posted on February 7, 2001 05:53:39 AM new
Got this today!
"Today we are announcing a major change to GoTo Auctions' ChannelFusion Pro, formerly AuctionManager. Effective March 1, 2001, we will charge sellers a flat monthly fee for the use of our ChannelFusion Pro auction management tools. We've taken our sellers' suggestions into consideration in developing our pricing structure so that you'll find it reasonable for the quantity and quality of tools and support that we offer.
To reward our loyal sellers, we are extending a special offer of $10.00 per month to those who enter payment information into our system between February 15th and February 28th. Nothing in ChannelFusion Pro will change until February 15th. When you log into ChannelFusion for the first time after February 15th, you'll be prompted to enter your payment information in order to receive this limited-time offer. On and after March 1st, sellers will still be able to use ChannelFusion Pro for just $19.95 a month. You can find more information about our pricing structure at http://auctions.goto.com/AM/pricing.asp.
We recognize that implementing this fee structure impacts your business. We believe that your online auction sales are more successful because of the tools and services we provide. We will continue to build our services, increase our functionality and work to make you a more successful seller. As always, we welcome any comments, ideas or questions as we strive to build the most powerful online auction services available - please feel free to contact us at mailto:[email protected].
Regards,
The GoTo Auctions Team"
Back to cut and paste or Auction Watch for me. Although I do think it is just a matter of time before Auction Watch starts charging for their free services.
posted on February 7, 2001 06:22:18 AM new
I just got my email notifying of their new fees. I liked them since I could put more than one picture on an auction and the nice variety of templates, but I don't sell enough each month to pay what they are asking. So, I guess I'll move on.......seems to me that the little guy is getting "fee-ed" off.
posted on February 7, 2001 06:40:01 AM new
How incredibly annoying. I won't be using them anymore, either. I feel like we are being pecked to death by ducks these days.
One more reason to list on BidVille...sure hope the buyers find that site BIG time!
posted on February 7, 2001 06:44:05 AM new
UNBELIEVABLE!
The lying arrogant SOB's.
They had (like many others, I'm afraid) promised to remain free. They will be charging $20.00 a month!! Now this is if you make sales or don't. I would much prefer something like Andale that charges only for using their checkout on successful auctions. At least THEY never lied about remaining free.
I've been with what was Auction Rover, then GOTO Auctions, then Channel Fusion as they are now called, since day 1. I have invested weeks of time setting things up, resetting them up when they made huge program changes with no notices; sent suggestions and contacted them about bugs, etc.
And don't try to protest strongly on their discussion boards; the owner has said that they will delete all those posts. So if you need to vent, do it here.
I am in the process of copying all my ad html to txt files, and closing stuff out. 100's of hours of work down the drain. I just cannot afford another fee - I am not a power seller, and only those folks will survive all these new charges everywhere.
Please - if anyone is happy with a paid service they use, please let me know what it is, and how much you pay.
Also, Auction Watch - what will be your fee structure? I don't want to go anywhere and put in all that work again to be kicked in the teeth like Auction Rover/GOTO/Chanel fusion has done. Will it be a one-time fee to buy the software? A monthly fee? A per-successful-auction fee? Please let me know!! I have to find somewhere else QUICK!
I usually don't get emotional about this stuff, but I'm a mess right now! It has been one thing (charge) after another and this is ALL I can do as I have a progressive disability that makes it impossible to just go and get a regular day job. Auctions allowed me some financial independence and feelings of self-worth and purpose that I had lost. So this is more than "just for fun" for me. But I can't keep doing this while being nickled, dimed and dollarred to death. Someone please help and tell me where to go from here for auction management.
I know that we can't write to promote other services here, but please e-mail me. Thanks!
posted on February 7, 2001 06:46:50 AM new
Margot and Kiziak,
Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon to make a buck. Problem is there is just so many pieces of us they can peck away at. I doubt there will be many people who will use GoTo at 19.99 a month.
I sell mostly books and only list a very few small collectibles and giftware at ebay. I can easily go back to cut and paste.
And when these sites start charging I think egreed will see them as competition eventually and eliminate the ability to use them. IMHO!
posted on February 7, 2001 06:57:17 AM new
Barb, I am still researching. If I find anything I will let you know. I use Auction Watch also and will probably go back to them. But.....I think they will be charging a fee very soon.
mrlatenite, it is always the "small fries" that are devastated by these "peckings". And for someone like Oxford who has invested so much time it is a real disappointment!!!
posted on February 7, 2001 07:01:40 AM new
Oxford, In regards to the quote below....the guy sounds like a jerk and not to bright. Seems like the smart thing to do would be to deal with the anger on his board so it is not here at AW where the exposure is probably threefold or more!
"And don't try to protest strongly on their discussion boards; the owner has said that they will delete all those posts. So if you need to vent, do it here."
[ edited by anais on Feb 7, 2001 07:14 AM ]
posted on February 7, 2001 07:04:08 AM new
Has anyone heard about what happens to photos hosted there if you dont sign up?
Just curious... I have a couple items that I sell over and over... They are hosted on goto.com servers. Humpf! <arms crossed> they are not getting a dime from me! I am so sick of being nickeled and dimed to death!
No we are 10.00 and 20.00 'ed to death. How can one stay in profit with ALL the fees associated with running auctions these days.
I was very happy doing "Ebay" staying home and taking care of my kids... Now I think I will make more babysitting during the day instead of "Ebay-ing"
posted on February 7, 2001 07:08:30 AM new
Imagine that, a business actually has the nerve to charge its users for their services...........
[ edited by BROOKLYNGUY on Feb 7, 2001 07:10 AM ]
posted on February 7, 2001 07:09:03 AM newKaskas. We are all asking that question. "How can one stay in profit with ALL the fees associated with running auctions these days." I started ebaying in 1996 and it was a dream come true! How things have changed. This sucks, truly it does.
posted on February 7, 2001 07:26:12 AM new
Brooklynguy -
It is not just that they are charging. They repeated over and over that they did not intend to charge for this service (nice try Scot Wingo from GOTO (who by the way, is monitoring this discussion and sent an unwanted e-mail to me).
I spent 100's of hours setting this up on the above claim. If they said from the beginning that there would be a monthly fee in the future, and it would not matter how many (or in my case, how few) auctions where listed through them, I would NEVER have wasted my time. I feel like those hours have been taken away from me for no purpose. I can't afford another monthly fee.
So Brooklynguy, your cruel sarcasm is not appreciated.
posted on February 7, 2001 07:30:32 AM new
I'm emailing with most of the 8-10 people I told about GoTo. Including my mom and 3 sisters. So far none of us plan to pay the fee.
As far as the unwanted email Oxford, Report the jerk!
posted on February 7, 2001 07:44:10 AM new
Do you get the feeling that there is a pattern developing? Suddenly there is a race to implement fees on previously free services.
There has been pressure since last March to make internet companies profitable and Venture Capital can't go on forever.
Love them or hate them, the one thing you can say about eBay is that they instituted fees from the outset, thereby giving their service a "value". It's much easier to incrementally increase fees than it is to go from "Free to Fee".
[ edited by VIDPRO2 on Feb 7, 2001 07:45 AM ]
[ edited by VIDPRO2 on Feb 7, 2001 07:45 AM ]
posted on February 7, 2001 07:47:44 AM new
I know eBay pic service is not the greatest answer in the world, but want to give it a try. Anyone here use it????? Says on their basic service to just drag and drop in space. What space??? Feel really dumb, but can't figure out where to put the pic. from the auction form. Can anyone one help?
posted on February 7, 2001 07:52:10 AM new
I have been EXTREMELY HAPPY for the past 5 months posting all me auctions from GOTO -- never longer than 2 SECONDS to launch an auction -- so, that part of the site was PERFECT for me, especially considering how frustrated I became with Auction Mangler!
The problem with GOTO is that their PSM server is TOO SLOW!!!!! Sometimes invoices are not created for up to 18 HOURS!!! I didn't care, as I used eBud for that part & eBud worked great for me!
But now that GOTO wants $120.00/year MINIMUM, I can't afford both GOTO & eBUD!
posted on February 7, 2001 07:52:56 AM new
To Scott or whoever from Goto is reading, here's the poop. I'm not a cheapskate. I understand cost of doing business. I pay $$$ all the time in listing fees, final value fees, commissions at Amazon, whatever.
But I won't pay $20 a month for the Goto service. It's convenient, it's nice. It's not worth $20.
I might pay $5.
Instead, I will pay free and just list via ebay if I even remember how to do that anymore, or use the AW program.
posted on February 7, 2001 08:02:17 AM new
To go from Free to $20 is a big leap....
If they had started off with small fee and let people get use to the idea..you know, the old incrimental will shift..then their users wouldn't be jumping ship in droves.
I, too, have emailed friends and relatives about this...no body is staying there. We are small time sellers and can't afford it.
I have an AuctionRover T-shirt I think I'll list soon.
posted on February 7, 2001 08:08:34 AM new
The following is from goto's announcement about the new fee schedule--
"To that end, please do not start any additional threads regarding your feelings or opinions on this change, its timing, etc. Such posts will be deleted."
In December there was a thread on goto's discussion board started by a user who had heard Goto would start charging fees in March. The same Steve that issued the new fee announcement SWORE that Goto had no such plans. He went so far as to say that it would NOT BE POSSIBLE to institute fees so early in the year because of all the planning that would be involved.
Well that thread "magically" disappeared.
I stupidly believed goto and uploaded a lot of images and spent or rather wasted a lot of time re-working email templates and preparing auction ads for the future.
Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with a business charging a fee for services. I do have a problem with being manipulated with lies.
If they would have just told the truth back in December I would have had time to evaluate what I wanted to do.
I get really ticked-off when a business that is supposed to provide a helpful service intentionally wastes my time. It doesn't matter how wonderful goto's service is-they lied. How can I trust any information this service provides in the future. I'm not going to wait around for the next lie. My time is too valuable.
Providing short notice of changes is a ploy to hold people who have invested a lot of time into setting up ads hostage. If people had plenty of time they could evalute the situation, determine if it was economical, and switch to another service without a lot of hassle. But when one is only given a few weeks notice, there often isn't time to plan and the auctions have already been setup. Their hoping to force their customers to pay for the service by limiting the time they have to seek out other options.
A monthly fee is not a good deal if one does not plan to list every month.
posted on February 7, 2001 08:11:00 AM new
This is the e-mail I received from Scot Wingo - owner of GOTO:
"I do have to say that we never said (and certainly never promised) to anyone that we would never charge. Also, I never told anyone we would delete negative posts from our boards. The only thing I ever said was that we can't post over on AW's boards because they delete our posts."
Bullhocky.
How is it that every user that has written into the GOTO discussion boards since the charging annoucement has said the same thing - that you said you didn't intend to charge us for the services? We are ALL making this up, eh?
Reminds me of my friend's darling husband who, when she asked him if he was going to leave her, said, "that is not my intention". When he left her the next day and she brought up his words from the night before, he said, "well, that wasn't my intention..." Cute.
And the reference to deleting posts from your very own announcment on the board:
"New messages outside this thread (other than normal questions about how the new pricing will work) will be deleted."
When will the lies from these dot.com's stop? Get ready to be a new addition to F****d Company's dot.com hall of shame.
posted on February 7, 2001 08:13:56 AM new
I agree Margot. Additionally I think GoTo Auctions will probably go the way of other .com businesses. Dot Bomb. So far no body I know is staying. I referred a lot of folks to them.
It is the {b]lies[/b]that turn me off. Whoever said that they should have been upfront all along about future fees was right on. I still wouldn't be able to afford another fee but I wouldn't be angry or feel badly towards them.
posted on February 7, 2001 08:14:04 AM new
I'm probably in the minority, but I'll be sticking with Goto.com The monthly fee is reasonable, but will affect the casual or part-time seller. I prefer a flat monthly rate rather than the sales percentage, as then we would have to play the same hoop jumping scenario we play with eBay when trying to get refunds from deadbeat bidders. I have been pleased with all aspects of Goto.com and was recently pleased when they added edeal.com auctions to their list. Like many others, I was an ebud fan, but once John sold the business, things have not been the same. Goto.com is the best management service that I've used since, so I'll be sticking with them.
posted on February 7, 2001 08:17:27 AM new
I've been using GoTo since the good ole' Rover days - but definitely will be finding an alternate management source. I would maybe stay if I didn't have to pay the full $120.00 if I want the "discount rate". I am soooooooo sick to death of using a promised free service only to find that once I rely on it - suddenly it's GIMME GIMME! My mom and a friend also use GoTO and are bailing, too. I now feel terrible for sending them there in the first place.
I absolutely cannot afford another fee and will also be dumping GoTo as quickly as possible. This stinks and has absolutely ruined my day!!!!!!
posted on February 7, 2001 08:18:10 AM new
I used GoTo for the first time about 2 weeks ago when AuctionWatch had a "catastrophic" (their terms) outage. I had so relied on AuctionWatch that their being down for nearly 4 days was difficult. I wasn't happy that AuctionWatch refused to keep us simply updated as to whether we should spend time working on auctions or hold off. I would have been happy with that simple statement. But nothing. So I tried GoTo. They had nice templates, I thought. Not as self explainatory as AuctionWatch. Roughed it and did about 20 auctions. BUT THE MINUTE AuctionWatch was up and running I was back, even though I was skiddish since I had previously lost 2 days worth of work due to their outage. ("Sorry for the inconvenience" just doesn't quite do it for my frustration level) I did not sell nearly as well with GoTo as I do or did with AuctionWatch. Why? Same stuff---same prices? Did I pick the wrong template? Were people use to seeing the same style and colors I'd used before?
GoTo didn't have the message board activity that AuctionWatch has.
I understand fees. If we didn't have sites that listed our pics for free...where would we go? You'd have to have your own website space to host your pics. Certainly couldn't keep up with AOL's FTP space they give 'ya. But I'd pay AUCTIONWATCH first anyday before I'd pay GoTo. GoTo's fee announcement is less than 2 weeks notice. $19.99 is based on what? AOL's ISP senior's discount rate for monthly service?
posted on February 7, 2001 08:30:26 AM new"To that end, please do not start any additional threads regarding your feelings or opinions on this change, its timing, etc. Such posts will be deleted."
Sure sounds to me that he said our feelings and opinions about the new rate changes would be deleted.
Who wants to do business with a company led by a person like this!!!!! Not many of us!
My mom is looking for a email someone wrote to her saying there wasn't plans to intiate fees back in December. IF she finds it I will post it here with headers. She wrote to them after seeing the message on the board which was questioning whether they would have fees. That post is now gone!!!!!
posted on February 7, 2001 08:42:50 AM new
My comments were indeed sarcastic but certainly not meant to be cruel. People are living in an online fantasy world where they think all services should be free forever. Well come on out of your sheltered little world and face reality. How do you think these companies are going to make money??
I'm sure you can find another free service out there. When that one starts charging, go find another one. Eventually all of the free services will be gone. You have to read between the lines. If you're a relatively small seller NONE OF THESE SERVICES WANT YOU. You are just a parasite to them, using their free services until they are no longer
free and then moving on. They don't care if you leave because they're not making any money off of you.
I do however think that if a quarter here and fifty cents there has that much of an effect on your profit margin than you're in the wrong business. The online auction game is steadily becoming survival of the fittest. Conform or go away, it's your choice.
