I do not see any advantage of having an Auctiva store? If I can't use it in my Ebay then why have it? Can someone please explain this to me?
Thanks

Hi Bremom,
I like having an Auctiva Store. It is an additional tool for the items that you sell. The more exposure you have the better you will do in your sales. Plus it is free! Thank you Auctiva! I like how it has a blog. People can reply right to your blogs. Check mine out!

Bremom it is not a good idea to post your email addy in a public forum like this.Spammers use bots to harvest email addys and the last thing you want is huge amounts of Chinese spam! I created a email address just as an experiment about 3 months ago and posted it to a public forum and it currently is receiving over 2,000 spam messages PER month!

Hi Bremom,
I almost hate to say this because I love Auctiva so much, but I kind of have to agree. But you're getting it free anyway, just do what I do and don't pay any attention to it

Lastade is also right, you do get some extra exposure..one of our posters here tells me she has run into Auctiva stores while Googling, so you never know. (And the blogs of course)

Alot of folks do most all their business thru Auctiva...feedback, invoices, checkout, the works. I find it easier for myself just to use the templates and the scrolling gallery, I pretty much do everything else through Ebay. It's just easier for me only because I'm used to doing it that way.

The store is a nice freebie that Auctiva gives us, but personally I don't think it helps me all that much..JMHO

I am a newbie to this forum and have found it to be a wealth of information and thank the premier and elite members for all their hard work replying to us newbies. Be sure to sign up for the daily email digest and read it every day. You will be surprised how much you will learn to make your selling experience more and more positive without so many problems.

I agree with member_8880 on using Auctiva for the templates and scrolling gallery only. The problems I see on here constantly with Auctiva Checkout, shipping, feedback, etc. confirms my decision to do all that through MY EBAY page. I never have any problems at all!

The Auctiva Store is free and will possibly give you more exposure depending upon what you sell. It's free so why not use it. I still have to set mine up!

Good Luck!

Good Luck!

quote:

I agree with member_8880 on using Auctiva for the templates and scrolling gallery only.

And insurance... don't forget insurance! I ship almost exclusively under $50 and, when I insure, Auctiva is ALWAYS cheaper than the PO and WAY CHEAPER than my new Endicia account. That's a fairly big deal to little guys like me.

And BTW - Auto-Feedback rocks! Don't let 'em tell you any differently!

quote:

And BTW - Auto-Feedback rocks! Don't let 'em tell you any differently!

I don't even have my auto feedback turned on, but I did recently start using the feedback tool on Auctiva, and it certainly makes for a smoother, more efficient way of leaving feedback in one fell swoop. You can choose a standard default, or use cycling feedback. Its pretty cool. I personally haven't had many problems using the Auctiva functions. And since I've been an Auctiva user, since BEFORE I ever listed anything on eBay, I'm still exploring, and learning, better ways to function. I would be lost, if I had to use a SYI form on eBay. :-)
I have not used the blog on Auctiva, but since it is searchable on Google, I imagine it can be a benefit. I did notice that the Auctiva storefronts tend to take a long time to load.
Am I the only one who noticed this?

Bremon,

I'm a Lakeland FL gal, too.

Auctiva Stores.

Ok, here's what I have done.

I purchased a keyword strong domain name from NameCheap.com.

With that domain name, I have forwarded it to my Auctiva Store url.

That domain name: http://www.<insertname>.com is easy to remember and a dot com, too.

Since I own several domain names, I have different uses for each domain name. Some working websites. Some to tie to ecrater stores. Etc Etc.

Please edit your post with the email address being viewed.

There are spam bots that travel the internet grabbing email addresses via the @ and the .com off of webpages.

If you must post an email address here's what I do.

blahblah at blahblah dot com

No bots can read the above.

Best of Luck,
Donna

quote:

Well, if that doesn't sound just brilliant.

So, if I got this right. You have domain names that you don't actually have hosting for, and just forward them to your Auctiva url? You can do that, if the domain name is not hosted?

In the dashboard of your domain name registrar you have many options.

Park the domain name.
Forward the URL.
And more.

Once you have purchased your domain name and it is settled. Usually within a couple of hours. You then sign into your domain name registrar account (mine happens to be with namecheap) and set it up. NameCheap happens to have step by step video's which show you how to do most things that are questioned.

GoDaddy is another domain name registration site. It comes recommended, I'm just comfortable with Namecheap.

Here's one of my domain names which is forwarded:

Recipes And Remedies

Please note that it points back to the Auctiva Store.

This is a good way to start until you can build your own webstore.

I have several domain names and they forward to my website or my ecrater store or other places.

It's cheap..dirt cheap to buy domain names.

Make sure they are keyword strong..that is very important. Also be sure that the site you're forwarding to is keyword strong, along with meta tags that use keywords, too.

Sometimes URL forwards aren't well traveled by search engines. That's why it's important to make sure keywords bring them in and keep them indexing your store.

Best of Luck,
Donna

quote:

Make sure they are keyword strong..that is very important. Also be sure that the site you're forwarding to is keyword strong, along with meta tags that use keywords, too.

Sometimes URL forwards aren't well traveled by search engines. That's why it's important to make sure keywords bring them in and keep them indexing your store.

Wow Donna! Great info. Thanks. I wasn't looking for keyword domains so much as I had wanted to register a web domain, with a new trade name. My present business name is not available as a domain name. So, I was looking for a web address that I could use in advertising, which would redirect to my current sites. I am planning to set-up an eBay store in the near future. And this was the name I thought I would use for the store. And DSouth had some interesting tips on another thread, that brought this task back to the forefront of my thoughts.

Thanks again...I did end up using NameCheap, but I haven't finished with the set-up.

I have what is probably a stupid Rookie question, but maybe someone here knows the answer. If you utilize a forwarded email account, and then reply to an email, then what address shows up in your reply?
If someone sends me email at info@xxxxx.com, and it forwards to my personal email. Can I reply without disclosing my personal email account? The technical logistics of this has me stymied.

LDC

quote:

I do not see any advantage of having an Auctiva store? If I can't use it in my Ebay then why have it? Can someone please explain this to me?

I used to run an efbay store, but SIF invisible to searches, pointless, so binned it last year, only use the Auctiva store now and match the listing style to the Auctiva store front. Looks good, costs far less per month, great

Edit - However I still prefer to use effbay checkout

Best for me especially while I move most items elsewhere

quote:

I used to run an efbay store, but SIF invisible to searches, pointless, so binned it last year, only use the Auctiva store now and match the listing style to the Auctiva store front. Looks good, costs far less per month, great

I may have to respectfully disagree with your assertion of eBay store product not appearing in web searches. As I get pointed to eBay store inventory all the time in web searches.
I do a lot of internet searching, because I am a Rookie, and I am still engaging in considerable market research, for my upstart business.

In fact, one of my favorite BOOK shopping comparison sites, lists eBay store inventory in its search engine. Assuming this link works, I put a sample search in, for an example. BookFinder4U
However, I do not disagree with your assertion that having the monthly committment of an eBay store is a something every eBayer should have.
I know some people who only run auctions, and do just fine. And from what I hear, even those who do have a storefront, still run a lot of auction listings, primarily, to drive traffic to their storefront.

LDC

Book selling on Amazon is VERY successful, you might wanna give it a look.

You could also look at Alibris.

Did you know that eBay has a sister-site www.half.com for selling books?

Best of Luck,
Donna

quote:

may have to respectfully disagree with your assertion of eBay store product not appearing in web searches.

Yes, no problem there, I was actually referring to searches made from within eBay and not from outside, and for my wares even when I had about 200 items in the store and 20 - 40 minimum n auction format as a last resort effort last October - November I had 2 sales of stores items, and one was by someone who asked about whether I had a certain item and I gave them the ID#.

Could be just my wares and the age of my customer base but I sold far more via auction than I did in SIF and the way greedbay is going then with visibilty of SIF items and recent events I am moving them off greedbay.

Another venue is better for me for SIF type items, one of which sold within 3 days whereas was listed for weeks on greedbay.

quote:

You could also look at Alibris.

Did you know that eBay has a sister-site www.half.com for selling books?

Half.com is actually where I first got my "feet wet" in internet selling. And from there I learned of Alibris.com. Which is my other main selling venue. Through Alibris.com...my inventory is available to libraries, and their other selling partners, Borders, Indigo, BAM, etc. And I also list at Barnes & Noble BookQuest, through the same database. I have looked into selling on Amazon, but have not gone swimming in The River yet.
It is on the list of goals for this coming year. My efforts of late, have been focused on getting my boutique up, on eBay, and doing product sourcing, for that store. I am going to sell NEW jewelry and watches, in addition to
pre-owned clothing, and accessories. A competitive area on eBay, no doubt, but I believe I have what it takes to stand out from the crowd. And it will be a good learning experience.
In fact, the book sales presently listed on eBay at auction, are my auction learning efforts. Its certainly not been a profitable venture, by an means. But it is building my "administrative" skills, and my feedback numbers. I just broke my 100 feedback threshold last week. We learn by doing, so I am in essence an eBay selling intern. I am doing a lot of work, and not getting paid! But this is all working towards a greater goal. I keep telling myself that...It will pay off in the end. LOL

Like our illustrious Choo Choo guy, I am already keeping the idea of independent selling venues, in my mind, as a future goal. As "Greedbay" is making it difficult, to run a profitable business on their platform.

LDC

quote:

Could be just my wares and the age of my customer base but I sold far more via auction than I did in SIF and the way greedbay is going then with visibilty of SIF items and recent events I am moving them off greedbay.

You know...this premise is sometimes a very odd display of consumer behavior on eBay. I see this a lot in my market research. Where an identical item, is listed in store inventory, which DOES actually show up in a search within eBay, yet, the auction item will still be bid at higher than the fixed price offering? Go figure. It can only mean, that people just are not paying attention. And scrolling down the page, to look at how much the fixed price offerings are?

Hi
Read with interest about auctiva stores v ebay stores. I have a template set up for a store I also purchase a domain name too. Not sure if I will benefit from this. I would like a better store fron how do I do this instead of having an ebay one.

quote:

Not sure if I will benefit from this. I would like a better store fron how do I do this instead of having an ebay one.

They are not the same animal. This confused me when I first signed up as well. The Auctiva storefront is only populated with inventory, if you actually have auctions running. Whereas an eBay storefront, is a subscription which you pay a monthly "rent" for, in which you can place static inventory. Non auction items.
Unsure what your template you refer to, is for. A stand-alone web page?

I did manage to get my new domain name to direct to my Auctiva page URL, just as a test.
LDC Designs Whims of Fancy

LDC

Thanks for your reply it is confusing, I think auctiva is great but I'm still finding my feet with it, still glad I came across it though.