Spotted in eBay’s Community Forum today: ‘Well done eBay, Turbo Lister has crashed yet again…’
Reply from moderator: “It is our most basic program and you can run into issues when a database becomes too large…”
Response from the person facing another system crash prompted by using Turbo Lister, echoed by lots of other eBayers: “Rubbish!”
The truth is that Turbo Lister crashes even if the seller has just two or three products listed in the system.
I know that for a fact because in almost 10 years of trading on eBay, at least five of those years using Turbo Lister and thinking countless crashes were down to my own mistakes, I have given up even contemplating using Turbo Lister again.
That’s because I have had Turbo Lister go AWOL with hundreds of items listed inside the system, as well as with just two or three listings, and until today I really did think the problem was at my end.
But now I know that for a great many eBayers, Turbo Lister is useless and much more of a hindrance than a help.
My personal experience of using Turbo Lister is the reason I upload every single one of thousands of listings every month directly through eBay with- out any helpful or unhelpful software program in tandem.
Read more about Turbo Lister and download it – if you are brave enough – here
I recommend you don’t download Turbo Lister. Instead, try one of several viable alternatives to make uploading and relisting easier and less frustrating than using eBay’s pathetic Turbo Lister program.
These are some of the alternatives:
Selling Manager is a free online tool which eBay says is “designed for medium-volume sellers to help manage and track listings on eBay”. Selling Manager can monitor active listings, generate bulk feedback and emails, and print invoices and delivery labels.
It is very basic, but one of my daughters swears that Selling Manager is much easier to use than Turbo Lister and she has never known Selling Manager to crash or lose data.
eBay Selling Manager Pro – “SMP” for short
The program costs £4.99 a month and works directly through eBay. There is a 30-day free trial period. The program is similar to Selling Manager while offering a number of additional features such as automatic listing and buyer notifications, stock alerts, scheduling. Scheduling is free on SMP but costs 6p per listing through eBay’s “Sell Your Item” form.
SMP’s free listing templates are much more professional looking than designs offered through eBay direct or via Turbo Lister. Using SMP, listings and relistings can be uploaded direct from .csv files. Other features include monthly profit and loss reports, product selling success ratios, and detailed analysis of average selling prices.
File Exchange operates using flat file formats, thus enabling high volume sellers to upload and download bulk listings from a single file on their computer, either from straightforward CSV files or from Excel spreadsheets, MS Access, or other inventory software program. It’s free to use but seems to be a little limited, and I have not encountered many people using File Exchange in preference to other Turbo Lister alternatives listed here. So go take a look and make your own mind up on this one and please let me know what happens if you do.
Offers a monthly package costing a couple of dollars up to $19.95 depending on features. Listing and scheduling is carried out online using WYSIWYG
– What You See Is What You Get – templates and listing and relisting management software. Uploading images to eBay from Auctiva avoids users having to pay for their own image hosting space or having to fork out 12p for second and subsequent images uploaded directly through eBay.
Auctiva provides 1,800 plus eBay templates to make your listings look more professional, and a simple one-page lister helps keep listing time to a minimum.
Additionally, Auctiva has other useful features not available on eBay, such as an attractive image scrolling gallery and hosting space for product images.
Vendio is simple to use and integrates easily into eBay’s system, while also being compatible with Amazon, Facebook, Google and other selling platforms. A basic operating account is free with more detailed functions and features costing from just a few dollars each month.
A simple interface allows users to manage listing and sales for all their chosen marketplaces from one location. There’s a demo video at the site showing how the system operates and giving access to the cost-free basic operating platform.
Like Auctiva, Inkfrog has a very straightforward interface and possesses the main features of Turbo Lister as well as revealing profit and loss from individual listings.
Inkfrog works in cooperation with Terapeak’s research program for eBay users, using a system called “Smart Lister” to upload listings in bulk. Additional features include printed delivery labels, inventory management, bulk editing, automatic customer emails and feedback, live eBay revisions, inventory tracking, and more.
Packages vary according to features offered and range in price from $3.95 to $19.95 per month.
Summary
I’ve searched for problems associated with those alternatives to using Turbo Lister and found nothing worthy of mention. Most I have mentioned today are free of charge or offer a free trial period before charging a low monthly membership fee. So even if you try one, or more, you’re unlikely to risk more than a couple of pounds to finding one that suits you best.
Each has its own devotees although I found very little to help me choose one product over another, and in the end it’s all down to individual preference. So check out the alternatives, take whatever free trials are available and decide for yourself.
Then if in the very remote and incredibly unlikely event you still like Turbo Lister after trying the other options, here’s a forum you can visit to sort out some of the many problems the big T.L. throws at you in future – but don’t hold your breath while you’re waiting for an answer that works!
This article first appeared on Auction Genie. Read more and comment here