Guess I should introduce myself! My name is Mickey & I started selling on eBay a few years ago just as a hobby or to sell my grandkids toys, etc. that they outgrew. The place I worked at closed down last year, so thought I'd see how I could do just selling on eBay! Anyway, so far so good. I'm using Selling Manager Pro (it's $16 a month....I know some of you said it was $25 but I checked on it & it is $16....maybe they lowered their price)?
I wanted to ask everyone why they prefer AW2000 over Selling Manager Pro.....the pros & cons....are there any cons?
I'm use to eBay but I'm trying to learn this program. I'm having trouble when I have to see what's ready to ship. On eBay it's all listed with a picture & shows that it's paid. That's easy for me.
How do you do it? Do you click on "grid" & see what isn't paid or shipped? Can I change the way the grid is? I'd like to have the date where I can see it without scrolling over!
Thanks for everyone's help! I'm sure I'll keep you all busy w/questions!
Thanks!
Mickey

Mickey,

Well, I guess you already know what I prefer. AW2000. I used Seller manager pro for quite a while. And I have pursued through it recently just to keep abreast of the changes.

First, and this is only my opinion, it is not a good idea to use the Auction sites tools. You become completely dependent upon that particular site only. You cannot group items from other auction sites onto a single invoice if you happen to sell at Overstock or Player auctions. Even eBay will tell you that if you are serious about an Online Auction business, you must look to the third party providers as opposed to the eBay tools.

Plus even at $16.00 a month that is a total cost you pay eBay of $192.00. That figure does not include the image hosting which you are also paying to eBay nor does it include the listing and Final Value fees.

One of the quickest ways to reduce overhead costs is images. Host your own somewhere other than eBay. Even with the Picture Manager eBay offers, hosting is just quite expensive especially when you compare the cost to what you can purchase on your own at numerous quality hosting sites.

AW2000 can be for a lack of better term, "integrated" into your own website by using the "Aw2000 configured websites" In short, after you list auctions, you can upload thumbnail pages of your listings which have links back to eBay or Overstock or Player auctions. Great way to promote your auctions.

If you do the math on the montly charge for AW2000, it is only $8.33 for the first year per month. Then drops to $4.17 per month. As opposed to $16.00 per month.

Ebay tech support is not good. They do not respond quickly to issues. And being down costs money.

I like AW2000 for numerous reasons. It resides on my computer. I like the Inventory tab/window. The tech support is far superior to any other software I have ever evaluated. And the tech support is consistently good. Most software tech support becomes slow and the quality diminishes over time. That is not the case with the Aw2000 tech team.

I have the abililty to create Invoices for anyone and add whatever I want to it without the auction platform. And I do all of the time. Or I can easily add additional Invoice Items to an existing Invoice and simply send the buyer a total amount due.

I could go on and on but well, I'll let others pipe in

As far as the shipping issue. I'll hope over to the Invoices thread and see if I can help you

Judy/blue

Mickey,

I tried to answer your questions about the Shipping on the Invoices thread. Here is the link

http://forums.auctionwizard2000.com/cgi-bin/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=Invoices&Number=6865&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5

Judy/blue

Welcome Mickey,

I'll add a few things to what Judy said.

She's right about using software provided by the auction site. You don't want to be too closely tied to them.

You also don't want the software you use to live somewhere other than your own desktop, as all the web-based solutions do. Desktop-resident software like AW2000 is in my experience more dependable.

Speaking from more than 25 years of software experience, AW2000 is a fine piece of work. First, it's reliable and rock solid. It doesn't matter what features a product has if you can't depend on it. You can build a business on AW2000.

Second, it gives you a well-thought out process for handling on-line auction sales. Every business software implements a process or way of doing business. Make AW2000 your partner. Look at how it thinks you should handle situations as they come up. AW2000 has been used by others long enough that it's pretty experienced.

Third, for the capability it gives you AW2000 is ridiculously cheap.

Fourth, the tech support on this board is so fast and thorough, it's eerie. But you'll get used to it.

There will be a learning curve. IMO, it's worth your time to learn AW2000.

Ned

Thanks Ned for your input! Can I ask you how long it took before you felt comfortable with this program?
Mickey

Mickey, that's kind of hard to say. I had kind of an on-again, off-again supply of goods to be auctioned, with sometimes weeks without anything listed.

I say go through the tutorial (yes, I, wizened geek, did the tutorial). Then list some stuff for real.

You'll have to go through the complete sales cycle a couple of times at least. After you've done that, do the tutorial again. Things that didn't make sense or didn't seem useful the first time will pop out at you and give you repeated Aha! moments.

Don't hesitate to ask questions here.

And thanks for signing up, rather than staying Anonymous. My personal opinion is that answering questions posed by the anonymous is kinda like having a conversation with someone with a paper bag over his head. It's just not comfortable.

Ned