I’m helping my dad set up his business and he wants to start selling his products on ebay as well as on his website. The problem is that using ebay is a pain in the patootie and I know there are several tools that make it easier.
I’m looking at Andale right now, but would like to know if anyone knows of any others or has any advice.
My antique-dealer friend says you need a good digital camera and lights for clear photos. You’ll also need a lot of cartons, tape, and rolls of bubblepak. Um, I know you are the Empress of Bubblepak, dear Opal, but it has to be actual bubblepak, not virtual. 
Oh he has all the photos of his products already, and he has his shipping set. He’s been selling these things for about a year now.
What I’m looking for is specifically tools that make it easier to deal with the ebay interface–things that help add and manage your listings, etc.
I used to manage my ebay sales (up to a couple of dozen transactions per week at the peak) with just a spreadsheet; scrupulously filling in the details like auction numbers etc, but more importantly, the financial stuff such as fees, payments and postage - enabling me to calculate competitive (but still profitable) prices and keep track of stock levels and auctions that didn’t end in success.
Because of the piecemeal nature of eBay fees (and other costs), it is all too easy to price your items below the profit line, all the while thinking you’re making money.
I’m looking for something to simplify the process, not make more work LOL
Basically I’m wanting to know if anyone has used Andale or a similar service and can tell me if they are any good.
I’ve used eBay’s Seeler’s Assistant Pro, which looks like has been renamed and improved (Selling Manager Pro ).
It was decent. I was able to handle everything from the listings to the invoiving out of it. I haven’t used any of the others to offer any sort of comparison. I was just trying to get rid of a bunch of stuff at once and not doing anything long-term, so I didn’t spend a lot of time looking at alternatives.
If there were no alternatives and I was making a business out of selling on eBay, I’d use their software and be happy with it. Since there are alternatives, I’d probably waste six months of my life trying every one before I made a decision, but that’s just the way I am.