Buying and Selling on eBay: Tips, Tricks, Problems & Questions - Page 147

Really a game-changer. I forgot to follow up on it, but I bought the app a few weeks ago and its great. I'm still learning about it and haven't figured a number of things out (do you just duplicate templates and delete them when they're no longer relevant?), but it's definitely cut my work down quite a bit. I need to use a different template though or change the dimensions in the coding, as mine requires the user to scroll left and right...not good.

Overall, it's a great app!

I've only been using it a short time and I have lots of things to learn. If you're interested in trying it before you buy it, you can download a free copy of it at their website that allows you to do it with a few listings.

First of all, I was offered two different versions on the App Store. I chose the more expensive one as it offered things I thought I'd use. I believe, though I may be incorrect, that the cheaper version does not allow you to set times for listings to begin.

The basic premise of the app is to allow you to create templates for your auctions. You give some basic information about your ebay account and allow it to import said information. Then, you create listings within the app and can upload them to ebay. I'm still unsure how to best utilize the app, but I've basically created a template for each of the categories that I regularly list (i.e. shoes, shirts, suits, etc.)

I then duplicate that template and fill it in for the listing. I basically have master copies of everything and then simply alter the description, measurements, pictures, etc. Again, I'm not sure if that's the best way, I'd love to hear from more experiences members if I'm complicating my work.

When you begin, you choose from a number of pre-made templates that offer different layouts of the photos and information. You can make some changes to the template I believe, though I pretty much leave it as is and fill it in with my information.

Once you're finished, you can immediately post the listing or set it as an "event," meaning that they'll upload it for you on the date/time that you request. If you go this route (and with the more expensive version of the app), you'll be able to circumvent ebay's scheduled listing fee.

That's the simple explanation of how it works.

A few notes:

All of the same options that are available in manually listing something on ebay are available. For example: Buy it now, shipping restrictions, etc.

You can upload to any of the ebay sites, not only ebay.com. I upload mine to ebay.at/de and that was obviously crucial for me. The designers are actually German, so it worked out for me. If you choose to upload it to another site (for example ebay.fr), the language and options change. I haven't tried it with ebay.com, but I'm fairly sure you guys have different options available to you than I.

You can view/edit the HTML coding within GarageSale or through ebay (after it's uploaded). It's probably helpful/useful if you know something about coding. If you don't, you don't have to mess with it and you can use a visual layout. The coding is done for you in the background.

If there is a problem with your listing or information is left out, you'll get a detailed error message upon attempting to upload it. For example, if you don't have your handling time selected, it will prompt you. If you're trying to sell something often counterfeited, it will direct you to ebay's warning page.

You can see the number of views and watchers within GarageSale by clicking on your current auctions.

Overall, it is a great tool. It's much easier to have templates saved that has shipping costs and country restrictions in place. I don't know if it's useful for people that only sell something every once in awhile. For those, I'd recommend simply saving templates within ebay and editing them.

The best feature for me is the ability to create listings all week and have them set to start at a certain time. I'm sure another big plus is the ability to embed a number of photos within the listing. Currently, my dimensions are off on my template, forcing the viewer to scroll left to right to see the photos. I haven't bothered to fix it as the same photos are seen in the photo area of ebay's listing.

Anyway, we'll see if anyone else chimes in with information. I apologize is that was a terribly simple explanation!

I'm using the desktop version purchased through the app store. I'm simply taking photos from iPhoto and dropping them into the listing template. I've recently encountered the problem where they no longer drag and drop. Instead, I have to go through the option of adding an iPhoto image through the menu. Not sure what happened with that.

I'm sure the template is the problem. I would imagine the dimensions are set to be too wide and then my photos on the right don't appear unless you scroll over to them. I'll have a look at what is up with the setup and maybe figure it out from there.

That's a good idea to have some sort of chart in the listing. I know most people do that, but I've never gone about doing it. I am listing more and more each month, so some of my previous methods are proving to be tedious when dealing with a larger number of listings. I'm certainly not doing hundreds of listings a month or anything, but I'm doing about twice as many as last autumn.

I also sometimes like when listings have a diagram of how they take their measurements. It makes it a bit clear to see how they come up with their numbers. I doubt I'll do that as I usually try to explain what I mean by "shoulders" or "arm length."