Hi. My wife and I are starting an eBay consignment auctioning service for schools / churches as we just got our first contract coming up this spring. We can see that we will have many one time sale items (not reoccurring) as our biggest tasks will be time spent and the number of items. I know this information is probably available on the site or in these boards, but a few questions:

1. Can we create our own custom HTML template that can be used when launching an eBay auction through AW2K?

2. How in the world will we keep track of all the items? Do we tag each item and create it in the inventory module, or do we creat an Excel database and upload it? I presume if the item is in the inventory module, that it can be quickly selected and populated into the listing module.

3. Can this system create inventory/SKU labels for each item?

4. Since each listing is a one-time affair, how does the inventory module work? Do we have to delete the item after it is sold, or will it stay in there asking us to replinish the stock?

5. Can we manage the Inventory, Auction Listing, PayPal, Shipping, Reports and Accounting from AW2K or will we need to dart in and out of different programs?

6. How many images can we have with each inventory / listed item?

7. Does AW2K integrate with QuickBooks or QBPRO?

8. Is there a big difference between the functionality between the Free Trial Version, the standard version and the new BETA version?

9. In your experience, how long does it take on average to inventory / list / fulfill an auction item? (5 minutes, 15 minutes, 1 hour, etc...???)

I know there are a lot of choices out there, as we are simply just trying to figure it all out.

Also, if anyone has some suggestions of how we can learn more about how we sort, store / warehouse and so-forth it would be a HUGE help. Thanks so much for ANYONE's advice on this...

Cajwrj,

I'll try my best to answer as many of your questions as possible. Others may correct me, but I will try to answer these questions with my own experience. My partner and I have been using Auction Wizard for over a year and a half to maintain an eBay business selling Boy Scout patches and other collectibles. Although we do have some inventory items which we have multiples of, most of what we have are unique items, so our situations are very similar. Auction Wizard 2000 probably won't do everything you want it to do, but I think you'll be surprised at how much it will do.

1. Not only can you create custom HTML templates in AW2K, but it's actually fairly easy to do.

2. The answer to this question varies from person. However, with so many different items, I suggest that you do what we do, and sort them by lot number. Since your items are all different, you can pretty much ignore the inventory module, and just create auction lots for each item (or duplicate earlier lots and modify them at need, as we do.) The inventory module is more usefull for when you have multiples of an item, to keep track of the auction lost. If each item is unique, it's easier just to create auction lots.

3. If AW2K can create inventory lables, I'm not aware how. However, it's pretty easy to create sequential lables in Excel or another program and just attach the corresponding label (with the AW2K lot number) to the item. That's what we do.

4. Again, the inventory module is much more usefull for keeping track of inventory that you have multiples of. If you have different items each time, I would just ignore this feature.

5. Almost everything can be managed through AW2K. We rarely use other programs.

6. If there is a limit of how many pictures you can have for an item, I'm not aware of it. We've had up to 25 pictures on one item. However, once an item is sold, you might want to delete most of these pictures, or else your database is going to get HUGE quick.

7. I don't think AW2K integrates directly with QuickBooks, but it does have an export function that allows you to export data in a comma delimited file, which can be imported into almost any database program. Since I don't know QuickBooks, I can't guarantee that this will work, but I don't know why not.

8. There is no difference between functionality between versions. There actually is no BETA version anymore, as it has been tested and is the current version. The only limitation of the trial version is time... after the trial, you have to pay. However, if you've been using it that long, I think you'll find the $75.00 more than worthwhile, especially with the number of updates Thom has to do to keep up with eBay.

9. This is something that really varies from business to business. I would count on about 15 minutes per item with the type of business you are running. It might even be more. One of the reasons we're looking to go in a new direction with our business is that with every item being diffent, the labor is much more than if you have several identical inventory items. You will certainly get faster at tasks with time, but for now, I would count on total handling of about a quarter hour per item. Keep in mind you may have to do research on some items, you're definately going to have to take pictures and load them into your computer, each item is going to need a unique description, etc.

I think the bottom line is that this is probably a great fit of software for your needs. Be aware, though, that AW2K is not a toy. It's not warm and fuzzy, and it can be a little intimidating. It really does take time to learn, but the more you learn about its true capabilities, the more impressed you will probably become. The support system is definately unsurpassed.

Kind regards,

M.J. Christensen

M.J. Christensen
Technical Staff
Kiwiman's Collectibles
Boy Scout Patches and Other Collectibles on eBay
http://kiwiman1.net