posted on January 22, 2002 04:25:41 AM new
It seems that nobody is responding to the Auction Watch checkout information request email. I have to email the buyer and request the information then fill it in myself. I've go AW mailing automatically at auction closing and it looks like they're going out.
posted on January 22, 2002 05:13:51 AM new
Personally, I don't think they're receiving them. I've gone 'round and 'round with AW about this. I would say at least half of the people who supposedly get the WBN email me within a couple days requesting a total, address, etc. So I'll email them back and ask if they recieved it and they'll say "no, this is the first time I've heard from you". Someone in another thread mentioned once that they think the title "congratulations on winning..." is read by some email accounts as SPAM so it isn't reaching them. I would have to agree. I'm afraid I don't have a solution for you though.
posted on January 22, 2002 07:17:17 AM new
I don't use AW to launch auctions, but based on all the complaints I've seen in the eBay Outlook, I wonder what it is you guys are paying for.
There are so many alternatives now (which, of course, we're not allowed to specify in this forum) but if you go to Google (http://www.google.com) and enter "auction management system" or a similar string, you'll get dozens including AW itself.
posted on January 22, 2002 09:08:18 AM new
I don't know why you guys are having these problems. My email notices always go through. When an occasional bidder says he didn't get one I figure he just missed/forgot/ignored it.
Maybe you have something funny in your AW notice profile. If you change your AW settings to get a copy of all the winner emails you can see if they are going out and what they look like.
posted on January 22, 2002 09:54:34 AM new
One thing is that the default WBN doesn't seem to encourage winners to fill it out. I had to modify mine several times to get it worded in such a way that I get most buyers to fill out the form and communicate.
posted on January 22, 2002 10:14:52 AM new
Yes, the WBN requires way too much time and attention to fill out. I have said before that I wish we could have a wbn that says basically, "You won auction xxx. The total cost is yyy. Send your money to me at address zzz. Thank you very much."
Wouldn't that be better? If we had a simple WBN I could live without all the other info that the WBN now collects.
posted on January 22, 2002 01:20:21 PM new
bettylou, most of us stay with AW because we like and appreciate the service. If you don't, fine. Every site has problems that must be worked out.
Sorry to sound defensive but I just get tired of someone questioning every little problem as though it is the be all and end all.
My winners are definitely getting the WBN, but many email me that they don't like to answer questions. If I just do not send a personal one, most will eventually fill in the AW form.
I do like tracking the post sale here on site, makes it much easier than managing my own. I also like the shipping form. I put this in the package since I now print shipping labels with free DC at USPS.
I may try revising my WBN again to see if that gets a quicker response.
Bettylou, I really do enjoy your posts so please take no personal offense at my beginning remark.
PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE MESSAGE FOR *NECESSARY* INFORMATION ON COMPLETING THIS AUCTION TRANSACTION.
Dear %%Winner%% --
Thanks for bidding and winning on a WIDGET auction!
Below you will find a link to our AuctionWatch processing center for the following auction.
This link will allow you to enter the necessary information for payment and shipping so that your order can be processed as rapidly as possible. In addition, this will allow us BOTH to monitor the status of your order and track shipment of your item.
Non-USA BIDDERS: We must calculate an international shipping amount to give you a total price for your order. Contact us and we will provide this information to you ASAP.
INSURANCE: If you would like to insure your shipment against carrier loss and breakage, please contact us and we will inform you of the proper amount to add.
NOTE: If the link below doesn't appear to be clickable, please copy and paste the entire URL into the address box of your browser window.
If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact us at %%MyEmail%%. We will be happy to assist you in any way we can!
Thanks!
peiklk
WIDGET
%%MyEmail%%
============================
Item: %%Title%%
%%Site%% Auction ID: %%AuctionId%%
End Date: %%CloseDate%%
Winning Bid: %%ClosePrice%% (plus shipping and handling)
============================
YOU MUST VISIT THE WEBSITE LISTED BELOW TO ARRANGE PAYMENT AND DELIVERY OF YOUR ITEM. THANKS!!!
posted on January 22, 2002 01:27:30 PM newrarriffle: YOU may like email with a link directing buyers to an online form to fill-in personal info, but my experience has been that MOST buyers HATE it!
When I used Andale for a 2-mo trial, a FULL 50% of my auction winners REFUSED to follow the link -- instead, I received many irate emails!
I learned a valuable lesson! Although I automate my email, I get many compliments & glowing fb's about my "personal touch!"
posted on January 22, 2002 01:51:10 PM new
I have never received an email about anyone having a problem with the AW form if they attempted to complete it.
The Andale form is a different thing altogether. I tried to complete their forms on 2 different occasions. It was a real pain in the ***.
I have personalized the AW form and it is very easy to complete, as I have done it myself.
I still sent a personal email in response to their reply, thanking them for the response and telling them I will inform when the payment arrives and their item ships.
posted on January 22, 2002 02:39:06 PM new
Betty Lou- I find the WBN (working fine for me), Post sale communication and virtually every aspect of AW to be a life-saver for me. WBN- 2 seconds; mail label/invoice- 2 seconds; reminder wbn- 2 seconds; track and post feedback- 3 seconds. Sorry to go on and on here, but it would behoove you to try the whole program before deciding everyone else is stupid to be using it, and AW doesn't deserve some of the bad press it gets. BTW to the original poster- I don't use automatic wbn- just never felt real comfortable with it.
posted on January 22, 2002 03:25:16 PM new
Funny you should mention low response rate. Over the past few days, my people have either been getting them late, or not at all. I am receiving my EOA from Ebay 12-24 hours after the auction ends. What's going on folks??
posted on January 22, 2002 03:54:19 PM new
I don't fill in the forms. I refuse to do so. It is simple, my time spent filling out those forms increases the cost of the purchase for me. I value my time.
If the seller wants to use the forms, then state as such in the auction text so that the buyers who don't want to use the forms won't bid. Then you will find the number of buyers filling out forms going up closer to 100%. However, you will receive less bids on your auctions and will probably soon be out of business.
posted on January 22, 2002 04:24:19 PM new
hotcupoftea, let me get this straight. you go into sears web sight, you would purchase that new item but, wait a minute, they actually want you to type your name and address, NO Way.
Thank you very much, please never bid on my auctions.
bidders who pick and choose what auctions they bid on based on how lazy they are should stay at the mall in my humble opinion.
it takes less time to fill in the form on AW than it does to type an email. Your address can be printed out on a label to make sure it arrives at your address and not one down the street somewhere.
when I send a copy of that printed sheet, the buyer has a record of the purchase that shows exactly what was paid in case of an insurance claim or for tax purposes if they are buying for resale.
If I am not at home, the bidder still gets the WBN.
AW does a great job with their services and just because 10-20 bidders feel like you, the other 1-2 million will make us miss you less, bye bye!!!!
posted on January 22, 2002 04:27:53 PM new
I don't understand hotcupofcoffee's irrational reaction to AW wbns. All he has to do is send an email to the seller rather than using the form. The wbn has efficiently and quickly given him the info he needs. Why would he pass up a seller who, by using AW WBN, communicates the final charges so well? Be calm, hotcup, just respond to the wbn with an email. What's the problem?
posted on January 22, 2002 04:44:17 PM new
I don't want to be a nag, BUT...
hotcupoftea - didn't you have to fill out a form to:
Send registration for your computer to the vendor?
License your copy of Windows whatever?
Sign up with your ISP?
Sell or buy items on eBay?
Participate in this forum?
You just don't want to fill out AW's WBN forms because your time is valuable? Whoo boy!
I state that I use AuctionWatch.com at the bottom of my auction listings. I even map out the "workflow" of e-mails and forms that will go back and forth.
I hope that is enough information for you to bypass all of my auctions.
posted on January 22, 2002 05:46:28 PM new
My id here does not relate to my eBay ids, just so everyone knows. Also, if you do a search of the id on this forum you will see I spend very little time here.
When I get an auction watch automatic generated email I reply directly to the seller. It is faster and easier for me. I live rurally. I don't have a cable connection or DSL. I use phone lines buried under my driveway that are over 25 years old. Consequently it can take me a long time to go from one page to the next. It is not cost effective for me. I am not alone in this regards. There are lots of people who live in rural America who do not have fast connection speeds.
I don't purchase at Sears so I don't know what that reference is to. When I go to amazon.com to purchase, my information is already there. I don't have to enter it over and over and over for each new purchase. That isn't so with eBay. Every seller has different requirements. Checkout is ok because my information is already in the system, so it is just click, click and I am done. Responding to the seller's email is ok, because that is a quick typing of some words. But the sellers who send me automatic end of auction announcements and expect me to go online to another date base, spend 15 minutes of my time filling in the information for them just because they are too lazy to do it, forget it. I refuse to be the seller's clerk.
I go to a store, a data entry clerk fills in my info. I order over the telephone, a data entry clerk fills in the info. I order from an online web site, I fill in the info once and that is it. Yet if I have 20 purchases each day on eBay from 20 different sellers, all wanting me to go fill in the same information in their databases, all taking 15 minutes of my time, that is 300 minutes.
If any of you who use these automatic forms are complaining about poor sales and lack of bids, here is one factor.
posted on January 22, 2002 06:15:17 PM new
Glad to hear hotcup is not too lazy to answer an email, because that is the option most of us leave open to you. When you have that option, I just don't understand the animosity you show. But I'll stop beating the dead horse. My 100s of customers for items from $20 to $300 have been happy with AW, and only 4 or 5 chose not to use the form, but didn't go histerical on me.
posted on January 22, 2002 06:29:40 PM new
I have to agree with tomwiii and hotcupoftea. Buyers hate to fill out all those forms and they have said it many times on the forums.
While I understand the convenience of using the forms when selling I refuse to do so as I know so many buyers dislike them and I also want to keep the personal touch. It takes extra time for a buyer to fill in the form and many are reluctant to send personal info to a 3rd party.
As a buyer I do not fill out the forms. I have my response in a copy and paste and I can vary it depending on the auction I win. It takes hardly any of my time and does the same job.
posted on January 22, 2002 06:29:59 PM new
Fortunately, for the vast majority of people, filling out an AW form takes less than a minute -- not 15. Sorry HotCup is one of the very few who have this problem.
But, I haven't seen anyone stating that the forms have reduced bids or closure of auctions. In fact, since I've adjusted the wording of my BIN, I've had very little problem with buyers failing to complete the transaction (that is fill out the form).
Not every ebay auction should be the same. ebay is a VENUE only, not an auction standard. It works better for buyer and seller if the buyer fills out their information correctly in the proper place as the seller requires/requests.
Of course, I'm shocked HotCup bothered replying here -- since posting a message here is ALSO a form.
posted on January 22, 2002 06:31:24 PM new
SOME buyers hate to fill out forms. SOME buyers are also quite irrational. They must be your buyers. Mine are quite cooperative.
posted on January 22, 2002 06:42:26 PM new
If a buyer emails me instead of filling out the form, I will gladly work with them that way. If, however a buyer goes off the deep end because they have a slow computer and an overblown self image, I would just as soon they bid elsewhere.
posted on January 22, 2002 11:52:16 PM new
If you are registered with auctionwatch you don't have to enter all the information, just enter login and it's all there.
"Checkout is ok because my information is already in the system, so it is just click, click and I am done. Responding to the seller's email is ok, because that is a quick typing of some words. But the sellers who send me automatic end of auction announcements and expect me to go online to another date base, spend 15 minutes of my time filling in the information for them just because they are too lazy to do it"
posted on January 23, 2002 03:02:22 AM new
My Two cents Worth.........
I no longer use the automated WBN because when a buyer wins say 4 of your auctions, he gets 4 notices from eBay - 4 from AW and whatever else. It's just too much.
These buyers get a personal custom email from me combining everything along with REDUCED shipping charges for mutiple wins.
Now comes eBay checkout which more and more buyers are using because it appears to be the next logical step in the auction. I don't want to send a 2nd form to be filled out if they use checkout. I just copy and paste from checkout in to AW - Mark it completed and move on.
I do use WBN a few hours later if the buyer has not used the eBay checkout. Just to cover myself, I have my WBN customized to say;
If you have already completed the eBay checkout, please disregard this email.
OTHERWISE
Please follow the instructions below so that I can get your item to you as quickly as possible.
(Then comes the standard WBN with a few adjustments)
Also on my WBN are additional options for payment, example BillPoint, BidPay, ProPay & concealed cash that don't show on my auction page in order to comply with PayPal's 1.5% rebate program.
I know some say that I should have these listed on the auction page but I don't for three reasons; (1) The 1.5% rebate works for me,(2) I don't want to junk up the auction page to the point that it's overwhelming and (3) I prefer the PayPal payment but am willing to work with the buyer.
I have found that waiting a few hours has clearly increased the WBN completion rate.
chc
posted on January 23, 2002 05:43:54 AM new
If the AW check out didnt have so many links to join mailing lists I might use it more often from sellers who use the Auctionwatch check out. It looks like a set up where you wil automatically be placed into the "system" Even clicking on the enlarged picture has/had links to join mailing lists.........no thanks. For AW I didnt really like the actual form to fill out with the email itself........it just looked kind of strange.
I will NEVER use someones Andale checkout.
Andale used to promote marketing opportunites to random poeple willing to pay the fees for advertising to "opt in mailing lists"
Those emails you get are not folks who opted in to a damn thing. They just filled out the checkout.
Since every checkout is on the Andale servers whether you like it or not or even know about it Andale harvests all email addresses from your customers to "RENT" out to those wanting to buy "opted in mailing lists". I did an andale checkout once and then recieved a dozen or so "advertisements" from other ebay sellers with websites. I know they were other Ebayers since they were using their well know ID names as their business names.
Dig around for Advertisement opportunities around the site.......
posted on January 23, 2002 05:59:28 AM new
I did not say people were "stupid" for wanting to use AW to launch auctions. I simply noted there seemed to be many problems with the service and that there is an easy way to find alternatives.
In my experience people tend to stick with the system (whatever system that is) they know, even if it has chronic problems, because that's perceived as being "easier" than having to learn another system. This behavior does nothing to prompt vendors such as AW to fix their software.
To use the world's most glaring example, see Microsoft. That people continue to eagerly purchase each new bug-ridden insecure version of Winblows does not adequately communicate to Redmond that they need to craft better software...though nearly everyone agrees that this is in fact the case.
posted on January 23, 2002 06:13:15 AM new
You are simply wrong when you state that there seem to be many problems with AW, and that they don't maintain the software. It gets tiring when folks bounce into these threads, drop remarks like yours, and then bounce out without knowing what they are talking about.
posted on January 23, 2002 11:00:24 AM new
bettylou: anti-Microsoft sycophant. Duly noted.
Seriously -- Windows had improved with each release (except ME perhaps). Yes, there are bugs, but older bugs are cleared up. There are bugs in Linux, OS2, MacOS, etc. with each release as well. Windows XP is VERY stable and the best of the bunch so far. This isn't denial, this is objective truth.
As for AW, I've had very few problems with them and EVERY SINGLE TIME there has been a problem, it's been fixed in less than an hour. So not sure what service you've been using, but AW is worth the minor fees they charge.
