There's a saying that goes, "Time is money." As an online seller, you know it's true. Your business may start with one listing, but if you have a lot of inventory to post, you could spend hours preparing your offerings. Luckily, Auctiva offers great tools to speed up your eBay listing process.
In fact, quicker listing time is the ideal on which Auctiva was founded. In the mid-1990s, CEO Jeff Schlicht developed a software program to help him create eBay listings faster, because he felt eBay's process took too long. He later began marketing the software, known as Auctiva Poster, to other eBay sellers.
Auctiva Poster cut listing time in half. And though Auctiva has since evolved to a Web-based listing service, the company has remained focused on helping users list their inventory—and list it fast. Here's a closer look at some of Auctiva's time-saving features:
Create your boilerplate
When you talk about Auctiva, one of the first features you have to mention is Profiles. These allow you to save the information you use most often, such as your Seller Details, as well as shipping and refund policy details, so you don't have to type this information over and over again. You can enter it once, save it and choose the appropriate profile from drop-down boxes when you're ready to list. This greatly reduces your workload.
You even have the option of creating auto-relist profiles so you can specify when and how your items should be relisted. No more doing this manually. One less thing to do!
Plus, the Seller Details will make adding "about us" and "contact us" information easy. Remember that buyers want to know who they buy from, as well as where to contact you if they have any questions or concerns, so it's a good idea to always include this information in your listings. Believe us, this will score you a lot of points.
The same, only different
You can further reduce your listing process by creating similar listings so you don't have to start from scratch. Product analyst Rebecca Miller suggests going this route and says it has cut her listing time by 25 percent. That's because when you create a new listing, Auctiva saves that listing and you can create a similar one later.
For example, if you list lots of books, you could use an old listing for one of those books and simply make the appropriate changes (title, subtitle, price, etc.). Odds are your shipping information will remain the same, so you can leave that information untouched. Think of the other tasks you could do with the time you just saved. You could ship orders, shop for new inventory, send out thank you e-mails to your customers or use the time to simply relax with the family.
The one-page lister makes uploading your listings as easy as filling out a form
Easy peasy
The One-page Lister makes uploading your listings as easy as filling out a form. And if you use your saved profiles, you can reduce your listing time even more. You merely have to choose the appropriate information—remember the profiles you made?— from drop-down boxes. There's minimal text you have to enter, which is a life saver if you're in a hurry.
The lister is also self-explanatory; you'll breeze right through it. And if there's anything you're unsure about, clicking the little blue question mark next to the heading will bring up an information box to help you on your way. An added plus is that the lister calculates your eBay fees so you don't have to worry about that either.
Keep in touch
Auctiva's auto e-mail feature allows you to automatically send e-mail to your winning bidders, provide receipts for insurance purchases, confirm consignment listings, announce promotions and more. And they are completely customizable to help you develop a good relationship with your buyers.
Picture this
We may have saved one of Auctiva's best features for last. A photo is worth a thousand words, especially when you sell online. People want to know what they're buying—they don't want any surprises. But have you ever used the same image multiple times, months after you initially listed an item? How about during the holidays? Well, you may not find these images on eBay when you need them later, but you can be sure they'll still be available on Auctiva. That's because the company's eBay image hosting saves your images even after a listing ends. The only time your images will disappear is if you elect to permanently remove them from your deleted images folder.
Uploading photos is as easy as dragging them into the upload box. Images are automatically resized for the best online viewing. And if you want to delete multiple images at one time, try Auctiva's Image Deletion Wizard. It will easily delete old photos in one swoop so they don't clutter your account.
Be sure to take full advantage of these eBay selling tools next time you prepare a listing. After all, who wants to spend more time than they need to listing inventory? We're sure you have other aspects of your business to attend to.
Auctiva staff writers constantly monitor trends and best practices of those selling on eBay and elsewhere online. They attend relevant training seminars and trade shows and regularly discuss the market with PowerSellers and other market experts.
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