I was wondering if anybody knew if Auctiva was planning on giving us the option to schedule our listings with eBay. By scheduling with eBay, our listings can show up in search as soon as they start.
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last night, we posted several items using Auctiva"s scheduler. When we checked, the listings never appeared and had to be manually posted. How do you get it to work? It's a real pain if everytime, we list we have to manually post the listing at a time appropiate for that item to end????
Hiya,
I ran into a few problems at first when using the scheduled listings. API error, usually and some would post and others wouldn't.
My errors usually consisted of, keyword spamming or forgetting to set a needed detail, postage/shipping, etc; or incorrect time/dates.
The usual method once I'm happy with a listing is to run it through Auctiva's error check at the bottom of the listing and if it passes that, then preview it to make sure I'm completely happy and then set the time and date to start it.
So far, touch wood, spit at the cat, it's working.
Hope it helps a bit,
K.
I ran into a few problems at first when using the scheduled listings. API error, usually and some would post and others wouldn't.
My errors usually consisted of, keyword spamming or forgetting to set a needed detail, postage/shipping, etc; or incorrect time/dates.
The usual method once I'm happy with a listing is to run it through Auctiva's error check at the bottom of the listing and if it passes that, then preview it to make sure I'm completely happy and then set the time and date to start it.
So far, touch wood, spit at the cat, it's working.
Hope it helps a bit,
K.
Hi Johnsattictreasures, did you error check before scheduling and what events occurred after the scheduled listings was supposed to have been posted.
Also did they appear as scheduled in the scheduled listings page, it is easy to forget to update the scheduled times when setting them and leave that window, done that myself, result, they were not actually scehduled.
Also did they appear as scheduled in the scheduled listings page, it is easy to forget to update the scheduled times when setting them and leave that window, done that myself, result, they were not actually scehduled.
I listed mine this morning about 3 hours ago and they are still not indexed. IR! It's starting to tick me off.
Going on 6 hrs now and they are not showing up in search...they are in My Ebay but not anywhere else. Wassup with that?
Hi, sounds ever so common these days, eBay appears to be running out of steam on their servers and probably cannot afford improvements without upsetting the shareholders 
Index time is controlled by eBay and there is nothing Auctiva can do to improve it.
Scheduling your item with eBay does not affect the index time as far as I'm aware. I see just as man people on eBay message boards complaining about this, actually probably more. It all depends on your items and the time you list them how fast they index. I've actually seen a ton of posts on eBay's boards saying to use Auctiva because if you list with us your items index faster, which isn't true. But it goes to show you that people that list with eBay directly think we list faster. Everyone is just wanting their items to index faster, whether you list with us or eBay.
It's my opinion that the longer index times are caused by eBays new measures to combat fraud. Since fraud is a bigger problem than index time the index times don't bother me as much. Left on the course they were on eBay wouldn't have had any buyers left if they didn't start doing more about the fraud because buyer trust was being eroded quick.
Also I'v been doing this a long time. Years ago it was common for items to take over 24 hours to index. So the 6 hours it's been recently is relatively fast compared to the old days. Also they've at least made it so that once your items do index they get into the "Newly listed" section which in the old days didn't happen. We'd all like to see them get back to their really fast index times and I think that may happen over time but they're still working on getting the fraud systems put in place so that they can catch the hackers and fraudsters quickly and give a fast index.
Scheduling your item with eBay does not affect the index time as far as I'm aware. I see just as man people on eBay message boards complaining about this, actually probably more. It all depends on your items and the time you list them how fast they index. I've actually seen a ton of posts on eBay's boards saying to use Auctiva because if you list with us your items index faster, which isn't true. But it goes to show you that people that list with eBay directly think we list faster. Everyone is just wanting their items to index faster, whether you list with us or eBay.
It's my opinion that the longer index times are caused by eBays new measures to combat fraud. Since fraud is a bigger problem than index time the index times don't bother me as much. Left on the course they were on eBay wouldn't have had any buyers left if they didn't start doing more about the fraud because buyer trust was being eroded quick.
Also I'v been doing this a long time. Years ago it was common for items to take over 24 hours to index. So the 6 hours it's been recently is relatively fast compared to the old days. Also they've at least made it so that once your items do index they get into the "Newly listed" section which in the old days didn't happen. We'd all like to see them get back to their really fast index times and I think that may happen over time but they're still working on getting the fraud systems put in place so that they can catch the hackers and fraudsters quickly and give a fast index.
Thanks Jeff. I know how it is too. It was just that the things I had listed were just plain o items too. I could see if I was putting name brands in, I think Sunday's they sometimes take the day off! lol...I had two messages from spammers in "My messages" the other day trying to get me to come to their wholesale site and it came on a camera I was trying to sell. I reported them and got a alert back on Friday (when everyone was still working) but didn't get another one back until last night. I guess they have to take time off too! lol..Have a good day and thanks for replying!
quote:Originally posted by Auctiva Jeff:
Scheduling your item with eBay does not affect the index time as far as I'm aware.
Jeff.. just a heads up.. after all of my ranting and raving in the OTHER thread about this problem.. a couple of days ago I posted an eB rep's reply in it whereby she suggested the same thing.. so I decided to test her suggestion. I scheduled a listing through eBay this time.. to start 8 hours later (wanted to give myself a little leeway taking into account the 6 hour consistent delays I've been having).
Sure enough.. when the scheduled listing WAS submitted.. it was indexed immediately.. so apparently that DOES work. of course.. like I said in the other post as well.. WE have to pay eBay an extra dime though for this "privelege".
HOW convenient!
I believe that is why someone else is asking for Auctiva to implement a scheduling option THROUGH eBay. Personally.. while it would alleviate the problem.. I think it would be rather ludicrous for Auctiva to implement.. since it goes against the whole concept of this service.. to SAVE us money.
Hi scorch, if you had scheduled via eBay only an hour ahead would it have been delayed by indexing.
If so does this mean that when scheduled via eBay they index whilst it is waiting to post so if you post over 6 hours in advance you get what appears to be an 'instantly' indexed listing.
If you have covered this in your other postings I must have missed it, apologies.
If so does this mean that when scheduled via eBay they index whilst it is waiting to post so if you post over 6 hours in advance you get what appears to be an 'instantly' indexed listing.
If you have covered this in your other postings I must have missed it, apologies.
Hi scorch - Thanks for confirming what ebay has been saying about them "preprocessing" listings scheduled through them. Of course I like Auctiva too much to switch to ebay in order to gain the 6 hr or so of exposure time. But some people will think differently. You are right, for Auctiva to schedule through ebay (if this is even possible) would cost a extra 10 cents(ebay's fee), but at least we would be able to gain the benefit of No Delay, WHILE KEEPING the ability to create listings in Auctiva. I think this is a bigger issue than the 10 cents- one that Auctiva needs to jump on now and proactively address, rather than wait for ebay to significantly reduce the delay.
I'm staying here, most bids come in closing minutes for my stuff. So if the items are listed for 10 days and after indexing they are correctly shown as newly listed then the cost of 6 hours loss of visibilty pales into insignificance compared with the financial advantages I achieve by using Auctiva. 
And eBay charges Brits more for their services than the home (US) seller making the Auctiva advantage even better for us here in the UK
And eBay charges Brits more for their services than the home (US) seller making the Auctiva advantage even better for us here in the UK
In my opinion, the great templates and the free big photos alone will make a far bigger difference to the bottom line than an extra 6 hours on a 7 day auction. Six hours is 3.5% of 7 days by the way. Those getting all steamed up and thinking this is a good reason to leave Auctiva may want to re-think?
I wouldn't think of giving up using Auctiva! It's so easy to use and I've been doing it for quite a while.
Hi smac - I didn't mean to imply that YOU would be so foolish as to give up Auctiva. I was really referring to previous posters on this topic who have stated that the DELAY was making them so upset and disillusioned that they were ready to quit Auctiva over it and go back to ebay. Isn't there something called tunnelvision? Or not seeing the big picture? I'm getting a bald spot from scratching my head so much. 
lol...
I'm not really sure your test was valid or not.
A better test would have been to schedule the same item with the same time both through us, and through eBay.
It could have been that the Auctiva listed item would also have indexed immediately at that particular time for the item and title you listed.
I can see what eBay is saying in your post though. Doesn't seem too fair so I hope it's not.
A better test would have been to schedule the same item with the same time both through us, and through eBay.
It could have been that the Auctiva listed item would also have indexed immediately at that particular time for the item and title you listed.
I can see what eBay is saying in your post though. Doesn't seem too fair so I hope it's not.
quote:Originally posted by ChooChooGuy:
Hi scorch, if you had scheduled via eBay only an hour ahead would it have been delayed by indexing.
If so does this mean that when scheduled via eBay they index whilst it is waiting to post so if you post over 6 hours in advance you get what appears to be an 'instantly' indexed listing.
If you have covered this in your other postings I must have missed it, apologies.
I really don't know.. but I'm willing to give that experiment a shot as well in the near future. Like I said.. the reason I chose 8 hours was because I wanted to give myself some room, as I am one of those people who are experiencing a 6 hour to-the-minute delay. Just this morning around 5AM I submitted four auctions through Auctiva and scheduled Auctiva to post them at noon. I checked eBay at 12:30 PM today on eBay.. and there they were as being submittd at noon.. but once again.. the only place they could be seen was in "My eBay" (couldn't be found by keyword title search.. nor were they showing up by browsing under "posted by: time newly listed). At 6PM on the dot.. all four of them showed up in their respective categories.. showing the "newly listed" time as 6PM.. but an ending time at noon.. 7 days from now.
So the million dollar question is as you have eluded to.. what's the MINIMUM amount of pre-scheduling time that one can get away with to make pre-indexing work.. and have the items show up when submitted?
Keep in mind that the 4 items I just spoke of.. were prescheduled through Auctiva. The single item I spoke of before this that I did the test on a couple of days ago.. was pre-scheduled on eBay. Of course.. they're two totally different things and not related.
In answer to your other question.. that IS why the eBay rep suggested I pre-schedule through THEM in order to avoid indexing delays.. in the reply to me a few days ago. Her reply inferred that pre-scheduled items do indeed get indexed while waiting to post.. she just didn't give me a specific time frame for it.. I'm afraid.
quote:Originally posted by ninth_wave:
In my opinion, the great templates and the free big photos alone will make a far bigger difference to the bottom line than an extra 6 hours on a 7 day auction. Six hours is 3.5% of 7 days by the way. Those getting all steamed up and thinking this is a good reason to leave Auctiva may want to re-think?
Agreed. ESPECIALLY since it's already been proven by many including us.. that this delay has NOTHING to do with Auctiva. It's happening to people (including me) whether they compose and submit their auctions through Auctiva.. or directly in eBay itself. Makes no sense..
Why quit or give up on a perfectly good and money saving service that has nothing to do with the root cause of this problem.. and go back to eBay where the problem has clearly been shown to be the originating source from?
I mean seriously? But be my guest..
quote:Originally posted by Auctiva Jeff:
I'm not really sure your test was valid or not.
A better test would have been to schedule the same item with the same time both through us, and through eBay.
It could have been that the Auctiva listed item would also have indexed immediately at that particular time for the item and title you listed.
I can see what eBay is saying in your post though. Doesn't seem too fair so I hope it's not.
I see your point as well Jeff.. but I thought I'd already proven this by doing such a test.. the only difference was I didn't use the exact same item.
When I've done this.. it makes no difference whether I pre-schedule something through you guys OR eBay.. after the items are actually submitted and posted; there's ALWAYS a six hour to-the-minute indexing delay before anyone else but me.. can see them.. either by keyword search.. or "browsing" through categories.
I found your statement here intriguing though:
"It could have been that the Auctiva listed item would also have indexed immediately at that particular time for the item and title you listed."
.. why would that be? Surely your not inferring that Auctiva has some kind of direct route to submission and indexing are you? As I always thought it was.. when WE pre-schedule something to post at a given time through Auctiva.. Auctiva is.. in essence.. simply "holding" on to that listing for us.. correct? It does not in any way, shape or form.. get passed on.. and into eBay's own system UNTIL you guys submit it at the preselected time.. am I right? In other words.. eBay doesn't even KNOW about the auction until you guys submit it. SO if this IS the case.. I would see no difference.. routing and recognition-wise.. through eBay's eyes.. as to whether it was an auction submitted directly by me.. or through you. Which is also why Auctiva needs to be authorized with "coins" in order to submit in our behalf.. right?
The eBay rep that suggested that I preschedule through them to avoid any indexing delays (once again.. I emphasize.. because of eBay's doing.. NOT because it's "YOUR's") suggested that indeed they can.. and DO.. "work" on an auction while it's in preschedule holding limbo.. something Auctiva just can't do.. or even have eBay do for them.. because as I said earlier.. OUR preschedules are being held on YOUR servers.. and NOT on theirs. Tell me if it ain't so!
I also think some of the confusion all of us are having is in terminology.. it means different things to different people. For me.. the word "submit" is what I do (or you guys do for me when pre-scheduling) when I actually turn a listing in to ebay for processing. "Post" is what happens when the listing is actually showing up in eBay's system for the first time.. so for me.. right now.. that is when it shows up in "My eBay" as a (supposedly) running and active auction (though in my current state.. no one can even bid on it for 6 hours). "Indexed" is when it finally shows up in eBay's system for the world to see. At that point it can be found through a search and shows up in the "listings" categories by browse.. so I guess one could substitute "listed" for indexed. When we all are using the same words for different actions.. it becomes confusing.. so I thought I should at least explain myself.
Hi, whether we like it or not, technically eBay cannot index our listing until it is on one of their servers.
However if their indexing tools have spare time after indexing live listings it would make economic sense for those machines to tackle the queue because idle machines whether buses or sophisticated computer systems eat into profits as they cost money even when standing still. Mind you this could cause variations in performance from one day to the next.
So that's life and technically it will always be slower to schedule via a 3rd party site but this 3rd party site is vastly preferable to listing 1st party
However if their indexing tools have spare time after indexing live listings it would make economic sense for those machines to tackle the queue because idle machines whether buses or sophisticated computer systems eat into profits as they cost money even when standing still. Mind you this could cause variations in performance from one day to the next.
So that's life and technically it will always be slower to schedule via a 3rd party site but this 3rd party site is vastly preferable to listing 1st party
quote:Originally posted by ChooChooGuy:
..but this 3rd party site is vastly preferable to listing 1st party
Can I get an amen? Aaaaaa.. men!
AMEN!!!
Hi All,
Thought you might be interested in this http://www.auctionbytes.com:80/cab/abn/y07/m07/i24/s02
Seems there is a Class Action suit against eBay because they are charging for certain time frames, i.e., 7 day, 10 day, etc. auctions, but due to the Indexing delay we are not getting full value.
You may want to read the article. I found it quite interesting. Not sure anything will ever come of it.
Hi All,
Thought you might be interested in this http://www.auctionbytes.com:80/cab/abn/y07/m07/i24/s02
Seems there is a Class Action suit against eBay because they are charging for certain time frames, i.e., 7 day, 10 day, etc. auctions, but due to the Indexing delay we are not getting full value.
You may want to read the article. I found it quite interesting. Not sure anything will ever come of it.
Great post BroJames let us hope Ebay decides to remedy this situation on their own. But probably not. Just like leading a horse to water.They have just grown so big and cornered the market that they have forgotten that they too use to be one of the little guys And we as the little guys end up paying. I know fraud is a HUGE issue but posts can be put on and I am sure there is a way of checking them while active and pulling the offending items. The masses shall pay for the crimes of the few, Seems to be Ebays thoughts!
Steve
And we as the little guys end up paying. I know fraud is a HUGE issue but posts can be put on and I am sure there is a way of checking them while active and pulling the offending items. The masses shall pay for the crimes of the few, Seems to be Ebays thoughts!Steve
I'm not so sure this lawsuit is necessarily something to cheer about. Click the following link and read about the considerable pressure from MANY state & local governments to license all ebay sellers and to collect state & local taxes. It's real scary, and not out of the realm of possibility in today's world.
from Auctionbytes:
He(plaintiff) goes on to point to eBay's site about government regulation http://www.ebaymainstreet.com/mainstreet/ stating, "Yet, eBay knows that without a license customers could be subject to thousands of dollars in fines for selling on eBay."
We all know the thing about "un-intended consequences". Is this really a pot we want to stir? Besides, if this were ever to cost ebay big bucks(into the lawyer's pockets, not ours) don't you think ebay would make up for the loss some other way? (out of our pockets, not the lawyer's) Just defending the lawsuit could cost ebay a significant amount, who do you think will ultimately pay for that? This "plaintiff" could wind up costing everybody, and for what? - way to go!
In spite of everyones ire (myself included) about the big bad ebay and their arrogant attitudes and practices, we really need to be careful about not killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Ebay has deep pockets, the lawyers are salivating over this like vultures. I'm for keeping our squabbles inhouse and keeping the lawyers out of it! Ebay is not invincible. As buyers and sellers we are a part of ebay, we depend on ebay and it's good health. We need to keep a united front against the outsiders who would take us all down for the sake of their own financial gain, whether it be lawyers or politicians- because if ebay goes down so do we all(only the lawyers will wind up being "ebay millionaires). "No Virginia, that is not a CAR backfiring."
from Auctionbytes:
He(plaintiff) goes on to point to eBay's site about government regulation http://www.ebaymainstreet.com/mainstreet/ stating, "Yet, eBay knows that without a license customers could be subject to thousands of dollars in fines for selling on eBay."
We all know the thing about "un-intended consequences". Is this really a pot we want to stir? Besides, if this were ever to cost ebay big bucks(into the lawyer's pockets, not ours) don't you think ebay would make up for the loss some other way? (out of our pockets, not the lawyer's) Just defending the lawsuit could cost ebay a significant amount, who do you think will ultimately pay for that? This "plaintiff" could wind up costing everybody, and for what? - way to go!
In spite of everyones ire (myself included) about the big bad ebay and their arrogant attitudes and practices, we really need to be careful about not killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Ebay has deep pockets, the lawyers are salivating over this like vultures. I'm for keeping our squabbles inhouse and keeping the lawyers out of it! Ebay is not invincible. As buyers and sellers we are a part of ebay, we depend on ebay and it's good health. We need to keep a united front against the outsiders who would take us all down for the sake of their own financial gain, whether it be lawyers or politicians- because if ebay goes down so do we all(only the lawyers will wind up being "ebay millionaires). "No Virginia, that is not a CAR backfiring."
Our Inland Revenue in the UK is watching us too 