“We are always looking for ways to improve our business,” says Stein. This comment might seem surprising when you consider that, besides his many sales venues, he has about 60 employees. And he lists as many as a thousand items on eBay each week. But Stein is always looking for ways to grow and operate more efficiently, and he credits a particular auction service provider with his success.
One of Jon’s biggest tips on growing a business, especially as the e-commerce field matures, is to find the right management software. After shopping around with several software vendors, Jon chose Infopia. The company’s Marketplace Manager package manages listings both on eBay and another rival auction site, Overstock.com (http://www.overstock.com). When we spoke, he was planning to double the Jake’s Dog House online business revenue compared to the previous year.
“We just felt Infopia was the best technology out there. This type of solution is not for everybody, but we felt it was right for us. An auction management package is not a one-size-fits-all solution. There are a lot of different providers. I advise sellers to go out and talk to as many providers as they can, and try them on for size. It’s not a one-size-fits-all thing. Someone selling at the volume we have is different than seller B working at a different volume. A service provider should be able to give you a demo version of their product so you can try it out for a period of time. “In the case of Infopia, we didn’t really try the Marketplace Manager software out per se, but we went through an extensive evaluation. We did hands-on demos to make sure it would fit our needs,” Stein adds.
One of Jon’s biggest tips on growing a business, especially as the e-commerce field matures, is to find the right management software. After shopping around with several software vendors, Jon chose Infopia. The company’s Marketplace Manager package manages listings both on eBay and another rival auction site, Overstock.com (http://www.overstock.com). When we spoke, he was planning to double the Jake’s Dog House online business revenue compared to the previous year.
“We just felt Infopia was the best technology out there. This type of solution is not for everybody, but we felt it was right for us. An auction management package is not a one-size-fits-all solution. There are a lot of different providers. I advise sellers to go out and talk to as many providers as they can, and try them on for size. It’s not a one-size-fits-all thing. Someone selling at the volume we have is different than seller B working at a different volume. A service provider should be able to give you a demo version of their product so you can try it out for a period of time. “In the case of Infopia, we didn’t really try the Marketplace Manager software out per se, but we went through an extensive evaluation. We did hands-on demos to make sure it would fit our needs,” Stein adds.
