With a dizzying array of software and services for eBay sellers,
successful sellers are barraged with offers for services to
"improve" business. eBay and plenty of third-party
providers are continuously developing tools to make a seller's
life easier--and for the most part, many do. The problem is taking
the time to separate the good from the bad.
Making a snap decision when choosing a sales tool or software
from an e-mail can be foolhardy, and listening to a telemarketer or
trade-show salesperson's pitch and signing up for service
without thorough investigation can be disastrous. The bottom line:
Take it slow, and start small.
For the budding eBay business mogul, eBay and PayPal have
developed a large selection of good, solid business tools. Using
them is a safe bet, and because they're from eBay, they
immediately adapt to any changes in the eBay system.
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My first piece of advice: Be sure you don't subscribe to
more services than you can keep track of or spend so much money on
products that you price yourself out of a profit.
I have tried eBay's tools and many others for my business
and recommend you take advantage of some of these helpful
offerings. They're designed for eBay
"businesses"--meaning, if you're listing more than 50
items a month, you may need the help these tools provide. Read on
to get a taste of some of your choices.
You may notice that many of the tools below come free when you
have a basic eBay Store. If you're running a business on eBay,
you should have a Store. At the low price of $15.95 per month,
it's definitely well worth the cost, considering the many
bonuses eBay throws into the subscription.
Turbo Lister
If you don't have a high-speed, always-on internet
connection, you should be using Turbo Lister to upload your
listings to eBay. Even if you do have a high-speed connection,
Turbo Lister can save you time by giving you a place to prepare
listings at your leisure and upload them all at once. Best of all,
Turbo Lister is free.
Turbo Lister is downloadable software for use on a PC (sorry,
it's not available for Macs at this time). It combines all the
features of the What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor-based
"Sell Your Item" form in one convenient program. Here are
a few special features you won't find anywhere else:
- Archive your listings: Turbo Lister saves your listings
in one convenient program, so you can reuse them or retrieve a
particular template.
- Bulk editing: By selecting listings (highlighting with a
mouse click) in the program, you can make changes to item specifics
or selling formats.
- Inventory: Organize your listings in folders, and save
them for future use. Duplicate and copy them to make multiple
listings based on your inventory for uploading.
Selling Manager
When it comes to automating and organizing a business on eBay,
eBay's $4.99 per month subscription to Selling Manager
certainly fits the bill. (Selling Manager is free if you have a
basic eBay Store.) Selling Manager replaces the "My
Selling" tab of your "My eBay" page, making it extra
handy for those who run their businesses on eBay with a Mac. You
can run the program directly on the eBay site, because it's not
platform dependent.
With eBay's Selling Manager, you can view the status of all
your listings at a glance using the "Summary" page or the
individual status columns. For example, when an item is listed, it
is in the "Active Items" area; once it is sold (but not
paid for), it moves to the "Sold: Awaiting Payment" page.
After the buyer pays with PayPal, the listing moves to the
"Sold: Awaiting Shipment" page. One glance at this page
at the end of the day, and you'll know how many boxes you need
to ship the next day.
Selling Manager also allows you to customize a set of e-mails to
send to your customers through eBay's e-mail system. Each
transaction is held in its own area, so you can send invoices and
e-mails, and make notes about the transaction. All this data can be
downloaded for your own records.
There are some bulk functions as well. You can leave feedback
for many buyers at once. You can also file Unpaid Item (UPI)
reports from a clickable menu--very convenient! You will never
forget to file for the Final Value Fee (FVF) Credit, as it shows up
on your "Summary" page when eBay's timetable says
it's time to file.
Sales Reports Plus
Although all eBay sellers get Sales Reports as part of their
"My eBay" page, you can get extended information on your
business's metrics for an additional $4.99 per month (or free
with your eBay Store) by subscribing to Sales Reports Plus.
Sales Reports Plus defines your business metrics by category,
format (Fixed-Price, Store Item, or auction-style listing), ending
day, length of listing and ending time. That's a lot of
information!
Sales Reports Plus gives you a snapshot of your weekly and
monthly sales figures, and provides an analysis of your net eBay
and PayPal fees. This lets you see your fees as a percentage of
your sales, giving you an idea of what you may be spending to grow
your business.
There's also a detailed area that goes over your FVF Credits
and Store Referral Credits. Both are excellent barometers of
whether your marketing is really working for your listings.
You can download archived reports to your computer for up to two
years after they have been generated.
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