154. Manage Multiple Listings with Seller's Assistant BEFORE YOU BEGIN 124 About Selling on eBay
SEE ALSO 145 Track Your Auction
The Turbo Lister software described in 153 Create Multiple Listings with Turbo Lister does a good job if you're interested in creating auctions in bulk. But it doesn't offer tools for managing customer emails and tracking sales information. For that, you can use eBay's Seller's Assistant . It costs $9.99 per monthand $15.99 per month for the professional versionso you should subscribe only if you're making a reasonable amount of money by selling on eBay. The Seller's Assistant Pro version is the same as the basic version but offers a variety of tools for handling high-volume sales and bulk listings. In these steps, you learn how to use the basic version because that's what most people will use. The Pro version works the same except for additional features. For both versions, you download software to your PC and manage your auctions using that desktop software. In that way, it's similar to Turbo Lister . You use the Selling Manager software, described in 155 Manage Bulk Listings with Selling Manager , over the Web rather than from software downloaded to your computer's hard disk. 154. Manage Multiple Listings with Seller's Assistant
| 1. | Sign Up for Seller's Assistant and Install the Software Go to http://pages.ebay.com/sellers_assistant and click the Subscribe Now! link. Two links appear at the bottom of the pageone for the basic version and one for the Pro versionso be sure you click the right one. TIP You can try either version of Seller's Assistant for free for 30 days, so if you give it a try and decide not to use it, you won't be out any money. Just be sure to let eBay know you don't want to use it before the end of the trial period. You get an email at the end of the free trial period reminding you that you're about to have to pay for the service, so that's a good time to unsubscribe. After you accept the eBay agreement, you are brought to a page where you can download the software. Download it by clicking the download link. Remember where you save the file on your hard disk, find the file, double-click it, and follow the installation instructions. After you install Seller's Assistant , run it by double-clicking its Desktop icon. The first time you use the software, you have to type your eBay user ID and password and click the Subscribe button to start using the program. After you subscribe, it takes some time for the program to download all the latest categories from eBay. Even if you have a high-speed connection such as a cable modem, it can take more than 10 or 15 minutes to download all the various components . On a dial-up connection, it takes even longer. | | 2. | Configure Your Information
You are asked a series of questions, including your location, how you'll accept payment, who pays for shipping costs, and similar questions required to create auctions. After you're finished, click Finish and then click Done .
| | 3. | Create an Auction Listing
Create a new auction listing by clicking the large + button in the upper-right portion of the screen. Fill in all the information about the auction, including title, description, type of auction, cost, shipping price, and similar information. Add pictures by clicking the browse buttons in the Pictures area at the bottom of the page.
| | 4. | Create an Auction Template One of the more powerful features of Seller's Assistant is its capability to create templates you can automatically apply to all your auctions. A template includes fonts and colors that are applied to your text, as well as the payment options you want included on all your auctions. Click the Listing Template Studio button and create your template. When you're done, click OK . TIP To use the template you've created with any auction listing, select a template for that auction from the Listing Template drop-down list. | | 5. | Submit Your Listings Click the Submit button and you see a preview of your listing, including all its information such as price, duration, and location. When you're satisfied with the listing, click on Submit Current to submit only the current auction. If you want to see all your listings that have yet to be submitted, click the Multiview tab, which shows you all your listings. Click Submit All to submit all your auction listings. TIP Seller's Assistant includes many more tools, such as a spell checker and a way to search through all your auctions. Use the toolbar at the top of the screen to access many of the program's selling tools. You can also use the Tools menu to access other tools, such as a calculator and calendar. | | 6. | Manage Your Auctions
The power of Seller's Assistant comes into play after your auctions are complete and uploaded. You are able to automatically notify buyers that they've won, follow up with payment reminders, track all your payments, send shipping notifications and thank-you notes, and leave feedback. To use these tools, click the Post-listing Processing button.
When you click the button, the Post-listing Processing screen appears; this screen includes a series of buttons, each of which helps with a different post-auction activity. Clicking one button sends a notice to the high bidder that she is the winner; clicking another button notifies the buyer that you've received her payment; another button notifies the buyer that you've shipped the item; another button lets you leave feedback about the buyer; and another button lets you view feedback about a buyer. Additionally, the main part of the screen shows you details about the auction, such as its selling price, when you contacted the buyer, when you received payment, when you shipped the item, and so on. There is no direct link to PayPal, so Seller's Assistant does not automatically gather information about PayPal payments.
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