Blackthorne Software Discussion Forum: Seller's Assistant Release: Just a Thought......

By glenda Perry (angel46) on Wednesday, February 07, 2001 - 05:24 pm:

Why can't we demand a refund on our original purchase of said software since they have gone back on THEIR promises??? So far ebay doesn't charge for Mister Lister, why don't we just take the formula for our auctions and use it on that? There are a lot of FREE sites for graphics, etc. Just a thought....

By Mark Cross (markcross) on Wednesday, February 07, 2001 - 09:57 pm:

Hi, John. I never have posted to a board like this before. I have always been a lurker. Because of the controversy the new software has generated, I wanted to share with you my experiences with your product. I bought Auction Assistant when it first came out. I think it was 50 bucks or something like that. It was an easy way to use HTML and spruce up your auctions. The bells and whistles were great. The themes were easy to use. It made everything look a little more professional. My sales increased and I made a little bit more money. It was worth it. I became a loyal customer.

I was excited when you were getting ready to release Auction Assistant Pro. I had been reading about the upgrades and I was one of the first people to purchase AAPro. It took me a little time to convert over and figure out how to use it, but it was worth it. It made our operation a lot more professional. It also freed up our resources, especially when it came to listing. There were some bugs, most of which were easily correctable and attributable to operator error.

Prior to AAPro, sometimes we would have three computers with three employees going at the same time for many hours just to list our auctions. It saved a lot of time with email and auction management. With AAPro, we eliminated about 50 man-hours a week. 50 x 52 = 2600 man hours x $9.00 per hour = $23,400. What a savings! We were able to have our employees write descriptions and take photos rather than management and listing. We were able to substantially increase our business and add more profits to the bottom line.

I really do appreciate all the online help I have received in the past. You have a lady by the name of Mary that works support. She has helped me several times. She is one of your best. I think you have developed a wonderful product. We have used your product and have made and saved many dollars.

I was a little unhappy when you sold out to eBay, because I knew that we would never get the full support for other auction sites, but you could always copy and paste the HTML. However I was extremely happy for you and your family. I think it is great that we live in a country such as ours where you can have an idea, work hard and ultimately see that idea come to fruition. You have helped a lot of sellers save and make a lot of money and you deserve to be a millionaire many times over.

I strongly object to all the negativity on this board. EBay's pricing increases are nominal. A nickel raise in the listing fees on the small end is not very much. A surcharge for 10-day auctions is not unreasonable. If a nickel is going to make a difference in listing an item then your profit margin is too small and you do not need to list that item in the first place. It only clutters up the site. By encouraging more people to run shorter auctions, you have fewer auctions on at any given time so you increase site stability. This will also mean more money to me as a seller because there will be fewer live auctions. These new fees on eBay are welcome.

As far as your new pricing structure, I have no problem with it. With just the automatic input of auction numbers, I will save money every month because I do not have to pay an employee to enter the numbers. Even with your monthly fee I will come out ahead on this feature alone. Since it will support other eBay features all the better. I think I actually prefer doing business with an eBay company because I feel that AAPro will probably get upgraded whenever eBay makes a change so AAPro will be current before any other company's software.

The only thing constant about doing business on the internet is change. Change happens quickly and if you do not change, you fall behind, your bottom line suffers, and you are out of business. I support your changes and will still be a loyal customer. Thanks again, John, for a great product and great support. I hope you are able to continually upgrade your software. You have made and saved us many dollars. Keep up the good work!

By Glen Turner (gturner) on Wednesday, February 07, 2001 - 11:06 pm:

I agree completely I have been able to do more auctions and make more money using your wonderful software. I just hope that the really great customer service stays the same. I am a PowerSeller and I really have no complaints about eBay either I have always gotten great customer service from them. I guess what I am trying to say is that I will be using this great software for a long time. I would also like to say thank you John when I lost my job of 17 years I was able to make a living on eBay with the mainly because of your software.