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eBay seller tools for Mac users?
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: RTP, NC
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Are there any eBay seller tools for Mac OSX? TurboLister (eBay's free tool) is Windows only. I checked VersionTracker and came up dry. Are there no Java-based tools for submitting, tracking, managing eBay auctions??
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: RTP, NC
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Let me put it another way. I'm a Java software developer. Does eBay work with developers? Are their APIs documented for third-party developers to write to? I would consider writing a tool if none existed, as long as I wouldn't be fighting eBay to do it.
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Banned
Join Date: Apr 2002
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Originally posted by Zoom:
Let me put it another way. I'm a Java software developer. Does eBay work with developers? Are their APIs documented for third-party developers to write to? I would consider writing a tool if none existed, as long as I wouldn't be fighting eBay to do it.
See ebay.com.
I think it's free if you and only you use it.
otherwise, licensing fees apply, unfortunately.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: RTP, NC
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You mean the developer kit/API is free unless you create a tool that others can use, too? Has anyone reverse-engineered the APIs/protocols? In other words, like so many proprietary protocols out the (MSN, Yahoo, AIM, etc), there are open-source libraries for using them.
I'm hoping that someone already knows of an existing tool. I don't want to reinvent the wheel. But if not, then I would consider trying to write one.
Okay, I did find the eBay Developer's Program. Looks like they've spent their time creating Windows-only APIs, though there is an XML interface for "all platforms". Sounds like a Java API is on the way, but I'll bet it'll suck compared to the Windows API they provide.
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Last edited by Zoom; May 9, 2004 at 08:20 PM.
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2003
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Originally posted by Zoom:
You mean the developer kit/API is free unless you create a tool that others can use, too? Has anyone reverse-engineered the APIs/protocols?
Yes and yes. There are some eBay tools available for windows (none I know of for Mac) where the developers have reverse-engineered the API. Unfortunately, this means that anytime a change is made to the API, the software stops working.
The best group I've seen doing it is Timber Creek Software with their Sold! program. The last I checked, they were not licensing the eBay API, but had reverse engineered it. And when I was on windows and used it, when the API changed they were very very quick to figure out the changes and update the program (usually less than 24 hours).
*Edit* the Sold! program does something called "screen scraping" to work. I'm not sure what that is, but maybe a software developer knows.
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Forum Regular
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Altadena
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Feb 2000
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Cool, thanks! I don't think any of those popped up on VersionTracker. Still, it looks like none of these are free, which sucks. Thanks for the info.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Cambridge UK
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Here's a new one: Garage Sale, written in Cocoa goodness too, with iPhoto integration yaddah yaddah.... 
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Outfield - #24
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Originally posted by Krypton:
Here's a new one: Garage Sale, written in Cocoa goodness too, with iPhoto integration yaddah yaddah....
Hmm, looks interesting.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Cambridge UK
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Originally posted by ManOfSteal:
Hmm, looks interesting.
I only found out about it through seeing 'Made with Garage Sale' buttons at the bottom of eBay listings.
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Pasadena, CA, USA
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*Edit* the Sold! program does something called "screen scraping" to work. I'm not sure what that is, but maybe a software developer knows.
Strictly speaking, screen scraping is a technique where output from a terminal is read by a computer program, rather than displayed directly to the user. The term is usually used when describing programs that were used to convert older "dumb terminal" programs (like those used by banks) into shiny web based applications.
I don't know anything about Sold!, but I'll bet what they mean is that rather than talk to the eBay API, they're requesting web pages and simulating form submissions. This would have the same problems as reverse engineering the API - if eBay decides to change the forms, Sold! will break.
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