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| Home » Forums » Software and Services » Help!! New Powerseller needs auction software. (Page 1 of 1) |
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Help!! New Powerseller needs auction software. (Read 7748 times)
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The Fussy Pickle
Contributions: 1
Joined: Oct 27, 2005
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Help!! New Powerseller needs auction software.
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on: Oct 27, 2005, 9:27pm »
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I am hoping someone can help me deciding which auction software is right for my business. I sell childrens clothes and shoes. I have been using turbo lister and selling manager pro (yuck!). Right now I have all my inventory in my store which holding the price down on my auctions. My husband (a programmer) developed a templete and we host our own images.
I need an inventory management system and possible something I can run sales reports on (reports is not a priority for me), automate auction times and I would like to be able to print packing slips in bulk if possible and combining purchases is a must! I tried Vendio and didn't care for it and I am now working with Marketworks (2 week free trial). While it's okay, I think they are really too big for the powerseller I will be next month. Sales increased 100% this month and expect the growth to continue as I source more product.
Can anyone recommend something that isn't as invasive as Vendio and Marketworks? Because of our technical backround my husband and I don't need any help with image hosting or templete creation.
Anyone with some suggestions? I just feel like I'm going in circles
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Jenny4
Contributions: 6
Joined: Sep 4, 2005
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Re: Help!! New Powerseller needs auction software.
« Reply #1
on: Nov 2, 2005, 5:25am »
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www.foodogsoftware.com aka Shooting Star. I've been using it for years and the reports and other features are awesome. One time fee of $49, great customer service and a very helpful and active forum. Good luck!
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jwjohnson
Land of Enchantment-New Mexico
Contributions: 38
Joined: Oct 14, 2005
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Re: Help!! New Powerseller needs auction software.
« Reply #2
on: Nov 2, 2005, 2:49pm »
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Though Shooting Star is a great program, I don't think you will find it does auto listing for you. It doesn't have any listing features such as scheduling. I know Poster Toaster can integrate with it and do scheduled auctions.
I am still trying to find the perfect program to no avail. currently I use Auctiva for my posting and is ok but they have no auction managment. Auctiva is free and they do schedule auctions. If you try it, make sure you go to preference first and turn off anything you don't want to use. Saves time in the long run if it isn't for you. Keeps your ads clean.
As yourself, I use Sales Manager which is ok but still not very good once you start to get a lot of sales. Easy to get overwhelmed.
I tried ChannelAdvisor Pro which I found to my likings for everything and they have a store as part of their package. Unfortunately, the store items are not linked to Froogle or any other marketing venues. You can't download/export your items so you can create your own Froogle data feed. So I pulled away from it. I miss it because it works. You can submit to Yahoo, Amazon and Overstock.com auctions from within Channel Advisor Pro. Their Channel Marketing level has the froogle features and other areas but then the monthly cost shoots up around $1000 versus the $29.95 for Channel Advisor Pro.
I have download multiple times MarketBlast demo. I am an avid reader (daily) of their forum (they call it a mailing list). I am excited about the possibilities but this product contrary to what they say is still a beta. I don't want to pay $99 for a product that is not quite ready. From what I read, they are very responsive to user issues, etc but a beta is still a beta. They are fixing it as they go and do a nice job of it. Since your husband is technical (I am a network adminstrator), if he reads the post, I think he will probably come to the same conclusions.
I even tried Ebay ProStores , their off ebay web hosting. Yes it is integrated with ebay and very easy to post, etc. but the biggest problem I had was that I sell items that I don't do fix cost shipping. Prostores does integrate with UPS, USPS, etc but when you submit an auction to ebay with calculated shipping, the buyer has no way of getting an estimate of the shipping cost because the ebay shipping calculator(can't insert manually either) is not available nor can they use a calculator at your Prostore website until they buy the item. That is a big negative for potential buyers.
Marketworks has it all. The store inventory is submitted to Froogle and other marketing avenues. I just found it to be not very intuitive and the directions seem somewhat out of date. It seems to have a very high learning curve and can be very frustrating. I have had excellent response to my questions from tech support so that is a big plus.
One last new program out there is web-based is Mpire . It has great potential but I don't think it is ready either. As with Marketblast, they are working deligently to improve the product. Customer service is responsive.
I didn't mean to be so long winded but maybe you and your husband can chew on this a while. Good Luck.
Jerry
Purple Mushroom
[Last edited by jwjohnson: Nov 7, 2005, 12:47am]
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www.DigitalMemoryFrontiercom
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Jenny4
Contributions: 6
Joined: Sep 4, 2005
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Re: Help!! New Powerseller needs auction software.
« Reply #3
on: Nov 2, 2005, 8:04pm »
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Jerry,
Wow, that was a lot of useful info! I'm using SpareDollar currently for listing, but frankly, it has SO many problems and just almost doubled their cost. I use Shooting Star for their tracking, reporting, etc features. I really am happy with it. Plus it resides on my computer which I think is helpful, should my ISP be down or something. I think we're all looking for the Holy Grail of programs that can do it all....without costing major bucks! So far I haven't seen one.
I plan on keeping an eye on Marketworks and some of the others you mentioned.
Thanks for your suggestions & take care,
Jennifer
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iron_chick
Contributions: 3
Joined: Nov 17, 2005
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Re: Help!! New Powerseller needs auction software.
« Reply #5
on: Nov 18, 2005, 1:21pm »
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Hi Pickle,
Have you looked at AuctionSage? With the add on LaunchFreedom for scheduling, it sounds like it can do everything you are looking for!
It has an inventory management feature, you can print reports (specifying content), you can bulk print invoices/packing slips, bulk email, send combined invoices, and it's integrated with Dazzle/Endicia for shipping.
(And it's a LOT easier to figure out than Marketworks!)
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