I must admit to a certain inertial resistance to installing new software programs (they are not always worth the effort), but as an eBayer, I am always looking for faster and easier ways to sell my items. So, at the urging of my brother, I decided to give Mister Lister a try. Mister Lister is eBay's bulk upload service, a program that allows you to upload all your auctions at once.

One of the deciding factors in trying it out was that the program was easy to get, simple to install, and best of all...it was free! All I had to do was go to http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/walk-through-download.html, follow the simple instructions for downloading and installing the program, and-Voila! I was ready to "list dozens of items all at once"! (Believe me, if I could do it, so can you.)

After several months of creating and uploading auctions manually, I noticed the savings in time and effort immediately. Mister Lister helps to avoid several repetitive steps when listing items. For example, it's not necessary to enter your Item Location in each auction. Fill in the Settings with your location, and the program will enter it automatically in all your future auctions. Mister Lister also has a "Sticky Behavior" setting that allows other pertinent information, such as payment method and shipping options, to be carried over from auction to auction. The "Sticky Behavior" setting is also useful if you are listing many objects that fall into the same category.

Saving time was not the only factor involved in using the program: I can enter HTML into the description box and use my own template designs. And, more importantly, I can now create my auction descriptions anytime, and then launch them all at once at a time of my own choosing. In fact, Mister Lister is designed to save each collection for a period of up to two weeks-ample time to edit, vacation, get over the flu...whatever. However, I think it would be even BETTER if you could set the time you want your auctions to launch and let Mister Lister do it automatically. But allowing you to set your auction end times independently of the start time seems to be a feature that eBay is averse to, so I wouldn't hold my breath on this one.

Uploading my auctions was a breeze. Once you have finished entering all of your auction information, you simply click "Send this Collection" and your auctions are sent to eBay to await your final approval. You then log onto eBay at http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/mr.html, enter your Username and password, and commit your auctions. You also have the option of reviewing your items one last time before posting them.

Of course, every silver lining has its cloud, and I came across one when I auctioned eight J.R.R Tolkien calendars recently. Up until then, I had been listing collections of dissimilar items. It wasn't until the Tolkien auctions were almost completed that I realized that a number of bidders were interested in more than one calendar and, since the auctions would ALL END AT THE SAME TIME, it would be difficult for a bidder to give more than one item his or her full attention. In other words, I wondered if I had inadvertently put a damper on last minute bidding, and though I was ultimately pleased with the results of the auctions, I decided to investigate this potential problem more thoroughly.

Accordingly, I contacted all the people eBay had listed as bidders and asked whether they would have preferred staggered auctions. Not surprisingly, most of the responses were in the affirmative. Raoul V. pointed out that "for people interested in all 8 calendars" they'd have had "a better chance to get them all and save shipping." Stacy U. responded that she usually bids "up to the last second, and if I do not have time to try and win all, sometimes I just skip them altogether." Gary K. would have preferred them staggered, and not "just a few minutes either."

On the other hand, Scott H., who had placed proxy bids on several of the calendars, said it didn't matter to him because "in that specific case, I was determined to win them." And eBayer daan Strebe, responding in a similar vein, stated, "I don't snipe auctions. I bid what I'm willing to pay and leave the proxy bidding to do its work."

The upshot of all this is that I've decided to compromise: I'll use Mister Lister for everything except similar items ALL of the time, and I won't use Mister Lister for similar items.

Editor's Note: Another limitation of Mister Lister is that it may only be used for posting auctions on eBay. Win Bent has written reviews of other auction-management software in past issues, and look for an upcoming review of Invenna's Auction Amigo software.