Online tools for the eBay seller
Here are some third-party online tools that can come in handy when trying to sell products on the auction site.
After Amazon experienced some difficulties last week with its selling options in the Amazon Marketplace, it made me wonder if anyone decided to start selling some of their merchandise on eBay. If so, they would join thousands of others who are using the online auction site to make a few extra bucks. If that's your goal, check out some of these services for eBay sellers.
eBay tools
Auctiva Auctiva is a full-featured product that allows you to use a variety of templates and modules to help you sell products more effectively on eBay.
Auctiva is quite powerful. You can create side-scrolling galleries with pictures you upload to the site (you're allowed 1GB of storage), change the color of your listing page, and issue invoices. It won't help you determine if you're selling products that eBay users want, but it will help you easily manage your auctions. Admittedly, Auctiva is for active sellers, but at $9.95 per month for so many nice features, it's an affordable offering.
eBay Market Researcher Terapeek's eBay Market Researcher tool is a fine way to determine how to get the most out of your listing.
After you sign up for the site and choose a membership (it costs $24.95 per month or $197.95 per year), you can immediately start searching through the app's listings of eBay products. When you find the product you're looking to sell, it provides you with information on the item's average bid, how much the average listing makes, and how page design affected profits. The app even provides you with information on which day is best to list the product and end your auction. It's a powerful tool.
HammerTap HammerTap is another eBay market research tool that provides basic information, like the number of active item's listings, how many times a product has sold, and the average sales price of those auctions. One of the app's nicest features is its "will it sell?" offering, which displays a scale, showing the percentage chance of the product selling on eBay.
HammerTap is a useful tool, but beware that it costs $19.95 per month after a 10-day free trial.
ListingTicker ListingTicker is a simple tool that helps you post all your listings on your blog or Web site. The site asks you to input your eBay user ID. It then creates a widget to be placed on your site. It shows all your auctions that will be ending soon. It also provides your site's visitors with a search box in case they want to find something else.
Photoblat Photoblat is a neat utility if you want to save some money on adding photos to your eBay listings. The site allows you to upload photos to the service. From there, you can add those photos to your eBay listings page through tools like eBay's Blackthorne Pro. All the photos are hosted on the Photoblat site. Photoblat charges $3.99 per month for access to its service.
Selling Manager eBay's Selling Manager app is installed into the My eBay section of a seller's listing page. The app allows you to manage all your listings in one place. You can also create customized e-mail templates to send to buyers who won your auction. If the buyer doesn't pay, it automatically relists your item. If you want all these options, you'll be forced to pay $15.99 per month. The free version of the Web-based app will let you create a professional listing and edit your listings in bulk.
Toolhaus Toolhaus is a service that allows you to see the reliability of an eBay user. It lists all the feedback the user has received, including both positive and negative reviews. It's not the most useful app in this roundup, since it basically lists information you'll find on eBay, but it does come in handy when you want to quickly determine if you can trust users.
Vendio Vendio is an online shopping platform. If you want to sell products on your site, it will help you out. But Vendio's real value is in its marketplace tools that help you improve your listings on eBay.
Vendio's listing-creation tool lets you display images, set up promotions, and track all the items that were sold on eBay. The site also tracks customers, displaying their name, the last time they purchased products from you, when they bought those products, and more. Vendio is free to use, but it takes up to 1.95 percent of your sales that are generated through the service.
My top 3
1. Auctiva: with so many options and a relatively affordable price, Auctiva takes the top spot.
2. Vendio: Vendio has some offerings that should appeal to you.
3. ListingTicker: having the option of listing all your eBay auctions is quite convenient.