Auctiva - Powerful solutions for eBay Sellers

I just received the email from Auctiva informing us about their new alternative to eBay. This appears to be great news, although I'm sure there is some kind of catch. One of the most important issues is, what form of payment is going to be used? PayPal? Because PayPal destroyed my first eBay business and I have been afraid to put any effort into my current one because I believe PayPal might destroy it as well. I was actually thinking of shutting it down completely before I saw this email from auctiva.

It's great that there may finally be an alternative to eBay, but there needs to be an alternative to PayPal as well. Most businesses don't qualify to accept credit cards when they start up. So they have to use PayPal. I don't want to go into details, but this can be dangerous to people going into business for the first time. Trust me.

If Auctiva is owned by eBay, then I don't see how anything will be different. Thanks, but no thanks.

If this post doesn't show up or gets deleted, that will answer my question - unfortunately not in a good way.

You won't have to use Paypal if you don't want to. You can allow your buyers to pay you with credit card, google checkout, check, money order, and more.

Spencer,
In that case, I will continue watching with interest.
Thanks for your reply.

Will sellers need a merchant account to offer credit cards as payment option?

We just joined the beta testing and it is not as easy as touted. We tried to set up the payment methods and there is not an option for money orders. Also on shipping: we always use calculated shipping and have not been able to set that up in the shipping section. Would there be a way to have an instruction manual for the stores? A reference you could refer to that was not computer based. Maybe something old-fashioned like paper.

Is Auctiva owned by Ebay?

Hi Cluttered Loft -

1. no Auctiva is not owned by eBay.

2. We disabled some of the payment stuff for the beta because we didn't buyers coming through and somehow accidentally buying something or thinking they were. We will have money orders available as a choice.

3. We plan on having calculated shipping as well.

4. We plan on having a lot of documentation on how to set up and use your Auctiva Commerce store - and I am sure you will be able to print some of those instructions out!

Thanks for the questions!
Cara

Thanks for the info!

For the shipping, it would be nice to be able to customize shipping based on products. Some may be eligible for flat rate shipping while others by weight (calculated shipping). Or to be able to designate S&H costs per item, regardless of weight.

I also am in the beta testing. Tough time of year to work at it however. I was having problems setting up the shipping, and agree with the above on flat rates etc. Also for International shipping.I hope to find some time to finish setting it up after Xmas.I will say, it so far has been a lot easier to set up than EBay Pro Stores! Thanks Auctiva for this opportunity!