Important Announcement: Auctiva Has Been Acquired By Alibaba.com

Well,I am shocked.I sure hope this is gonna work out for all of us,and the new folks on board also.
Congrats!
Janne

After eBay has choked Auctiva the past few years, I guess Auctiva's ownership had nowhere else to turn but to sell out or fold.

It's not coincidental, I bet, that eBay announced it's cutting off third party checkout within a year. Bye bye Auctiva checkout, never found much use for it anyway.

Watch in the months ahead for eBay to try to apply further choke holds to cut Auctiva off now it's under hostile ownership of a competitor.

Watch for the floodgates to open up via Auctiva for a wave of further cheap junk crashing upon eBay shores while the gates remain open, further marginalizing collectibles sellers on Auctiva.

Place your bets on when Alibaba makes a hostile play for eBay ownership. How long till that happens???

Probably time to start looking around for another image hosting & listing service. I really don't want to ever go back to turbolister! But I don't see Auctiva being a plaform for me for too much longer.

I am beyond blown away. I think we are all asking ourselves first, "What does this mean to me personally? How does this affect how I currently use Auctiva? Will this help me or hurt me?

Also, did Auctiva want this to happen or was it a takeover? Why would they want to sell to Alibaba? Are they going to combine their offerings with Vendio, since Alibaba now owns both? Auctiva was a competitor to Vendio and now they will be sharing data. Will this be a good thing? Maybe this will be eBay's worst nightmare as this union of 3 companies is positioned to further help eBay sellers but ultimately could they also strengthen the growing legions of sellers who have left eBay to sell elsewhere?

Are they now going to list items from Alibaba for sale on Elefy? Will this dilute our own listings? How will we compete?

It's all a bit much to sort out.

Please do read the FAQ page as it answers almost all of the questions you are posting here.

Also, please read the email from our CEO Jeff Schlicht that we are sending you, as it gives his personal perspective on our being acquired by Alibaba.com. Jeff is very positive by the way. UPDATE: We've got CEO Jeff's take on the acquisition now written up on our EDU page.

Lastly, in reference to Lisa@Handbags4hunger.com's last question, we are not going to compete with Auctiva sellers; we plan to enable Sellers with tools that let you sell more listings and make more money, just as we always have. You do the selling, we provide the tools. Now we can add additional value for you because we will help you find new and profitable products to sell, which is what 'sourcing' is all about.

The designer handbags Alibaba offers are in large part replicas and therefore I can't source from them, as Handbags4Hunger as a strict "no replicas" policy.

In the spirit of cooperation however I am sure there are items they offer that are fine for other sellers to source and I welcome the new partnership.

If anyone knows of any authentic designer products they offer I'd love to hear about it. In the meantime I guess it's always possible for me to consider a second store in a different niche.

My other concern is the payment system. I have read less than good experiences with the AliPay system and read that PayPal is working to get approved in it's place. I would caution my fellow store owners to do their homework before buying anything from a new supplier and make sure you aren't using Western Union off the Aliexpress platform. I'm not trying to cast doubt here but anyone can Google what I'm saying and I would hate to see my friends get taken advantage of. As it stands now the Alipay system says it offers buyer protection but I have read it is fraught with issues.

I don't want to paint with too broad a brush, so will just say do your homework. And welcome to the new owners.

quote:

Originally posted by Lisa @ Handbags4Hunger.com:...My other concern is the payment system. I have read less than good experiences with the AliPay system and read that PayPal is working to get approved in it's place. I would caution my fellow store owners to do their homework before buying anything from a new supplier and make sure you aren't using Western Union off the Aliexpress platform. I'm not trying to cast doubt here but anyone can Google what I'm saying and I would hate to see my friends get taken advantage of. As it stands now the Alipay system says it offers buyer protection but I have read it is fraught with issues.

I don't want to paint with too broad a brush, so will just say do your homework. And welcome to the new owners.

AliExpress won't always be best sourcing choice for items in every single category especially since it is relatively new. But in the coming months, it will grow and expand and this will provide attractive opportunities for sourcing to many Auctiva sellers. And, as our EDU story says "Auctiva customers will have access to exclusive discounts, promotions and coupons to shop on the sourcing platform."

Regarding payments, several of our staff acting as individuals purchased items from AliExpress in the run-up to the acquisition, and none of us had any bad experiences with payments. That is a small sample to be sure, but our experience was good.

This "sourcing" is not much use to collectible/antique sellers unless they specialize in Asian artifacts or to those who sell original or authentic name brand items in the "new" market.

Do I just wait until a Chinese supplier of "vintage" US, European postcards comes along. How quickly can they print them off and in what quantities?

Not sure I'd put much weight on what Auctiva Jeff has to say about the deal. Presumably as a major owner that just benefited financially from the deal, he's a bit too close to the transaction to have much credibility with the existing membership here. Will look for commentary of third party observers instead, thank you.

That's all very well Tony, but Ali Express is only one part of Ali Baba. I have been trawling their site for a few years now and have had successful trading with some companies - it is certainly very useful for sourcing producs. But 2 companies ripped me off - one sent fake goods, the other disappeared with my money. (Not much, but enough!) I wrote to Ali Baba several times but they ignored my emails. There seems to be no recourse when things go wrong or any system for making a complaint. Both companies who conned me are still openly advertising on Ali Baba now.

Only the AliExpress part of the business is covered by their Alipay (escrow) system, the rest is not, and believe me, it is a bottomless pit for the unwary. Ali Baba will have to up their game considerably and find some way of regulating the suppliers who advertise on their site or I fear a lot of Auctiva users will just lose money. And if they accessed these new sources via Auctiva, who do you think they are going to complain to?

There is also the issue of counterfeit goods. Ali Baba is full of companies openly selling fake designer merchandise. Ali Baba clearly have no problem with this. I can't see eBay liking it when their site is flooded with even more fakes than it is already.

I'm also not convinced they won't merge Auctiva with Vendio - it makes no sense not to...

If Auctiva falls into the same management style as Ali Baba, heaven help us all. As far as I can see they are interested in one thing only - making as much money as possible. They care about the people who use their site even less than eBay and Paypal do. (And that's saying something.)

This is a very bad day for Auctiva users.



Jane
Silk Dreams Lingerie

Since I avoid getting my supplies from China, period, this does me no good, so I guess it's time to leave. I'll stand by my US suppliers, thank you. It's been fun!!! Susan

Hopefully, everyone does understand that sourcing is an option that we will be making available to our sellers.

We are still the same Auctiva site that you have been using; that has not changed, and our fees are not changing. Yes, we will be adding a sourcing tab that will give you access to AliExpress.com through our site. Yes, there will be some attractive and exclusive buying opportunities that you can avail yourself of.

But it's your business and your choice as to whether you choose to source your items in that manner.

If you like and are using Auctiva's features and capabilities, there is absolutely no reason to change providers, which if you do any volume of listing at all is time consuming and expensive to do. We will continue to improve the Auctiva site, adding new features and providing excellent selling tools at reasonable fees to sellers both on and off-eBay.

Tony,

My phone was ringing early this morning from customers with the news of the buy-out. From their perspectives there was concern over whether or not the new ownership would cause our prices to go up (even though we were promised that it would not.) And yes it is a lot of work to open another store and work with putting in products and SEO issues.

Know that despite the FAQs and the email from Auctiva about the change there is a great deal more unrest from your users that what I have seen posted here today.

I have had great confidence in Auctiva to move forward towards bringing us a good product in Auctiva Commerce. I want to believe that I still can hold on to that belief as it has been a long ride since last January.

Having worked in the corporate world I have seen buy outs where the companies were allowed to remain autonomous. On other occasions they were blood baths.

Perhaps the buy out provides you with a new source of capital. I hope that you use it to more quickly and efficiently get our updates to us. AucCom 2.4.0 when fixed and released will provide great things. But there is still a lot more work to do.

And then there is the whole China thing. I am not even going to go there.

we really needed another source to be able to buy made in china products

Great News! - For the CEO, CFO, and all the other "O's" who have a personal investment in Auctiva!

Unfortunately, this is just another example of the selling of America to the "Global Economy"

Imagine selling your business to a company whose government controls every action of their citizenry - and uses deceptive economic tactics to ensure its own growth. How much influence do the socialist mandarins of Beijing have upon the puppets of Alibaba?

I have been subscribing to Auctiva for two years - looks like it's time to go back to clunky Turbolister. Too bad. Sometimes principles have to take precedence over time and money.

I guess I'm just a dinosaur. One day we'll all be extinct.

In addition to the email we sent everyone, there is an interview with CEO Jeff Schlicht that is posted on our EDU pages. You can read it by clicking here. Jeff's email, the FAQ's you can find here give a complete rundown on the acquisition.

Additionally, you can find more information about our new parent company, Alibaba.com here. It is worth noting that Alibaba.com is a publicly traded company, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. United States based Yahoo! is a major stockholder in Alibaba.com, and Yahoo's CEO is a member of Alibaba's Board of Directors. You can read about that strategic relationship here.

Good God people! Get a grip!
Just because Auctiva was sold doesn't mean that we're all going to have to start speaking Chinese or using chopsticks to eat! From what I've read, it also doesn't mean that we'll be forced to buy products from alibaba's site!

Fact: Chinese-made products already flood the marketplace in the US, not only on ebay, but amazon.com, overstock.com, bonanzle, the shelves of your local department store, etc. So this purchase isn't going to suddenly release a tidal wave of Made in China products, now will it? Open your eyes: it already exists.

To me, this feels like a small part of something much, much bigger in the future. It's comforting to know that the biggest and most successful ecommerce company in the world has taken the helm. They obviously know how to take a small company and turn it into something HUGE. Why is that a bad thing?

Frankly, I'm tired of ebay taking my profits (aren't we ALL?), and if this helps me get off their site entirely and have my own successful business, then bring it on!

All excellent points Wiz! Thanks for being the voice of reason amongst our clucking...

I think this is a sign of something much bigger than merchant sourcing. The US is in debt up to it's collective eyeballs to China. China effectively owns the US, if not now, it won't be long in coming. What happens if the economy continues to sink and the US can't make it's loan payments? Can anyone say "Foreclosure?" If something doesn't change, we could all be "speaking Chinese and using chopsticks to eat."

You think things are bad now, wait until we are under a Chinese government!

If you'd rather not give your profits to ebay, but to the Chinese, to lend back to us, that's your choice.

As far as already doing business with China - well, if you have an open wound, do you stitch it and try to stop the bleeding or expand the cut and bleed to death?

quote:

Originally posted by wizard_of_oz:
Good God people! Get a grip!
Just because Auctiva was sold doesn't mean that we're all going to have to start speaking Chinese or using chopsticks to eat! From what I've read, it also doesn't mean that we'll be forced to buy products from alibaba's site!

Fact: Chinese-made products already flood the marketplace in the US, not only on ebay, but amazon.com, overstock.com, bonanzle, the shelves of your local department store, etc. So this purchase isn't going to suddenly release a tidal wave of Made in China products, now will it? Open your eyes: it already exists.

To me, this feels like a small part of something much, much bigger in the future. It's comforting to know that the biggest and most successful ecommerce company in the world has taken the helm. They obviously know how to take a small company and turn it into something HUGE. Why is that a bad thing?

Frankly, I'm tired of ebay taking my profits (aren't we ALL?), and if this helps me get off their site entirely and have my own successful business, then bring it on!

I'm going to try to bring this thread back on topic again (as the size of US debt and who owns it etc. etc. are just simply not on topic) so I'm going to quote from CEO Jeff's email we sent everyone:

Auctiva remains focused on expanding and improving its suite of seller tools, including helping you identify and source great products to resell on eBay, other online marketplaces, your Auctiva Commerce Store and other channels. Auctiva and Alibaba.com share a common belief that the Internet and well-crafted software can—and should—be used to enable people to easily do business. Both companies also have a particular focus on small to mid-sized merchants and making online commerce accessible to, and more profitable for, everyone. With the synergies that exist between the two companies, I'm confident that we'll be able to greatly improve the value we deliver to users like you in the months and years ahead.

Alibaba.com has thousands of suppliers eager to break into other global markets. We've been piloting a sourcing integration with the company's AliExpress and a small subset of Auctiva users over the past couple of months.

Very soon, this opportunity will be made available to all users in the form of a new Sourcing tab within your Auctiva account. Adding to the already tremendous value of this opportunity is a number of exclusive deals, coupons, discounts, services and more that will be offered only to Auctiva users . These will be accessible through the new Sourcing tab, so be sure to check that page of your account often to ensure you don't miss out.

The opportunity that Jeff is describing is an opportunity to make a profit by buying merchandise thru AliExpress/Alibaba (with additional exclusive discounts and 'deals' for Auctiva users to lower your costs) and then markup and then resell that merchandise on eBay or Auctiva Commerce or some other venue for a profit...a profit that you keep...it doesn't go back to anybody other than yourself. That profit that you make goes in your pocket.

No, Americana prints, antiques, collectibles, and many other one-of-a-kind items probably won't sourceable from AliExpress or Alibaba.com. But the fact that not all categories will have sourcing opportunities doesn't make the underlying business concept of sourcing untrue or unworkable. Not at all.

Take this example from real life: a couple of American kids graduated from college but couldn't find jobs, so they thought they would try starting a small business. They wanted to make bicycles, but you can't make a bicycle in this country that you can resell for prices college students (their target market) could afford.

Alibaba.com hooked them up with a small manufacturer in China who made them bicycles to their specification at prices low enough that these two young guys could markup the bikes--good quality bikes too--enough to make a profit while selling at prices low enough to appeal to college kids who are on a tight budget. It was a win/win; these two young guys with no jobs make money selling a product they are proud of, and their college kid customers get a good product.

That's what Auctiva as part of Alibaba.com is going to do; we are going provide great selling tools just like we always have, AND we are going to provide sourcing opportunities to buy products which can then be resold at a profit.

Unless you are just cleaning out your attic or garage, profit is the reason to be doing e-commerce selling isn't it?