r2reviews.com

For some time I have been researching eBay auction watching programs from the seller’s perspective, but hadn’t found anything that met all the requirements at a reasonable price. After much researching I found eBay Auction Watcher. Reading the sales material gave me high expectations, despite the modest price tag.

Unlike some of the products that I researched, eBay Auction Watcher has a professional installer, which was an encouraging start. The program was easy to install and loaded reasonably quickly on my four year old computer, although it is better to be connected to the Internet before loading this tool.

Going against my natural instincts, I read the instructions before using eBay Auction Watcher. These were less helpful than I would have liked, but there is free technical support. I found using the program to be the best way of exploring its many features. it took me a while to appreciate eBay Auction Watcher’s benefits, such as:

• the ability to list the top 100 search terms ranked in order;
• being able to track multiple auctions in real time;
• search against misspelled words;
• find popular search terms;
• find the most popular primary keywords and their secondary keywords, and to
• assess how many bids on average you could expect against your chosen keywords.

A particularly useful feature is the ability to export your search results and to import previously saved search criteria.

To my taste, I found the layout cluttered, some buttons were inconveniently placed and there were some distractions. I preferred the “restore down” view. The data boxes and occasional lack of information gave the impression that eBay Auction Watcher has scope for further development – all suggestions are welcomed.

eBay Auction Watchercan be used with eBay in Australia, Canada, UK and USA, but it can only be used with the USA and one other country of your choice selected at run time, for example USA and Canada. A further restriction is that eBay Auction Watcher can only be used for one country at a time, such as UK or USA. However, these are minor criticisms and for most people they will not detract from its utility. 

Who is it for?

eBay Auction Watcheris an indispensible tool if you are serious about making your eBay business a success – whatever stage it is at. It is of less value to the occasional seller.

What will you get from using eBay Auction Watcher?

eBay Auction Watcher will help you to:

• identify products that are being sought out by buyers;
• identify your niche market;
• identify the keywords most appropriate to the product you are selling;
• ascertain how many bids on average you might expect to receive based on your chosen keywords; and
• monitor your auctions in real time.

Of all its benefits, it is ebay Auction Watcher’s ability to help find an unsatisfied or under serviced market that impressed me the most.

There is not an auction sniper with ebay Auction Watcher but none is needed as the product is for sellers not buyers.

What you will need to use eBay Auction Watcher

A fast Internet connection is essential. Given the paucity of the user instructions, a bit of patience is also required. An hour or so spent familiarising yourself with eBay auction Watcher will be well rewarded and will enable you to make your eBay selling much easier and more profitable.

Should you buy it?

I recommend eBay Action Watcher as an indispensible tool for every serious ebay seller.

My ratings:

Value for money: 4 Stars

Ease of Use: 3 Stars

Overall value: 4 Stars

OK, so ‘ProfitCalc’ may have a few bells and whistles but eBay publish their costs, right? So what, I wondered, is the utility of a product that tells me what I thought already knew?

‘ProfitCalc’ is comprehensive and easy to use and can calculate your profit on ebay.com, ebay.uk, ebay.ca and ebay.au.

By focussing on eBay’s charges and paying insufficient attention to all the other associated costs, some of which are not obvious, many eBay sellers unknowingly sell at a loss. ‘ProfitCalc’ won’t stop you doing that if you choose to sell at below the real cost, but you will know how much you lost and why.

Who is it for?

‘ProfitCalc’ is not for you if already know all of the costs that may be incurred in selling an item on eBay and you are a wizard at setting up spreadsheets and formulae and have the time to do it.

‘ProfitCalc’ is not really aimed at eBay store keepers, but you can modify the formulae to show the charges applicable to eBay stores.

For all other eBay sellers ‘ProfitCalc’ is a must have utility.

What you will gain using from ‘ProfitCalc’

Being a spreadsheet template, ‘ProfitCalc’s strength lies in its ability to let you test different starting bids and pricing/shipping models to give you the lowest cost of sale without losing revenue. Because all of the costs associated with selling on eBay are included, you will be able see your real profit.

It is not limited to that. By asking yourself “what if”, ‘ProfitCalc’ enables you to test different types of:

·         Auction;

·         Listing features;

·         Methods of payment

·         Sales forecasting; and

·         Much more.

There are no right or wrong answers to such questions. Much will depend on what you are selling as well as on other factors. ‘ProfitCalc’ is a powerful tool that will help you find the answers that are most appropriate to you.

You will benefit from using ProfitCalc every time you use it and you will soon recover the modest outlay if you are a frequent seller on eBay. For less frequent sellers it will take longer. 

What you will need to use ‘ProfitCalc’

You will need access to a computer with a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel. If you don’t have a spreadsheet, you can down load a suitable one for free when you buy the product. You need no other expertise than being able to enter data in a cell in the spreadsheet of your choice.

Should you buy it?

The only people for whom purchasing ‘ProfitCalc’ is not a necessity are eBay Store keepers and those sellers who have the inclination, skill, knowledge and time to create their own calculator. For every other eBay seller I recommend it as a must have utility.

My ratings:

Value for money: 4 Stars

Ease of use: 4 Stars

Overall value: 4 Stars