Is this really free

quote:

Is it poor performance (speed), listing problems, poor customer service?
?

My experience is no more than sites you have to pay for.

Yes, it's really free so far. If you sell any insurance at all, it doesn't take long for Auctiva to earn more each month from each of us than if we were paying plus or minus 10.00 for the service. Besides that, the rebate can help defray listing fees a little. Also, one doesn't have to use Auctiva's checkout (seriously flawed) to sell their insurance, although you cannot combine items.

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Originally posted by etoppsauctions:
I am new here and I have a few questions for everyone. I'm a little cautious as I have been suprised in some very expensive ways from other auction management sites such as andale.

How do you make your money? The website certainly professes everything is free. From all I can find you make money on shipping insurance.

Image hosting, number of auctions, templates is this all really free.

Are there ANY other fees for example a % of sale or a % of list?

Is it poor performance (speed), listing problems, poor customer service?

I just find this hard to believe. It seems like a great website. I just find it hard to believe everything is free. I am no newbie to ebay 10000+ positive feedback auctions, one of the few with a 3500+ rating and ZERO negatives.

My standards are high is this place up to it?

I don't know how high your standards are but I've tried a few others Andale, Sparedollar, Auctionhawk to name a few and Auctiva is as good or better than any of the others.

Well, I did a test of about 100 auctions launched on .10 listing day. I figured this would be a busy time and would be a good indication of the performance and ease of use of this site.

I have to say that so far I am very impressed. The single page listing tool was VERY EASY to use, very fast to load and very intuitive. The website is easy to navigate around and the presentation of information is formatted exactly they way I need it.

Auctions launched without any problems. Both the scheduled and the immediate listing occured quickly.

So far so good.

Auctiva is easier to use than Andale and of course Turbo Lister - both in auction listings, site navigation and information presentation.

I have much more to use on this website, but so far this is very impressive - even if it were a pay site. Add that this service is free, and I am very impressed to this point.

Well I have run into my first issue with Auctiva. When you have a buyer for multiple items, and you have AUCTIVA checkout enabled, you cannot combine invoices on ebay.

This is a issue for me as I often run into multiple item buyers for my auctions. In this case I launched about 100 auctions and several multiple auctions buyers either paid for each item seperately via Paypal, or are mailing a check because they don't want to go through checkout 8 times.

so, the extra Paypal fees cost me money, logging into Paypal to do the invoice costs time, and mailing payments now means I have to manage these acutions manually.

NOT GOOD.

SO I HAVE TURNED OFF AUCTIVA CHECKOUT. I lose the shipping kickback, but it's not worth the hassle to use auctiva checkout.

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I lose the shipping kickback

If you still want to utilize the shipping insurance, you can purchase it manually after a sale has been completed from the Transactions page even if you do not utilize our Checkout system. It might be a bit annoying if you are selling hundreds of items but it could be worth it for the extra profit

Is Auctiva actually making any profit? Is it a publicly traded company?

Seriously, I believe Auctiva's number-one priority should be to make its integrated checkout as stable and versatile as possible. Everything else comes later.

The reason is obvious: shipping insurance is the only way Auctiva is earning its revenue, and people get the insurance via Auctiva Checkout. As Auctiva's lifeline depends it, it should make its integrated checkout as user-friendly as possible so people would actually use it as much as possible. Otherwise, Auctiva is simply just losing revenue opportunity.

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Originally posted by Auctiva David:

quote:

I lose the shipping kickback

If you still want to utilize the shipping insurance, you can purchase it manually after a sale has been completed from the Transactions page even if you do not utilize our Checkout system. It might be a bit annoying if you are selling hundreds of items but it could be worth it for the extra profit

From what I have experienced the additional fees I pay for seperate paypal payments costs more than any reimbursement from Auctiva for shipping.

Not to mention the additional time to manage manual Insurance, and to rush to Paypal to get an invoice out before the buyer(s) decide to do seperate payments.

Also, your suggestion does nothing for multiple buyers that have to go through checkout 5 times. In one test lot of 100 auctions I had 5 complaints, all from multiple buyers about having to go through checkout multiple times. You could easily integrate this.

It doesn't really matter to me as your checkout process is costing you money not me. I am just suggesting that you really should improve this area or your customers will simply turn off checkout and you won't make any money.

I believe many of us (myself included) have already turned Auctiva checkout off because of this problem and also other problems with it. You're right, buyers of multiple items complain about having to go through checkout more than once, but they complain even more about not being able to get discounted combined shipping. And you're also right, the multiple PayPal payment fees do cost more than anything we could save by buying Auctiva's insurance.

I was only refering to the fact that you can purchase shipping insurance through Auctiva even if you DO NOT use our checkout. So you can use eBay's combined invoices and still profit off of Auctiva shipping insurance if you choose. Many sellers do not utilize our checkout services and still sell our shipping insurance for the profit.

I for one like this service. I don't know where the money comes from; but, I appreciate the service.
It is true it does not update as fast as I would like; but, compared to using, say the over-priced Andale, I find this to be a wonderful alternative. And, the price is right too. (Or, am I missing some fees somewhere?)

the money comes from the fact that you could use the insurance company on your own and make 1.00 off each transaction. they are just getting it all in one place and organized for you. check out the company they use for insurance and you can see for your self how you could use it on your own...actually i was thinking of paying the insurance myself for every item sold...that way i could make 1.50 per 50.00 and the more i sell and pack and ship safely the more i would make in the long run. i mean in like 8 years i have only had maybe 15 claims...if i had been the one covering that insurance i would have made out major in the long run. just say 50 items a week at 1.50 per box should the boxes only sell for 50.00. that comes to 75.00 extra dollars per week. times that by 4 and you have made quite a bit of money. say 1 of those items were lost or broken you pay 50.00 to the buyer and you still make an extra 250 per month! that is sweet...AND that is how they are making their money!

ALSo i just wanted to add i am more then happy with letting auctiva do all the work which includes setting up insurance for me and all the templates and listings etc..they are more then welcome to make money off of my insurance.(once i figure out how to use it..i have been too scared to attempt it just yet) i would actually care less if they kept the .25 cents they say i will earn. my favorite things about listing sites is the ability to use multi images AND awesome templates! as long as the templates stay fresh and interesting, and hopefully they will get some great ones later on , i will stick around.

I am almost certain that the insurance is not the only way auctiva is making money. It is also safe to say that once auctiva works out all the kinks and has a wider customer base and has to hire on more techs and such, that it will no longer be completely free or using their insurance will become a mandatory requirement. Just my opinion on the matter.

I read somewhere (don't remember where?) that they also get a portion back from Sellathon when we subscribe to their service.

nightowls

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Originally posted by Westvatexan:
I am almost certain that the insurance is not the only way auctiva is making money. It is also safe to say that once auctiva works out all the kinks and has a wider customer base and has to hire on more techs and such, that it will no longer be completely free or using their insurance will become a mandatory requirement. Just my opinion on the matter.

It is not realistic to force people to sell something (such as insurance). But we may find other cool value added products or services that you will have the option of selling in checkout that will increase revenue (product warranty, shipping labels, etc).

But to answer your question, we are not going to 'force' our sellers to upsell anything.

Bill