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Anyone out there using offline listing software? If so what do you use, and maybe the pros and cons.
WonderLister, SixBit, EasyAuctionTracker, InkFrog, etc., etc.
Maybe we can get some dialogue going about batch listing, editing, inventory management, report generation etc.
I have been a WonderLister user for several years but am working on a 30 day trial of SixBit and WOW!. I thought WonderLister was great. I even called it TurboLister on steroids, but SixBit now seems to be the champion for organizing, draft and template creation, long term storage of everything, many reports and much more.
I think SixBit will replace my separate spreadsheets for inventory storage tracking. That was one of the main items I was looking, total listing and inventory storage and management all rolled into one program. And then I also discovered they are about to roll out the ability for it to synch with Etsy and track everything on both platforms.
Well you get the idea. Hope to hear from some SixBit users.
mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
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I know you’ve written quite a bit about your love of WonderLister. But if we’re listing less than 200 items a week (like we do), what’s the point in not just listing on eBay?
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Well I am getting ready to make the move over to SixBit. t costs a little more, but also delivers more.
You can create hundreds of templates if you want. Save them for ever. It cpatures every customers name, home address and phone number and keeps iy for ever. Actually it captures everything Ebay can offer but then pulls it onto your own hard drive so you can sort, filter and compile any way you ean’t. Build your own mailing lists and send your own emails. It takes as many listings as I want 2, 4, 6 or 10 and then will automatically submit those new listings to your twitter account. Then it captures all of the fees of PayPal and Ebay, all of the shipping costs and as you list you also enter your cost for those items. Then one of the reports they generate is your own customized COGS sold plus your own P&L stament. It does some of the things that Go Daddy does.
When it comes to incoming inventory you just type in your quick title and it automatically creates a custom SKU number, then will print a tag to put onto your item and it also automatically generates a bar code for that SKU number.
It has several types of Sales reports that it generates. Tell you what sals are made in each state and will also give yo how much tax you owe in your own state. When items sell it generates a Pick List w/ a small photo, your item number and the location where it is stored. It can print your own shipping labels from within itself and also [I belive SB will also match up the output label with the product].
Next what I did a couple of days ago, was i customized the “LIsting”page to be laid out the way I like to see and enter things. You can move Item Specifics around, the description area, prices, etc. Just drag and drop them any where yo want. Then another enat thing is I can create “custom data fields” and these don’t show up in the real listing/ So beside the PRICE field I have a small research prices box.
Next as soon as you put in your title and select a category then I can click a butto and it automatically does an Ebay Sold listing and present’s the same data that the App “What’s it Worth” gives you on your phone. And, I can also created additonal tabs like WorthPoint and Kovels so whe I want to research sold prices I can get that from 3 different sources all at one time.
It also has a built in editor, that allows photo editing directly in the listing form [just like Ebay now does. guess Ebay copied them, but the photo editor does much more all on the fly. It will automatically insert your title onto the photos with a quick rename feature.
SixBi has many, many tutorial videos. Since I have usd WonderLister for several years I was up to speed, customized many pages and item specifics and am rolling as of today. I also does scheduled listings, but s does Ebay.
Another thing I can create as many folders as i want in a custom directory and in those crate as many different type of templates as I wat and they will hold those forever.
Has tons of batch editing features. Will Append, Prepend titles and descriptions, bulk delete, handle Sales creation and has features that does what Ebay Marketing Manager does but all of this is all within the same piece of software.
I heard you ask for the ability to batch edit more than 250 or 500 listigs at a time. Well how would you like to do it with all 6,000 listings you have at one time?? 🙂 Well you go it here. I only have 725 right now, but once all of our antique booth stuff is listd we will be up around 2,000 and will keep going from there. I can edit all listings in one shot. in L & SB. That is probaly worth the 39.49 price tag to you alone.
I have only spent since Sunday working on SixBit but it is something else. Also back to the Etsy thing, unsure what all they will roll out but they have been in Beta mode for a while and think I will be able, once I create my listing, to also be able to upload / submit the listing to my new Etsy account. Am unsure if they are going to auto synch ended listing or not.
Also I will also install it on my laptop and link my laptop to my local network and then Su ad I can work on thedatabase and everything it is capable of both at the same time.
With what I am listing above, that is not all of it by a long shot. I recommend going to view their web site, like I said before and view all the tutorials.
Yes it is a paid subscription and if you see the price and then immediately click off then none of these are for you. Productivity is going to cost. My WonderLister subscription is $25 a month. SixBit is $34.99 for the level I like, but you can get smaller packages on both.
I know there is another member here that is a SixBit usr because he mentioned it before. I was hopeing to flush out some of those members and we could then get a good topc going on how we all actually use this type of software, the benefits of it and tips on how to make it supercharged. Look at how much we have talked about Ebay format, maybe something like that.
Well let’s see. Sorry for all the typos bu did this fast in reply.
Respectfully Submited … Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta
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Mike, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t SixBit a desktop app for Windows? I know that has been a limiting factor for many Mac users in the past, but I know there are a few ways around that with some Virtual Machine type apps that will put a Windows machine on the Mac. I’ve looked into some of them, but I’m just not at the listing level to need anything more than eBay, especially when considering cost. I’d be happy to hear future updates of your use and the linking to Etsy is also a nice point of consideration as well. At some point during 2017, I will be at a volume where it will likely make financial sense.
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This software sounds VERY intriguing. I like the idea of creating a generic title with purchase date and cost along with a barcode for incoming inventory. I would love to organize my unlisted inventory in this fashion. Then just scan the barcode and convert to a listing when I am ready.
Now that I am not doing FBA, I am craving a use for my barcode scanner and label printer. Lol!
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I’ve been using InkFrog for about two years. I prefer it to listing on ebay because I like to keep my history. I resuse old listings as starters – but never know when I will need them again. I also start multiple listings and batch set them up, then batch add pictures then finish as I have time. I can also access it from different computers / locations as it is on the web.
I also like that it is not on my laptop. I did download the SixBIt sample program but my Windows 10 laptop hated it and I wasted an immense amount of time – not getting it to work correctly. What worried me is the potential for it to fry on my laptop ( I’m not good about backing up).
Inkfrog is fairly cheap about 14.99 a month I think right now – but its going up when they transfer people over from classic to their new Open platform.
Anyway… I think its worth my money.
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I only need a program to list. That’s it. I prefer to do everything else in Ebay Selling Manager Pro. It just seems like too many additional steps to go to an offsite program for everything else. I used to use the basic level of Ebay Blackthorne for many years, but they got rid of it a couple of years ago. I tried to use SixBit, but it would never open on my computer.
I currently use AuctionWizard2000. It is only $50 a year. 1 license per computer. Windows only. Much cheaper than Blackthorne ever was, or Sixbit.
If I ever hired an employee, I would purchase another license for another computer and have them list directly through it. That way, they wouldn’t have to have access to my Ebay account at all.
I can quickly create 20+ listings at a time, leave the room to do something else while they upload to Ebay, come back, create more. No waiting on individual Ebay listing pages for pictures to load, fail, re-load, while something else goes wrong.
That’s not to say that AuctionWizard doesn’t get wonky. It sometimes spits out weird errors. Depending on your internet connection, it sometimes stalls on uploading. Still, quite a bargain for $50 a year.
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Working in a web form is pretty bad, although I’m sure some people are capable of making it work. I was having a lot of problem’s with ebay’s listing form, having to re-enter data when it didn’t register, slow connectivity, occasional crashes. Far better to work in a program where all the data is entered and stored on my PC.
And I was having to re-enter the same data time and time again, due to limitations in the template system.
And, I found it slow to create listings one at a time, then upload them and check them over, then go back to creating another. Far better to create many at once, upload them all when I’m done, then look them over all at once.
With Sixbit, I have templates for commonplace items that I list often, much information already filled in, in theory all I need to do is put in the title, photos, price and measurement if applicable.
But when I’m working on an elaborate listing for a rare book it’s also great to be able to do that work in something more stable and with a better interface than ebay’s web app.
Finally, I can look back through all my sales history and see what I sold that item for the last few times.
I’m probably only using a small portion of the potential of this program. For me, it’s mostly about creating templates to limit data entry and about not having to deal with the limitations of using a web form for data entry.
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I started using SixBit around the holidays. It has a big learning curve, but ultimately I think it provides me with much faster listing capability. I started using it because I hired my first 2 employees and it seemed like the best way to keep them separate from my actual accounts while allowing them to produce for me.
I can have employees compartmentalized into assembly line jobs like photographing, listing, storing, etc… The photo editor isn’t very handy, but I usually use windows photo viewer in conjunction with stored photos.
It does not do everything I need it to do, but so far it works pretty well. I think the one thing that listing online does better is suggesting categories. You seem to be on your own with Sixbit.
Templets are nice. The “sell similar” or “duplicate” function is nice. You can customize what information from old listing is reutilized in the new one. I’ve had information accidentally held over from old listings when selling similar on ebay that has caused me trouble.
Having your catalog offline is nice for searching through your listing for sell similar options. The search process is pretty buggy, but you can manage.
I like that you can list hundreds of items offline and set them to upload at your convenience. This helps when you realize you have goofed up. Sometimes I get into a daze while listing and can make mistakes. It is easier to catch it and correct offline. When you have listings ready to load you can view a lot of the information in a grid fashion so you can tell if something is different and shouldn’t be. Like shipping option, missing a storage location, pricing, sales tax, etc…
I don’t think that the item specifics are quite as good as doing online. They seem more canned than on ebay. Let’s just say I’m not convinced that all the info I add offline makes it to the listing.
It allows you to keep track of inventory locations fairly easily. I like that I can list everything and then go back and add storage locations before I actually submit the listings.
Pick lists are pretty nice too. You can print a sheet with items you have sold, inventory locations, and photos of each item. Nice for times when you come back from vacation and have many items to find and ship. It will also bulk print packing lists.
I still keep an offline Excel spreadsheet of everything and sixbit can export the data to CSV which saves me tons of time adding new listings to my spreadsheet.
I guess the moral of the story is I think it makes you more efficient even working alone. Even if ebay works today you are only an update away from total ruin of your current system. I started on the phone and they screwed up the app so bad it was unusable. Then I listed online until I quit getting emails for every listing I put up which was how I got my records. Went from 100% to 0-40% of new listings sending me emails. So far Sixbit has kept me separate from ebay’s inability to code and debug.
I also have a Mac, but run Windows 7 on a virtual machine through it. Gives me the ability to actually use the computer. Zebra printer, Sixbit, other handy programs. WIsh I had never bought a MAc.
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Coming to the discussion a bit late here and in keeping with the context of this thread, I run an online WP site using woocommerce and a couple of plugins that allow me to post and link multiple eBay accounts to my online store. I manage everything, even ebay task, from the woocommerce dashboard, except shipping. Although this can be done as well.
My annual cost is about $400, excluding an eBay store. Number is SKU’s limited only by the quality of your web hosting service.Also, I want to make a shameless plug for an upcoming project I’m launching this summer for those sellers that are looking to expand their online footprint beyond eBay, by having an online store. Due to growth and a change in direction, I will be expanding my ecommerce presence by breaking out two categories and opening their own independent online stores. One store (yet to be decided), will be fully documented in real time. Everything from initial business plan to execution and ongoing management. This project is born out of an increasing number of request to help in opening an ecommerce site.
Details and venue is still being worked out and I hope to come back with further details as the launch date gets closer.
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I know yo run: http://larrysbasement.com/
Is this the kind of site you’re talking about?The value eBay and Amazon bring is their audience. It’s a huge uphill climb to advertise yourself and get your own shoppers. Just curious how many people buy through your own URL vs eBay.
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I wonder if the base subscription of Wonderlister would do the most basic thing I need of a program to do for me. Which is to simply take out the online listing form and replace it with a spreadsheet or table to work offline (and then upload everything including pictures all at once while I walk away and do something else). It would need to retain ebays catalog though of categories, styles, sizes, etc. Of all the softwares out there WL seems the most attractive because of how many tiers of subscriptions they have. With the others, they offer so many features that I wouldn’t use and I hate to pay for stuff I don’t need.
Does anyone use ebays File Exchange? It’s free and it sounds like listing with a spreadsheet but no bells and whistles of a software. Can you upload pictures on File Exchange and more than one picture per listing?
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I haven’t used FE in a few years. Although it eventually worked for my needs at the time, the biggest downfall was the program lacked error trapping and data integrating checking. Once you uploaded your csv file, you pretty much crossed your fingers when you processed the file. Either it listed or not. If it listed, there was a lot of spot checking to confirm that it was done correctly. I remember working in batches of categories rather one complete file. Really sad that EB did away with TurboLister. Really no other EB supported batch upload app out there for the common seller.
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