Q&A: What software should I use for selling books on eBay?

QUESTION: I sell books primarily on eBay, listing books worth more than $10 in my Store. For less valuable books, I auction them for two seven-day periods, then the unsold books go into the store. When there is a promotion, I put almost all the expensive books on "live."

Each book is scanned and "written" up through eBay's Seller Assistant Pro software. I also list about 400 of my more expensive books on Amazon. This is very time-consuming, and Sellers Assistant Pro is being retired by eBay, which is going to require lots of relearning.

Is there a better way? eBay's ISBN listings are erratic, and many titles miss pertinent keywords. But eBay still provides a great venue for sales -- many times I'm the only seller with a certain title listed.

ANSWER: You can also use eBay's TurboLister software to list auctions, fixed-price core listings, and Store items. After you input an ISBN, TurboLister also allows you to change the book title, just in case you want to add a keyword or ensure the author name isn't cut off.

TurboLister allows you to quickly relist any group of auctions (or fixed-price listings) with the click of one button. You just highlight the ones you want to relist.

TurboLister is free, but it does have its idiosyncrasies. If you need more automation, you might want to look at the new version of eBay's Blackthorne software, which is supposed to improve the migration from Seller's Assistant.

Another option is considering third-party software that would enable you to automate your inventory management on eBay, Amazon, and the other major bookselling sites. These services manage your listings and delete the ones that sell, so you don't sell the same book twice. Here's a list of these tools hosted by eBay.

Of course these services will cost you a monthly fee and sometimes a percentage of your sales. But if it gets you a lot more cashflow it might be worth it.