Auctiva "under construction"

More like "Under Destruction"

Every site has its problems. I've tried all of them. From Vendio to Andale and Sparedollar to Inkfrog and beyond. They all have experienced problems from time to time. Some more than others. Vendio's great if you don't mind spending a 'minimum' of $75 per month. Auctiva is growing and getting better. Give it time. They're a nice group of guys.

I tried Vendio once. Never again. This is where I'll stay.
Later
Rosemary

With all due respect Maggie, the site was better before the last batch of "new features". I know that everyone says all sites have their problems, but do you think eBay would still be around if they couldn't stay up and running for more than ten minutes at a time?

As far as I'm concerned there is no excuse for a lot of the problems that the users here experience. Many problems are simple bugs that just never seem to get fixed. Others are major problems that end up costing businesses on eBay big money. If you can't list you can't sell. Period.

So the "what do you expect for free" and "you get what you pay for" comments really don't hold water. Auctiva gets it's money from eBay to develop their program. They DO get paid. And we get stuck with an unreliable application that we rely on to do business.

Heck, Turbo Lister is free. And it doesn't stop working when you need it. Maybe the ten cents to schedule a listing isn't too bad to avoid the frustration of not being able to list at all!

Hmmmm

I agree with you Help and Sell! I am no novice to computers and have 3 ebay ID's selling stuff almonst constantly. I can't remember the last time I had has much trouble trying to get a listing done. I realize things happen. It's the ature of software and computers, but this is getting ridiculous. I'm sure someone will chime in and say I have no problems or all sites have their days. Please don't insult me. I know the dif between problems all the time and a few glitches every so often. Today I have been trying to get a listing to post for 3 hours! Still no success. Yesterday it was delayed posting and the day before that the store window was faulty. I'm giving this site another week then I have to move on to a paid site that works most of the time. Time is money.

quote:

Originally posted by Magie Noire:
Every site has its problems. I've tried all of them. From Vendio to Andale and Sparedollar to Inkfrog and beyond. They all have experienced problems from time to time. Some more than others. Vendio's great if you don't mind spending a 'minimum' of $75 per month. Auctiva is growing and getting better. Give it time. They're a nice group of guys.

I came to this site to save time and money. You can't do one without doing the other. Nice guys are great, but nice service is better.

quote:

With all due respect Maggie, the site was better before the last batch of "new features".

I agree with you on that one!

quote:

Auctiva gets it's money from eBay to develop their program.

I've paid eBay hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years in API bills and other fees.

I've never received a penny for creating any of our software from eBay though. All funding for Auctiva comes from my own pocket.

Fine, Jeff. I'd rather pay you and get more relible listings. The listings look great and the learning curve was not that bad. It's the reliability of the site that is the issue.

Fair enough Jeff. I'm happy to see someone in the corporate structure actually reading these posts.

My question to you then would be: If we don't pay a fee where does your funding come from? And second, what is your incentive to create bug free applications?

Look, I like the concept here. I think it's great that a company will go to lengths to offer something for free to help the community. But you have to acknowledge the community when there are numerous problems popping up on a daily basis.

I would love to see this all work flawlessly. I think it has the potential to be the killer app for eBay. But the problems have to go away before the users do. Because if the users are gone there is no need for the app!

I'd love to hear back from you Jeff. I'm sure we would all like to hear anything you have to say.

quote:

Fair enough Jeff. I'm happy to see someone in the corporate structure actually reading these posts.

My question to you then would be: If we don't pay a fee where does your funding come from? And second, what is your incentive to create bug free applications?

Look, I like the concept here. I think it's great that a company will go to lengths to offer something for free to help the community. But you have to acknowledge the community when there are numerous problems popping up on a daily basis.

I would love to see this all work flawlessly. I think it has the potential to be the killer app for eBay. But the problems have to go away before the users do. Because if the users are gone there is no need for the app!

I'd love to hear back from you Jeff. I'm sure we would all like to hear anything you have to say.

I cosign on this post.

Also wanted to add, the listings are mysteriously working again. Now let's see if nothing goes wrong for at least 24 hours.

I have been wondering since day one that I joined how this is free! I would be more than happy to pay for reliable service. I absolutely love my listings on auctiva, but I will have to fly the coop if it is not going to work reliably. TIME IS MONEY! I would prefer to pay someone to be able to work more efficiently. I see some great things here but am simply unable to cope with the day to day struggles that pop up!

quote:

It's the reliability of the site that is the issue.

I agree and that's why it's one of our top priorities and has been for a while now. We make changes all the time to improve it. We did some things last week and we released an update today and also made 2 more updates to servers today as well. We also had an already scheduled meeting for today and spent 2 hours discussing this and other things then. It's being worked on and we won't stop until things are reliable.

Thank you for the update Jeff. It's that kind of communication that reassures the community. If we knew what was happening and we knew that someone up there was listening perhaps we would feel more confident in the system as a whole.

Perhaps there is a way that information such as this can be communicated to the community more effectively. Searching through a list of posts in any number of threads isn't really effective. Maybe it's something that can be looked into. Just a thought on my part.

I know if I could easily know what problems are being addressed I would be far less likely to come complain on the message boards. I'm sure others would feel the same way too. It's all in the name of progress, right?

quote:

Originally posted by gardenboy38:
Also wanted to add, the listings are mysteriously working again. Now let's see if nothing goes wrong for at least 24 hours.

I'm still listing with no problems only 14 hours to go. Jeff you are going to make a liar out of me.

quote:

Originally posted by Brittany Ann:
I have been wondering since day one that I joined how this is free!

Here's one of many postings on this board of how Auctiva makes $$$.

Posted Dec 15, 1:07 AM
Auctiva is generating income. Huh? How? They've explained it. They've forged relationships with several other businesses and through them are earning capital.

For instance, if I'm not mistaken, they use U-Pic as their insurance source. Being they have or will have A LOT of Auctiva users, they're able to get a great rate. Say they're able to get domestic insurance for up to $100 in coverage for .15 to .25? Ah, but the customer is being charged $1.30 for $50 and $2.30 for up to $100 in coverage. Auctiva gives you a kick back of .25, leaving them with .80 to $1.80. I'm guessing they get a better rate than the one used as an example.

I'm sure they've worked something out with Sellathon and whoever else they're aligned with. It's a savvy way of charging and or being paid for a service they're advertising as being 'free'. So, Auctiva is 'free' but they're being 'paid'. I say, good for them. Witty.

I'm sure Auctiva is looking at things long term. Perhaps, the cashflow is slow in the beginning. However, once things begin to snowball, it could become a cash cow and all while offering a 'free' service.

Of course, this is my understanding of Auctiva.

PS -- Let's continue to keep Auctiva 'free'. If you're concerned make insurance 'mandatory' for all of your buyers, use the Sellathon products via Auctiva and whatever else they have set up to generate capital.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Magie Noire, Dec 15, 5:04 PM