Since the beginning of this year, trying to find a free service in the online auction world is a lot like looking for a parking space at Home Depot on the weekend. There just ain't many around. That's why it's nice to run across an auction management program that's not only free, but also has some very useful features. Auction Submit, developed in 1999 by EZ Times Software, is just that - useful, free, and includes features that are usually found only in commercial packages. It's also getting a respectable amount of use. An August 13th search of eBay showed over 70,000 auctions that had been loaded to the Site using Auction Submit.
Auction Submit contains most of the important features found in pay-for-play auction management packages:
- The software is compatible with eBay, Amazon and Yahoo! Auctions.
- You can create and save your auctions ahead of time, using one of the included templates.
- You can modify the font and background colors in the templates, or if you're feeling creative, you can make your own template and import it into the software.
- Auction Submit handily keeps track of your current auctions as well as sold and unsold items.
- Auction Submit handles many of eBay's special features, such as Gallery and Feature Listings, Buy It Now, and Second Category Listings.
- You can keep track of your shop listings if you have a storefront on Shoporium.com (another EZ Time Site). http://www.shoporium.com
The Auction Submit interface is fairly intuitive and easy to navigate, and if you do have a problem, you can take advantage of the comprehensive help pages and user manual on the Auction Submit site. Pretty nifty, especially considering the price.
There are limitations to AuctionSubmit. It does not submit auctions to eBay Motors or adult eBay categories. There is no FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program bundled with the package, so you have to get used to typing in your image files manually. You can edit the General Default Preferences and type in the URL and subfolder where your images are located to save time, but it's still not as slick as having an on-board FTP program. You also have to manually add HTML to descriptions if you want to change font size or add returns. The Preview feature can also be a bit quirky. Instead of updating one browser window when you want to see what your auction looks like, Auction Submit opens a new window each time you hit the Preview button, leaving your desktop covered with browser windows and using up resources on your computer.
Overall, I was impressed with many of the features, as well as how up-to-date the software was with eBay's category changes. (eBay's constant changes to their categories have helped put more than one good auction management company out of business.) Auction Submit was exceptionally fast when submitting auctions to eBay and also updated current auctions very quickly. You can easily relist unsold items or multiple items by hitting the "Duplicate" button, which copies the auction and moves it into queue in the "New Listings" category. The Duplicate feature is also handy when you only have minor changes to make in your auctions. Another handy feature is the ability to attach free counters from Shoporium when you upload an auction.
According to Jon Goldstein, Managing Partner of EZ Time Software LLC, Auction Submit will continue to be free and will be supported for the foreseeable future. The company is currently working on a new pay version of Auction Submit, targeted for Beta testing in the Fall, which will offer more advanced features than the free version. The new version will also be accessible to Mac users.
Auction Submit is a 4.21 megabyte download that can be found at http://www.auctionsubmit.com. Considering the cost, there's really not much to lose. For those users shopping around for an auction management software package, AuctionSubmit is certainly worth a look.
