger network installations use a more robust “client/server” CUS edition that has the Advantage Database Server engine as its foundation. This enables networked CUS applications to run more securely in wireless or remote access environments. If you have a large network with a Windows Server or are planning to expand, you may be a candidate for the CUS ADS Server edition. It’s very important to contact CUS before upgrading any server or installing a new one, to be sure CUS can support that server operating system. If you have an older ADS Server release version, you may need an ADS update before installing a newer Windows Server.
Contacting Technical Support
Please send emails to techsupport@cus.com instead of an individual email address. Other CUS consultants will see the question and be able to help you if the person you tried to reach is not available. If you don’t get an answer to your emailed question in a day or two, follow up by calling to our office at 954.680.6545. Your email might have been trapped by a spam or junk filter and blocked. Of course, if you have an emergency, don’t rely on email at all. Call us right away at 954.680.6545 (all hours). If the office is closed and you reach our automated recording, select extension 501 for emergency support.
Technical Support via Remote Access
If you need technical support but aren’t comfortable on a computer, we can help. We’ll get the job done using an internet connection to let us log in remotely with your permission. We can troubleshoot most network issues, install CUS on your computer or do program updates from older CUS versions.
There’s a link to our live remote support from the CUS Version 8, 9 and 10 Support Centers at www.cus.com. Version 8, 9 and 10 CUS programs also have direct links to the Support Center from the Help Menu. For older CUS versions, contact Steve to help you connect to CUS remote support. This is live real-time support, so you must make arrangements with us before connecting to have a consultant available for you.
Contacting CUS
sales@cus.com for price quotes or other sales related questions
techsupport@cus.com for any support or training questions
websupport@cus.com for website content or maintenance
Phone: 954.680.6545 (all hours) Fax: 954.680.6018
Note our new mailing address:
CUS Business Systems
5722 S. Flamingo Rd. PMB #3130
Cooper City FL 33330
Ellen Weintraub
Sales Manager