I Thought Selling On eBay Was Simple, Easy, and Quick. 

(or: Why You Shouldn't Believe Everything You See On TV or Read In The Paper)

Listing on eBay is easy. Yep... but listing is not selling, and selling is not so easy. Just as children learn to walk and then to run, it still takes training and dedication to become a marathon runner. So too just about anyone can get a listing posted on eBay, but it takes education and discipline to consistently sell, and to sell at a profit.

One thing that separates the casual seller from the serious seller is their ToolBox. You don't have to spend a lot of money (unless you prefer to), and you won't have to spend hours poring over a dry, dull operators manual... but you will need to invest some time and intelligence to learn which tools are best for you.

I'm going to show you the tools I use. Some of these I've been working with since 1999, some are fairly new. My preference is for FREE tools, but I chose to use what works best for me - and cost is only part of the overall picture.

There are free and for-fee selections in just about every category I'll be talking about, so feel free to look around and decide for yourself.

If you like my tools, great! If not, that's cool too! Tools are personal objects - you have to be comfortable with the ones you use, or you won't use them and their value then is seriously impacted.

DISCLAIMER: To date, I have received no funding from any of the services or companies mentioned for promoting their products. Not that I wouldn't like to, but that's never been a part of my criteria for selecting and using a tool. So just in case y'all think I'm getting a kickback for sending business, I'm not. I just happen to like what I use and think you might too.

(PS: to any of the companies mentioned, I'm always appreciative of those aforementioned freebies!)

Blackthorne Pro -- Auction Management and Listing Tool 

(or: How I Get So Much Posted In So Little Time While Watching TV)

Your listing tool is going to become your right hand, arm, shoulder, and possibly both legs. The right tool can make posting listings to eBay a snap... the wrong tool will have you cussing up a blue streak that would make a sailor blush and a trucker stand in awe. I've found my tool... so let me tell you a bit about it. I found it back in '99, when I first decided I wanted to get serious about my eBay sales activity, and realized that I needed something to manage my inventory, track my listings, handle my sales, and keep up with a lot of the paperwork and emails required. Enter Blackthorne Software...

Blackthorne Pro (BTPro) is eBay's premiere desktop auction management application. It's a for-fee product, but it's a flat monthly fee regardless of how much you use it. And for larger sellers (or sellers who plan to get larger), it is networkable, can be installed on multiple computers in your office, and can process listings for up to 5 eBay seller IDs. All of which makes it a very viable selection for sellers on the grow!

But Bob, I hear Blackthorne is hard to learn! Ever learn to ride a bike? Ice skate? Ski? Swim? I find all of those to be 'hard to learn' as well, yet that doesn't stop literally millions of people from enjoying those activities daily.

BTPro does have a learning curve - but the return for your patience is a tool that will grow with you and save you hours of time each day. You learned how to walk as a child... you can learn to use BTPro as an adult. :)

Update!! The good folks at Blackthorne Software have heard your pleas! There is a version in beta testing now (06/2008) that can best be described as 'scalable'. Answer a few questions and the tool will scale back some of the advanced features, leaving you with a tool that's easier to learn. When your comfort level improves, you can easily return the advanced featues -- when you are ready for them -- without adverse effect. One program, multiple levels of user comfort. Sweet!!

But BTPro is expensive! And I have to pay for it every month! Do you have cable or satellite TV? Cell phone or landline phone service? Electricity? City water and sewer? Do you pay for those just one time? Consider the cost of BTPro on a per listing or per sale basis - for me, with some 1000 listings and relistings a month and 300-350+ sales a month, the cost per listing is just over 3 cents per listing, or 10 cents per sale. One feature, BTPro's built in scheduled posting, saves me 10 cents per listing, or $100.00+ a month -- noticeably more than the cost of BTPro. Sometimes you have to look beyond the flat fee and put a value on the time saved.

But BTPro has all these bugs - just look at the eBay discussion board! Do you judge Sears by listening only to the complaints at the service desk, ignoring the millions of satisfied customers who never need to stop by the service desk? It's the same thing with the eBay discussion board -- it's where people go to get help or complain... so that's mostly what you are going to hear there. Look a little closer -- actual BTPro users are answering those questions and helping with the complaints. And to me, support from people who REALLY use the product is better than a help desk with canned messages and per-hour script readers any day. :)

For those who find the eBay discussion boards a bit to 'raw' for their tastes, Blackthorne does host their own discussion board, open to all by invitation. Which means anyone can join the discussions, but get too unruly, and your invitation will be revoked, as will your access.

Where Can I Get Blackthorne? 

eBay: Seller Tools: All-In-One

eBay Seller Tools > All-in-One Seller Solutions:

Blackthorne (formerly Seller's Assistant) enables you to list and manage your sales from your PC. Available in Basic (fewer options) and Pro (all the bells and whistles, when you want them), this tool is by far my favorite and the one I use the most!

The Blackthorne-hosted User Discussion Boards

The Blackthorne User Discussion Boards are hosted by the developers and are open to all Blackthorne users and interested parties. This is truly where users help users every day!

Why I Started And Stayed With Blackthorne Pro 

(or: Just Tell Me The Good Stuff!)

• BTPro saves me time! This is perhaps the biggest reason to use ANY automation, and for me it's number one. I wanted, and I got, software that does all the boring stuff that I hate (like tracking payments) and leaves me the good stuff (like designing ad templates). And the time it saves me is significant! I've gone from listing just a few dozen items a week to listing 25-35 items a day, every day, 7 days a week. Without my BTPro, I'd never be able to efficiently handle all the paperwork associated with my selling activity.
• Consistency. BTPro's Ad Templates allow me to ensure that all my listings are consistent - that they contain the same information without me having to add it over and over again. And it's easy now to create these Ad Templates - even an HTML beginner like myself can make some great looking listings!
• Communications. By automating a lot of my standard email contacts, I can ensure that my bidders and buyers receive the best information quickly. BTPro's ability to pull information from the Item, Listing, or Sales records means I can include information focused on my message, without having to flip back and forth looking for it. And this is all set up in Email Templates - so I don't have to type and type again.
• Ease of Use. I know, BTPro has quite the reputation for having a "learning curve", but I personally didn't find it that big of a deal. Once you get a few key concepts, the rest falls into place as it should.
  
  Once I had my basics in place, creating a new Item record for a new piece of merchandise is easy! And because of that, I can spend more time writing better descriptions instead of trying to get things to 'look right'. I can focus on where the money is instead of fussing with html code, getting pictures to show up, etc.
• An open Access or SQL database - your choice. This may not mean much to a lot of people, but it means that I can use Excel to pull out data I need for reporting to my clients. I'm not tied to reports defined in BTPro - I can create my own the way I want them. My client settlement processing, which used to take the better part of a day, can now be finished in minutes. That's what automation is all about -- making things easier, and faster!
  
  And for users with larger databases or more robust database needs, simply tell BTPro that you prefer the SQL database option instead of Access. Your data is converted and you're ready to roll! It's actually a little more complicated than that, but SQL folks will have little troubles.
• Fully- and Semi-automatic processing. Some things are fully automatic - like updating Listing information with current eBay data. Other things are semi automatic - meaning BTPro helps me define what needs to be done, but I still make the final call on the details. Like sending feedback -- BTPro shows me when I've received positive feedback from a buyer... and also the stats of the Sale, so I can make sure the buyer has actually paid and been shipped their purchase! I'm in control, with BTPro doing the grunt work when I say so.
  
  Another nice automated feature -- fully automatic updates to running listings! If I change something in one of my listing templates, BTPro will ask me if I care to update all running listings using that template (BT-scheduled listings will automatically use the updated template when they are posted). If I say yes, BTPro does all the updates for me -- all I need to is watch the counter click over... or go watch some TV. Sweet!
• An Active and Sharing User Community. It was other users who helped get me 'over the hump' when I first starting using this software in '99... and that tradition of users helping users continues to this day. And while I may not be as active in supporting others as I once was, a whole new generation has stepped up, moved in, and is getting the job done. Sounds corny, but that's what 'community' really means. And wouldn't you rather get help from someone who actually uses the software like you do, and not someone reading from a script and only listening for keywords to bring up the next screen? I know I prefer advice from real user... :)
• Unattended, Automatic Posting of my scheduled Listings This feature alones saves me 3x the monthly fee! And it allows me to spend my time the way I want to spend it! My prime posting is 6-8pm Central time, which is also prime family time. BTPro's automated posting means I can schedule my listings to be posted when I want them to, then just walk away, leaving BTPro running with a live internet connection and it will take care of posting at the proper time(s).
  
  Of course, I can also do immediate posting of my newly created Listings, or I can request they be scheduled thru eBay -- BTPro lets me decide. I like that.

Talk, Talk, Talk - The eBay Discussion Boards Are All Talk! 

(or: Member Helping Member - The Way The Web Once Was)

eBay has a large collection of online discussion boards - where any member can go to ask questions, express an opinion, or just share a tale with friends. These boards can become valuable resources -- consider that the members posting are doing the same thing you want to do - buy and sell on eBay. Who better to learn the ropes from?

My current favorite board is the Building an eBay Business board. There's a great collection of intelligent folks, some full time sellers, some part time sellers, some new to eBay, some long-time members, some with little business background, some with extensive backgrounds. One thing we all have in common? Humor and a desire to do better. OK, that's two things, but they go together very well.

There are many boards to choose from - I'd recommend doing a lot more reading than posting at first. Why? Because, unfortunately, some boards can become cliquish, just like high school, and we all remember how much fun it can be to be the new kid in school. So do some reading first and find out if the board is one you fit in with.

And who knows - you may even find that your questions have all be discussed before! Every board has a Search function - so that you can search for keywords and find discussions on topics of interest. Spending a bit of time reading is like spending a bit of time wandering around the neighborhood before you decide if you should buy a house. It's a great way to get a feel for the place, and you never know what 'jewels' you might find doing so!

mPire Researcher 

(or: Just The Historical Facts, Ma'am!)

Being able to research eBay selling history means being able to find the best days and times to post your items, the best features to use, and the best keywords to include.

mPire Researcher is a free tool to do just that, and more. It will help you find your market and focus on reaching them. It does the tedious work of filtering thru all those Listings... you get to do the 'fun' work of deciding how to best use the results. And for the money, I find it hard to beat!

Google 

(or: It's More Than Just The Newest Verb)

Any search engine will do, but I prefer Google and we're looking in my toolbox, so this is the one I'm going to mention.

When writing your ad for your item, you need to give some details. Details that can sometimes be hard to find.. like material content. Google can help. And with time you'll get good at focusing Google's results to be more what you need and less of what you don't need.

You don't want to out-and-out copy someone else's ad text - that's a copyright violation and just not nice. But you can collect information from a variety of sites (similar to reading a number of newspaper or magazine articles or {gasp} books and taking notes) and then write your own ad copy.

If you're blessed like me, your client will provide you with professionally written ad copy. This can be both good and bad -- good in that it can save time, but bad in that if it looks too 'slick', it can drive off business.

Proceed with caution!

Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 

(or: Great Images Make For Great Sales!)

If you want to sell on eBay, you have to have good images. Clear, focused, minimal background distractions, and small in bytes but large in content.

To do this, I use a Kodak camera and Adobe Photoshop Elements v2.0. Elements is a subset of the full Photoshop product, offered by Adobe, for those of us who want/need some of the features offered, but whose budgets simply cannot afford the full blown product. This tool allows me to take the best images my camera offers, using minimal compression in the camera (compression introduces image quality loss). Since I'm shooting such a large image, I can also take the shot from a slightly increased distance, minimizing camera shake (extreme closeups are best done with a tripod and remote shutter switch) and giving me 'space' around my product for later cropping.

Once the image is offloaded from the camera to my PC, Elements is used to:

- Crop The Image. This is done to remove as much distracting background as possible. I also use a plain, neutral colored backdrop for the same reason. I want all eyes focused on my product, not trying to read something in the background!

- Adjust Flash or Color. Let's face it - some images come out a bit darker than we'd like. While I don't recommend flash-fill or color adjustments for all images, sometimes these features are needed to bring a less-than-great image back into line with the actual product.

- Resizing The Image. I was my images to be of a certain size, designed to fit best into my template.

- "Save For Web". This feature reduces the saved size of my images, making them download faster. This is especially important if your bidders/buyers have slower DSL or dial-up network connections.

Listing Template Assistance 

(or: HTML Is Not A Foreign Language, But A Little Help Goes A Long Way!)

eBay Stores - Good For Sales, Good For Buyers. 

(or: Long Term Inventory Can Mean Greater Selection From A Single Seller)

• Ease of Setup. It's relatively easy to open a basic eBay Store. You'll need to settle on a Store Name, define a few categories, and that's about it. As things go along, you'll want to add to and update your Store, but to get started, just the basics will do quite nicely.
• Incremental Sales The Easy Way. Once a buyer has made the decision to buy from you, it's easier to sell them additional items. That's where your Store comes in -- offering all your Listings in one place, with categories for browsing and Search capabilities to boot! You've just got to lead your buyer to your Store, which leads us to...
• Marketing Your Store. Unlike most internet marketing, basic marketing for your eBay Store happens within your eBay Listings. In your Store setup is a checkbox to activate the Store Header - an add-on header bar that eBay will add to ALL your listings, letting your buyers know you have a Store. You can also include links within your Listing to direct your shoppers to additional selections within your Store. Just be careful of 'keyword spamming' rules and other eBay restrictions.
• Low Cost, Long Term Exposure. If you are marketing your Store properly in your Listings, your Store becomes a great place to keep your slower moving items, your off-season items, or just additional inventory for auction items. The lower listing fees mean that keeping a Listing running for 2, 3, or even 6 months is still cheaper than 7 days at auction. That lower listing fee is balanced by a higher Final Value Fee, however, so don't go too crazy when stocking your Store.

A Few Other Suggestions 

(or: More Stuff I Use On A Regular Basis)

There are a few other tools in the old toolbox, tools not specifically for eBay, but that I wouldn't want to be without:

- AVG AntiVirus. Everyone should have, and USE, anti-virus software. Preferrably one that will update itself, has an active developer, and that you are comfortable with. I like AVG, and the price was right: $FREE$

- Mozilla Thunderbird email and FireFox browser. More freebies, but they get the job done without a lot of fuss or setup.

- Ad-Aware and SpyBot Search-n-Destroy. Both are great for cleaning out the gunk that can slow you down. AdAware lets you clean up all the tracking software, and SpyBot goes after the nastier stuff. Both are recommended.

Talk To Me! 

I'm always looking for comments....