Question
While I was looking at Dave's Bookstore Auction Counters website, I noticed a link to Poster Toaster which is a free bulk listing tool for eBay.
http://www.thepostertoaster.com/
Features
WYSIWYG HTML Editor
Organize your ads using folders
Easy to use templates
Bulk listing
Import your ads from Turbo Lister
Upload your pictures using FTP
Powerful merge fields
Cool tri-pane interface
and more!
I searched Google and found this AuctionBytes article:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/...05/abu0118/s03
The Poster Toaster eBay Listing Software
By Frank Sutherland
AuctionBytes.com
May 09, 2004
A few months ago I was browsing the eBay boards and I came across a recommendation for The Poster Toaster (TPT). It's free eBay auction posting software and has fast become my favorite. I have tried a lot of posting software and this is the best. Features include Template Tags, FTP Photo handling, and additional fields for your costs and product numbers. If you have used Turbo Lister then you will be able to make the jump to TPT easily.
TPT is not as advanced as some of the other posting software but is not as confusing either. One of the things that I really like about it is the way that it handles photos. It does not use the eBay hosting service, but most ISPs (Internet Service Providers) offer free Web space that can host your photos. Call your ISP or check their help pages.
You need to know FTP protocol to get it set up to handle your photos, and TPT comes with a great help file that will walk you thru the FTP setup. Once it's set up, you can insert your photos from your hard drive into your eBay ad with a click of a button, and it will automatically upload them to your FTP space. Your ads can now contain more then one photo free of charge.
TPT uses three screens that you can toggle on and off to create your auction. It has a Grid View for browsing your ads, a Detail view for your auction details and an Editor view to edit your HTML. It also has a WYSISYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor if you are unfamiliar with HTML. Once you are done creating your auction, you can move it to a pending view and then batch process all your ads when you are ready to post them on eBay.
My favorite part of TPT is the Template tags. Any repetitive information that you insert into all of your auctions can be inserted into a Tag that is then placed in your ad. If you need to change that tag, you only have to do it once and it will be changed in all of your auctions.
If you use eBay's pre-filled information to post your ads you may be disappointed, as it is not supported in TPT yet.
TPT is a great selling tool that I recommend you try. It is available at http://www.thepostertoaster.com. It's Beta software, but it's updated regularly to fix any bugs. They also have a great message board where you can get help for any problems or questions that you may have. Give it a try I think that you will like it. What could be easier than toast?
About the author:
Frank Sutherland is a part-time seller and full-time dad who lives in Nova Scotia, Canada with his wife and two boys. Along with selling video games and other items under the eBay id knarfdotca, Frank posts articles to his eBay Blog http://www.Knarf.ca and recently launched http://www.TownSquareMarket.com, a site devoted to the Sellers at Canada Town Square. Frank can be reached at knarf*knarf.ca
It's been a busy morning.
Blanche
Answer
Blanche
Seems to be a neat program. However, if TurboLister stays free and one is already loaded on to TurboLister, makes it kind of tough to go thru another learning curve with a new software. Also, I do not think Poster Toaster can stay free. It costs them money to launch auctions.
Answer
Hi commentary. I guess nothing stays free forever but if you're in a position to easily change your software, you can probably find free programs to use. Once a free program changes to fee-based, another free one will usually come along.
There are lots of eBay sellers who don't like TurboLister or who want to use non-eBay software. Poster Toaster might serve their needs. I don't know anything about it really since I've never used the program but they do have a forum which one can check out to see if there are any problems or just to get help. Also, it's supposed to be quite easy to use.
I believe Poster Toaster is fairly new so there may be bugs to work out but TurboLister isn't exactly bug free. LOL
Blanche
Answer
It sounds like a great program and I've been using Shooting Star for my post-auction management -a GREAT program and one that's affiliated with, and integrated with, Poster Toaster.
But I just can't seem to get onto Poster Toaster and I've tried a couple of times. Just can't get the hang of it, and I don't think of myself as being COMPLETELY stupid, lol
Answer
Diane, check out their forum for help: http://www.thepostertoaster.com/forums/
Don't be shy...just start a thread asking for HELP.
Blanche
Answer
Been using poster Toaster for a while. Did you have any questions about it. It is a little harder to get use to but once you do it is easy to use.