I have just entered into a partnership with 2 others for onlione sales. They have no management software and no idea of their inventory status. My goal is to turn it into a real business and capture all sales and purchases for tax purposes. Does AW2k have the ability to access all the data from multiple locations or only one? I would like to have a setup where all 3 partners can view sales and/or inventory from the comfort of their own home.
Sorry for my newbie question, but I have been scouring the net for an acceptable program and this one so far seems like it'd be the best to track inventory and sales.
Thank you,
Jim

Jim,

Welcome! You will find AW2K is an incredibly versatile as well as a scalable Auction management software program. Tons of features and power under the hood.

Congratulations on your new partnership.

AW2K supports as many users and consignors as you want to enter in. And can easily track sales etc. However, the program is not web-based but rather resides on your computer. Now I access my network from home or wherever I am as I use webex.com. (doesn't work with Vista right now) And I can work, list, invoice, leave feedback, whatever from my home, motel wherever I am.

AW2K's ability to track Inventory is unsurpassed. You can see where every Inventory Item is committed, how many have sold, etc easily. The reports can be customized in a jillon different manners to provide you and your partners with tons of information.

Does that help?

Judy/blue

Hello Judy, thank you for the quick reply. After my first post, I was looking around a little and discovered that each PC would have to have their own license.

Am I thinking right that even though it is not web based, I can store the data files somewhere and access them from any pc that has a license and access to the data files?

Our partnership entails a sole lister, a sole buyer and then me to do all the web building and record keeping. Ideally, we all need to access the files from our individual pc's.

Do you think this would fit the bill? I plan on trying the trial once we complete our physical inventory.

Thank you so much for any help you may offer.

Jim

Jim,

you understand the licensing correctly. Each PC that has AW2k stored on it must be individually licensed. And AW2K can be networked. I have 8 computers networked. A designated server. All the other computers access the database on the server when AW2K is ran. Staff enters in Inventory Items all day long. The shipping department is sending Total amount due invoices, payment received notifications and shipping notices during the day. Two computers list about half the day. And all are using the same database.

Keep in mind, the network is under one roof. A huge building but networked inside the same building.

Let me see if I can help clear up the accessing issue. When I am at home and need to work on AW2K, I launch my IE browser, log into my pc.now.webex.com account and log into my business network. I can then run AW2K on any available computer at my business. And I do not have to have AW2K installed on the computer at my house to do so. Just the webex.com. As I am in reality working on the desktop at my place of business.

However, if you and your partners wish to all run AW2K on your particular computer, you must purchase a license. But unless you are physically networked together, the database cannot be shared. The database can only be shared in a network environment. Does that make more sense?

Personally, for what you want, AW2K is a perfect fit. AW2K has the capability of adding AW2K generated websites to your existing website. Those contain thumbnail pages and optionally lot pages complete with links back to eBay, Overstock or Yahoo. Your buyers can then go to your corporate website and look through the goodies you have to offer and click through to the actual auction.

AW2K also provides a means of generating thumbnail pages that can be displayed on your corporate website prior to listing. So when the Auction lot is Queued for Listing it is displayed on x page on your website, Then when the auction goes live, it moves to x page on your website. I can tell you that just about as many of my buyers enter my eBay store via a thumbnail page on my corporate website as do in a MSN search. That is according to the web statistics that I have access to.

The Inventory module in AW2K, will be absolutely perfect for tracking all the items you and your partners will acquire. Which was the first feature that attracted me to AW2K. As a liquidator, I must have a method of controlling Inventory and different stocks.

Does that help at all?

Judy/blue

Thank you once again. You are very knowledgable with AW2k and seem to know just what I need. I will be downloading the trial version onto a laptop and will use it for the 60 days to see where it takes us.

The laptop will sort of be a traveling version so we can all see just what it is capable of and then base our decision on our experiences.

Thank you and I'll be talking to you soon :)

Jim,

Excellent! I am glad I have been able to provide adequate information for you and your partners.

I hope to hear from you. If you find you need assistance, please do not hesitate to ask. I will be more than happy to supply whatever help I can.

Judy/blue

So lemme see if I understand this.

IF Jim and his 2 partners all want to work on AW2K _simultaneously_, then here's the configuration: One PC acting as server and at least 2 other PCs (the "partner PC"s) physically on the same LAN (and probably at Jim's house). The partner PCs need high-speed internet access. This is no biggie--they likely can share the same DSL or cable just fine. The partner PCs are left on 24/7. The partner and server PCs each have an AW2K license. AW2K data resides only on the server.

The partners (who are technically "remote") have, (let's say) laptops. The laptops _don't_ have AW2K installed, but they do have browsers, internet connections, and either webex.com or gotomypc.com subscriptions.

The partners' laptops when runnig webex are conceptually no more than keyboards and monitors. Partner Fred hooks up through webex to Fred's partner PC in Jim's house. Fred starts up his AW2K--running on the partner PC, but controlled by Fred from his laptop. Partner George can do the same to "his" partner PC.

Question: If these three aren't hammering their system too much, can Jim use the server for his work, or would it be best if Jim, too, had a "partner PC" client machine and just let the server serve? If Jim needs a separate client machine, then that's another license.

Personally, I don't see complaining about having to get another license. In absolute terms, the license fee is low. When you consider the quality and reliability you get for the fee, I've never seen a better bargain in software. Including freeware.

Ned,

That is the right idea. The partner's laptops or home PC's do not have to have AW2000 installed on them. Just the remote access software. But the computers on the LAN do have to have AW2000 installed and setup using the AW2K network configuration utility.

Just a side note, if your computer is using VISTA Operating system, webex.com won't work yet. They expect to be compatible with VISTA sometime Mid to late April.

My network is setup exactly the same way. I have a server and 7 workstations, all of which have AW2K installed on them. I have webex.com installed on my laptop. Anywhere that I have internet connectivity, I can log onto my company network (as long as the computers are left running) and take control of a computer, run AW2K, load email or anything else I want to do, including doing a backup to the hard drive, maintenance, etc.

Using the server as a workstation can be done. I have done it in the past. But it really taxed the PC acting as the server. I no longer use the server as a workstation. However, when I only had a three machines in this network, it did work okay. I would strongly recommend using a big machine: dual core processor, lots of RAM and a RAID array hard drive configuration for the PC acting as the server. I did not the first time around and it is a wonder the server didn't completely crash as hard as we worked it. Adding the fourth computer was when we noticed the significant drop in performance. By the fifth computer, I had to change, and added the server which is no longer used as a workstation.

Judy/blue