I agree with Simon, you should try and keep it simple. Do you want to
sell the items online or just be able to provide a online list? Do you
have a web site currently?

From:	Mike Wilcox
Subject:	Re: Software for antique dealers
Date:	Mon, 17 Jan 2005 22:40:10 -0500

Mike B wrote:

> I agree with Simon, you should try and keep it simple. Do you want to
> sell the items online or just be able to provide a online list? Do you
> have a web site currently?
>

We want to set it up online and super make easy to navigate, the website
isn't online yet. Most of the software I've looked at lately seems to
have a very steep learning curve for my tired old brain at the end of
the day ;~)

From:	Mike B
Subject:	Re: Software for antique dealers
Date:	15 Jan 2005 07:30:16 -0800

Hi

I use Peachtree Accounting. It's great for all aspects of the
accounting portion for my store. For online sales I use X-cart.

Not sure if this is what you were looking for, but hope it helps.

Mike

From:	Mike Wilcox
Subject:	Re: Software for antique dealers
Date:	Sat, 15 Jan 2005 17:25:51 -0500

Mike B wrote:
> Hi
>
> I use Peachtree Accounting. It's great for all aspects of the
> accounting portion for my store. For online sales I use X-cart.
>
> Not sure if this is what you were looking for, but hope it helps.
>
> Mike
>

Thanks Mike, that's along the lines we are looking for. A friend of mine
has a large antique store/warehouse and we want to all the inventory
online. Everything of course will have to be catalogued and I'm trying
to find the easiest solution we can do " In House" rather than farm it
out ;~))

From:	Simon
Subject:	Re: Software for antique dealers
Date:	Mon, 17 Jan 2005 23:06:41 +1100

On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 17:25:51 -0500, Mike Wilcox
wrote:

>
>
>Mike B wrote:
>> Hi
>>
>> I use Peachtree Accounting. It's great for all aspects of the
>> accounting portion for my store. For online sales I use X-cart.
>>
>> Not sure if this is what you were looking for, but hope it helps.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>
>Thanks Mike, that's along the lines we are looking for. A friend of mine
>has a large antique store/warehouse and we want to all the inventory
>online. Everything of course will have to be catalogued and I'm trying
>to find the easiest solution we can do " In House" rather than farm it
>out ;~))

I don't know if it helps, but as a collector of antiques and other
things (many hundreds) I just use a spreadsheet with the following
fields

Sold/In Stock
Ref no
Category (silver, furniture, books etc)
Description
Maker/author
Date bought
Date of disposal (if so)
Cost
Profit/loss
Amount sold for or current value
I also hyperlink a photo of most items to the entry.

You can sort this data and create summary tables for analysis. It does
need some knowledge of spreadsheets though.

Simon

From:	Mike B
Subject:	Re: Software for antique dealers
Date:	18 Jan 2005 06:33:30 -0800

Hi Mike

You are right about the learning curve if you want to set up your own
shopping cart. But, from my perspective, it is well worth it.

I initially went with this shopping cart system.
http://www.miva.com/products/demo/Merchant/
It was very easy to add/edit/delete products and had a nice inventory
system. It was a full featured system. They also have a extensive
forum that will be able to answer any of your questions.

If you go with a Miva Hosting Company, the hosting company will set up
the Miva shopping cart system for you. The cost for the Miva software
will also be included in your monthly hosting fee. You then just go in
and customize it to your needs. I am not pushing this company but have
found them to be a very good host. I went through three hosting
companies before ending up with this host.
http://www.cybrhost.com/p/MMS/

After a few months I decided I wanted a bit more control of the
customization of my online store. I went with this shopping cart after
evaluating some 5 different systems.
http://www.x-cart.com/ It is only $185.00 and will do anything you
need it to do. The company supports the product almost to a fault. It
also has a large friendly user forum to answer any of your questions.
I stayed with the same hosting company since they were the best I had
found.

If you really want to keep it simple, there are companies like
GoAntiques
http://www.goantiques.com/join/features_benefits2.htm

and Yahoo
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/merchant/

that make it easy to add products. I am not real familiar with these
two companies but my daughter uses one of them and likes the ease of
use.

Cost wise, after the initial outlay for the shopping cart, you can
figure on about
$19.00 to $59.00 per month for hosting. A Domain license for
www.yoursite.com will run about $15.00 to $29.00 per year. If you
already have a customer base, you will not need to spend money for
advertising. If you want to expand customers, you may need to pay for
some sort of site ranking with the search engines. This can end up
costing some bucks.

Hope I'm not rambling but this topic could go on and on. This post is
based on my own experience and I'm not here to push one company over
another. The posibilities are endless as I'm sure your aware if you
have been looking on the internet for information. If you want to save
yourself alot of time and frustration, you may want to hire someone to
do the inital work for you. If, like me, you want to do it all just
for the experience, then jump in there and do it.

Regards,
Mike