posted on February 19, 2003 04:49:11 PM new
Ok, I'm asking for advice/opinions. I have been with AW since the onset and love it, but my inventory is always off count so I end up selling items I don't have, and now my post sale items are all messed up tonight. Not to mention I got my AW bill - $199.00 this month. I can't afford this. PLEASE help me find another service. Yes, I realize a lot of you use AW, but there must be some people that use something else. I'm looking into channeladviser, but I want to know if they have unlimited image hosting. That's one thing I love about AW is the unlimited image hosting, the inventory, and the post sale management things. I run about 500-700 auctions a week, so I need something that will save me time and money. I guess I can always use paypals end of auction notice, so that's not a big necessity.
posted on February 19, 2003 04:56:18 PM new
For several years I have been using eBay's Seller Assistant Basic to create my ads and then I use Shooting Star to handle all the post sale transactions. SA Basic is $5 per month and Shooting Star is a one time fee and you get a 30 day free trial at http://www.foodogsoftware.com Using this combination, I am able to easily manage more than 100 auctions per week. I have scaled back and am doing 25 to 50 per week with ease!
posted on February 19, 2003 05:10:31 PM new
I would use something like Ebay Seller Assistant for $5 a month. You can find a web hosting company for about $10 that should give you plenty of space for the images, Either use the ftp manager in Seller Assistant, or pay $30 for something like WS_FTP Pro and learn how to use it (not too difficult)
posted on February 19, 2003 05:11:02 PM newCA is $30/month with unlimited images. The PSM is the best. I quit them because I thought $30/month was outrageous! Plus, their CS tends to be a little snotty
AH runs from 9-30/mo, again with unlimited images at the highest level -- it was "OK" -- the owner is a bit pushy & he tends to change the site every week
SD is $4.95/month for 50mb of images, although if you talk with Tomas, he'll probably work something out with you I really love SD & he has VASTLY improved & upgraded the site over the past 2 months. But, the site is only 1 year old & he does encounter some bumps & burps now & then -- just like AW! The CS is second to none! If I have a problem, I just IM Tomas & within 5 mins, we're working it out!
TURBO LISTER & SELLER'S MANAGER: surprisingly, these programs from ebAy (FREE for TL & $4.99/month for SM) are extremely GREAT programs!! The only drawback to TL is the eBay pics -- they SUCK & it is difficult not to use them with this program!
The SELLER'S MANAGER is a fantastic PSM program & I use it now!
AUCTION WATCH: To be fair, I haven't listed from AW in over 1 year, so, hopefully somebody will explain all the good points about AW
It does sound like you are signed for an inappropriate level relative to your sales! AW should be happy to review your needs & advise you with methods to insure that you are listing in the most economical manner!
I'm SURE they DONNA WANT to lose YOU!
Although I hate the company (CA) if I were doing 500/week, I'd probably go with them -- but what a bunch of...
Ralphie loves Mr Blonde:
"Are you gonna bark all day little doggie, or are you gonna bite?"
http://tinyurl.com/5duz
posted on February 19, 2003 06:58:21 PM new
I have no opinions as to what site you should use. All I want to know is, How in Hxxx do you manage 500 auctions a week? I have trouble wit 25 to 39.
posted on February 19, 2003 07:13:30 PM new
It's not that hard - most of them are duplicates. That's why a strong inventory program and post sale management is really important to me. I have about 120 different video titles that I list twice a week, 100 dvd titles that I list twice a week and other duplicate misc. items. Plus most of those are fixed price listings, so I have about 5 of each title listed at any given time. Keeping organized is my biggest challenge.
posted on February 19, 2003 07:23:38 PM new
SaNmAr, Clap, clap, Clap....am I missing the boat here? 500-700 auctions a WEEK! and $200.00 in auctionwatch fees is unbearable? You can't AFFORD that? We are not even mentioning the Ebays fees. You must be hauling in a TON!!!! of MONEY! I wish I had a $1000.00 in a/w fees not to mention e bay. that would mean,,,,,,I,,,,,,,was making a TON of Money. Gotta be easy re list stuff. The TOS reads, when it's over,,,,send the money. Those who don't , who cares? Just keep Re listing.
Whhhhhhiiiiiiip It,,,,,,Whip it GOOD!
posted on February 20, 2003 05:31:44 AM new
Well, $200.00 is a lot of money when there are a lot of services that do the same thing. My ebay bill was only $1000.00, so the ratio seems wrong. I did just sign up for a different AW plan a week ago, so maybe that will make a difference. Of course 3 days ago I just printed up another 1000 business cards with my AW store on them (figures).
posted on February 20, 2003 05:58:38 AM new
I use AuctionWatch currently for offline bulk listing, image hosting, and EOA emails only, with Shooting St*r as my post auction management. I LOVE Shooting St*r, and the fact I only paid once to buy the program. Rumor has it the are working on a new offline bulk lister that will be ready in the next month or so.
AuctionWatch has a lot of competition out there, and I am looking. After all, it's my money, why give it away if there is a better, less expensive way to do business. Personally, I like the idea of buying a program and only paying the one time fee. As soon as Shooting St*r gets "Poster Toaster" up and running, I'll be trying it.
posted on February 20, 2003 07:15:16 AM new
ihula..i'll bet you had the wrong AW plan...the ratio of your ebay bill to AW doesn't sound right..I am using the Variable Rate Power plan (for more than 300 auctions items selling less than $30)and my ebay: auction watch ratio is 10:1..i run about 350 auctions/week (all DIFFERENT items)..AW works best for me anyway
posted on February 20, 2003 08:05:09 AM new
To figure out which AuctionWatch plan will work best for you... you need to have a good idea of your average sell-through-rate, average items listed per month, and the average final bid price of those items that do sell. If you know that information, you can work up an Excel Spreadsheet to figure out which plan will work best for you. (I've already made one if anyone wants me to e-mail it to them!) Also... you mentioned you have business cards with the AuctionWatch store address on them. You might want to reconsider on whether the AuctionWatch store is making you money or costing you money. If it's not bringing in much income... you could save a good chunk of change every month by canceling your store.
posted on February 20, 2003 08:34:01 AM new
I love the ease of using CA but tomwiii is correct about their attitude and customer service. For us "little people" it is the worst. They bring out great improvements for their $1,000+ customers and the $30 or less ones are expected to take what they have and just leave them alone! NO IMPROVEMENTS! Yes, they say they have them but it is never anything worth really getting excited over.
Also, customer service has really really gone downhill!
Still, the ease of tracking sales, sending out emails, etc. just makes them the best one around for me so I have hung in there.
But...they no longer offer unlimited photo space. I had to purchase a second account so I would not run out. It is now limited to 250MB. If that decreases any further I will be forced to bail like others have done.
posted on February 20, 2003 08:36:43 AM new
The AW STORES is a REAL BARGAIN!
This is one area that AW has obviously devoted a lot of time & moola to develop
The AW STORE is far nicer & user friendly than feeBay stores or any of the others I've looked at!
For the very small pittance of $4.95/month, you get:
1) NICE design & layout!
2) EASY to create & maintain inventory!
3) UNLIMITED Inventory! Yo! Did I say UNLIMITED? Yes, boys & gouhls, UNLIMITED!
4) FREE & UMLIMITED pic hosting for the stores!
5) Combined order SHOPPING CART & CHECK-OUT!
6) Daily data-feeds to FROOGLE!
7) A very reasonable & extremely TINY FVF of 1% (maximum is I believe only $4.95?)
HOW CAN YOU GO WRONG AT THIS PRICE!!
Everybody knows that I'm NOT an AW cheerleader, but they sure did a SUPER-GREAT job putting the STORES together!
Ralphie loves Mr Blonde:
"Are you gonna bark all day little doggie, or are you gonna bite?" http://tinyurl.com/5duz
posted on February 20, 2003 08:59:34 AM newlinda: the real joke there is their "refund" policy!
When is a REFUND POLICY not a REFUND POLICY?
WHEN THERE IS NO POSSIBILITY OF A REFUND!
I paid a $180 yearly fee 1 week before they changed over to $30/mo.
I bailed out after 4or5 mos because I was sick of them denying the speed problems -- basically talking DOWN to me like I was some kind of moronic pretzel-choker!
After 2 mos, I inquired about the pro-rated refund I THOUGHT I was due as per my reading of their stated refund policy...
RESPONSE:
"When you cancelled your account there was no refund due on the account. Refunds on annual accounts are computed by taking the current monthly subscription fee, $29.95 multiplying it by the number of months since the anniversary date, then subtracting out that amount from the annual subscription that was paid. For your account that would be 7 months times $29.95 less the $180, $209.65 - $180. Since the cost conversion was higher than the subscription fee you had paid there is no refund due"
IOW, f you bought the annual plan before the switch to $30/month, you get NO refund!
CLEAR?
I couldn't stop ROTFLMAOPIMP over this gobbley-gook double-speak
I didn't bother pressing the issue. Obviously, they are "legally" and "technically" correct. Since I ain't no lawyer, I just decided that if they are that hard-up, obviously they need my measley $40 or $50 more than I do!
But left a bad taste in me mouth and taught me to READ policies & FINE PRINT & USER AGREEMENTS and other mythological fables with an eye towards irony and fiction!
This is one of the reasons I so highly value internet companies like ENDICIA & TOMAS'S SD & FICTIONWISE -- they go that extra mile to SERVE! This seems to be rarer & rarer every day!
Ralphie loves Mr Blonde:
"Are you gonna bark all day little doggie, or are you gonna bite?" http://tinyurl.com/5duz
posted on February 20, 2003 09:34:49 AM new
::The AW STORES is a REAL BARGAIN!
This is one area that AW has obviously devoted a lot of time & moola to develop::
Tom - I have to agree here. When the announcement came out about the integration with Froogle, out of curiosity I went and typed in the brand name of a product line that I have in my store. I was pleasantly uprised to see that the very first listing was actually my store.
posted on February 20, 2003 10:09:36 AM new
...AW STORES ARE FREE under the AW power seller plans! I just use mine as a gallery of my auctions right not but sooner or later hope to have the time to put some items in there.
Really, AW post sale management is very good if you skip the check out rigamarole..and unlimted image hosting a big plus for me..
[ edited by neglus on Feb 20, 2003 10:10 AM ]
posted on February 20, 2003 10:19:16 AM new
I do love my store - I do about 5 sales a week out of the store - sometimes more. I did realize that I was under the wrong plan. I was using the Variable Rate Premium plan, and then went to look at it a couple of weeks ago (before the bill arrived) and decided that for the low dollar amounts and high volume that I do I would be better off with the Variable Rate Power Plan, so that's what I switched to (plus I didn't realize I was paying for my store with my old plan). I'll think about sticking it out for a couple more weeks on the new plan and see what happens, otherwise I'll keep looking for a new service over the weekend. I just found out at a meeting this morning at work that our jobs were cut with the new governer's budget cuts that were announced last night. Now I'm really thinking I have to cut costs whenever I can. We're not to the point yet where I can do ebay full-time.
posted on February 20, 2003 10:50:35 AM new
sorry about your job ihula..yep..using the variable rate premium plan you paid .05/listing x 1,000/week= $50/week..not hard to see how you got to $199 and the cost of your stores..
really the extra .25% fvf amounts to nothing on low ticket items and store is free under the variable rate power plan..you will see a big difference!
I really love SD & he has VASTLY improved & upgraded the site over the past 2 months. But, the site is only 1 year old & he does encounter some bumps & burps now & then -- just like AW! The CS is second to none! If I have a problem, I just IM Tomas & within 5 mins, we're working it out!
