Turbo Lister retired from June 2017
Just like Blackthorne before it, eBay have now announced the end of life for Turbo Lister. Given the lack of investment shown to it over the years and the current sophistication of internet browser based SaaS solutions, it’s probably no surprise that this old desktop, Windows only software will be retired from June 2017.
What’s more of a surprise however, is the lack of a suitable replacement from eBay. The fanfare surrounding the “new Seller Hub” was a big anti-climax for eBay sellers looking for a modern tool that allows quick and easy creation and revising of eBay listings.
Turbo Lister alternatives
When Turbo Lister is consigned to gather dust in the eBay archive room, you will have to switch to another tool. So what options are available to sellers?
eBay’s tools are very limited. This is really incredible given eBay reliance on sellers to bring the precious buyers to the marketplace:
Seller Hub – a wholly inadequate multi listing and management tool
File Exchange – another wholly inadequate multi listing and management tool. Extremely clunky and hard to use and beyond the ability of most sellers.
MIP – a project that never really got off the ground. It’s short on features and inaccessible to general sellers.
This means sellers’ best option is to use a 3rd party solution. Whilst some sellers will be upset at being forced to change, every cloud has a silver lining. Many more sellers will discover that there are much better tools than Turbo Lister to make eBay selling quicker and easier. This article explains why Xpress Lister is seen as eBay’s best listing tool (and a welcome improvement from the Turbo Lister software of the late 1990s). Xpress Lister does everything Turbo Lister does but add much more to the basic listing tool concept.
Do your research
Before making your decision, it makes sense to do some research about the available options. Some 3rd party tools have existed for years but that is likely to mean the software is more difficult to use, follow old paradigms and does not take advantage of the latest technology.
Today, sellers want an online tool so they don’t have to worry about losing or backing up data on personal drives that can fail. They want something with an intuitive user experience and automated features.
This article will explain why we believe Xpress Lister the best replacement for Turbo Lister.
Broadly speaking, there are 3 main reasons:
Reason 1) Xpress Lister includes the most automation of any listing tool making it the fastest solution for sellers to both create eBay listings and also manage them.
Codisto, the company behind Xpress Lister, has been involved eBay listing and integration technology for many years working with large retailers on bespoke integrations. Xpress Lister was a fresh project designed for an eBay tool market that was severely lacking in quality and new ideas.
To take advantage of current technology Xpress Lister was designed from scratch in 2015 on the back of many years of eBay integration know how. We took a real step back and asked “Can we reduce the time, effort and number of steps for sellers to create and manage professional looking listings on eBay?” After releasing Xpress Lister, merchants have answered with a resounding “yes”.
Other solutions force sellers through the same laborious steps multiple times that can be avoided with some clever design and application of technology.
Xpress Lister simply has more features and automation
Xpress Lister contains many time saving features for sellers. For example:
Automatic categorization of products into the most appropriate eBay category. This can save sellers hours where other tools make sellers assign categories product by product.
Automatic mobile responsive template applied to listings. Listing look good on desktop and mobile straight out the box. They are fully editable in HTML but template designing isn’t required to get good looking listings quickly.
Automatic image protection – upscaling, transparent background and CMYK correction and ability to read images from webpage urls (not just image urls)
Ability to import custom product spreadsheets. Xpress Lister doesn’t dictate your import format meaning you save hours not reformatting your product spreadsheet before importing. Especially important if you are frequently importing inventory levels to keep stock quantities up to date. E.g. import Amazon product files as is and convert to eBay listings.
Reason 2) Xpress Lister is the easiest tool to use.
Nothing beats familiarity but since you are being forced to find a new solution with the retirement of Turbo Lister, you want to move to something that is simple to learn and easy to use on an ongoing basis.
You already know how to use a spreadsheet
Xpress Lister is the only solution that has effectively put a spreadsheet inside an eBay listing tool. Since almost everyone knows how to use a spreadsheet, most users are able to sign up to Xpress Lister and start using it without any instruction. That’s how software needs to be today and why an iphone doesn’t come with an instruction manual.
The simple grid layout has put everything on one screen that scrolls infinitely allowing users to filter and sort and quickly make edits in bulk to hundreds or thousands of records. Want to increase price by 10% on all products containing the word “jacket” for example? Simple.
Sure, all new products take a little time to become familiar but Xpress Lister is far, far easier than Turbo Lister ever was and simpler than any other third party solution with multiple screens and the need to define profiles and allocate products.
Reason 3) Xpress Lister customer service is first class – helpful, responsive and understanding or merchant needs.
Relative to eBay, Codisto is a small business. We live and die by the quality of our integration solutions. Integration is all we do and we do it very well. We also know providing first class customer support by people who really understand the product is crucial for merchants’ success.
eBay sellers have got used to the poor standard of service on its low-cost, free to use listing tools and this is a shame.
Every seller should be given the chance to grow their business concentrating on what they do best – retail and be able to rely on solutions like Xpress Lister to provide the operational efficiency they need. All the time knowing if they have a problem, comment or idea, expert help and a friendly ear is at hand – just email support@codisto.com
We’re here to make the transition from Turbo Lister as painless as possible.
Give Xpress Lister a try completely free
Signup for an Xpress Lister account until the retirement of Turbo Lister and you’ll get free access Xpress Lister PRO for 30 days.
That means you can import your existing eBay listings and/or create new listings and be able to make unlimited changes to the live listings completely free of charge.
After 30 days if you don’t wish to subscribe you can use Xpress Lister LITE to create unlimited new eBay listings completely free of charge (but not use Xpress Lister LITE to make changes to existing listings – changes have to be made on eBay directly until a subscription to Xpress Lister PRO is purchased).
We challenge you to find a faster, easier and overall better eBay listing solution!
Sign up here https://codisto.com/xpresslister/
