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freqz
(stranger )
11/08/06 07:59 AM
Thinking about purchasing but have a few ?'s  

I was a long time user of timbercreek's SOLD. Support over there started to die off and then out of business. Switched over to Auctiva and have been using them. Lately their website and system has been giving alot of problems, laggy, etc. So I'm now looking to move on to something else again. I'm the type that once I find something I stick with it as long as I can.

Anyway, I have been searching high and low for a very cost effective system. I have downloaded AW2K and also Ebay's Blackthorne.

I really like the look of Blackthorne compared to AW2K. To me it makes it look like a current piece of software compared to AW2K. AW2k reminds me of the old DOS day style program. I prefer the tab'd layout with the mouse over hints.
Are there any near future plans for a Major face lift for AW2K ?

Besides from the layout and the visual's of the program I have not really tested either out that much. I like to play and try then when I decide and purchase start from scratch and learn as I go.

Another thing I noticed through reading around here is the only way for the buyer information to be imported it through a received email ? Is this correct ? If this is correct then I am also thinking that it would be in my best interest to create a new email address solely for Ebay and AW2K ? Is that also correct ?

I'm starting to get alot more products in and also now doing some consignments, and I beleive AW2K or Blackthorne would save me a ton of time over my current record keeping ( copy paste into EXCEL )

On another note, I really have not seen alot of talk on Templete's for AW2K, other then it has alot and find one you like and edit it to what you want, etc....
Here is a look at some of my current auctions and my templete:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZfreqzQQhtZ-1

I like the fact that with Auctiva I can have a smaller picture displayed and then the viewer can click for a full size more detailed picture. I also like the fact that with auctiva that it gives me a scrolling store window with my current displayed auctions. On the last thing, I like that I can copy and paste, say from a manufactures site the spec's of something and paste it right into my description keeping the format ( HTML ) I did not see that option withen AW2K while looking at the software.

I'm sure I'll have more questions here and I hope not to be a pest now but a helpful user here later on.

On the leaning towards AW2K decission is the community that I see here. I beleive trying to get help from Ebay would be the biggest waste of my time.

Thanks in advanced !
John



bluepennylady
(addict)
11/08/06 10:49 AM
Re: Thinking about purchasing but have a few ?'s [re: freqz]  

John,

Thank you for posting. Your "leaning" towards AW2K over Blackthorne is really a good decision. I did the Beta testing for Blackthorne and then later the evaluation on the final product. I tested Blackthorne for 30 days both times. And I am still an AW2K user

The Blackthorne interface is not intuitive. The email system provided with Blackthorne is difficult to navigate. Developing additional email templates within the Blackthorne software is not easy. You cannot use Blackthorne to manage auctions on other sites reducing a seller's customer service level considerably.

Manually creating invoices for repeat buyers requesting was a chore. Inventory management, in my opinion, was very poor. The Inventory management module in AW2000 was one of the reasons I became an AW2000 user as I deal in large in-depth Inventories and must have the ability to track inventory and consignors.

I found the listing process cumbersome. The tech support was horrible at best. If errors occured, which were frequent even with the final product, the tech support did not respond in a timely fashion, usually requiring 24 hours or longer. That is an unacceptable timeframe for tech support when you are down and unable to list or retrieve Auction information. also found a great deal of "passing the buck" with technical issues as no one ever seemed to really have an answer.

The cost of Blackthorne in comparison to what the software offers is unattractive.

Aw2K provides tool tips over icons just as any Windows based program does. Right clicks all provide functions and options.

I am not sure what you mean when you refer to a major facelift. I do Beta testing and software evaluation on the side. And I do alot of it. Everything from Channel Advisor, Kyozou etc. I have tested them all. Although AW2K, is not colorful, the code is solid and the program is stable. Leading to less errors and down time. The entire program is interconnected meaning navigation throughout the program is easy.

The setup in AW2K is the most difficult and time consuming. After the setup process is complete, the rest of the program runs like a top.

Buyer information is retrieved via email. You can store the buyer information by extracting it from a Paypal payment, the "I will be sending you x shortly" or the buyer simply sending their name and address to you in an email. The process is simple and requires one click of the mouse. Highlight the name and address with our mouse, hit the Store buyer information" button and the information is automatically extracted into the appropriate Invoice fields.

There are real noteworthy advantages to retrieving buyer information using the email system. First, buyer's are notorious for moving or changing email addy's and not updating their information at eBay or Overstock. Using the buyer information provided on the End of Auction does not guarantee you will have the correct information ending up mailing a product to an invalid address.

Customer service levels are increased when the seller has direct contact with a buyer instead of using the "auto-mated" can't find a real person type of system. And once you get a buyer communicating with you directly, you can do add-on sales. Many of my buyers email me back on the shipping notifications I send them when their package ships and request more of what they just won. Or wanting to combine winning auctions from eBay, eBay store and Overstock onto a single invoice. You do not have that ability using Blackthorne. And grouping product, and adding on product increases the sellers bottom line significantly.

There are several LIsting templates available. All can be duplicated and edited to fit your business needs. Most of us have numerous Listing templates for various products and/or Auction profiles.

AW2K tech support is superb. Another factor in my decision to use AW2000. If you do not receive a response within a hour or two of emailing during business hours, something is wrong. As Thom gets right on tech issues. And he is just flat out good. I have worked with lots of technicians and programmers. I promise you, he is heads above anyone I have ever worked with.

Now that I have written you a short novel and talke your leg off, if you have any other questions, just jump right in and ask. One of us will be happy to assist.

Judy/blue



freqz
(stranger )
11/08/06 11:35 AM
Re: Thinking about purchasing but have a few ?'s [re: bluepennylady]  

Thanks for the reply and all the information.

As for facelift, meaning like next major revision ie. auction wizard 2007 :-) I'm big on a nice graphical ( if that's the word) nice looking layout. The colors currently on AW are drab, and have old school feeling.

On the Email note. Is it best to start with a dedicated email address when beginning to use AW ?? Currently I use the same email address for well almost everything and I'm a little unsure as to how the AW email handling works. Because I don't think it will pull directly out of Outlook will it ? To my understanding it's like it's own outlook and downloads and filters that way. correct ?

Now back to templates. I looked and of course didnt have any inventory items to properly view them. But to my main question on the templates, how and what options can be used for pictures ? can you display large tumbnails, and when the viewer clicks have them open into the full size ? As how my current auctions are that are listed though auctiva ?

As for picture hosting I have a webhosting company so sotrage is not a problem. Before I did it the old fasion way and used Frontpage and created thumbnails and hosted them on a web page and just redirected for my pictures. big pain in the butt.





bluepennylady
(addict)
11/08/06 11:50 AM
Re: Thinking about purchasing but have a few ?'s [re: freqz]  

John,

I understand about the colors. There are those that feel the same way. Me, I don't care about the color but I sure want the sucker to work right

The email issue. Aw2K retrieves email exactly as your Outlook Express, Outlook, Eudora or whatever client you use. You just need to remember to "leave a copy on the server" Advanced option selected in your Outlook. Otherwise, there won't be any email for AW2K to retrieve.

I have 4 email accounts configured in AW2K. And it is only because my business is setup that way. I have an email address that all Paypal payments go to. And that email account is configured in AW2000. My Auction user id's registered on Overstock, eBay and Yahoo all have the same email address so all Auction related emails go through the same acccount. And that account is configured in AW2000. I have my corporate website email addy that is also configured in AW2k as buyers' email us from my website all of the time. And I have an alternative email address just in case something goes wrong with my own domain email and I need to keep working. I can swap email addys fairly quickly.

You can more easily Preview templates by creating a fake Auction lot, adding an Image and using the "Preview template" in the lower left at the bottom of the Auction lot window directly below the description field. There is a radio button that reveals the drop down box where you can select each Listing template one by one and then view in your browser. Remember, the template does not have to exactly what you want. It can be edited in the HTML template editor or manager.

Image management with AW2K is an absolute breeze. No writing your own URL's. No messing with old images as AW2K will delete unnecessary images that you don't need. It is super slick and a real time saver.

Judy/blue



freqz
(stranger )
11/08/06 12:06 PM
Re: Thinking about purchasing but have a few ?'s [re: bluepennylady]  

I guess really your right on the point of " want it to work right " And with that I can totally agree on who cares about looks. But on another point, I was wondering if there were any plans for a major upgrade. From other compaines that had major upgrades I've seen alot of complaining of having to re-learn everything and data intergration problems etc.

Main reason for the above concern is basically if there is a major release comming out, I'd prefer to wait a little bit to "learn" the latest and greatest. Does that make sense ?

For email, I think the most effective route for me would be to create a new email address strictly for Ebay including PayPal. This would probably make my life alot easier.

Now onto my last concern. And I really cannot try it on this computer here at work but...

Can AW2K do thumbnails with click to enlarge ?




bluepennylady
(addict)
11/08/06 12:17 PM
Re: Thinking about purchasing but have a few ?'s [re: freqz]  

John,

Oh, now I understand. There was a release a long time ago about the Auction Wizard Enterprize version in the works. But those changes will be the way the database works, etc. And although there may be new features implemented, I don't think any new major program changes like you are talking about coming. Plus I have never seen Thom do anything like that.

The foundation Aw2000 is built on is stable and scalable. So any new features added are not going to require lots of learning of how the program works or runs.

And in all honesty, although every program has tweaking that must be done with a program release, AW2000 Beta version releases are better than anyone elses final release. And that is the truth. I have Beta tested software that it was really Alpha testing not Beta testing. I just haven't ever seen Thom release something that wasn't ready to go and as error free as is humanable possible and then some.

There isn't the clickable enlarged thumbnail image available. However, I think you will find the images displayed by AW2K do not need to be enlarged and clickable. You might consider at taking a look at some of the other AW2000 users Listings to see what I mean. The images are perfectly sized inside the Listing template frame to display the very best. And the image editor in AW2K is just really good too

Judy/blue



freqz
(stranger )
11/08/06 12:28 PM
Re: Thinking about purchasing but have a few ?'s [re: bluepennylady]  

The problem I have sometimes with images and the reason why I prefer "click to enlarge" is alot of the times I receive equipment that I really have no clue of what is really does or sometimes cannot even find a quick description on it anywhere. So in return I take alot of pictures and even sometimes if I have a manual I'll take macro(setting) pictures out of the manual so the viewer can click to enlarge the picture to read what it says. As for me it's not uncommon to list a auction with 12 or more pictures to show every little detail. In past with playing with templates that do not allow "click to enlarge" the pictures just consume either one entire side from top to bottom etc. I hope you can understand where I'm going here. My current Auctiva template for instance, I can have 4 larger thumbnails in place on 1 "normal" picutre. To me this helps keep a cleaner listing.





bluepennylady
(addict)
11/08/06 12:42 PM
Re: Thinking about purchasing but have a few ?'s [re: freqz]  

John,

I understand what you mean. The capabilities for click to enlarge thumbnails does not exist.

And do I hear you about getting stuff you don't know what it is. There are some weeks I am not sure about half of what my staff is putting in the database

Judy/blue



freqz
(stranger )
11/08/06 01:15 PM
Re: Thinking about purchasing but have a few ?'s [re: bluepennylady]  

That's a big bummer :-(

Are there any easy work arounds ?

Is this something that may be added in the very very near future ?





freqz
(stranger )
11/08/06 01:37 PM
Re: Thinking about purchasing but have a few ?'s [re: freqz]  

Almost forgot, What about the scrolling store window that is offered through Auctiva?

Am I able to post that code into the AW2K template ? (taken in alot of info in just a few emails here :-) ) But can I edit the templates and add in HTML code , etc ?




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