Turbo lister views pros and cons

KRDmum

So I spend pretty much all day on Sunday trying to update my listings with 'does not apply' in product identifier field and have a quick general check and tidy up. I had done approx 60% of my listings, only for my my computer to freeze (mind you it was after midnight, so obviosly it was time to go to bed) and loose absolutely all the changes that I'd done so far! Furious would be an understatement, I nearly launched my laptop against the wall. I was using a bulk edit and now I am dreading to use it again.

So I decided to give turbo lister another bash (I'd tried it before but it kept crashing on me) and so far so good

It would be nice to hear how many people do actually use it, pros and cons and any tips would be much appreciated. It is kind of self explanatory, but there are options that greyed out, importing for example.
Oh and all of my listings are different, there are no 2 of the same, different categories etc, so is there a way to bulk upload pictures, or do I have to do it one by one through turbo lister?

Thanks peeps

mrcol1000

I have used Turbo Lister for years. First for personal and now for business. I work through my stock and create listings but do not necessary want to list it all straight away. I also have templates for loads of different products so can often create listings in a few minutes or so. Also if you have a second slightly different item, you can copy the listing and then adjust it slightly.

However, it is very temperamental. My tips to avoid having a nervous break down when it loses all your listings (which it will eventually) is as follows.

Do not sync with current and finished listings. Just use it for creating listings to upload to Ebay.

Delete past uploaded listings in your activity. An Ebay rep told me that a lot of times it corrupts the database because it gets too big.

Back up regularly. You can also export listings in csv format which would be a good backup to the backup.

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever interrupt it while it is uploading or working out listing fees. That includes clicking on cancel. Every single time I have done this, it has crashed, corrupted the database and lost all my listings. Just let it finish and then change whatever you need to.

Overall though it is a great tool but you just need to be careful with it. Make sure you have backup in case something goes wrong. It is a shame that Ebay do not produce a new version. Not everyone wants to create their listings on their website.

KRDmum

Thank you very much indeed mrcol1000 for taking your time to write it all out. I used to work with csc files quite a lot, importing and exporting in Sage and other programs, just need to get my head round this one, surely it's not that difficult once you know what you're doing.

I really need something to help me to do speedy listings, I'm still trying to clear out my house of all the items we have accumulated with small children and to create some space. And now, that I've got the bug, everywhere I turn I see something that's no longer used and can be sold. Anyway, as a busy mum of 3 I'm limited in time anyway and I find listing through eBay website very time consuming, especially pictures upload and on a number of times I'd missed out on a great promotion (like FVF £1 last Monday), as it was just taking me forever to list items.

IsabelleJ

I've been using Turbo Lister since I started selling on Ebay again in August. It does have its quirks, but it does what it says it will, and saves me a lot of time. In fact, I can't comprehend listing without it! Not sure if there are any alternatives when it comes to offline listing - if anyone can suggest any, I'd love to try one.

But basically, Turbo Lister is a great product, although it does have its fair share of bugs. Remember to let it do its backing up, or you may end up regretting it!! It also has support for multiple Ebay accounts, which I have found very useful, even if only for swapping items over from one account to another. As mrcol said, ignore the synching with Ebay to retrieve your listings - the feature is completely useless, as it only seems to work on some of the listings, and I usually end up having to completely restart the listing from scratch anyway!

Good luck

Isabelle

Pierre_De_Grenoble

Where To begin..


I switch between two ebay accounts and am approaching 6K distinct items over the 2 databases.
I'm using it on a good spec. Win 10 desktop, and it drives me up the wall.


Starting from scratch it often just refuses to get going over 5/6 attempts, another time it does it no problem.


When I switch between accounts it often hangs & crashes


When I send listings to upload it can often take forever and sometimes crash.


If I've got them in upload and try to upload, it can often take 2/3 mins. to get going. (sometimes its instantaneous, but not that often!)


Most of my listings are done on a duplicate & edit basis. Doing this on the main page can be very very slow (if it doesn't crash and require rebooting..)


In short anything that involves moving about in the software, it's liable to crash.


If you run taskmaster you can see that TL. takes over everything, and as mentioned above trying to do anything else causes more crashes.


The only thing I have found to work is to search for a listing, and then duplicate and edit on the search results page. Much Much faster.


I've tried everything, clean reinstalls, shutting down other programs/ whatever and it is still slow, cranky and frustrating to use.


When it works it does the job well, but it never works well.


I know nothing about software programming but even I can see that it is badly scripted and full of bugs. At the end of the day it is a database that talks to ebay so why do they speak different languages.??


Considering that this is eBays "professional" listing tool is outrageously poor..
I can list a lot more with less stress, if I am not fretting over constant delays / reboots / etc etc..


The fact that ebay can't/won't spend pennies (in their scheme of things) to overhaul this ancient piece of software speaks volumes...

KRDmum

Thank you Isabelle and Piere, it is good to hear the good and the bad, I'm going to give it a bash and see how I get on with it. As I had mentioned above, it used to crash on me all the time, I think I had lasted a day and then uninstalled it. This time, so far so good and thank you so much for your input. My biggest question for now is regarding pictures, do you host them elsewhere and put up URLs or do you download one by one, which is even more time consuming than doing it through eBay website. Or shall I create listing with one picture and then upload more through the web, once the listing is life? Or by doing so am I creating myself an awful lot off unnecessary work? Thanks guys!

mrcol1000

KRDmum wrote: »

Thank you Isabelle and Piere, it is good to hear the good and the bad, I'm going to give it a bash and see how I get on with it. As I had mentioned above, it used to crash on me all the time, I think I had lasted a day and then uninstalled it. This time, so far so good and thank you so much for your input. My biggest question for now is regarding pictures, do you host them elsewhere and put up URLs or do you download one by one, which is even more time consuming than doing it through eBay website. Or shall I create listing with one picture and then upload more through the web, once the listing is life? Or by doing so am I creating myself an awful lot off unnecessary work? Thanks guys!

I just add photos to the listing on Turbo Lister. When you upload listings, first it works out all the fees, then you click again to upload listings to Ebay. It obviously can take a bit of time with lots of photos but I normally just leave it to get on with it. It is far easier than having to then go into the listing once it is on Ebay to add photos.

Also, it seems a lot more stable than it used to be. As I said though, I'd make lots of backups.

KRDmum

Thanks again Mrcol1000, will remember about backups! Just a query, am I missing something in the photo upload, as the only way available to me is one by one, I can't seem to just select 12 photos to upload at once, like I can do on the listing? Which is an absolute pain in the back side (you can probably hear my frustration lol). I take all the pictures at once and then do all of the uploads, which means me having to scroll through 200-300 picture every time.

Pierre_De_Grenoble

I self host my own photos in my web space and add to the listings.


I have become quite disciplined in how I save things, so a widget's photos are saved as: Type:name-1 / Type:name-2 / Type:name-3


Once I got into this routine I found it easier to save and catalogue images and quicker to list because I'm using copy & paste. It also helps that I use a keyboard with dedicated copy & paste buttons.


Again with images I've used Ifan view for many years, it's basic & does everything I need for listing on ebay and it's free!


http://www.irfanview.com/

philatio

I used to use it for everything.
I still use it for some things.. it can be quite annoying though.
It's buggy and it hasn't been properly updated for years. Its still good if you have bulk things to list and tweak and keep relisting though.

mrcol1000

KRDmum wrote: »

Thanks again Mrcol1000, will remember about backups! Just a query, am I missing something in the photo upload, as the only way available to me is one by one, I can't seem to just select 12 photos to upload at once, like I can do on the listing? Which is an absolute pain in the back side (you can probably hear my frustration lol). I take all the pictures at once and then do all of the uploads, which means me having to scroll through 200-300 picture every time.

Sorry I see what you mean about the photos now. Yes, unfortunately you have to do each photo one by one. It can take a few seconds for each one to load on the listing. It is a pain. It is normally anything from a week to a couple of months between doing the listing and wanting to upload it for sale for me. So I find it easier to add the photos there and then. I can then file them away and forget about them. If you can organise it so you can just add one photo (it will not let you upload the listing without a photo) and then add them later you may find it quicker. Or if you want to host them elsewhere then you can add hmtl script to the listing. I use this to have my company logo appear in all my listings.