I realize this would require a major rewrite, but is there any hope of having a multi-user or cloud-based syncing in the near future? I’ve been using Garage Sale for many years but it’s starting to show it’s age. I want to scale up my Ebay business but I’m finding that GS is starting to become quite cumbersome when working with 2,000+ templates/auctions. I know I could use importing and exporting for multiple computers but that’s a database disaster waiting to happen.
I still use GS on a daily basis, but I’ve recently gotten an office outside of the home so I have the need to be able to list and ship from two locations.
I heard that the sync feature will be available soon in a new version of the app. I had the same problem of you far ago, solved with a unique MacBook Pro that I bring with me from home to office where I link it with an external monitor over a Bretford Desk Mount. It works good. Concerning the cloud solution, first they do not let you work offline, then they are far (very far!) from giving you the same tools like bulk and managing editing, photo storage, listings editing and design utilities, … Desktop based is undoubtedly better for me.
i see that even current eBay options for bulk editing has the same or even better (faster) results.
also can you please explain what benefit you have from GS photo storage? eBay store pictures for free.
Cloud solution do not let you select listings (like left hand column in GS) one by one, folder by folder, filtered using smart folders, just bulk as far as I have tried or one by one, then you cannot manage fields to update like GS let you do, and also bulk editing group of listings (like changing price/profiles/option in designs/…) is far less immediate. The way cloud solution store listings is (at least was when I tried the main cloud solutions available) totally different from GS. In other words, I feel like with GS you can manage listings and you have more control over them, while cloud solutions are lister solution and not much else. Moreover again, the way you fill fields to start items is so time consuming and confusing… white pages you have to scroll and scroll down, useless filed in which selecting “on/off” (crazy), fields that cover half page… come one, GS is elegant and user friendly, cloud solution are confusion (Mac vs Windows ).There would be much to say, this is not easy to explain for me, let try the free period and then tell me if the way you manage items is the same as GS. Concerning photo, you are partially true, I was considering the cost of EPS (in my ebay site EPS is free from not much time). Anyway if you want to upload more photo, GS gives you the hosting, others like auctiva give you few GB and then… you have to pay. Moreover again, other clouds give you terrible restriction in each plan and bring you to buy the most expensive plan to be available to have the complete set of tools and options (and that’s no less thank 30/40€ every months, and anyway the crappy interface and listing process persists). I tried at least two or three clouds and that was terrible.
To be partial, let’s say there are only two real advantages in clouds (excluding the sync that will be available soon also in GS): the first one (I really miss) is the marketing email option, the second one is the integration with other platforms. If you can find other solution for the first, the latter will be (I hope) the second huge improvement of GS, one day…
P.S. Please don’t misunderstood what I mean with “bulk editing”: one thing is editing EVERYTHING like clouds do (which is very useless for me), different is managing editing filtering while selecting items (smart folder) and editing them (launch control). Hope this make sense
i’m not new to GS. already using it for several years. so i know what i’m talking about
an it is also hard for me to explain because english is not my native also
things you are talking about (like multiple selections and changing multiple things simultaneously already implemented in eBay itself. check seller hub feature and use “bulk revise”. you will see.
things like crazylister / inkfrog will give you even faster results in managing listings (you know that GS will have subscription also).
and about elegancy of GS. here i totally disagree. sorry but it looks extremely outdated and full of bugs. and. it looks EXACTLY as windows software
needless to say that it makes my mac slow. even with 16 gigs of ram and ssd drive. i had to restart it often. and yes, i tried to install mac os from the scratch. no effect.
cloud bases solutions are of course not perfect. but progress there is extremely fast. and benefits are very serious: multi user, safety (much more reliable than your hard drive even with time machine backup).
i think GS is more suitable for one person do it all business. but when you grow - GS is not an option. and that is why it was called GS i believe
As far as I know, no solution (ebay hub or cloud solutions) gives you the possibility to have smart folders and filter with precision listings. As I mentioned in the PS of my previous message, maybe we are not talking about the same things. One thing is bulk editing a group of listings and yes, I know you can do it almost everywhere, but very different is not loosing hours first selecting those specific listings you have to update into thousands of active ones, and then point out exactly what you want to change. I used inkfrog for a while too and tried crazylister as auctiva and another one I don’t have in mind now and it was not possible to filter listings because the “listing entity” was not under hand in a column, but there were pages and pages of items that you had to select by thinking the square on the left of each line. Maybe this is fine if you manage not so many listings and if your listings are similar, in my situation I need to point the selecting/editing, thing that is seriously limitated with other solutions (and won’t talk about eBay hub which I find the worst of all…).
I don’t know what you know as window software with GS interface, in GS you have everything you need in front of you (excluding description, you even do not have to scroll the window), any other solution is not so user friendly, talking about inkfrog, it drove me mad with those white fields, on/off buttons, pop-up windows with dark background, not immediately at all…
This is true, but I would not feel so safe also with the cloud for other reasons. My Mac with 16 GB or ram is not slowed due to GS, on the other hand the disk space it occupies is undoubtedly the one defect of the app…
Yes if GS has no synch, but with this feature close I think it won’t no more a problem listing four ore more hands
And I forgot to say one important thing: until now, there is no other solution economically convenient as GS is. Maybe some little things are missing, maybe you cannot like the interface (I do, anyway), but a serious cloud solution is no less than 30€/month… GS is almost una tantum fee …
As I have just moved into an office outside of my home, I am working from two places now and am just looking for a way to sync auction templates created in both or either place. Additionally, I will be having another person help me list so multi-user would be a plus. I’m ok without a true cloud-based solution, however I would just be happy with the cloud being used as the pathway for the syncing.
What I really like about GS is the interface with Endicia that allows for almost instant printing of my shipping labels. That in itself is a big time saver for me.
I’m ok with Garage Sale for home use but as I’m growing it’s starting to create a bottleneck time wise. We’ve been asking for syncing for a good 10 years and if they could implement this using the cloud it would really help with those who want to grow and scale their businesses.
I too would love multi-user capabilities - which is the reason I purchased the family pack, so I could have more than 1 instance of GS running [thus far, I haven’t been able to, since there is only one central database for the listings].
I also use Endicia and have always used the web store button on the right side of the toolbar. I had no idea that GS7 had a similar feature [i assume GS7 does the same as the Web Store feature where it will confirm orders on eBay the moment the shipping label prints?]. I will say Endicia’s web store feature does seem to pick better defaults for the items, Class wise [eg: media mail, Priority, first class, instead of everything Parcel Select as GS7’s interface does].
Personally I don’t want the listings database in the cloud - too much security risk. What I would like is the ability to run other clients that point to a master GS7 client’s database. I’d, in the end, like to have this setup like I have the Amazon side of the business, and have the ability to have one user process orders, while 2 others are processing inventory and adding listings.
[and semi-related - i’d love the ability to print a packing slip/invoice from within GS7 and be able to customize it].
We just started public synching testing for the upcoming GarageSale 8 over in the GS 8 forum. If you are interested in taking part, please let me know.
That should be possible, but we don’t have fine grained access control, which means all persons would share the same account, with no separate access privileges.
Unfortunately that’s the route we’ve chosen. Sorry if that’s a deal breaker for you. At least we are not synching order data (that’s done through the eBay API), so that data doesn’t leave your Macs.
I’m fine with that; as the biz grows, that would be something I’d like to have more control over. But for now, that’s fine.
Aaaah, that was the main info I did not want in the cloud [customer data], so that’s good. I just assumed [incorrectly] that all the tables in the database would be cloud based [eg: listings, as well as orders].
Aaaah! Perfect! Is the invoice/packing slip something we could customize such as you have templates for listings?
I am definitely interested in trying the beta of 8 out. This may be answered there, but I don’t want y’all wasting time letting me access it, and it can’t be used in my situation, but: I’m stuck for a while on 10.13 [I use Aperture still, and it is very unsupported under 10.14!], and I would like to know if it is possible to run the current production version concurrently with the 8 beta [even if that means a separate macOS user login that would run 8]. I just don’t want the beta to have access to the same database that 7 is using, in case there’s a bug in 8, which would cause me not to use 7 to process orders, make listings, etc]. Thanks!
And no, you don’t have to worry, GS 8 uses a separate database from GS 7, you need to import data first and then you can use 7 and 8 totally separated. There will be 2 databases. Otherwise you do not import data and start from zero with GS8 and an empty database.
If there’s enough demand, we could also release the sync server as a standalone app, which could be deployed in the customers office/network. This way, your data would not leave your network, and the sync speeds should be faster.
That would be awesome! I hope there is more demand for that.
[note, i’ve been offline several days without power or internet due to a major snow storm that hit here, but both have been restored and i will get to testing beta 8 this afternoon; thank you!]
).There would be much to say, this is not easy to explain for me, let try the free period and then tell me if the way you manage items is the same as GS. Concerning photo, you are partially true, I was considering the cost of EPS (in my ebay site EPS is free from not much time). Anyway if you want to upload more photo, GS gives you the hosting, others like auctiva give you few GB and then… you have to pay. Moreover again, other clouds give you terrible restriction in each plan and bring you to buy the most expensive plan to be available to have the complete set of tools and options (and that’s no less thank 30/40€ every months, and anyway the crappy interface and listing process persists). I tried at least two or three clouds and that was terrible.
