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Pre-owned Inventory Provider?

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LesJEccleston

Apr 12, 2010
2
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First Name
Les J.
#1
Hi All - been in the business for quite some time now, but new to DR...

I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on a provider to use for pre-owned inventory management? I have been using Dealer Specialties for years, and now also VIN Solutions, and very recently started receiving a feed from Auction123. None of them seem to have exactly what a dealership I am working with is looking for...

The dealership I'm working with on a project currently uses Dealer Specialties and are dissatisfied. They complain about service levels, missing images, the time it takes from when a new car is placed in-stock to when the images appear. At it's worst it seems that it can be up to 14 days.

They are looking for a system in which they are in better control of their inventory, can get images and data posted on the web with a quicker turn-around, and yet is still full-service (i.e. there is a rep who visits the dealership regularly to take the photos and "do the work...")

Suggestions???
 
#2
There are several to choose from but for dependability and customer service, I have to give Homenet my vote. Ive been using them for years and have never been dissatisfied. I have worked very closely with several members of their team through many projects.

Their web iol is their actual inventory program. Go with the PRO version if you would get onboard.

I do wish they were a little more robust in their "inventory merchandising" efforts, BUT overall I can't imagine anyone that has used Homenet would have anything negative to say. It's rare to ever have Homenet hiccup on my inventory distribution. They offer several other solutions as well.

They have some cool tools in beta that I think can really separate them even more from the competition.
 
#3
Jeff Kershner said:
There are several to choose from but for dependability and customer service, I have to give Homenet my vote. Ive been using them for years and have never been dissatisfied. I have worked very closely with several members of their team through many projects.

Their web iol is their actual inventory program. Go with the PRO version if you would get onboard.

I do wish they were a little more robust in their "inventory merchandising" efforts, BUT overall I can't imagine anyone that has used Homenet would have anything negative to say. It's rare to ever have Homenet hiccup on my inventory distribution. They offer several other solutions as well.

They have some cool tools in beta that I think can really separate them even more from the competition.
Click to expand...

:yabuddy:
 
#4
I would recommend eBizAuto's inventory tool and data collection.

Inventory Tool: Easy as pie to use and the layout of vehicle presentations are awesome. eBay listing management is great as well. I'm sure I am thorn in their side and they run when my number pops up on the caller ID, but whoever answers are always friendly and they are always on top of things.

Data Collection: They are pretty on point. I recommend working with the data collector initially so you can groom him/her to produce images that are up to standard. After that the level of babysitting is pretty minimal. Every so often I see photos come over that aren't what they should be and it's generally because the normal guy was off and there was a fill in.

I also recommend eCarList's used car inventory tool. It's pretty slick with a built in pricing analytics tool and marketing monitoring. They are really dominating the used car eBay market. It seems more and more when I click on one of the big players on eBayMotors, they're using eCarList. However, when I spoke to them last year they did not do data collection.
 
#5
Matt, you bring up some good points - if you are looking into doing some heavy ebay listings, ecarlist and ebizauto are both options to consider.

I sometimes refrain from these questions since there are usually several different options and I have used most of them at one point or another.

I would also recommend you contact your website provider and get the "inside scoop" on that inventory service they work best with. Many times there are relationships between vendors that are not seen on the surface.
 
#9
LesJEccleston said:
They complain about service levels, missing images, the time it takes from when a new car is placed in-stock to when the images appear. At it's worst it seems that it can be up to 14 days.

They are looking for a system in which they are in better control of their inventory, can get images and data posted on the web with a quicker turn-around, and yet is still full-service (i.e. there is a rep who visits the dealership regularly to take the photos and "do the work...")

Suggestions???
Click to expand...

Missing images, time, description ... Just few of the reasons why I think a dealer should have a full time employee doing it... I think "In house" its the way to go no mater what service you use. This can be done with DS ... you just have to ask for it.

Jeff mentioned you should check with the website provider !!! Very good point! Days after I changed from DS to eCarlist I was told by someone at Cobalt that DS and Cobalt are working on something where the feed from DS will be processed much faster ( 24 hours or so)!
 
#10
Hi Les,

I'm the Marketing Director for Dealer Specialties and would love the opportunity to help you resolve this problem. As mentioned above there's a number of new ways we send data feeds to 3rd party sites to help bring inventory to the online marketplace faster. I'd like to work with you with resolving this problem as soon as possible, so that your project is a successful one!

Best regards,

Mark Stringfellow
Marketing Director
Dealer Specialties
 
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