MarketBlast Interview

I wouldn't call it a complex product, because that would imply that it was hard to use for the average eBayer. Instead, I would call it a simple, yet comprehensive tool for managing the entire selling process from inventory through post-sales management. We can afford to offer this product without relying on recurring charges, because MarketBlast is built on the award-winning 4th Dimension technology, a database program we've been developing and selling for two decades. Moreover, most of the other vendors have invested in massive web server and bandwidth infrastructures which require large capital investments and then 24x7 operational expenses. These expenses have to be funded from somewhere and hence the high cost of these solutions. MarketBlast uses the eBay sellers' own infrastructure, in that we use the power of their own computer desktop machine and their own Internet connection for bandwidth.

Finally, we don't have to charge our customers monthly fees, we have found creative ways to lower our development costs. For example, we don't charge photo hosting fees, because MarketBlast integrates with Yahoo!'s Flickr service. This pioneering image hosting service allows you to upload about 400 images per month (20 MB of bandwidth) for free.

Organizational wise, some of our competitors have had to invest large sums in acquiring international companies to broaden into international markets. We, however, already have eight offices around the world, and 4th Dimension software is distributed in more than 50 countries. Therefore, 4D already has a large international footprint and we don't need to ask our MarketBlast customers to fund these expansions with higher prices.

MarketBlast comes complete with over 150 pages of documentation. Included with the software is contextual help, whenever you're in a specific screen and press help, the help information is relevant to what you're doing right now.

4D offers several online classes per week on how to use MarketBlast (http://www.marketblast.com/support/class.html). If you are already using MarketBlast, or just considering purchasing it, you're welcome to log into a class.

Topics include: Getting started, importing your existing inventory, building profiles, creating listings, adding photos, using custom HTML templates, synchronizing with eBay, managing listings, using the Navigator, fulfillment checklist, automating your eBay experience, email management, email marketing campaigns, creating reports, spotting trends, the General Ledger, and auto-updating MarketBlast.

We have also begun offering video tutorials from our site. These tutorials, which we will be adding on a regular basis, provide an engaging way to learn MarketBlast features at your own pace.

We also have an interactive mailing list and forum for MarketBlast. Interested people can sign up at http://www.marketblast.com/support/maillists.

Customers can also get questions answered via email by posting their inquiries on our support form at http://www.marketblast.com/support/mbhelp.html.

4D Inc. has been voted among the top ten web support sites by the Association of Support Professionals in the U.S. in recent years, and we have used all of this technology to ensure that MarketBlast users get the similar quality support they deserve.