My Top 5 Essential Ebay Sales Software…
posted in Insights |Ok, so I am going to enter this random chance to win a thousand one bucks from over at Problogger.net. Yeah, my chances are pretty slim because I do see the number of entries already. Wow…
So, I have to write about my Top 5, something.
Well, many of my readers don’t know this, but I used to sell on eBay full-time and this site actually started out as my “eBay Store” page. So, after much thought…I have decided to tell you what I used way back when to sell on that site. I was a high volume seller with random items that I got from estate auctions. I ran up to 1600 auctions a month which you can imagine is a ton of work.
Why did I stop you ask?? Well because eBay raised there fees to the point they were making more money on my auctions than I was and that was my last day. Yes, I quit cold turkey.
Well, onto the list…
- KAuction - This software was at the heart of my operation. This helped me keep track of who paid, who hadn’t, who I left feedback for, who I hadn’t, who I shipped to, who I hadn’t, who I did not paying bidder warning, who was due one, etc. This is an amazing piece of software. That said I would not recommend it for someone planning on running like 10 auctions a month or something like that. This is more my volume recommendation although maybe it could help those with few auctions.
- E-mage - This is a batch image processing program. I used this program to process my images in batches of 50 at a time.
- Image Optimizer - There were times when my E-mage setting would distort the details of my image, so in these instances. I would load up the original in this Image Optimizer and then spot compress the images. I do this sometimes still with this page.
- Incredimail - I am a huge Incredimail fan. HUGE! I have owned the paid for version of the program probably for 5 or 6 years. I also own the letter creator that goes with this program. I made a letterhead that had my ebay store logo on it and every e-mail that I sent to my eBay clients went on this letterhead. I can’t count how many comments I got about this.
- Photo Software - I used probably 6 or 7 different photo programs while I was selling, so I am going to suggest the program that I currently use. This is Breeze Browser. Yeah, I never used Photoshop or the expensive programs. My whole business was pretty shoestring budget wise. I was making pretty good though for awhile, but I have bills to go with pretty good.
As you can see 3 of my 5 are image programs. Images are the very most important things when selling on eBay. If you don’t have a good image, you will not get top dollar almost no matter what. There are a few rare exceptions to this, but this is for the most part gold standard.
Well, wish me luck in my chances to win and I will wish you the best prices on your next sales.
Comment by Sarakastic — — May 9, 2007 @ 10:22 am
I hope you win, even though I’m entered in the contest as well, you definitely deserve it if you can drive a school bus, that would stress me out way too much.
Comment by Jennifer — Comment #573 — May 9, 2007 @ 11:19 am
Well, the cool thing about this contest is that it isn’t based on writing skill. I would never win if that were the case. I now have equal chance as do you. I love contests like this…LOL.
Comment by Wintermute — — May 9, 2007 @ 1:07 pm
Incredimail?! Gah! I used to manage an ISP support department, and I can’t tell you how many problems our users had with Incredimail. Then again, stuff like that kept me in a job until I decided I wanted out
Comment by Jennifer — Comment #573 — May 9, 2007 @ 1:43 pm
Yes, Incredimail does have it’s quirks. However can you say that people didn’t have issues with Outlook Express?
I think Incredimail is a great time saver and it does it with style that none of the other services offer.
I know that there are other stationary e-mail programs now, but Incredimail is updated frequently and with the times as far as I am concerned.
Comment by Tyler Ingram — — May 9, 2007 @ 1:51 pm
Wow that is a handy top 5 list. I could use the image batch software when I do reviews for a website I help out.
You’re a bus driver too? That must be crazy stress!
Thanks for visiting my blog and thank you for having a cool list that will come in handy!
Comment by Nia — — May 9, 2007 @ 5:51 pm
I was making pretty good though for awhile, but I have bills to go with pretty good.
Now THAT line made it all worthwhile for me! (just kidding the whole piece was well conceived and executed)
This is in my starred and my shared…it will be linked from one of my pages, permanently (read: for months and months to come)
All the best,
Nia.
P.S. How ya’ doin’ today. I hope you’re feeling a little better than yesterday and I hope every day you feel better than the day before…from her on out!
Comment by Mike Goad — — May 9, 2007 @ 6:04 pm
We used to sell at half.com, which had been purchased by ebay. It got to be more hassle than it was worth, so we quit.
We’ve still got a “ton” of books left, but I figured that now that I’m retired, I might get around to reading some of them — if I can ever find the time! (How did I ever have time to work 8 or more hours a day?)
Best of luck on “Top 5.”
Comment by Mahala — — May 9, 2007 @ 6:43 pm
I’ve been threatening to sneak my mom’s stuff out of her room while she sleeps and sell it all on eBay.. just in case they close the plant down where I work. I didn’t realize you had to pay so many fees.
Comment by Jennifer — Comment #573 — May 9, 2007 @ 11:22 pm
The batch image processor is a really nice one, the best I tried and I have tried a whole lot. It can help with getting images web ready for sure and quickly. I was at my peak taking less than 3 minutes total time to photograph, process, and write descriptions for items listed on eBay. I had the whole process very streamlined and could run 20 auctions in an hour.
Nia, you always make me laugh. I have no idea why. I write stuff so quick, it is like off the top of my mind. I write basically just like I would say it if I were talking in person to you.
Yeah, I feeling slightly better.
Mike, yes half.com is a huge headache. We did that too. My husband was the main book distributor. We had over 800 books listed on there. What a headache, but thankfully not my headache. Most of our books went to the landfill…..some were ultimately sold at a yard sale though. Most of my eBay estate stuff was sold at this yard sale too. We made $1200 at that yard sale and we just put everything in a pile and said $1 per item. There were no questions asked nothing. We had people buying hundreds of dollars in stuff. LOL…
Yeah, Mahala go over to eBay today and look at the fees for the seller. You will really appreciate those good deals you get afterwards. eBay has raised there rates a few times since I sold. You can see my record still under the username ladylike4, of course.
Comment by Brad Shorr — — May 10, 2007 @ 7:46 am
Great information–I’m thinking of doing some eBay selling & this helps!
Comment by Dave — — May 10, 2007 @ 5:00 pm
You did a good job. Your list is great. Good Luck.
Comment by Kris Lee — — April 11, 2008 @ 1:38 pm
A concise perspective on the major decisions that confront every software business. In the end sale software remains the business world’s glamour industry.