As part of this release we have made changes to the way OMINS and Easylister reserves stock, you can still set the default option under promotion group settings but this can be overwritten on a per product basis (see image).

There are now a number of additional attributes and options available for auction pricing:

Standard Listings (remains unchanged)

Single item Buynow only

Quantity Buynow (fixed pricing)

Stock Control: Alot of work has gone into how omins/Easylister handels stock for this new system, the quantites on your auctions will automatically increase and decrease to match the stock you have available. This happens all automatically.

So for instance you can have 2 auctions for one product each set to 10 stock and have a stock level of 20. Lets say someone buys 1 of this item from sella (or your ewebstore website) you will now have a stock level of 19, OMINS/Easylister will then automatically reduce one of these quantity listings to 9 within a few minutes so the total you have listed is 19. if you get new stock in and increase the stock level in OMINS/EL within minutes the both your auctions will be back having 10 quantity. This is all automatic and handeled by the system.

quick guide to setting up a new product:

http://snipesoft.net.nz/support/viewtopic.php?t=276

A guide to auction length and timing of auction using OMINS:
http://snipesoft.net.nz/support/viewtopic.php?t=280

The new auto adjust (advanced feature) instructions:

(this shows how to create new highy dynamic buynows and $1 reserves that can will automatically adjust prices and the number of items listed based on sales or average prices)

An couple of examples of a buynow setup and a $1 reserve setup, these also contain examples of the new auto ajust features in context:
http://snipesoft.net.nz/support/viewtopic.php?t=281

We have also added a new trademe tip, The 25% Theory:
http://snipesoft.net.nz/support/viewtopic.php?t=277

Many will know the benefits of using an application such as photoshop to do this, it really makes the product look professional and more appealing and will genuinely get you better sell though and prices, I used to use photoshop to do this on my photos. However it is a bit cumbersome and time consuming.

“Bling it” seemed to be designed for one thing only, preparing photos of items for website or auction site listings. It looked very quick and quite simple to move though the steps of removing the old background adding a new one resizing and adding your own watermark, since it is designed specifically and ONLY for these tasks, I could easily see that it would take only a fraction of the time using this to prepare a photo than it would using something like photoshop.

Another benefit over photoshop or other image software is this application costs US$49.99 instead of the hundreds that photoshop charges.

There is a 14 day free trial so I recommend anyone who finds themselves taking digital photos of products for auction or website, give this a go on their trial I wish i had this when I was selling online.

you can download or buy it here: http://www.blingit.us/

It is a desktop application, however they do have a Windows and a Mac version.

OMINS customers that want to update their prices can either use the bulk pricing updater, or else we can run a script to quickly update your entire product catalogue.  Send an email to support to request this.

Of course, this will only affect you if you set the reserve price manually.  Products that use the advanced pricing inheritance feature for reserve prices won’t be affected.

23 June – Reserve fee to apply in general categories

A 25c reserve fee will apply to auctions where you choose a reserve price that is higher than the start price, effective from 1 July 2008.

This change is designed to offer a better buying experience by encouraging sellers to be transparent about reserve prices. As a result, buyers will know that any bid has the chance to be successful.

No fee applies when you keep the reserve price equal to the start price, or when listing a car or other vehicle.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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?