I got a test drive of the Merchant Manager (a part of the Merchant Programs AU is now offering) and I was impressed! Of course it is not perfect (nothing is) but it is a very impressive little bit of Java. It is an online tool for managing inventory and auctions and would best benefit sellers who sell a lot of the same or similar items.

Everything is online as I said. You can create a tab-delimited text file to import your inventory, then go online and edit the items and list them for auction. You can also check the status of your auctions from the Manager (henceforth known as MM to save my wrists). I asked and was assured that a backup of the data is kept on a separate server in case of problems (refrained from the obvious jab at another site).

The interface is fairly easy to get used to. I did a lot of deleting and re-adding of items while getting used to the default settings, etc. You can set certain defaults that are auto filled for every item. The hardest part for me was setting up the info from my database to import, simply because I had to incorporate info from many different fields into one description. Once I got all the items in it was simple to choose categories and set shipping.

One thing that was confusing is, you don't set a picture until you list the item for auction. I tried setting it using the "Auction Defaults" button which is the defaults for all items. OOPS! I also forgot about the 40 character requirement on Titles and had to edit and re-list (in MM before they were posted on AU) several items.

Once I had everything set up, it was basically point, click, list! It did take some time to get everything set right, and in my case since most of my stuff I only have one of, I can't really say I saved a lot of time.

All in all, I was impressed. I may even part with some of my hard-earned money soon and join up!

[This message has been edited by magik87 (edited June 19, 1999).]
 

Sent your post to Doug and others at the home office and they said thanks for the great review ... but they add that you've not seen anything yet

Mike, who is kind of like our webmaster, posted me saying that we start beta testing of Merchant Manager II Monday and it should fix the few problems you point out. Fred, one of our dealer reps also posted me and said he's heard this new product should be rolling out in about three weeks.

Me -- well I know that Fred's a great guy but I'll wait for Mike's note on the official launch date It should be soon, though.

So, the consensus from the AU folks in the know is that if you thought the Merchant Manager you saw was good, the newest version will be even better

Thanks for the review and the post.

Pat

------------------
Neomax
[email protected]