Snipesoft Blog

Update on Easy Lister release

First of all we’d like to thank everyone who has expressed interest in Easy Lister. It’s great to know we’re creating something that people seem to really want!

However, a little more patience is required as we may be delayed a couple of weeks longer than we expected. This is due to some custom development work for a new OMINS client of ours (who you’ll be seeing a lot more of on TradeMe in the near future!)

Just thought we’d keep everyone in the loop.

Posted in Easy Lister, General, Snipesoft | No Comments »

Meet the new kid in town - Easy Lister

Snipesoft has always been focused on one thing - online e-commerce. Our flagship product, OMINS, is a fantastic example of this; it is the most advanced, fully featured solution available for the New Zealand online marketplace.

However, we understand that not everyone wants the power that a complete system like OMINS brings. Some people want something a bit simpler, easier and more affordable. Something that stays out of their way and just helps them get the job done without complicating things further.

That’s where Easy Lister comes in!

What is Easy Lister?

Easy Lister is a simple & affordable web-based listing tool designed for small-to-medium sellers of TradeMe. Our focus is simplicity and ease of use - not complicated features.

What does it do?

Easy Lister can help you automate the entire listing and relisting process on TradeMe. We strive to streamline the hard part, so you can focus on the selling!

Some of the features Easy Lister offers:

• Automatic listing and relisting of products
• Full support for automatic fixed price offers
• Easily specify when you want your products to list without having to play around with Windows Task Manager or changing advanced system settings
• Simple stock control - set and forget
• Support for any operating system that has a browser, including Windows, Mac OSX and Linux!
• The ability to turn your computer off and let our service to the work for you
• Simple, easy to use and affordable! We consider this the biggest feature of all

I already have another listing tool, why should I use Easy Lister?

Good question! We created Easy Lister because we felt the current solutions were somewhat lacking. We found they often made the listing process more complicated instead of simplifying it!

Additionally, some of them are missing what we would consider essential features, such as support for fixed-price offers and the ability to upload more than 3 photos on an auction.

Finally, being desktop based, they have some serious disadvantages which only web-based software can solve. For example, one major benefit is that you can now turn off your computer when you’re done setting up your products, and not worry about your computer crashing or your internet connection going down right when your listings were supposed to start.

Should I use OMINS or Easy Lister?

Both OMINS and Easy Lister help you automate the TradeMe process, however there are some major differences.

OMINS is designed for larger sellers, and contains many advanced features that help increase profit and grow your business. Easy Lister on the other hand is designed for the smaller sellers or those who are just starting out and want help with the repetitious, boring stuff.

How much does it cost?

While we’re in beta, Easy Lister will be completely, 100% free.

Once Easy Lister is our of beta, we may offer a paid version for professional users, but there will always be a very generous free version available. Additionally, we guarantee to be the best value for money listing tool available in New Zealand.

Where can I get it?

Easy Lister is currently in development, but we hope to have a beta version out within the next week or so. If you are interested in beta testing Easy Lister, please email us and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s available.

Also keep an eye out on the website: www.easylister.co.nz for more information in the near future.

Posted in Easy Lister, General, Snipesoft, TradeMe | No Comments »

OMINS just went 64-bit!

At Snipesoft, we love to make use of cutting-edge technology to make our products better. That’s why we develop for the web, and why we use world-class open-source technology.

This is why we’re happy to announce that we have now upgraded our infrastructure to 64 bit, allowing us to take advantage of the newest server technology and keep up with the growing demand.

What this means for you, the OMINS customer, is that you will continue to receive the same high-speed access to your system, and indeed should notice a speed increase on the heavier features such as advanced reporting.

It also means you can feel good knowing you’re trading on the cutting-edge. Quite an exciting place to be, we think.

Posted in General, OMINS, Snipesoft, Upgrade | 2 Comments »

TradeMe photo upgrade

By now, most of you will have noticed a change in the way photos are displayed on your auctions. TradeMe have relaxed the restrictions on photo uploads, and you can now upload larger, better quality photos (an increase of 1mb to 2mb, for those interested in the details.)

This is overall a positive change as it allows customers a larger, clearer view of the product they’re interested in. However, it can also mean increased bandwidth usage and slower listing time due to the larger photos. The people most affected are those who list and maintain many auctions, either manually or with an offline listing tool.

Thankfully, OMINS users need not worry about this. Photos only need to be uploaded to OMINS once and are then uploaded to TradeMe from our high-speed servers as necessary. Our highly-optimised listing processes mean that each photo will most likely only be uploaded once, however if the photo is deleted from TradeMe - either manually or after 45 days of non use - it will be uploaded again automatically if needed.

No wasted bandwidth and no listing slowdowns - chalk another one up for web-based software!

Posted in General, OMINS, TradeMe | No Comments »

OMINS and multiple usernames

Yes, that’s right - OMINS fully supports multiple TradeMe usernames and e-commerce websites as a standard feature for no extra charge!

You can set up and manage unlimited TradeMe usernames, information sites and e-commerce websites. Each of these websites can be customised to contain different looks, such as logos and colour schemes.

These features are commonly used for branding purposes or operational management, such as a seperation of branches, departments, of even companies.

And of course, being a web-based application, OMINS supports multiple concurrent users so all of your staff can access your OMINS system simultaneously from anywhere in New Zealand or the world. This is essential if you do have multiple branches or departments.

There’s no need to run multiple applications just to manage your different usernames - it’s all available to you with OMINS.

Posted in General, OMINS, TradeMe | No Comments »

DVD Catalogue support on OMINS websites

As part of our support for TradeMe DVD Catalogues, all OMINS websites will now display DVD Catalogue products similarly to how they display on TradeMe. This makes it easy to use your information site to promote your DVD catalogue listings, as well as taking no extra effort to sell them on your website.

Posted in General, OMINS, TradeMe, Upgrade | No Comments »

Setting up your webstore just got easier!

When it comes to creating an online presense, there’s a lot to think about. You have to consider where to host it, who will design and maintain it, and more importantly - how to keep it up to date with current products and stock levels!

As a standard feature, all OMINS customers receive a highly dyamic e-commerce website, which is ready to use on first sign up. And when we say highly dynamic - we mean it! Your site is run from the same database as your TradeMe listings, and is always up-to-the-second accurate.

For most people the only thing that needed setting up was some custom website categories. That is, until now…

If you don’t want to set up custom categories for your website, you can now have them automatically populated with the approriate TradeMe categories that are already set up on your products. Not only does this remove the need for custom categories - it’s fully dyanamic and changes as your products do!

And of course, being an OMINS customer, the feature is available to use right now - no updating neccessary. Just select the Use TradeMe Categories option in the Web tab of your Promotion Group settings.

Posted in General, OMINS, Upgrade | 2 Comments »

Snipesoft on Silicon Welly

Snipesoft is now listed on Silicon Welly as a Cool Company - a community of Wellington based, and New Zealand owned technology and creative businesses individuals and organisations.

Posted in General, Snipesoft | No Comments »

Fixed Price Offers - making the most from your auctions

An auction on TradeMe is an investment. You take the time to find the best combination of titles, promotions and listing times to get the most exposure and interest in your products. And if all goes well - you’ll get a sale!

But wouldn’t it be better if you could get more exposure and hopefully another sale from a single auction? Of course it would! Thankfully TradeMe makes it quite easy; but of course it’s even easier with OMINS.

Within minutes of the auction closing, OMINS will automatically offer your products (subject to stock availability) to all available bidders and watchers, making the most of the high-energy, “want it now” atmosphere that often occurs at the end of an auction. The offer price can either be fixed, or varying (per-auction!) using highly customisable rules.

We have seen traders significantly increase there sales simply by implementing a good fixed price offer system. If you’re not currently taking advantage of this feature, or your current systems do not support it, now is a great time to take action and stop missing out!

Posted in General, OMINS, TradeMe | 1 Comment »

Web-based software - the future is now

The internet is a wonderful thing.

In our opinion, truer words have never been spoken. It opened up a vast new world of information, communication and of course, opportunity. You don’t even have to look very far to see people jumping on-board and making the most of this wonderful medium.

TradeMe

TradeMe - a runaway success story in it’s own right - has allowed anyone to extend their reach to all of New Zealand. Thousands of us - from stay-at-home mum’s to small businesses to large enterprises - are listing our products on TradeMe every day, joining in what has become the largest marketplace in New Zealand.

TradeMe is as successful at is is because it’s founders embraced the internet and learned how to get the most out of it.

Snipesoft

At Snipesoft, we do too.

While some software developers decided to stick with classic desktop based software, we knew the future is on the web. We don’t think it makes much sense trying to work with fresh new ideas in a legacy environment. When developing our flagship product - OMINS - we knew there could be no other way. One web-based system (OMINS) integrating with another (TradeMe) - what could fit better?

All of us at Snipesoft have a lot of experience with web-based development, and this has given us the unique ability to better understand TradeMe and how it works. Often, the best solution isn’t the most obvious one and our understanding of TradeMe allows us to avoid some common problems that tend to affect other developers.

Web-based development has given us so many great benefits. For example:

• TradeMe changed something? No worries! We can quickly update our software and you see the changes instantly - no downloading or installing necessary.
• We’re often coming up with new ways to increase sales and enhance your business. Thanks to web-based development, we’re able to quickly implement those changes and put them to work for you!

OMINS

We’ve also been able to implement many features for the OMINS system that either wouldn’t be possible, or would be unnecessarily difficult, without a centralized, web-based design.

• Fully integrated e-commerce websites - up-to-the-second accurate stock levels for all of your products
• Advanced TradeMe catalogue and information site - used up your free listing allowance? No worries! Display all of your products, and let customers request an auction for any that aren’t currently listed.
• Advanced after sales checkout system - super-easy communication and sales opportunity to all of your customers.
• 24/7 fast monitored link to TradeMe - no need to waste power leaving your PC on permanently just to list an auction at a specific time, only to find your computer or internet connection crashed at the last minute.

As you can see, the web has allowed us to stay on the cutting edge of software development, and that’s where we’ll be now and into the future.

Won’t you join us?

Posted in General, Snipesoft, TradeMe | 6 Comments »