Bought domain name from Auctiva

ok quick question? Are there only 8 templates for auctiva stores. thats all I am finding.

Would I need to go with an Ebay store front for more options that would fit my store better?
Thanks!

Gosh I can hardly stand all the answers to my questions!LOL

Where is the Auctiva Reps?

Hi, ok I will try and answer, I think many of your questions have answers already on this forum but anyway.

Your Auctive store is only an alternative way to view your eBay auctions.

eBay's store front is minimal compared with Auctiva's but then again I only subscribe to their basic, perhaps it is better with the others.

If you are not much into computers perhaps you should move a little slower as some features are not completely obvious.

Good products only need clear bright, sharp photographs and straightforward descriptions. It really depends on whether your expected buyers are attracted by gloss, hype or facts.

The reps will respond pretty quick to filed support requests meanwhile us users keep diving in to chat so they probably feel they can concentrate on development instead.

Thanks choo.I cant seem to find the same question on the forum for some reason. I have found "How do I get my ebay items directed towards Auctiva", but not the other way around.
And what is the advantage of that?

I must not be looking in the right places because I find there are more STORE FRONT templates at Ebay to choose from than at Auctiva. I only have the basic ebay store being its my first month. I do LOVE Auctivas choice of templates for LISTING ITEMS over Ebays.(which I still use)

Do you know is there only 8 templates for the Auctiva store fronts or is there more?

What is the benefit of having my domain name directed through Auctiva instead of Ebay where they will eventually end up anyway right?

Thanks again Choo

Hi, not really sure what your question in the first paragraph is asking.

An advantage of having a domain name is you can direct potential buyers from anywhere on the net because search engines will eventually add your name to their databases.

The actual domain name should reflect your wares and so also attract attention.

However your items for sale will be on eBay and people can then arrive via an internet search to your Auctiva shop which looks all professional. They can then peruse your stock as though you had an eBay gallery picture attached to each of your listings. (To see pictures in your eBay shop list would require a gallery picture which requires a fee).

Whether you use Auctiva's or eBay's checkout etc depends on personal preference, at present I use eBay's as it seems a lot of the extras from Auctiva are to do with postage and insurance which are not suitable/available for UK based sellers.

Directed through Auctiva or not, well if the listings are being created on Auctiva why not ?

Remember what I said about quality of the listings, so many seem to get hung up on having flashy shop fronts.

An advantage of having a domain name is you can direct potential buyers from anywhere on the net because search engines will eventually add your name to their databases.

Yes this is why I purchased a domain name. Also because I can also obtain up to 75% off of my final sales fees for generating people to my site other than through Ebay.

The actual domain name should reflect your wares and so also attract attention.

Done that.

However your items for sale will be on eBay and people can then arrive via an internet search to your Auctiva shop which looks all professional. They can then peruse your stock as though you had an eBay gallery picture attached to each of your listings. (To see pictures in your eBay shop list would require a gallery picture which requires a fee).


I know it will direct me to either my ebay or Auctiva store.
Ok, here is what I am getting at. Where is the professional looking templates for the Auctiva store fronts if they are indeed more professional than Ebays? It cost one cent per gallery picture through ebay. So is this what is the difference between Ebay and Auctivas store fronts, the gallery?

Whether you use Auctiva's or eBay's checkout etc depends on personal preference, at present I use eBay's as it seems a lot of the extras from Auctiva are to do with postage and insurance which are not suitable/available for UK based sellers.

I use Ebays check out. I had problems with Auctivas checkout.

Directed through Auctiva or not, well if the listings are being created on Auctiva why not ?

Because I do not think they have as many choices of store fronts to pick from and customize as ebay, FROM WHAT I CAN SEE. Is there more than just the 8 templates?????? LOL

Remember what I said about quality of the listings, so many seem to get hung up on having flashy shop fronts

Understandable, but why not have a flashy store front? If you can. Thats what I am trying to find. To me first impressions are lasting impressions. I LOVE Auctivas listing pages. They are Fabulous compared to Ebay IMHO. Actually I am trying to find a store front that jives with what I am doing and what my husband will be doing on his as well.

Thanks again Choo. Someday I will probbly look back and laugh at why I am asking such silly questions once i more familiarized with all this. And your answer is YES, I drive my husband crazy.

I am sure I will find the answers in my research. Thanks so much for your help Choo!

Hi, I missed something here, how does this happen :-

quote:

Also because I can also obtain up to 75% off of my final sales fees for generating people to my site other than through Ebay.

Sounds interesting

(I cannot see more than 8 store styles either. )

ChooChooGuy, Check the posting from June 7 in the Store Window forum. EBay Store Referal Credit. I'd post a link for you but that's something I still need to learn how to do.

Thanks booklady, found it

Glad you found it choo.

Ok, if I would of just went to FAQ's I may have found my answer! There may only be 8 or so templates but most of them do have the option of many colors.Actually they are not to bad and you can customize it with your logo and so forth.

Now won't I have 2 stores? One that my domain name directs me to (AUCTIVA) and the one when customers find me through auctions etc. through (EBAY)? Now I need to figure out what to do there.

I am wondering if I should of just stayed with the auctions. This is time consuming isnt it? I guess If I want the big bucks it always is!

back to searching for answers!

Hi, if you are to sell many and varied items I think a store is essential so that you can catgorise items as you think best to suit your buyers so they can find what they want fast. So I think an eBay store is essential even if you do not use the inventory format.

eBay's store category facility is extremely versatile, unfortunately Auctiva's store seems to only mimic eBay listing categories which is a pity. I expect they will remedy that when it creeps up the 'to do' list.

You still have only one store as such but two different views of it, this probably confuses some buyers as one cannot make the two match.

It is really up to us the sellers to decide which set of tools we want to use most, for checkout etc. and I think that needs to be kept to one or the other. Otherwise a buyer receiving two invoices from different sources for the same item would unsettle them and may complicate the transaction.

Yes this can be quite time consuming to start with and there always seem to be more to learn but hey, look at the incentive

Hi-I/m new-an Ebay store &/or an Auctiva store is sooo confusing!
From feedback it seems that Ebay checkout is most reliable, so I'll stick with that, but what about these 2 different stores? Should I get both?
1. Create, and then list via Auctiva, with supersize, more pictures, scrolling gallery, etc.?
2. Ebay store's fees then apply; longer running time period, less insertion fee, but more final value fees?
3. With buyer's click on See "My other Ebay items" all current listings are seen through the "Auctiva Store".
4. But with a search of "Ebay Stores" buyer goes to the "Ebay Store".
5. Buyer also goes to Ebay store while on the listing page link "Visit my Ebay Store".
Please help as this is sooo confusing! Especially being new, we need direction as to the best, proper ways to get started! I'm spending gobs of time just trying to figure out how to get started, without getting started!

Hi labeartique, it is best to spend some time deciding, I will pass on my thoughts as you have numbered them. I think . . .

0) stick with one checkout system and you need an eBay store to use store inventory format e.g. 30 days etc..

1) yes, I prefer generating listings via Auctiva and using all those lovely free options including the scrolling gallery and scheduling.

2) listing insertion fees are payable to eBay anyway, inventory format listing fee is lower than for auction but FVF higher, ideal for slow moving items.

3) Not sure which link you are referring to.
4) Yes
5) Yes

Just remember that an Auctiva store is an alternative way of displaying your eBay listed wares.

Also you do not need an eBay gallery picture to see pictures of your item in an Auctive store display.

I think that is enough for now

Dear ChooChooGuy, YOU ARE THE BEST !!!
Your answers were not only super fast, but sooo helpful! Should I "Reask my questions" on the main board so that others would benefit?
You are not only super knowledgeable, but so kind to mentor us "Newbies" with this learning curve! Thoughts??? Naturally my praises will go with these questions too-LOL!
Auctiva should pay you for your assistance-you're fabulous! _________________________________________
Here are just a few more questions that I think every new person would love to know; PLEASE?
1. Now I know that I need both "stores".
2. Can I list my ebay store things via Auctiva?
3. Auctiva shows pics, regardless of gallery selection w/fee or not. But, do you have to select gallery to show pics in your ebay store?
4. Should you only select gallery for a few auctions to drive trafic to stores, as this would save lots of $$$?
5. Under Auctiva "Acct Settings-Default View when selecting images on 1 pg lister" what's the difference between thumbnails, list & upload?
All my items are different so I've been manually uploading pics as I go. But what does this setting mean?
6. To insert link to auctiva store I found this;

" Copy this code and place it in an HTML friendly environment: <a href="url">Text to be displayed</a>. Replace "url" with your domain name and "Text to be displayed" with your chosen Store name or tag line. Make sure to leave the quotes around "url". "

As an example...would I put
<a href-"labeartique">LaBeartique; Bears and More; Gifts Galore</a>
- Can/Do I put spaces?
- Doss this look correct?
- Do I put this into descriptions, contact us, etc?
- If I can list my ebay store items via Auctiva, is it permissable to include a link to Auctiva store?

Again, THANKS SOOO MUCH !!!
I will pass along the knowledge you teach me as well, so your mentoring will create an "Auctiva Family" with you as our core "Founding Father".

Way to go ChooChooGuy! I'll pass out the cigars.LOL I enjoy reading your posts and your information is very informative. Thsaks from one of the "Auctiva Family".

Isn't he the BEST???
booklady we're both newbies, so any suggestions?

Hi labeartique. I don't have an eBay store and have never used html.(I'm always scared I'll screw something up) I love Auctiva but it did take me a long time to learn just basics such as profiles, modifying templates, sizing and using more than the 16 pictures, and problems with pages freezing.

Because most of my time has to go directly into getting listings done (I need the money), I haven't had time to experiment much. One of these days I'm going to play with html. Can you believe I've been doing this for almost a year now and still have problems with copy and paste? I've yet to post a link in anything!

To top it off, I broke my arm. I use a lot of pictures. I sell mostly books and actually have to sometimes use my feet to hold the book open for inside pictures. Thanks to Auctiva's picture services, I often realize a much higher selling price than others have received for the same item. I've even received $20 for cookbooks by showing inside pictures when the same book was going for one penny on Amazon. My biggest gripe right now is eBay takes about 6 hours before my listing goes live. Its not like its a high fraud item!

Although time is at a premium, I try to read all of the posts on Auctiva's forums. Its well worth the time because I learn so much which saves me time down the road. ChooChooGuy has very informative posts and if he wasn't answering, you would be seeing great information from others that have been been very helpful in the past. Use "Find" to search for posts on specific topics.

The best advice I can probally give you right now would be to not ask so many questions in one post. If you keep the problem to one at a time with the problem clear in the thread topic, I believe you'll get more answers because not everyone can answer all of your questions. Even I might could answer a couple.

Best of luck to you! I'm off to get a new cast today if they don't have to do surgery on my arm. It will be nice to be able to bend my elbow. I sure need that arm for some of my pictures.

booklady

Hi labeartique & booklady, thanks for the comments I am flattered, I am happy to help where possible and I have a lot to learn yet compared with some of the Auctiva community !!

I have been away for a few days so labeartique your current items :-

1) ok
2) yes
3) yes
4) not so easy. Depends on the nature of the item, for books it seems unnecessary where the title is most important however the impression I get is that if you are selling e.g. cuddly toys or dresses a gallery picture should be included. In other words is the item visually attractive think would I buy on impulse seeing the image, if yes and the item is worth say at least 5 to 10x the value of an gallery image I would include it.
5) I am going to simplify my answer to this one by saying, photograph a batch of items at a time, upload all of them in one go and select them into your listings as you write them. This will save a lot of time but make sure you adopt a clear labelling system for your image files and use folders before it all gets out of hand.
6) Cor you are giving me some head scratching here !
I would create hyperlink text like everything in MS Word because my HTML is poor, and then copy and paste it into my listing or seller details and it all seems to work for me. I cannot be sure whether your HTML is correct or not but I am sure one of the other community members could check that out for you.
Regarding links, I was trying to sort that one out for myself the other day, as I understand it so long as your link directs buyers to items you have for sale on eBay whether directly or via your Auctiva store that is ok. I also beleive that you can link to your own site or page, what I see is a complete no-no is to coax buyers to a competitors selling venue.

Phew, bye for now got to catch up on my selling activities,

P.S. Regarding (5) let me know if you want some more specific advice and I will try and get back to you in the next couple of days.

Hi booklady, regarding HTML, as I replied above I create in MS Word and paste the result into my listings, profiles etc via the design editors. The resulting HTML code looks pretty awful to me, complex and bulky, and could probably be written much more concisely by someone who is proficient in HTML. As I am not and want to sell my wares first and become good at HTML second (and when I can find the time) I take the sort of easy way out as above.

However I do find that if I subsequently want to edit what I pasted in directy via the design editor I find it is best not too . By that I mean edit the original MS Word version and paste the whole lot in again otherwise sometimes the design editor can get confused causing all sorts of font size and colour errors and you end up wasting a lot of time.

And lets face I think our priorites is to get good clear listings onto to eBay with minimal effort and maximum £ or $ return.

Hi ChooChoo and Booklady!
Great suggestions from both of you! Thanks so much, and I'll stick to fewer questions per posting.
Good luck with your arm too! I'm not sure if it'd be worse in the summer or winter, but anytime it's a pain; (pardon the pun).
Question #5 was about pictures. I'm still not understanding what they mean?
Under "Auctiva Account Settings-Default View when selecting images on 1 pg lister" what's the difference between thumbnails, list & upload?
What should I select; 1,2,3 some, or all?
It's very easy, but I'm missing it.
Thanks again and have a great day!

Hi labeartique.

Right I am with you now regarding your Q #5.

This option sets how you select an image when creating a listing.

1) If you select 'thumbnail' (miniature version of your actual image) you can select your previously uploaded images visually, it is like displaying the contents of an MS Windows folder as thumbnails

2) 'list' is like list in MS Windows, so you select previously uploaded images by looking at a list of filenames instead of miniature images.

3) 'Upload' will allow you to select and upload the image there and then from your PC or wherever you have it.

In my experience it is best to set this option to thumbnail. Upload your images in bulk, which is much quicker because you can upload many at one time and then when writing the listing you can easily select the ones you want visually.

An another advantage of uploading before writing a listing is if whilst uploading you have an internet hiccup you will not loose your work since you last saved it.

What do you mean by 1,2,3 some or all ?

Hi ChooChoo!
"1,2,3, some or all" referred to "Do I need to elect all 3 options". Now that I know what the options mean, the question doesn't apply anymore. And thanks for the hint about using the thumbnails vs upload as hiccups do happen !
I knew that it was something simple, but I just needed someone to explain it.
As usual you came to the rescue!!!
They should have a "Beginners Section" with a presumption that many of us are new to computers, as well as auctions & Auctiva.
OR Auctiva could hire you to be our teacher!
You'd get my vote!
Thanks again ChooChoo-you're the BEST!