Easy to use but poorly integrated with EBAY, PayPal, and shippers, 27 October 2004

Reviewer: jimm

I am a powerseller looking for the next level of auction management software. I looked at Meridian and these are my observations. I spent an evening with the program going through the process of listed one auction. At that point I concluded that Meridian was not what I was looking for. Since my time with Meridian was brief, there may be features that I didn't discover that eliminate some of the limitations I found.
1. Very easy to get the basic system configured and running.
2. The interface was intuitive, I listed an auction without looking at the documentation until I finished. I did this deliberately.
3. The system couldn't pickup my running or closed auctions from EBAY.
4. There is no spell checker.
5. There is a discussion board on EBAY but it is inactive suggesting a small installed base.
6. I had a problem logging in and got a very quick response to my request for help.
7. The system is server based. End of auction processing runs only once a day at 5 pm.
8. Shipping support consists of manually downloading a cvs file and then sending that to UPS worldship. No support for USPS noted.
9. A separate program is used to manually transfer PayPal information to Meridian.
10. The online help files were largely empty. Some example screens don't match current screens(out of date)
11. There are no default email messages.
12. Because the system is server based it runs very slow. The advantage is it can be accessed by multiple people from any location internet access is available.
13. I didn't see any info on frequency of updates or how well it is supported.
14. The cost is lower then most server based systems.

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Great program from folks that are eBay users., 9 October 2004

Reviewer: Michael6

We are an eBay consignment operation in the midwest. We looked at about 30 different management programs. Reviewing the 30 we narrowed it down to 15 that we downloaded and installed. We didn't install anything that required up front payment. Of those that we took for a test drive none of them had the features or ease of use that "Meridian" had. It was download, setup and bang we were off to the auctions. There are truly only a few "consignment management" programs out there. One offers a school to learn their program - that's way to much time and effort. Meridian really had a short learning curve and that is a BIG Plus. Another feature that blew me away was the fact that all the information is on Meridian's server so we can have as many employee's access information or upload auctions as we need. Started out using their stock templates and switched to our own custom template after a couple of auctions. We emailed our newly created template to them and their "guru" Don installed it as our default. Don is who we interact with either by phone or email. He seems to always be there - they might have him chained to the desk. Images are hosted from Meridian's server so there's not any extra cost for that. The fact that they are also eBay sellers spoke highly for them. It's a new venture for them but we think they're off to a great start and we're along for the ride.

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