posted on May 22, 2002 07:21:58 AM
Every time I'm happy with something, it seems someone's got to come along and ruin it. So far, one of the best things about AW is that I can retreive auctions I did a year ago or more, so I don't have to do all the information again to launch. It appears that once information is archived, you cannot just retreive it and launch the auction again, so why is it under the guise of "archive". I don't think anyone just needs the item number, title and whatever other sliver of info is still available. Why don't you just say in clear language that anything over 12 weeks will be gone!! Ok, I can go through my 6000+ auctins and save them to inventory, but last I looked there was no search in inventory. Has that changed? I have disabled the option to archvie for now, but of course, I see we will have to pay additional if we don't want to keep that option sometime down the line. Any idea what THAT will cost? I love your site, AW, and I'm probably not going anywhere, but I'm really disappointed that you have to keep finding ways to keep uping my costs. I started with you and was paying NOTHING, then it leaped to an average of $40 a month, and now it's leaped to an average of $80 a month. You'll be FORCING me out at some point, because I will not be able to afford the service anymore.
While you are technically correct in that archived items will be unavailable for relist, note that the Inventory Management system is available at no extra cost and can be used for the same purpose. There is a search feature in Inventory, so you can easily locate items for relaunch.
If you accidentally archive recent closed items, you should be able to reimport them using the Track Auction feature, but this will only work if the auctions are still in eBay's database.
I hope this helps. Please check Inventory, you will see the search tool at the top of your inventory list.
So...'Archive' = after 12 weeks I can't pull the auction details (title & number are of no value for me to relist a similar item).
and I don't use Aw inventory...so I guess 'archive' really should be appropriately called 'delete'
One thing that I do use is 'seach by email address' in my post sale, as I always want to know if/what a buyer has ever bought from me in the past. Now with archive, that means that it will not search over 12 weeks, correct? I went into my 'customers' database but I don't see a way to search for all auctions won by a particular bidders email addy. I can't possibly go through the thousands of auctions that closed with a winner to find each one. Any solution? I hate approaching a buyer like I have never sold to them before, when in fact I did- but because of the new system I have no access to that data...
Oh, BTW, why is this still in many of my auctions:
posted on May 22, 2002 07:00:15 PM
Hello sfnyartist,
If you need to keep copies of items to list similar auctions, you should really make use of the Inventory system - all it requires is an extra click as you are creating your auctions, then the description and auction details will be kept on file and can be more easily organized by using separate folders for specific item types or categories, etc.
As far as checking Post-Sale for email addresses, when you export your archives they will be exported in an Excel file, which you can easily search using keywords.
Note that auto-archive is an opt-out feature, and is free for the time being. You might want to opt-out so that you will have some time to experiment with the new system.
Thanks,
Diana
Edited to add: The "Free Image Hosting..." banner was replaced a long time ago. If you are still seeing this on your ads, it is probably because you are relisting auctions that were originally launched long ago.
I do check off to copy to inventory, but only as a backup for when I am creating an auction (so I can retrieve it incase of a 'hiccup' during its initial creation). I once thought that I would use my inventory, but when I looked at what was in there- it was such a mess that I just deleted it all. There were things that were sold, unsold, multiples- (maybe I copied to inventory the same item a few extra times?) I also sell very similar items, so they all look 'familiar'. Being such a mess, I just never started using it (or at least nothing more than for a back-up) so thanks for the reminder that it will be there as long as I check it off.
As for the 'Free...' being at the bottom of some of my auctions, I had assumed that that phrace was inserted new for each auction when it was launched. I keep 'templates' with item-specific HTML in my pending and pull up the appropriate one and fill in the details for each new auction. I am sure that the 'free' one was most definately an old template (although it did have the check-out features selected, so it couldn't be too old). Hopefully I can weed these out.
I did uncheck the auto-archive yesterday. How long will it be free? and what $$ will it be later on?
I must say, in the last 2 years, AW has made so many changes that I am having a hard time remembering the simplicity that it once had! I must be getting old...change now makes me raise my eyebrows in dread!
The "FREE bulk listing tools..." text has been stored in your default text box which is why it continues to show up in your auctions. You can remove this by going to your My Account tab to Global Preferences and deleting it from your default text box. If you can't find it let me know and I will remove it for you. Keep in mind this will only apply to auctions you launch after making the change.
