Spoonfeeder shutting up shop?
5/02/2010 at 11:04
If you’ve ever registered with eBay listing/management/hosting provider Spoonfeeder, you’ve probably received this email this morning:
We regret to inform you that SpoonFeeder will cease business operations immediately. Although some parts of the system may remain operational for a very short time, we cannot guarantee how long.
Please take immediate steps to end, revise or relist your item listings with another tool (such as eBay’s free tools), as SpoonFeeder features such as picture hosting and hit counters will be discontinued abruptly. Please take immediate steps to minimize the impact to your item listings.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience our sudden shutdown may cause.
I’m 95% certain it’s not a spoof: I’ve received it on both the email addresses I had registered with Spoonfeeder, and an awful lot of other eBay sellers have also received it. If, of course, there’s a follow-up email from another listing software provider, I might reconsider that thought. 
At time of writing, there doesn’t seem to be any further information on Spoonfeeder’s website, and listings using their hosting still appear to be working. How long that might last is anyone’s guess: it’s a reminder, if we needed another one, to host your images somewhere that stays under your control.
More info if we get it.
Update: email confirmed genuine. Sorry to see Spoonfeeder go: they were a life-saver for me. 
Steve H says
11:20 am on 05/02/2010
We haven’t received the email despite being registered with Spoonfeeder for several years. The program still seems to work correctly although we have never used their hosting services.
Sue Bailey says
11:36 am on February 5th, 2010
I would imagine (Eddie can correct me if I’m wrong) that the listing part of it will carry on working so long as there are no major API changes that cause conflict. There just wouldn’t be any updates (I think) e.g. category or item specifics changes.
ebuyerfb says
2:37 pm on February 5th, 2010
I’m not familiar with Spoonfeeder other than that that it was a desktop application that created listings. As long as their application has a way to query eBay every 18 months to acquire a new auth token and doesn’t rely on any external database, it can continue running without developer intervention like you say. If that method involved their website then you have 18 months or less from the day that quits working.
That being said eBay updates the API every two weeks so the clock is ticking and probably very quickly at that.
Eddie says
11:27 am on 05/02/2010
Sorry to see them go, sign of the times I am afraid.
Monetizing software for eBay has always been hard going, even more so recently due to not only the economic climate, but also eBays API, especially for SellYourItem, its needs deep pockets and in house programmers to keep it upto date, something not all third party developers can afford to do.
I, at AuctionPix (.co.uk) dropped support for listing creation and launch a few years ago, and just stuck to basics – image hosting and display and some advanced tools not dependant on listing launch.
Eddie says
12:09 pm on 05/02/2010
Update for you :
I have just now spoken with Dean, the owner of Spoonfeeder. Not a happy time for him and his family at the moment I am afraid, and this closure was not planned for.
On his behalf, many apologies to those reading this and affected by this closure, and if it could have been done any other way or prevented, it would have been.
David says
12:23 pm on 05/02/2010
I just got the email notice and I have to say it is a shock, a total shock. I have relied on Spoonfeeder for years and I have invested countless hours in creating and maintaining Spoonfeeder files. This is going to have a major, major impact on my business. No warning!! With Auctiva going to a paid service recently, is there any other software solution besides Spoonfeeder that will allow for auction scheduling?
Sue Bailey says
12:31 pm on February 5th, 2010
David, does eBay’s own scheduling not work for you? (Kinda expensive if you’re not getting it free with a Featured Shop, but there may be other reasons to upgrade your shop, if you haven’t already.)
David says
12:42 pm on February 5th, 2010
Sue,
With a regular eBay account there are no scheduling features except one at a time for 10 cents each. I did have a Pro account at one time, but the scheduling is not as robust as Spoonfeeder and it involves a monthly fee. Spoonfeeder was a one-time software purchase, and the best solution out there. Luckily I never used their image hosting, I have my own.
Sue Bailey says
12:53 pm on February 5th, 2010
Indeed – that’s why I said “kinda expensive if you’re not getting it for free”. On eBay UK, you get it for free with SMP – though obviously SMP or a monthly store fee has to be paid for. (No idea if there’s a similar deal on .com, though no doubt someone will be along to tell us in a minute…)
Savvy Paul says
12:48 pm on February 5th, 2010
Inkfrog is very good. $10 per month, no hidden charges – 1GB of image hosting included, free templates or upload your own, free scheduling and global revisions (a big, big benefit when ebay make changes to policies etc), one page lister and the whole thing is very intuitive / easy to get to grips with. When Auctiva hit everyone with fees, Inkfrog came up with a way to migrate Auctiva listings automatically into Inkfrog. Worth asking them if they can do the same with SF.
We used SF up until 10 months ago and they were always very helpful, so sad to see them go.
ebuyerfb says
2:48 pm on February 5th, 2010
There was a company (I think MerchantGadgets) that was going to release a listing scheduler on SM Apps but it never materialized. Their website no longer mentions it so I don’t know if it was canceled or still in development.
I was going to make my own app that did the same thing but it didn’t seem like something I could make profitably.
Fran says
12:53 pm on 05/02/2010
Stunned! Where do we go from here, I picked the software up as my first selling tool and have not looked at alternatives for five years, now I feel completely in the dark.
vinny says
1:32 pm on 05/02/2010
yes its tru i got the e-mail too and i’m from the uk,i dont have many listings on ebay at the mo thank god so i feel sorry for the people with hundreds or thousands ;0(
my listing have not changed upto now,they are still all ok,we bough 4 spoonfeeders altogther 2 for ourselfs and one for my sis and one for father in-law so i’m really peed off,they could have at least given some explanation in the e-mail but NO NOTHING,i thought they were a good company but obviously not
Bigpoppa says
1:58 pm on 05/02/2010
Does anyone know why?
Linda says
2:59 pm on February 5th, 2010
It’s reported elsewhere that they have filed for bankruptcy after their bankers declined to renew a loan.
ebuyerfb says
3:15 pm on February 5th, 2010
Auctionbytes has more info. Truly tragic.
I just tried accessing the website and got an unknown host error. It was working 15 minutes ago.
northumbrian says
2:46 pm on 05/02/2010
ebays blackthorne software schedules by itself and via ebay,
and it was only a matter of time that music just had to go
Chris Dawson says
3:49 pm on February 5th, 2010
I have to say the music on the home page was diabolical, but the solution was good
A real shame to see it go
Mutley says
3:14 pm on 05/02/2010
SF were squeezed by their bank – the commercial property loan was up for renewal and their bank pulled the plug despite not being in arrears.
No hope of sourcing alternative financing apparently – there’s a blog on Auctionbytes with more info.
Alternatives – good place for seeing what alternative listing software is out there is auctionsoftwarereview.com
For thise of us based in UK you can tailor the site to pick up specific mkts too…. and no I’m not related to the site!
Cheers
philippe ricoux says
4:23 pm on 05/02/2010
maybe all users could help them giving few dollars
“Mr. Chandler said he would no longer be able to support the software. He estimated there were between one and two thousand active eBay sellers using SpoonFeeder, and 5,000 total casual users out of 14,000 total”
lets say $10 x 2000= 20.000 and some more every month could maybe keep them alive, but i dont know if this can work, they of course have the email of all they’re customers and can contact them very quickly, in the world today we must have some solidarity… thanks to comment this post to see if my idea can make sense
phil
Dollies Place says
5:13 pm on 05/02/2010
Loyal longtime users were already giving them money. It is too late now, considering how this has been handled, to
even ask users for MORE money. We are too busy scrambling to save our stores from total melt down.
Myles Sinclair says
5:53 pm on 05/02/2010
It is a shame to see the Spoonfeeder business fail. The software worked great, and it will now be a scramble for lots of people to find a good replacement.
It’s always a risk though when using software that requires the use of the vendors servers.
peter hughes says
8:07 pm on 05/02/2010
hi there
does anyone know whether (when the servers get turned of) we just lose the hosted picture or the picture plus the text in the description?
i have 3300 listings currently using it and i am er concerned
Cheers
Peter
philippe ricoux says
8:47 pm on February 5th, 2010
hi
you will loose the pics not the text, i opened a free account on photobucket (500mb hosting pics on the free account) and will spend my w.e. to copy and paste the link on my listings, i only have about 500… and then try to found an other system for the future listings, let me know if you need more help
phil
peter hughes says
9:03 pm on February 5th, 2010
phew thats a result, its not a total disaster for me then
i think i will be trying auctiva next
thanks for the help
peter
Travis Slater (epawn777) says
9:15 pm on 05/02/2010
We have used SF for years and has always been reliable… Kind of wish we had some warning, I have several listings out there right now… We were paying $10 a month and were very happy… None of the other auction software companies are any good, you cant make sub folders to save files on, no image hosting, very slow web based uploads that are rediculous!… sure are gonna miss you spoonfeeder!…can we buy the company?
wayne says
9:22 pm on 05/02/2010
why dont they put a monthly charge , im sure most users who depend on this kind of service would pay , i would no problem sorry to see them go , may be someone would ask to owner see if we can get it up and running again
Dollies Place says
9:28 pm on 05/02/2010
It would be hard to get the service up
and running again if they no longer
have access to the building or equipment.
wayne says
9:33 pm on 05/02/2010
would be good if we knew how we could help
wayne says
9:37 pm on 05/02/2010
the service should have always been a monthly change
wayne says
9:39 pm on 05/02/2010
charge sorry lol
Travis Slater (epawn777) says
9:52 pm on 05/02/2010
lets buy it!!!
David says
9:53 pm on 05/02/2010
According to the article on Auctionbytes, “The software will work for a while for those with their own FTP servers.”
That would apply to the bronze level, and anyone who willing to switch over their photo hosting. (Photobucket is great.)
I just tested SF, and it’s still uploading listings. But I had hoped to grab the latest version of the software, and now the site is down.
Is there a mirror anywhere to download the final version of Spoonfeeder? I think someone should set that up. I would if I had the latest version.
charlie says
9:58 pm on 05/02/2010
Well Im not removing the spoonfeeder software for a little while, one can always hope. How come no one yelled for help?
wayne says
10:10 pm on 05/02/2010
the last update was 4.89
wayne says
10:15 pm on 05/02/2010
if they can get the site back on the server and put a $5 per month to see how it goes , dont know how much work to do this lol, but im sure its worth a try , just send a bulk email asking for support , to see how much feedback they get hopefully it will work
David says
10:54 pm on 05/02/2010
I’m running ver. 4.51
If someone could please shoot me the 4.89 update I would really appreciate it.
funzpoppin@yahoo.com
Thanks!
philippe ricoux says
8:28 am on February 6th, 2010
i put the version 5.96 online (4/01/2010) you can download it at http://cid-4387dcddc7591248.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/.Public/SPOONFEEDER?uc=1
phil
David says
10:35 am on February 6th, 2010
Thanks Phil that is a Godsend!!
Dollies Place says
1:28 am on 06/02/2010
Inkfrog has created a special importer for SpoonFeeder Refugees.
http://community.inkfrog.com/showthread.php?t=23037&highlight=spoonfeeder
Sue Bailey says
1:37 am on February 6th, 2010
Thanks for posting that, Dollie – should be useful for a lot of people.
Angie says
8:52 am on 06/02/2010
What a shame – brilliant site – can anyone tell me the best site to go to now that doesnt charge for additional photos,and will scheldule upload as I mainly do low cost items for a charity.RIP Spoonfeeder -
David says
10:41 am on February 6th, 2010
I found this site… Auction Zealot.
I haven’t tried it but it’s completely free, so hey it’s worth a try:
http://www.auctionzealot.com/
You can also get a basic Auctiva account for only $2.95 per month, it’s a tried and true solution, easy to use.
Trevor says
10:02 am on 06/02/2010
Very sorry to see SpoonFeeder go. The eBay software market is a huge one and there is enough room for a quite a few listing products. AuctionSplash has more current users than SpoonFeeder and as the developer for AuctionSplash I would like to invite you to take a look at http://www.auctionsplash.com AuctionSplash is free, PC based and has as many features as SpoonFeeder with some more as well. We are also introducing a web version of AuctionSplash in the next week and this will also be free.
Please take a look, AuctionSplash might be just what you need.
David says
10:48 am on February 6th, 2010
Thanks for posting this. Glad to see there are still some no-charge solutions in the marketplace. Can you use AuctionSplash strictly for scheduling listings, and continue to use eBay for checkout and all other functions… plus use your own photo hosting?
sarah Jayne says
2:33 pm on February 6th, 2010
I had previously used Spoon Feeder and now I am using Auction Splash and I think its Great! Thank you for having a really useful, free product!
philippe ricoux says
3:48 pm on February 6th, 2010
free that is maybe the problem how can we trust again a free system??? i have transfered all my 500 listing with inkfrog in less than 1/2 hour this morning to be safe, great time saving, inkfrog look much more easy to use than auctiva for example and much cheaper…
phil
Bob says
10:11 am on 06/02/2010
I have used Spoonfeeder for 4 years and it help take me to powerseller level and get over all the ‘humps’ eBay put in the way recently. To lose Spoonfeeder is a massive blow. I thought long and hard about how to make it work without the hosting, but it all got too difficult.
I am now busy converting over 400 listings to inkfrog. I am already seeing pictures disapear and will have to act quickly. Many of the template images have already gone so my listings look awful, but they are still there and I have a while to try to make them work.
For those sticking with it I have v 5.96 of the software and could upload it to a fileshare site – bob_b@bsquared.demon.co.uk if you are interested…
Bob says
10:23 am on February 6th, 2010
For those of you sticking with Spoonfeeder for now you could use a photo hosting site with FTP.
I used Photobucket ($40 for two years) and then uploaded the Spoonfeeder template images to a folder there. I then did a find and replace in the template and replaced all references to the pictures.spoonfeeder site with the photobucket location.
I then set Spoonfeeder to FTP the listing images to photobucket.
To test this I then edited a Spoonfeeder listing and then did a Web Preview and it did upload all my images to the new host and the listing did work.
My only reason for now pursuing this was the knowledge that it is only a stop gap and that the inkfring solution appeared to be more robust… I still have the option to go back and keep checking whether Spoonfeeder works if things with Inkfrog don’t work out.
David says
10:37 am on February 6th, 2010
Luckily I never utilized Spoonfeeder templates or any of that extra stuff. I created all my HTML from scratch using Dreamweaver and I use Photobucket for image hosting. Always keep it as simple as possible, then you are not completely dependent on any one system.
As far as using templates, I never found that the use of templates increased sales. On the contrary, the cleanest, simplest listings always perform the best. Right now Spoonfeeder is still working for everything I need it for. Who knows how long that will last. Good luck everyone!
Jimbo says
11:01 am on February 6th, 2010
I would recommend that what ever service or listing tool people use, the first image (gallery) should be hosted by eBay.
Beth says
2:16 pm on 06/02/2010
I was a paid subscriber to Spoonfeeder and absolutely love the program. Any software that helps make your work go easier is always worth paying for, in my opinion.
I received the first email that said SpoonFeeder charged $10.00 for my monthly February subscription payment via paypal. The second email arrived SIX seconds later ~ We are OUT OF BUSINESS!
Could the timing have had something to do with getting one last payment out of your paid subscribers???? Hard to believe you had no knowledge that you were going to shut down. Who cares about the $10.00! I have a problem with the fact that they just dumped on all of their loyal subscribers and gave them no advance notice so they could
get set up with another program.
………. Just sayin’
Dan Widdison says
9:47 am on 07/02/2010
I have used SF since 2004 & its always been pretty good! Support was good too. A bit shocked at hoq abruptly it ended but i would happily pay and extra 10p per auction towards them or a yearly subscription of up to £50. Shame they are going. Thanks to all the staff who did make it possible for as long as they did though. Im now looking for an alternative.
Emily Hart says
1:04 am on 11/02/2010
I have used Spoonfeeder for five years and for a U.S. based ebay store with an owner in Canada it was superb… someone needs to buy this company and get it up and running again… Inkfrog is hosting my listings on a free trial but I can’t get Inkfrog to work for me with an address in Canada and an ebay.com store. It just won’t work and no help from the support team that makes any sense to me. Can anyone suggest an alternative that will host 20 or more very large photos for every listing… this is my living… I am near having a panic attack…
philippe ricoux says
12:59 pm on February 11th, 2010
hi
i saved all my listing on inkfrog as many of us, but i still use spoonfeder to list my items, you just have to upload your pictures on inkfrog or photobucket or any other you want and use “add photo using internet web adress” on photos list, if you have a spoonfeeder template you will have to save also the template pictures and change the links on the template
hope it will help
dont hesitate to ask for more info on pr76@free.fr
phil
Mike Hansen says
4:29 pm on 12/02/2010
The spoonfeeder website is totally gone now. Even emails to their domain addresses bounce. I only received the one email from them and then poof! gone! Oh well, too hard of a program to master anyways, time to search for a new ebay tool.
-Mike
Helen says
10:59 pm on 19/02/2010
SpoonFeeder customers should try Vendio for their listing. We have an easy eBay export which imports directly into Vendio. Vendio also comes with Amazon sales automation and a free online store.
Customers can try free for 60 days at http://www.vendio.com
Helen
northumbrian says
10:50 am on February 20th, 2010
hellooooooooooo most of us here are in europe
ebay uk is our main listing site
Linda Pinchin says
8:40 pm on 22/02/2010
we wont be getting a refund of what is owing. I am also with another site which does template’s etc which is called Picnik, it only cost £6 to join for the year and you can also alter your photo’s i.e putting lipstick on/foundation to be honest it is 100% better than spoonfeeder anyway. I also used that site aswell as spoonfeeder.
Linda.
P.s Thanks for the E-mail/letting me know ( NOT )
philippe ricoux says
9:28 pm on 05/02/2010
i used auctiva and still have a free account there, they are good to get the carousel slide show, but since they charge for using the service its rip off… i think the best at moment for me will be turbolister and using the html from spoonfeeder + a free pics hosting and keep my template as i was using spoonfeeder only to list items
phil
Nick says
10:25 pm on 08/02/2010
We don’t sell much on eBay due to what we do but you could contact Just Applications as we user their listing tool Ad-lister. However, you may need to convince them to just offer the software at a fee as we had the store branded as well.