What is the best listing tool?

[coxengines]

If cost were not a deciding factor, what is the most versatile listing tool currently available? Below is a wish-list:

Interfaces with eBay
Runs on one's own PC
Hosts pictures reliably (or, host on eBay?)
Watermark capability
Scheduling ability
Real-time eBay editing
Flexible templates
Bulk editing
Supports all eBay shipping rules/setups
Inventory control interface with eBay
Creation of CSV files (for upload to non-eBay store)
WYSIWYG feature

Blackthorne I imagine?

We are using Auctiva but there are shortcomings such as formatting issues.

This account was created as an income supplement but has grown into a (good) monster and is now the main source of income for us. It is therefore time to invest in professional tools.

Bernie

[momoftwingles2]

Bernie, Bernie, Bernie!

Blackthorne Pro is what you need! Mind you...I supplemented Blackthorne with Seller Sourcebook for my picture hosting.

But, BT PRO....in my opinion....is the way to go!

Susan

[coxengines]

Now, why did I know that Susan would be advocating BT Pro :^O

I'll take another peek at the program as well as Sourcebook.

Thanks Susan
Bernie

[westernstargifts]

Hi Bernie,

I don't use Blackthorne but I do use SSB and love it. Although they presently have free scheduling for .com only, SSB is testing it now on .ca and hopefully it will be available soon.

Judy

[coxengines]

Thanks Judy,

I poked around the SSB website a bit yesterday and saw they were actually a listing service.

However, they seem to be about in the same league as Auctiva, which isn't bad but I was looking for something "more".

I could probably host pictures on my own server but I don't have as much redundancy as the big guys and this town suffers power outages on a recurring basis.

Bernie

[jerseypros]

GarageSale for Mac...they host pictures for free too.

[momoftwingles2]

Now, why did I know that Susan would be advocating BT Pro :^O

I'll take another peek at the program as well as Sourcebook.

Thanks Susan
Bernie

Hi Bernie!

You are BIGGER business than I ever was! BT Pro is a powerful tool and I do encourage you to try it for free for 30 days and get a feel for it. It's a steep learning curve, but you are computer savy and will do just fine.

If I could learn the program....anyone can!

Susan

[coxengines]

Susan,

In the absence of any other replies I think that's exactly what I will do.

I guess all the other sellers on this board must either be listing via eBay's SYIF for or they like to keep their listing tools a secret 😉

Bernie

[pjcdn2005]

or they like to keep their listing tools a secret
lol

No secrets here but I list with Auctiva..
When they first announced that it was becoming a pay site I asked around about the same thing. I think that Recped recommended BT as well.

[zarzuella]

ChannelAdvisor. I have not used it myself but I've been told it is pricey but worth it, especially if you are selling across multiple platforms.

[coxengines]

Thanks pj and zarz 🙂

Bernie
'

[ricarmic]

I'm still using Turbolister, it is still working fine for my selling practices...

[coxengines]

i did try Turbolister a couple of years ago. If I recall correctly, some of the downsides were scheduling fees and eBay charging per picture. However, it looks as if one does not have to pay for eBay hosting pictures any longer.

Bernie

[ricarmic]

I've hosted my own pictures for 10 years now, it is really quite cheap and you don't have to worry about whatever rules eBay (or other sites) put on picture listing etc. I don't recall what my monthly rate is anymore for my "website" which is really just a place where my ZILLION pictures are stored. I pay it for 2 years at a time, but if I recall it is about $25 a month. The two things to look out for are how much space you get and how much data traffic. From my recollection the amounts vary significantly amongst providers. My problem has been the amount of space, it has so far been easier for me to just buy the bigger "program" which gets me more space than it is to go figure out what pictures to delete. (The company I use is BlueJet Hosting - my providers have been amalgamated about 5 times in the last decade, and so far, they have been quite dependable)

Agree regarding the scheduling fees, although because I quit running auctions over a year ago, I wasn't worried about that until October this year when they stopped giving preference to newly listed items. Now I'm back to caring more about when I list stuff. Having said this I've been cheap, I get my lots ready to list and wait until the right time in the evening and let them loose then.

[coxengines]

Ricarmic,

makes sense but if I am going to spend $25/month only to host pictures I might as well host them on my own infrastructure. I run my own mail and web servers. My concern is this town's reliability when it come to power outages.

Auctiva only charges $10/month for 1GB of pics. and may be worth the peace of mind.

The other thing I did not see in turbo lister is the ability to integrate the myriad of shipping rules that we have programmed on eBay. But then, the last time I looked at TL was 2 years ago.

Bernie

[ricarmic]

Hi! I'm paying so much because I'm up to 5 GB of pictures, low end like 1 GB is a lot less, around the same rate you are talking about. I know I'm paying a lot for just a picture hosting site, the "features" I'm wasting are significant but that's the price I pay for not cleaning up my pictures....

I totally hear you on the taxes, I put a note in my listing telling people they need to pay them but very few ever wait for me to send the invoice with them in. As a result, I've begun putting shipping charges on the Canadian orders, which helps reduce the tax eating cost a bit. (I've always paid the 5% GST portion for Canadian customers, it is kind of a tradition in the stamp world) Actually I'm surprised I haven't gotten any "why do you charge shipping to Canadians" notes yet, probably someday soon....

At the current time, my practices provide customization for repeat customers so I wouldn't use automagic feedback or mail notifications because I don't want to lose the custom wording I send the repeat cusomters (I track all my customers on my own Customer database, and can identify repeat customers etc, it helps me to know how much business is from repeat customers vs new customers). Having said this, it does take a lot of time, although with half of my income coming from repeat customers, I'm not sure it is worth jeapordizing that by automating stuff. Time will tell, running your own business is full of lotsa decisions that all have consequences! Like I tell my pals that I used to work with in my "real" job, when they make a mistake they just make more work for someone else in the company. When I make a mistake I lose money!

I'd be interested to know what you end up doing which I'll file away in my old brain for the day when I may have to do a similar thing too.....

[ricarmic]

Ooops it appears I forgot what you said! Regarding the shipping rules, I run a simple rate, one flat rate for USA, one for Canada and one for International. So far that has always worked well, the odd time I get a bit too much the odd time too little, but since most of my stuff is "free shipping" they don't really know what they're paying anyway, and because everything I send is insured, they don't really know how much that cost either.

And now you know what I think of the taxes stuff too!

Time for bed it seems!

[coxengines]

We have 3 different shipping-weight categories for each destination (Canada, USA, International).

Depending on what the buyer adds to cart, the shipping cost can fall into either category.

A buyer only pays shipping for the item in the highest category, the rest of the items travel at no additional shipping cost.

Barring the annoying little glitch these days that affects some of the transactions, the eBay automation seems to work well.

Bernie

[westernstargifts]

We have 3 different shipping-weight categories for each destination (Canada, USA, International).

Depending on what the buyer adds to cart, the shipping cost can fall into either category.

A buyer only pays shipping for the item in the highest category, the rest of the items travel at no additional shipping cost.

Barring the annoying little glitch these days that affects some of the transactions, the eBay automation seems to work well.

Bernie

Bernie,

I think I have figured out at least part of the problem that is causing that combined shipping glitch.

I noticed that when revising the quantity of a listing from 1 to more, the boxes where you put the additional shipping amounts are not appearing in many cases. Once I noticed it I began watching to see how often it happens and it does frequently. If I then click edit before saving the revisions, the boxes then appear with the full shipping rate in the boxes for the additional items.

I am wondering if this was occurring during the last round of revisions resulting in many of the listings having the full shipping rate listed as the additional item fees.

There is another glitch which bugs me too. When you do a Sell Similar and try to change it from FP to auction or vice versa, the other option will not appear until you click Continue and then go back and edit the listing at which time it does appear. What a waste of time these things are during the busiest season of the year!

[terminalcity]

GarageSale for Mac...they host pictures for free too.

Garage sale is what I use. I wish I had not chosen it.

- If you look at the HTML code it generates, it is the worst code I have ever seen in my life. For a ten-line listing, it will generate literally hundreds of lines of code. You cannot see the text if you want to tweak the html, it is just miles of redundant tags.
- There are dozens of internal bugs that do not get worked out in updates.
- The customer support is very sketchy as well: they have actually told me to type slower if a certain part of the software is not working right.
- They issue frequent paid upgrades that are necessary to take advantage of eBay changes.

Not really a rant, just my own experience... If I did it again I would have just bought a PC for my selling.