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...beats
the competition hands down. |
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I
am truly thrilled with Menatay Books' decision to entrust
BookTrakker, and your team, with our growing data
management/online listing needs.
Granted, I was fairly confident from the start that we would
be happy with BookTrakker, based on extensive research,
countless positive reviews and testimonials, live testing
(with any and all demos I could get my hands on), and your
wonderful technical support (even before we purchased).
Now, however, having been using BookTrakker for a couple of
months, I am in utter awe by its design and capabilities.
BookTrakker is, in my opinion, the all too rare example of a
software application that does precisely what it's intended
to do, and does it well -- intuitively, reliably, and
flexibly. You clearly designed this, from start to finish,
with the end user in mind. |
All
the time that I thought I'd spend designing and developing
my own database (I tried HomeBase, but it is severely
lacking and not entirely trustworthy in my experience --
after all, you know they say about a
"free lunch") can now be spent developing my
business.
And all this at great price. I am glad I didn't, but I would
have paid a lot more. Value wise, BookTrakker beats the
competition hands down. Based on my experience with both,
HomeBase is far less of a value at $0.00 than BookTrakker is
at its price. My guess is that others using BookTrakker
would wholeheartedly agree. So, in short, thanks for filling
a need perfectly!
Kyle
Menatay Books
New York, NY
*Prior to becoming a bookseller Kyle spent 12 years on Wall
Street, first as a senior analyst and head of J.P. Morgan
Chase's U.S. Electric Utilities Equity Research Group (10
years) followed by two years as Vice-President of a
management consulting firm. |
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New
user discovering features - tickled with how easy BTP makes
it to manage inventory |
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I'm
still fairly new to BookTrakker, but I'm beginning to get
the hang of its more powerful and flexible features.
Today I created a Hit List to select Available records with
the Range Type set to Date|Modified From 01/01/2003 (well
before I began entering records) To 08/31/2004 and I had it
Sort|Descending on Dealer Price. This gave me a list
of all available records that I hadn't revised for at least
1 month, sorted from highest to lowest price. I then opened
a couple of browser windows to look up my books by
ISBN on Amazon and Alibris.
Working with BTP on the left-hand side of the screen and
swapping between |
Amazon
and Alibris on the right-hand side, I was able to quickly
review/revise dealer and retail prices based on the quality,
price, feedback, and fill rates of the current competition.
I chose to put my efforts into reviewing the highest price
books first to encourage higher priced sales for my efforts.
In any case, this is probably old hat to you folks who
have been using BTP for years, but I'm still tickled with
how easy BTP makes it for me to manage my inventory.
Constance Petersen
SoftMedia Artisans, Inc.
http://www.smartisans.com/
www.amazon.com/shops/
shopsmartisans
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Easy
conversion - fewer limitations
- great support |
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I was a Homebase user initially. I wanted the ability to
more things with the database than was possible given some
of the limitations of Homebase. About 2 years ago I switched
to BookTrakker. I sell both online and through our B&M
store. I really appreciate the ease with which I can create
multiple catalogs using BookTrakker. Also, it allows one
button uploads to a variety of online services including
ABE, Alibris, and many others including your own website.
I use version 2.0. Version 3.0 has just become available
with a lot more features as suggested by the
BookTrakker user community. |
Soon
I'll upgrade to the new version. I think perhaps the
strongest endorsement I can give is the immediate customer
service and technical support provided by BookTrakker. Once
you're part of BookTrakker you get to know Andy. There is a
real accessible person behind this software and you can talk
to him easily. There is also a user listserve through which
the user community can get additional information and help
each other.
There was virtually no problem in converting Homebase to
BookTrakker. It's easily done and gives you a lot more
flexibility when completed.
Black
Hills Books and Treasures
South Dakota |
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Wise
investment - Program paid for
itself during Free Trial |
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It
did not take a lot of thought
on my part to conclude that
BookTrakker is a wise
investment for me and my plan
to expand my home business of
book sales. Within the first
two weeks of the trial the
program paid for itself in
increased sales, time saved
(and I've barely touched upon
its features and
capabilities!), inventory
control and
organization.
Customer service is readily
available, with Andy and his
staff able to communicate at
the level of the user, even
those of us who are
"technically
challenged". The
difference, I think, is that
this program is |
designed
by someone who understands the needs of book sellers, vs
someone who designs a product upon theory and not practical
use or application.
I recommend that any book seller, especially home based or
new sellers with expansion plans make the purchase. It will
save you both time and money, allowing you to maximize the
actual hours you put into your business with enhanced
financial return upon your time and effort. One of the best
investments I have made this year. Georgia L. Uremovic,
Olwidowwoman |
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Catalogues
and database always current |
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We made the decision early on to have our own searchable database, rather
than simply attaching our search back to Abe or Bibliofind. The next issue
of course was how do we do this and maintain our listings at <www.smallbooks.com>
on a daily basis without incurring excessive maintenance fees from our web
designer. The answer was simple. BookTrakker. Because we use BookTrakker
for our database, we felt we could utilize the same simple upload method
this program incorporates on our own website. Our web designer helped us
contact a programmer who wrote a few simple lines of code, and we are able
to upload to Small Books in the same manner we upload to Abe, etc. |
We
also feature catalogues that are extracted from our database
through BookTrakker topic field. Again, because we are able
to maintain in such a simple manner day-to-day from our own
computer, our catalogues and database are always current. We
seldom have to advise a customer that "the book they
wanted has been previously sold."
For those considering a new book database, or their own
website,BookTrakker is an obvious choice on your holiday
wish list.
Marie White Small
Small Books
Bennington, VT
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Faster
data entry and uploads |
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... I used HomeBase until very recently when I bought BookTrakker
Pro. I can’t begin to tell you what this has meant in terms of
saving both efficiency and speed. Even taking out my learning
curve while adapting to a new program, it is so much quicker to
enter data (and easier) but best of all, with one button and about
2 minutes tops, I’ve uploaded my records to all 3 databases. And
that alone is worth the money. Even if you are successful in
getting HomeBase installed now and decide to get BT Pro later, you’ll
still be able to import all of your HomeBase records into BT very
quickly and easily.
If you’re not a typist, BT is perfect. It “assumes”
capitalization, “remembers” author’s names, publishers,
already has drop-down lists for all the most used things, like
book sizes, conditions, keywords, etc. In it, you can see on one
record what the book cost and what you’re selling it for (and
there are some bells & whistles associated with this feature
that I’m not currently using but fully intend to eventually),
where you got it and where you’ve shelved it.
You can put a book on hold (in case you want to put it up on
auction on ebay or for a potential customer) and remove it just as
easily if the book doesn’t sell. If you have books in the store
or in a mall (like I do) and you want to track them without
listing them online, you can do that with the click of a button.
I used to keep two sets of records...one with a book ID# (I used
Excel for this) and Homebase. BT Pro assigns the next record # for
me so now I only have to manage one set of records.
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And most important of all is the service I’ve gotten. You wouldn’t
believe some of the dumb things I did (and am still doing)
learning this program (despite the fact that it is so easy, it’s
scary—I even told Andy he made it TOO easy—I keep expecting
the answers to be complicated and they’re not) and every time I’ve
had a question, I’ve gotten an answer in less than 24 hours (and
that was only once—on a Sunday...every other time it has been
within MINUTES!) Patience, a good sense of humor, understandable
instructions—and so on.
Honestly, I have no connection to this program and despite the
fact that I sound like a salesman here, I don’t get a dime out
of this. "...In Homebase, I was limited to what
information was in the catalog when printing it out and no matter
how little or how much info was there, I got 6 books to a page.
And it didn't include my book ID# and always included everything
else whether I wanted it or not. In BookTrakker, I can TELL it
what information I want included on the Catalog Report. Including
my book number. I can tell BookTrakker where I've shelved the book
and what the spine looks like so my husband knows what he's
looking for and where to find it when he pulls books for me. If I
want to change the font so some portion of the report looks
different, I can do so. I can sort the records by almost any
criteria I want. I can rearrange the format of the reports as I
see fit...."
Lera Lamme
The Novel Shoppe
Taylor, TX
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Rather
be out buying books |
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I
downloaded BookTrakker Pro about 2 months ago, mainly out of
desperation. Finding a ready made program that I liked
seemed impossible until I tried BookTrakker. The learning
curve is not too steep. It is an easy, natural transition
from BM3. The whole program layout seems to be right in
front of you all the time without being cluttered or
confusing. It is a perfect design for a left hander like me
who thinks visually rather than in the abstract... |
Sending files... is
so easy. Just one mouse click and it’s done. Also, there are
enough extra fields that you can tailor the program to suit
yourself without feeling imprisoned by someone else’s working
style...
...It is certainly worth (the cost) to me not to have to
fiddle around trying to create a database. I’d rather be out
buying books and cataloging them.
Cheryl Baughman
Frogtown Books, Inc.
Toledo, OH
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Shortcuts
save time |
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Well,
BookTrakker is a program the happy, enlightened few have been using to log on books and send them to the on-line system. It has made doing these tasks much speedier and easier. For example, start typing a publisher name and it finishes it for you. For the whole term "1st edition", just type 1. Same with most of the fields you normally use. I can do many more records in a sitting now than with other programs. It took me almost four years to put my first 5500 books on. Since starting with BT this spring, I have added another 2000. That might seem piddling to most, but I also run my open store
alone and handle everything with the on-line sales alone, so having something that takes a lot of shortcuts without costing quality of how my entries appear means a lot to me. |
Also, uploading to ABE, Bibliofind and the other systems is
done with one click. It just goes down the line to each
system in order after one little press of a mouse button!
The support is superior. Write them an email help note and
usually within 15 minutes you'll get a phone call.
I can't recommend this program enough or the support that
accompanies it. This is truly the next natural step forward
in on-line bookselling.
Jenny Kalahar
The Story Shop
Elwood, IN |
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Does
the job...more time to sell
books |
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The test of a successful software developer is not whether the software is widely sold, but whether it does the job it was intended to do. There are many very happy BT users who would never switch., and I'm one of them. We are very grateful that Andy has given us a tool that speeds our clerical work so we have more time to sell books, and live a life. If others are happy with their own software, that's fine. But many of us would have a much less pleasant bookselling experience had Andy not made
BookTrakker available to us. And I know I'm not alone in my gratitude. We also appreciate the way Andy supports us as we try to adjust to the new or changing requirements of various
data bases. I have never gotten |
such
good customer service anywhere on any software I've bought
before. The owner gives of himself to help others even when
it doesn't always show in the bottom line. I always thought
that showed greatness of heart.
But I guess for some people the bottom line is all that
matters. In my opinion Andy has cast his bread upon the
waters, and according to the Good Book, it should come back
to him seven-fold one of these days. All rewards are not in
cash. Thank you, Andy, for what you've given those who use
BookTrakker and who do appreciate your spectacular
service.
Barb Radisavljevic
Barb's People Builders
Templeton, CA
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Does
almost everything they wanted |
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We switched to
BookTrakker Pro after starting with BookMaster, and graduating to Record Manager, followed by
BookMate. While each of those was an improvement upon the last, none ever offered all the aspects that we needed in a database management program, and we felt constantly frustrated by the limitations. When we found that
BookTrakker Pro did almost everything we wanted, we jumped for it.
The features we like are: Using the same program to manage inventory, contacts, trade credits, want lists, invoices and catalogues; print out lists in a variety of ways; one click uploads to a variety of services; immediate help working through problems that crop up with program use, including how to adapt the upload process to accommodate new services that come online. |
BookTrakker
is pretty intuitive in some ways, not in others. Learning
the basics of how to use the program was pretty simple; the
bells and whistles continue to unfold as we learn more and
more about how to make the program work for us in ways we
never imagined it could.
It took some patience to get our records moved from BookMate
into BookTrakker, but Andy was right there to help make the
transition, and once we got everything switched over, it has
been smooth sailing ever since. There are a few things we
wish it would do, like print out mailing labels, but we like
the program so much, we are willing to wait for features to
be added later. We highly recommend the program to
bookdealers.
Nancy and Bob Fortner
Fortner
Books
Bainbridge Island, WA |
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