posted on January 23, 2001 04:52:22 AM new
I was wondering if TwinSoft, or someone else could answer this?
Would it be reasonably possible to have software custom designed for one's dot com to enable the creation of a showcase - like the Auctiva Showcase?
I'm trying to get free of eBay's Gallery, and my corresponding personal gallery. I don't want to use Auctiva Showcase because I'm sure they will be charging for it soon.
Is it possible? Any idea on cost?
Many thanks,
MTown
PS. Is eBay's description search behind? I have auctions 36 hours old and are not showing in the search. Consequently, my personal gallery is not working...
posted on January 23, 2001 05:17:57 AM new
Hi, MorganTown. I'm sorry but I'm not familiar with Auctiva. I probably can't help you much with your question.
If you have your own web site, or intend to get one, many providers offer a complete package that includes a secure shopping cart. Credit card processing is done by the provider. My own site, Gratefuldad.com, is hosted by Virsite.com and they offer a "complete e-commerce solution" although I haven't tried that part of their service yet. They've been sending me promotional emails and maybe I'll look into it, depending on the cost. I can say that Virsite is very reliable and has only been down once for a few hours during the past year. Also, their service is very personable. Fast and helpful email responses. I can recommend their web site hosting - it's $8 bucks a month for 50 Mb, plus email. (No dial in, you'll need another account for that.)
I would think that it might be more economical to go with one of the hosting sites rather than pay a programmer to develop something for you. Kind of like re-inventing the wheel. Also, you'd have to pay to maintain (and debug) your own software.
If you DO find a good setup, let me know. I'm interested too.
(To find other hosting sites, go to AltaVista and type in "free shopping cart software" (in quotes).)
(edited to add: Correction - you need your own merchant account. They offer the secure shopping cart and then email you the credit card info. They also offer a credit card payment service, which looks pretty pricey.)
posted on January 23, 2001 06:06:53 AM newOnlineOrders boasts links to 200 e-commerce solution providers. Looks like they have some shopping carts too.
posted on January 23, 2001 08:51:23 PM new
"I don't want to use Auctiva Showcase because I'm sure they will be charging for it soon."
Uhhhh? I've never understood this line of thinking. Why not use it as long as you can? Maybe it's free forever and you are a happy camper. Or a year, or who knows.
If Auctiva Showcase is truely so great that you are afraid to sign up for it in fear that they'll charge for it later then by gosh it must be good and why not use it for free now.
AuctionWatch has been free for years. Does that mean I'm a dummy for using it? Or does it mean I should quit now because the longer I keep using it for free the higher my odds that they are gonna start charging me!
This is crazy. If you like something use it and support it and get what you can out of it for as long as you can. When the day comes that you maybe have to pay for it make a decision then based on the facts at hand and the price and let your money talk.
Please someone tell me why this shoudln't be the case!
posted on January 23, 2001 11:39:40 PM new
Well, I can tell you my take on the subject. A while back I looked into Auction Amigo, a free auction/management tool. It looked fairly robust, but it was obvious that I would need to invest some real time in learning how to use it. Since I already have my own system, including a database I designed in Microsoft Works, I decided to just stick with my own setup.
Well, perhaps you can guess what happened. The next time I logged on to Auction Amigo's site, they had started charging for their (formerly) "free" product. My time is money. And I'm getting sick of deceptive "free" offers designed to reel in customers like fish. Perhaps those folks figure that once a user has tried their product, the user will see the benefits. Or perhaps they figure they can hook users. I don't know. But I'd like to think I'm perceptive enough not to fall for the same scam again and again. (See "Paypal" and their "always free" advertising campaign.)
That's the problem with these web-based services. "Free" means nothing, other than that the service will remain free until they figure they can make a buck off it. Once you're in, it's that much harder to get out. I'm a hands-on kind of guy. I'd rather design my own ads, host my own store, etc. And those Internet sharks can keep their "free" services. I've got my own domain and I pay $8 a month for server space. I couldn't be happier.
(I've never used AuctionWatch and I have no criticism of their service. For those who use it successfully, more power to 'ya. On the other hand, the word "free" has taken on a whole new meaning since I began selling on the web four years ago. And that meaning is "not free." )
posted on January 24, 2001 02:32:55 AM new
Hi Twinsoft! Thank you for responding.
I already have a dot com - an auction site with no traffic! Well, it looks good though! I used the bidland systems interface thingy...
I'm going to send a letter off to vrane.com. Ask them what the cost would be to build me a robot to automatically build a Gallery. I don't think there would be too much updating of the codes, because like the Auctiva Showcase, the robot would search my seller's list on eBay and collect an image and link from each auction. I probably could do any necessary updating my self. Most likely if eBay changed urls.
But even with my own Gallery, or an Auctiva Showcase, one looses the ability to have thumbprint images on the eBay search page itself. What gives the most bennefit. A Gallery showcase, or the images in the search?
Franko122:
I use one fee based service to run my auctions - eBud. I do not want to get hooked on any other "free" services. I want to keep my business as fee - free as possible. FeeFree, what a great Dot Com idea!! There are advantages to knowing how to do things efficiently on ones own...
For example, I make my own auction HTML templates. I enjoy making them and they are unique. It helps set my auctions apart from the masses that use the "free" templates. [Some are darn ugly!]
It's easy to create an auction template. Just design a web page, I use Netscape Composer. Then save the page and open it using a word processor. Reduce the text font to minimum size. Except, for the areas where you enter the description, shipping cost, images, etc. That squeezes down the look of the template and makes it easy to use.
I use Mr. Lister to list auctions. Although, I don't use eBay's Mr. Lister software. Instead, my descriptions are done on a word processor [Yeah spell check!] directly into my html template. I write them in batches of 100 per WP document.
To get the batch to eBay, I use a self - created "form mail" page on my dot com site. It has a unique advantage over the Mr. Lister software, because after the page is submited a cgi page returns with all 100 auctions [just as they would look on eBay] one-after-the-other. This is great because if there are any errors, especially with the image files, I can see and correct them.
I store auction images on my dot com server. Often when searching items on eBay, I've found lots of instances where the page won't load due to the slow servers of the "free" service companys. My images load fast and furious! 99.97% of the time.
Later!
MtOwN
PS. One last thing about an Auctiva Showcase. It take toooooo long for the page to open. Lots of java going on I think...
Well, it looks good though!