posted on March 3, 2002 01:44:14 PM new
Just wanted to post and say it's wonderful to see an UNCENSORED forum where people can really discuss the ins & outs of EBay! I'm ready to be out myself because personally with their fee increases, the amount of fraud, their removal of posts in the forums for no valid reason (other then to make themselves look good), and their overall lack of customer service ....I'm really just fed up! I'd like to move over to another service but as a seller, there aren't many bidders on the hundreds of other auctions out there. Epier.com is nice but needs more users, Yahoo.com seems to do alright, and there are some great international auctions with lots of bidders but most require language translation (fun but a lot of work).
What do the rest of you think about this? Does anyone know of a good auction site that I don't? Anything look like it has potential? Makes me want to start my own online auction- 100% free auction listings for everyone- period. Right now I'm trying to get the Auction Manager Pro to work but it's not connecting so once I get the technical issue worked out hopefully the software will cut down on some of my time and aggravation of listing auctions because right now I'm spending much more time then I really wish to spend on EBay! Also I'm wondering if anyone knows of good sales management software, or could kindly give advice as to how they manage to keep everything organized. I'm going nuts over here and there has to be a better system then my own!
posted on March 3, 2002 02:05:33 PM new
You should have seen how it was before AW fired all the moderators.....
Seriously, AM Pro sucks; they are charging way too much for things you can get elsewhere cheaper. But that is my opinion, and I am sure others will flame me and argue this.
I use Quickbooks Pro 2002 to manage my business. It keeps track of inventory, sends invoices to customers, and processes credit card payments (so I don't have to use PayPal). It is expensive, but worth it (if you are selling as a legitimate business).
I use Auction Tamer to post auctions. It does everything AM Pro does (minus the image hosting), and allows you to keep track of who has paid, whose item needs to be shipped, addresses, etc. etc. etc. It isn't web-based, so you don't have to worry about not being able to log on (except when eBay is down, of course!).
posted on March 3, 2002 02:25:12 PM new
There is no official greeter here, but I for one say thanks for introducing yourself.
You have so many good questions, some of which have stimulated quite a discussion in the past.
If you find one is overlooked, you might post it by itself down the road a bit.
As to which auction management software or service is best, that depends on a lot of things.
I only use Vrane for relisting, everything else is "my" system. I am on either a webtv unit or an imac with aol and do more relists than new listings. I also use checkout (I know, heresy to some, but it works pretty good for me.)
I devised my own auction description templates, keep them on my desktop and fill in the details before going online to ebay.
Since ebay remembers most of the form, I just paste each pre-written auction into the description box, cut and paste the headline, type in the price and number of days, proof and start the auction.
What I can't do, of course, is pre-schedule when they will launch or cross post to other venues. These are some tradeoffs I accept.
You will find there are dozens of different approaches here and they will evolve as time goes on.
For example, Ebay has a new listing form in the works which is several pages long, and the early reports I have read have been negative.
Perhaps they need to tweak it some more to get it right. At least they are beta testing it which is good if they listen to sellers like you, me and everyone else on this board. (Now there is a job!~)
posted on March 3, 2002 02:27:52 PM new
Your cents are much better then my sense! LOL
I'll have to checkout Quickbooks, I think my mother already owns a copy that she never used so I'll run over to her place this evening and grab the CD.
I'm going to go find Auction Tamer now as I really don't need something that is internet based - Infact I'd rather not have to rely it being so! Just a basic program that can help me organize my auctions because I have about a million pieces of paper sitting infront of me that are making it more stressful! I've tried to find a good auction upload template but each one I tried was faulty (MrLister, All My Auctions, Auction Trakker). Maybe it's me but I'm actually pretty technical and haven't been able to get ANY of them to work properly! Hopefully this one will do the trick so I'm taking your advice Thanks for your response I'll let you know how it works out
posted on March 3, 2002 02:54:51 PM new
Hi Chrissy,
I have been selling on eBay for 4 years now with pretty good success. I have tried many of the second party auction management tools, both online (web based) and stand alone software packages.
For post sale management, I have found hands-down that Shooting Star is the best and you only pay the one time fee for it. They are located at http://www.foodogsoftware.com
For listing auctions I use eBay's Sellers Assistant Basic. I have used this for nearly 3 years, previously it was Auction Assistant. The cost of this is $5 per month. It is very easy to use and creates wonderfull looking ads.
One of the downsides of using something like Andale or Autionwatch is that many buyers do not like the End Of Auction process where the buyer has to go to an independant web site and enter their personal information. With Shooting Star you can completely customize all you auction correspondence which gives it a personal feel.
These are just my opinions but after 4 years they have worked vey well for me.
posted on March 3, 2002 03:34:10 PM new
Hi Litlux!
Beta testing is good! Hopefully they will get it at least 50% right before introducing
it to the major public, unlike most software which we eat up the marketing for-purchase- and then realize it's just junkola!
It sounds like you and I are using the same copy and paste method for auction listings
I've just read in so many forums lately that people are using the uploaders and I've been getting jealous feeling like their having more fun and spending less time posting! The "what am I doing wrong" syndrome- I guess?
I really don't have an opinion yet about the checkout system, as I haven't really used it.
The one thing that really interests me is the option to be able to schedule the auctions. That is a major reason I just forked over my credit card info. to this website as I didn't even know it was possible to have them end at a more favorable time until I saw it here. I usually get finished posting my auctions at around 2-3 in the morning so I assume they all end around that time. Something I never considered before and probably something that has affected my sales a great deal! I also make a lot of one package trips to the post office which is taking a
Overall, I just need something ANYTHING to cut down on the time I'm putting into this. All of my auctions are very reasonably priced aka I'm not making enough money doing this for the hours spent and the extra postage costs I'm eating due to being so disorganized. "Sure I'll accept a buck for shipping no problem that should cover the weight!" LOL! I think I'm probably too nice because I really just seem to make a little extra gas money after paying the EBay fees, the postal fees, the Paypal fees, the list goes on and on!
It's all a lot of fun though and I think that's why I keep posting- I'm pretty close to just breaking even for all of this fun and excitement- LOL grin!
