mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
For sellers that are still using TurboLister, we are all painfully aware that at some point it will be retired and no longer available for us to use.
With the announcement of TL being retired this month on the UK site, it puts us all on notice here on the US site.
In an effort to prepare and be ready for the demise of TL so that we do not experience any down time for our businesses, I thought it would be a good idea to be a bit proactive and get some advice from experienced users of other programs.
Speaking for myself, some of the important points with TL are [in no particular order]:
1. The ability to work and create listings offline.
2. The ability to store lots of templates.
3. The ability to store 1,000's of old listings for future use.
4. The ability to work with multiple Ebay IDs
5. The ability to pull Ebay listings in and mass edit, then update the listings on Ebay.
I know there are more. But this at least gets the conversation started. For those of you out there using other listing programs, please share your pros and cons. To include pricing if you know that. This thread is intended to help sellers that are currently using TL and need to work our way onto another program BEFORE we are cut off from the program all together.
I think an important part of a new program would be the ability transfer the info we have in TL into the new program chosen to move forward with. So if you know if this is possible, please share.
I look forward to learning more on this subject.
Thank you in advanced for your time and willingness to help.
@castlemagicmemories wrote:General response.
Actually the other thread has not been bumped unnecessarily~that is simply a wrong conclusion but not surprising. It has been appearing with greater frequency as other posters have been responding there. After I have seen it on the first page, I have responded. But in every case, there was a prior post that bumped it to the first page before I responded.
There have been some awesome posts there recently, and the discussion continues. Not surprising. And there is nothing wrong with those people posting there. They have every right to.
Hope this helps.
You are absolutely correct, the other thread you tagged in the beginning of this thread is a very good thread. However it is on the demise or potential demise of TL.
There are great posts on that thread for alternatives, but they are off the topic for the original reason / subject the thread was opened for.
I am not saying that to dismiss the value of what others have shared on that thread regarding alternatives, I'm just saying it is off topic to the subject that the thread was started for, nothing more. The posts on that thread remain very good information to consider.
This thread is just specific to alternatives to TL.
@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:Yes, it's too bad as Bob (@rosachs ) had a lot of info on SixBit which he posted on that other thread and others may not see.
Always happy to share what I've learned - that's how I learned most of it anyway, when someone else shared with me. I try not to learn too much by personal experience... like, I know it's not the fall that kills you, it's the fast stop at the end. Don't need to learn everything firsthand. 🙂
Now that I've found this thread (thank you @myjunqueyourtreasure for tagging me so I could. There are some aspects of the 'social media' stuff that I'm still getting used to. 🙂
-Bob.
@papermoneyforme wrote:
@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:Yes, it's too bad as Bob (@rosachs ) had a lot of info on SixBit which he posted on that other thread and others may not see.
But no scheduling until you pay $40.00/month which Bob left out
Yes, there are some limitations to the introductory version. I've been using the Business version for so long that I haven't really kept track of what each version has or doesn't have. That's why SB maintains a comparison chart -- and btw, the Business version is only $35 a month. There's things I can't do with Business that I could with Enterprise, like Allocation Plans to automatically repost or manage inventory across venues. My version has the features I need today -- when I needed more, I had the income from sales to get it. Today I'm more of a hobbyist (with my personal accounts), but I still need the 5 seller account allowance in Business, so I stay there.
Check out the chart (can't post URLs here, but it's one click away from the SixBit home page) -- click the Pricing link for the breakdown. And remember, you can upgrade or downgrade without losing any data. Just change your version on the SixBit site and restart the application -- and there you go.
-Bob.
PS: you can schedule listings with Home & Hobby -- but they are scheduled using the eBay Scheduler and therefor incur a fee. FREE scheduled listings start with the Small Business version. If you truly need unattended scheduled posting, you probably need more than Home & Hobby anyway. There's economizing and there's restricting growth thru penny-pinching. We each make that call for ourselves.
@go-bad-chicken wrote:Web Retailer has a list of 22 eBay listing tools.
https://www.webretailer.com/categories/ebay-selling.asp?category=19
Do take note that Six Bit, Crazy Lister, Wonder Lister, and Seller Sourcebook appear at the top of this list of 22 ebay listing software developers due to the fact that they are "paid sponsors" of Web Retailer. So like everything else on the internet these days, these four services paid to be at the top of that list. The other eighteen should be given equal consideration.
I hope that this helps with this discussion.
I've used Seller Sourcebook, for about 18mo at a liquidation firm in Memphis. Once you learn it, it's not bad, but if your internet service crashes, you're dead in the water. And being web-based makes it susceptible to web page load speeds and related issues. Plus there's a rather low limit on data retention...unless you're willing to pay more. SixBit using the free MS SQL database with 10GB of storage. It will default to pictures-in-database, but it's pretty easy and quick to move to pictures-outside-database, which shrunk my client's SB database from 9.8GB to just over 1.5GB -- pictures take a LOT of space.
I'm old school -- I want my data stored on my computer so I can back it up when I want to and use it however I want to. SB gives me that. I can create new inventory when I have the time, post them when it's the right time, and know that I'll always know what's running, what's scheduled, and what I have in reserve for the FLD promotions. SB manages those details 24/7, and it's right back on the job as soon as Windows itself boots up (like after a Win10 update!) -- doesn't need me to start anything, it just gets back to work and gets me up to date.
Yeah, I'm something of a SB 'cheerleader'. But the main point has always been -- get automated. Get your computer doing more so you can do more. If you can also use that automation to begin basic branding for your listings via a listing template, so much the better. When I started using Seller's Assistant (2nd major release of what is not SixBit), I started using more of the built-in functions to eliminate paper/spreadsheets I had been using. And the time I saved, if paid at minimum wage, amounted to several times the flat monthly fee I was paying for the software that saved me all that time. SAPro was paying for itself AND saving me money! Just eliminating eBay's fee on scheduled postings was huge!! If you're using eBay's scheduled posting feature, and paying 10cents each for the service, it only takes 350 listings a month schedule thru SixBit Small Biz version to totally negate the SB fee -- what you save not having to pay eBay for scheduled postings will cover your SixBit fee.
One feature I don't use personally is the built in shipping interface. Prior to SixBit, I always used FedEx's free software for their labels, and PayPal's labels for USPS shipping. When SixBit added shipping, I was no longer using FedEx or USPS beyond simple first class letter. It's there, and support for a lot of stamp & label formats and printers -- I just don't use it. But I bet if you check the SixBit discussion boards, you can find someone who can answer your questions.
Check out as many applications as you can tolerate -- I looked at a great many before deciding to go with Auction Assistant Pro. I wanted something that made sense to the way I managed my eBay activities (I was even developing a system using the development software I used for work) -- it had to basically fit me well enough that I could work out the irritating parts. Only SixBit did that -- Seller Sourcebook was better that most, but not a good as SixBit.
-Bob.
PS: if you really grow, and you really want to keep your historical data forever, you can purchase a more robust version of SQL from Microsoft and move your SB database there. The free version that SB installs for you at initial setup is just that - a free starter version with a very generous limit for the price. When you truly outgrow it, you're ready for a more robust SQL as well. 🙂
@dollybeauty wrote:@Anonymous
FileExchange will not download/export all of the info in your listings.
Does not export description, item specifics, business policies or payment/return/shipping options.
FileExchange will not perform the backup functions you are requesting.
SixBit will import any new listings (with photos) for any sellerID that it is monitoring, and track bids, questions, sales, invoices, shipping, and some reporting automatically, regardless of how the listings was placed on eBay. You could not post a single thing from SB and it would still have everything. You might not be able to get the best out of that data, since some binding information would not be present (things like the shipping template used -- all imported listings would be set to Manual and be considered unique).
And SixBit will make daily backups of it's database and optionally the pictures automatically (you can set the time slot), and will keep one daily backup aside from each of several weeks. Giving you 7 days of daily backups and some number of once-weekly backups for deeper historical reference. You control where on your system these backups are stored. Your data, your backup, your control. And yes, you can make on-demand backups whenever you wish -- custom name the files or just use the default Manual.Backup.###
-Bob.
