| Here's the thing. Auction tools cost money to use. (You can't get good help for free!) So when you decide to utilize a particular auction management service, you automatically increase your business's costs. Before you decide to use a third-party auction tool, you have to ask yourself if it's worth the cost. Can you afford to spend another 25 or 50 cents per item, just to make your life a little easier? That might sound like peanuts ”until you start adding up all your other selling costs. Remember, you have to pay eBay to list each item, then pay another fee when the item is sold. If you accept credit card payment via PayPal, you'll pay another fee when a customer pays via that method. Add all these fees together, and you can easily be out a buck or more on each item you sell ”and that comes right out of your profit. On the other hand, if you're doing a large volume of eBay business, can you afford not to use an auction management tool? Add up all the time you spend creating item listings, sending emails, and handling end-of-auction transactions. Is it worth 25 or 50 cents per transaction to cut that workload in half? An important factor, obviously, is just what operations you can automate with these auction tools. While each site offers a different selection of tools, here are some of the tools you can expect to find at the major third-party auction sites: -
Auction research. Search for other auctions in a particular category, and analyze sales data ”success rate, average sales price, and so on. -
Inventory sourcing. Find wholesale sources for particular types of merchandise. -
Inventory management. Enter and track all the items in your inventory and automatically delete items from inventory as they're sold at auction. -
Image hosting. Host photos for your auctions on the service's Web site and manage those photos in your item listings. "Mike Sez"  | I wouldn't dream of managing my eBay auctions without the use of these auction management tools. If you run a dozen or more auctions a week, you need to subscribe to one of these services ”they're designed to make your auction business easier to run. |
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Gallery. Create a separate photo page of all the items you have for sale, so potential buyers can link to your item listings and browse through all the merchandise you offer. -
Bulk listing creation. Create attractive item listings with predesigned templates, and then list multiple items in bulk. -
End-of-auction email. Automatically send notifications to winning bidders and notify customers when payment is received and items are shipped. -
End-of-auction checkout. Provide a dedicated page that customers can use to verify their purchases and provide shipping and payment information. -
Bulk feedback posting. Automatically post customer feedback in bulk. -
Storefront. Provide other non-auction items for sale on the Web. Not all sites offer all these services. In addition, the level of services offered will also vary ”some sites are more automated than others. Read on to learn more about what's available. |
