Every dealer knows how to prepare a vehicle on the lot or in the showroom to highlight its features in a professional and attractive manner. There are many powerful tools available to help present these same vehicles effectively online. In order to assist dealers, software developers have created a number of Web-based programs that make the creation and management of listings substantially easier and more effective.

For dealers listing multiple vehicles, it is a good idea to develop a consistent listing format or template. This will help ensure all the important information is included in each listing and help to establish a brand image for the online dealership. Potential buyers will be able to recognize these listings, and will be more willing to put their trust in the business.

These providers offer templates that will maintain your brand integrity within each listing, along with a wide variety of tools for managing your sales online. Visit http://pages.motors.ebay.com/services/software.html to find links to a solution provider that best fits your dealership’s needs.

As the Internet continues to evolve, dealers should also look for new services that make selling vehicles online easier. A subscription based service, called eBay Motors Local Market, was recently introduced that allows dealers to upload as many vehicles as desired and make them available to buyers within a 100-mile radius.

The technology has proven a strong lead-generation tool and an excellent way to use the Web to find a local audience, boost sales and drive margins. Many eBay Motors’ Preferred Solution Providers have tools available that make uploading an entire used-car inventory easy and manageable.

The Preferred Solution Provider program ensures that these tools function correctly with software and policies. eBay Motors’ vetting process for developers is comprehensive to ensure that dealer sellers have powerful listing tools available to improve their experience. eBay purchased one of the leading developers for such tools, CARad.

CARad
CARad provides a simple way for dealers to create listings and manage them simultaneously. Using CARad, dealers find a variety of professional-looking HTML template designs to use on their own or have CARad manage.

The program offers many benefits, including incorporating the dealer’s logo into listings. Dealers can upload as many as 35 images per listing from their computers with a single click. Not only can dealers post photos easily, but viewers can get a closer look of these photos as well. CARad’s Image Zoom feature allows visitors to zoom in on a photo to examine detail and view it from a different perspective.

CARad also helps dealers manage their listings. It will create, post, monitor and manage listings from a single location without requiring access to the site. It tracks and stores e-mail communications with buyers and produces reports on sold inventory, current lisings,and e-mail archives.

Auction123.com
Auction123 creates attractive designs for vehicle auctions that incorporate 15 to 30 images per listing. It displays an eBay Motors Gallery for all the vehicles that a dealer lists on the site, allowing visitors to access and shop the dealer’s entire inventory and also provides a map and driving directions to the dealership. Links to insurance companies, car-history services, financing and inspection companies are included to assist buyers.

Auction123 also offers listing management. Its Automated Bidder Contact feature sends e-mails resulting from a listing directly to a designated sales contact and directs automated e-mails to the dealership for every bid placed.

eBizAutos
Offerings from eBizAutos focus on auction management, Web site development and window stickers. With eBizAutos, dealers can choose from 40 professionally designed vehicle inventory gallery templates and can include as many as 60 photos per listing. Dealers can use the program to create customized listings in minutes, including detailed descriptions of each vehicle.

eBizAutos cuts listing management time by automatically linking e-mail leads and bidders to each vehicle listing. It also provides a lead manager to facilitate e-mail correspondence with interested consumers. It allows dealers quickly to schedule auctions, manage relisted vehicles, revise or end live auctions and correspond with e-mail leads and bidders.

With eBizAutos, dealers can build and manage customized Web sites, fashioned around the inventory gallery, that are linked to their listings on eBay Motors.

Solutions lead to sales
For a reasonable fee, these tools generate listings and galleries for dealers vehicles on eBay Motors with a sophisticated look and highly interactive access to images, descriptions and services. Each of these programs helps the dealer rapidly build a great-looking set of listings while easing the responsibility of tracking and responding to bidders and buyers.

Software solutions and providers, such as the ones mentioned above, make your online business more manageable. Most work well with the inventory management and software tools you already have in place to give your online listings a boost.

Vol 5, Issue 7