This project is a response to a Reddit post concerning a desktop application to handle some day to day operations of eBay sellers who would prefer the control of a desktop application rather than a service hosted elsewhere.
What is a good inexpensive (free) software application that will allow me to inventory (list) items that I want to sell (with pictures) online, track the sales through different vendors and buyers, and print shipping labels?
I'm getting ready to start selling a bunch of stuff that I have online via eBay, Craigslist, Amazon, and any other outlets that may be appropriate. I would like to find an inexpensive application that will allow me to keep an inventory of those items, with pictures that will track when and whom it was sold to, the shipping method, financials, and the capability to print a 'shipping label' when the item is purchased.
Cloud services have without a doubt revolutionized the reseller industry. While efficient and generally can be well worth the investment for a reseller, these same tools can be cost prohibitive to smaller sellers. Cloud security is always a concern as well, and there are a lot of folks out there that prefer to handle their own data on their own equipment. For others, such as my ADHD addled self, have conditions which require our own routines handled in our own unique way.
This led me to start this project, a highly customizable, module based, desktop application that aims to provide inexpensive or free tools if at all possible. (I'd like to offer the ability to use third party tools, and I can't control price there.)
I need input. Feature requests, bugs, what looks horrible and what seems new and different. I am by no means an expert in the field, so I can use all the help I can get.
Feel free to submit issues (Click the issues tab at the top of of this document, underneath houdinii/small-scale-ebay-tools and hit the green button, New Issue). If you're a developer, feel free to jump right in.
I just began my research. In the past I've typically done this type of programming in the Python language, however I decided tht I'd build this with Electron and Node.js simply because it aligns with my day job at the moment. There is a lot of code examples for much of the work as well, and that should lead to a bit quicker development.
I plan on spending the week bringing myself up to speed on the frameworks I'll be using and perhaps putting a skeleton app together.
- Track Inventory
- Track Suppliers
- Track Sales
- Track Listings
- Including photos
- Work with multiple vendors:
- Ebay
- Amazon
- Craigslist
- Custom Vendors
- Track Shipping
- Print Shipping Labels
- Notify on delay
- Other services commonly found, but not on the forefront of my mind at the moment.