Want to know how much My Little Salesman Costs? Looking to sell your equipment through an online marketplace? Read on to learn about My Little Salesman and online heavy equipment marketplaces.

What is My Little Salesman?

My Little Salesman is an online resource for finding heavy equipment, commercial trucks, trailers, and parts for sale. The service also offers dealer management software to bring all company assets together including inventory, contacts, leads, and more.

My Little Salesman was started as a print product in 1958, and transformed into a digital solution in 1996. What was once a pocket-sized guide that could fit in your hand had evolved into a widely distributed online catalog. The company later developed its cloud-based, all-in-one dealer management system to help dealers increase productivity and efficiency in their businesses.

The Texas-based company’s website receives more than 400,000 visits per month, according to SEMRush.

How does My Little Salesman Compare to FleetNow?

Dealers need to know the major pros and cons when it comes to the application used to find the best equipment for their project.

My Little Salesman and FleetNow both have the goal to help companies promote equipment sales across the internet. They also both offer equipment for rent.

Both resources have standard lead generation and messaging tools and help manage inventory with software that organizes machines for sale.

Where they differ:

My Little Salesman still offers a printed catalog

Alongside the popular online resource is the print publication of My Little Salesman. It focuses heavily on advertisements from dealers. Today, there is an interactive digital version of the printed piece that can be viewed on mobile devices.

FleetNow is a resource management tool

Rental yards and fleet managers can use FleetNow as an inventory management tool. It’s easy to log into your personal account and store photos, centralize and control data on machines, track rentals, calculate utilization, and price machines competitively. Sign up to sell your equipment on FleetNow.

Auction Listings with My Little Salesman

My Little Salesman shares listings with detailed information regarding online and on-site auctions for commercial trucks, trailers, and heavy equipment. Users can view a list of upcoming auctions, or view a comprehensive list of equipment available across all the auctions.

How Much Does My Little Salesman Cost?

When comparing My Little Salesman and FleetNow, both websites have packages in a range of sizes for businesses.

If you only want to list a few things on the My Little Salesman website, each listing will cost about $20 and will last for 30 days. Companies looking for package deals can expect to pay between about $200 to $2,000 depending on the number of unit listings. Yards with fewer than 20 units can get reduced pricing.

My Little Salesman still focuses on boosting print subscriptions as well. Though the digital subscription is free, print subscriptions are priced between $30 to $125 per year, depending on what country you live in.

There are also separate costs for all of their other services including the Dealer Management System, Customer Relationship Management software, dealer website creation, advertising, and Facebook marketing.

Is the Price of My Little Salesman Worth it?

My Little Salesman has a large audience and offers similar tools as FleetNow, but at a larger cost. For local and regional yards, FleetNow can take care of your customized services and offer a free trial.

Smaller yards pay more for basic packages with My Little Salesman. Larger enterprises may find the offerings more appropriate.

We recommend listing your equipment with FleetNow at a fraction of the cost My Little Salesman charges — sell just one piece of equipment every three months and FleetNow pays for itself.

What is Equipment Trader?

Equipment Trader is an online resource to find equipment for sale and for rent. Similar to FleetNow, Equipment Trader offers classified advertising to dealers and independent owners. It seems to be a pretty straightforward service that offers a few extra features.

Equipment Trader got its start around 2000. It’s part of the Trader Interactive family of websites. Trader Interactive offers digital resources for online advertising and marketing for equipment segments.

How does Equipment Trader Compare to FleetNow?

The biggest difference between Equipment Trader and FleetNow are the features offered from the sources, besides listing equipment for sale or rent.

Both entities strive to be the number one source for dealers and buyers looking to list their equipment. They both have a special portal for individuals listing several pieces, and FleetNow can take on more listings from one dealer for a more cost-efficient price.

FleetNow and Equipment Trader have search features on their sites, and Equipment Trader includes an additional search for dealers with filters for location, class, makes, and more.

Where they differ

The Equipment Trader is based on simplicity

There are no frills or additional services to use through the Equipment Trader site. It is strictly for searching for and listing equipment or dealers. Other than subscribing to its newsletter or reading articles from its blog, there are no other features.

FleetNow has added benefits for dealers

A private sales network and wholesale pricing on equipment re-rentals is offered through FleetNow. It also offers inventory reporting, team management applications, and software solutions like inspection reports. If a team is looking for a more complete package for listing and monitoring equipment sales and rentals, FleetNow has more options available.

Discover more website affliates with Equipment Trader

As previously mentioned, Equipment Trader is one of many websites housed under the Trader Interactive umbrella. Through Equipment Trader, you will also find easy access to AeroTrader, ATVTrader, CommercialTruckTrader, Boatline, and more. This expansive network of sites offers many different types of equipment and machinery for retail buyers.

How Much Does Equipment Trader Cost?

When comparing Equipment Trader and FleetNow, users will notice that listings with Equipment Trader have a lower cost, and also come with less benefits.

The base package for Equipment Trader starts as low as $229 per month. The most expensive package, which is $750 per month, includes premium advertisements. Depending on your number of listings, monthly costs can reach close to $2,000.

If a dealer wants to list a single piece of equipment, listing prices start at $24.95.

Is the Price of Equipment Trader Worth it?

Though Equipment Trader claims 1.2 million visits per month, it lacks a variety of offerings.

FleetNow can provide users with analytics reporting and software solutions that can help dealers and buyers make better informed purchases. With advertising across Google, Bing and Facebook, FleetNow puts its dealer’s listings in front of buyers where they are shopping.

We recommend listing your equipment with FleetNow to get the most out of your monthly listings — sell just one piece of equipment every three months and FleetNow pays for itself.

Already using Equipment Trader? Call IronTek Solutions today and ask for a trial.

Equipment Trader Customer Reviews

Equipment Trader is a well-known platform for selling heavy equipment, but many users have expressed frustration with its customer service. While the platform itself is easy to use, the lack of responsive support has left some sellers dissatisfied.

One user shared, “Not a terrible platform to sell heavy equipment, however, Equipment Trader’s customer service is downright just BAD. I’ve had a couple of issues now, including issues with the wrong year coming up on my listings. I’ve reached out, and not a single reply or even an acknowledgment email that the situation is being looked into.”

Another user echoed similar frustrations, saying, “I listed a piece of equipment and looked for it on the site while not logged in. Couldn’t find it….Asked for some assistance from customer service and never received a reply from them.”

A third user who spent over $1,200 on a premium listing was particularly disappointed, stating, “I was under the impression my ad would be featured near the top but it’s nowhere close. Also, I have asked the salesman, to help me on two different occasions to make changes to the ad with no reply. I am very disappointed that I paid over $1200 for this.”

These reviews highlight a recurring issue with Equipment Trader: while the platform itself has potential, the lack of communication and support is a significant drawback.

FleetNow Marketplace is our used equipment platform of choice, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only choice. In fact, there are more options than ever before, making the buying decision a bit tough.

When we meet with prospective clients who aren’t already using FleetNow, we get asked about a few different marketplaces, and Machinery Trader is one of the most common.

Don’t get us wrong, Machinery Trader has a solid reputation and is effective, but there is a lot more to consider when comparing used equipment marketplaces than just price and features.

In this article, we’ll give you an overview of Machinery Trader and their pricing, a general comparison between FleetNow Marketplace and Machinery Trader, and let you know if we think the high price is worth it.

What is Machinery Trader?

Machinery Trader is one of the world’s leading used equipment marketplaces, offering a variety of solutions to help equipment owners sell old construction equipment.

The website started as a magazine in 1978 and the website was registered in 1996.

Screen shot of Machinery Trader as it appeared on November 3, 1999, courtesy of archive.org’s Wayback Machine.

With a strong emphasis on print, Machinery Trader features five regional publications that come out weekly.

Machinery Trader’s companion website features comprehensive auction results, heavy-hauler information, and a messaging system that enables buyers to ask about a particular product or piece of inventory. Machinery Trader is owned by Sandhills Publishing.

Machinery Trader’s solutions include:

• Equipment Listings
• Auction Results
• A machine Parts Search
• Database of Machine Dealers

Machinery Trader shines by offering many listings and attracting a large audience of browsing shoppers, in August, 2020, it attracted 1,075,615 visitors to their site according to SEMRush.

So, how does Machinery Trader Compare to FleetNow Marketplace?

As two competing marketplaces, dealers looking to sell their equipment want to know about their similarities and key differences.

Both are similar in that they exist to help companies promote their equipment sales across the internet.

Both have standard lead generation and messaging tools.

Both help manage inventory, with software to help organize machines for sale.

Where they differ

Machinery Trader Focuses Heavily on Print

Machinery Trader focuses heavily on print, pushing those selling construction equipment to be included in their physical catalogs. While high-quality, with glossy pages and full color, the print side feels dated in today’s smartphone world.

FleetNow Marketplace provides tools to help rental yards

Long story short, FleetNow Marketplace is easy to implement, learn and use. It’s “Average Price Difference” tool and Utitlization Reports, along with its ability to import information from Machinery Trader, Point of Rental, or from an API, means updates on your equipment listings can happen smoothly and quickly.

Analytics

Though FleetNow Marketplace is actively improving their reporting each quarter, one area that Machinery Trader has a clear edge on is analytics.

How Much Does Machinery Trader Cost?

One of the most notable differences between FleetNow Marketplace and Machinery Trader is price, which you’ll see in a second is significantly higher for Machinery Trader than for FleetNow Marketplace.

While both marketplaces offer packages for businesses of all sizes, Machinery Trader tends to focus on packages that include print and their website — a fact that can be easily seen in its pricing.

Like many websites, Machinery Trader is not as transparent with its prices. Instead of being listed on their website, the company requires you to speak with a sales rep first.

Fortunately, with a little digging, you can find their estimated prices of its packages, with typical monthly fees ranging from $799 to over $3,000. Fees can vary based on how many additional offerings, like website hosting, a rental yard chooses to buy.

So, Is the Price of Machinery Trader Worth it?

By now, you know our answer to this question.

For smaller yards, Machinery Trader’s entry-level price isn’t as cost-effective as FleetNow Marketplace.

Machinery Trader has a large audience and many of the tools that FleetNow Marketplace does. With customized, responsive service and a free trial, FleetNow Marketplace is a great choice for local and regional yards.

Larger enterprises often need custom solutions, which could make the cost of Machinery Trader more reasonable.

We recommend listing your equipment for a fraction of what Machinery Trader charge with FleetNow Marketplace — sell just one piece of equipment every three months and FleetNow more than pays for itself.

Every year, many new small business owners wonder if they can take an advertising tax deduction to reduce their tax liability. The answer is, yes, you can absolutely save on taxes by advertising with FleetNow. Here’s a closer look at the rules on advertising as a tax deduction, and the services that FleetNow provides that can qualify as deductible marketing expenses for your business.

Is Advertising Deductible? It Depends

Some forms of advertising are definitely tax deductible. These are necessary business expenses used to promote your business, so the IRS lets you deduct them in most cases. There are a few exceptions, which we’ll talk about below.

In general, all of these are considered valid advertising expenses that you can deduct from your business taxes:

• Online, print, television and radio advertisements for your business
• Direct mail marketing
• Expenses on promotional items like cups, pens, hats or shirts
• Sponsoring a local sports team
• Email newsletters, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services, and PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising
• Business cards, brochures, and expenses related to your business website
• Promotional events for clients or a publicity campaign

When Does Advertising Not Count as Tax Deductible?

There are generally two types of expenses that would make “advertising” not count as tax deductible. These are certain personal expenses, and anything that is political in nature. The personal expenses are fairly straightforward. If an expense benefits you personally, and is outside the normal course of work for your business, then it’s probably not deductible.

Political advertising of any kind is never tax free. For example, you may be considering running ads on a political candidate’s website. That’s not deductible. Some people like to endorse their preferred candidates using signage, their website, or some other form of paid media. Since that is a political expense, and directly benefits a political campaign, it is not tax deductible (even if you are doing it to promote your business).

FleetNow Services for an Advertising Tax Deduction

A number of services that FleetNow provides are considered deductible advertising expenses. You can use these to lower your tax burden to the IRS when filing business taxes. We help to provide a solid “paper trail” for you to use to deduct marketing expenses through FleetNow. Here are some examples of some of the services we provide which can be deducted.

Equipment Sales. Listing your used construction equipment for sale on FleetNow is a deductible advertising expense. We are the premier online service for selling new and used boom lifts, forklifts, skid steers, telehandlers, towable boom lifts, scissor lifts, trailers and trucks. The rate that you pay to list your used equipment with us is considered a deductible advertising expense.

Paid Online Advertising. FleetNow places ads for our clients on Google, Facebook and Bing for our clients. This allows you to reach a broader audience by listing your used equipment with us, and therefore qualifies as a deductible marketing cost.

Search Engine Optimization. We can optimize your listings of used equipment for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), ensuring that more clients are likely to see your machine and respond to it.

Website Redesign. Your website is likely to be your most important front-facing advertising expense. Redesigning and upgrading your webpage with FleetNow is a deductible expense.

Promotional Materials. FleetNow can help create promotional materials for your business, such as shirts, hats, business cards and more. These are deductible!

Tax Deductible Advertising FAQs

How do you write off advertising?

Advertising and marketing expenses are listed on your business tax return as deductible business expenses. There are specific locations and tax forms used for this. The best way to ensure that you are filing your business taxes correctly, along with the proper advertising deductions, is to talk with your professional tax preparer. There are different methods and forms used, depending on whether your business is a sole proprietorship, single-member LLC, a partnership, a multi-member LLC, or a corporation. Your tax preparer will know which IRS forms and schedules to use.

What advertising expenses are not deductible?

Advertising that is used for personal, non-business related or political reasons is not tax-deductible. This includes things like:

• Political ads
• Charitable donations
• Ads for personal hobbies
• Using a company logo on a personal vehicle

Is advertising tax free? In many cases, yes, it is. If you run a business buying or selling construction equipment, Contact Us at FleetNow to discuss your marketing and advertising needs.