Be that as it may, at any given time there are likely to be one heck of a lot of people evaluating the software. People who are likely to be considering several alternatives at the same time. People who have probably run auctions for a while, but at the time they run into this problem, are running dozens of simultaneous auctions for the first time, which is why they are looking into this software in the first place. So at the same time they run into this problem, they're just getting used to handling the dozens upon dozens of email messages and all the other errata that come with the territory. When all of a sudden they get some error message that is COMPLETELY IGNORED in the help files and troubleshooting routines, and not only is not the obvious solution offered within a couple of minutes of perusing the main website, but you come to this forum and immediately home into a thread like this one, where over a dozen people are having the same problem with no solution yet evident to any of them...well, that pretty clearly represents a failing in the support mechanism to me.

Yes, the solution is obvious, once you are familiar with the software. Yes, the periodic upgrades are a no-brainer to the initiated. Yes, it's great that they send you an email if you are already a registered user.

But how does that help the poor sap who's just checking the software out and trying to make a decision not just to invest $75 (per computer) in it, but to invest an awful lot of time in getting it up and running?

I'm no idiot, nor a newcomer to the internet or software generally. I downloaded this program a month ago and by yesterday I had decided that yes, I would go ahead and purchase it before the March 1 deadline for perpetual upgrades.

Then this happened. I hadn't been able to get an auction going for almost 48 hours, and I've got a lot of other stuff going on. The last thing I needed to be doing was wasting my time trying to divine what turned out to be the "obvious" solution to a simple problem, but there was no mention of it anywhere in either the help files, the FAQ, or within the first half dozen clicks on the website.

That is not a good way to win customers, to my mind. Nor is it a good way to hang onto them in an environment where you very likely have an awful lot of people for whom eBay is their introduction to using computers to make a living.

And we've already seen a number of companies like this fall by the wayside, haven't we? Companies who not only took people's money, but asked people to invest a significant amount of time in setting up their software, only to be left high and dry and unsupported when eBay or the internet community at large continued to evolve after the company shut down because they couldn't keep their customers happy.

I did go ahead and buy my site licence for Auction Wizard today, but I've got a number of concerns about both its features and the level of support they provide. They're going to have to work a little harder or think a little smarter if they want to keep me off their back.