posted on March 18, 2001 10:18:56 AM new
I use Andale as an auction manager for my eBay auctions. A week or so ago, Andale's system went down. Everything seems fine now, except that no one seems to be responding to my Andale auction confirmation letters.
It's common for a few buyers not to reply to an after-auction confirmation, but since Andale's system problems, the percentage of non-response is almost 100%. Only after reminders do I receive a response, and even then it's a battle.
I can't help but wonder if there's a glitch in Andale's confirmation system -- is anyone else having problems?
I'm getting copies of the after-auction confirmation letters, so it appears my buyers are getting copies as well. It's odd that I'm not hearing back from them.
Anyone else?
Thank you,
Lee
[ edited by elee on Mar 18, 2001 12:54 PM ]
posted on March 18, 2001 10:33:18 AM new
Hi Lee =0)
Up until about a week ago, I used Andale as well. After the problems they have been having, I decided to change over to AW. I too had almost no response to the automated checkouts...as far as I'm concerned, Andale is an awful service and there are plenty of bidders that think so as well. Many won't even bid on auctions that involve Andale. I think you aren't receiving a response due to the fact that it is more of a pain for buyers than a convenience. I could be wrong, but that has been my experience! I wish you well!
posted on March 18, 2001 12:08:28 PM new
Sorry to hear about your problems -- but you should be aware that Andale auctions have a poor reputation.
I bypass all Andale auctions. Outside of the gawd-awful templates (which I back right out of), I have no interest in going offsite to enter my personal information because the seller is unwilling to have me email them directly. Now I know some sellers note that they will email you if that is what you want, but I still would not bid.
Andale's "non" privacy statement makes no mention of what they do with the addresses they collect -- it has often been noted here that they are more than likely selling them to spammers.
posted on March 18, 2001 01:22:06 PM newengelskdansk
Since you've never used Andale perhaps you wouldn't have seen that they state at the Checkout that customer information is not sold, but please don't let that stop you from spreading your misinformation and smearing many good sellers.
I have used Andale with great success for many months now, but then I was good seller before them (940+ sales, 600 positives, NO NEGS) and would be without them. One must use the system well to make it work well and some just aren't capable, I've run into one Andale seller like that myself as a buyer.
Smearing all Andale sellers is just another in a long line of misinformed, self promoting Jihads by the amatuerish sellers that haunt these boards on a regular basis.
posted on March 18, 2001 01:34:20 PM new...they state at the Checkout that customer information is not sold...
Okay- Andale says they don't sell customer information. Suppose Andale is bought by another company, or goes out of business. What happens to the customer information then?
posted on March 18, 2001 01:54:07 PM new
Elee, I wholeheartedly agree with Engel and Fairyblossom. I won't bid on an Andale auction either. There maybe good Andale sellers out there but I've had 4 transactions with Andale Sellers and had problems with all of those transactions.
I also agree that the templates are awful and I hate filling out the forms. I buy a lot and don't have time to be messing with someone's forms. After an auction I want to receive an end of auction notice with a total and then pay.
Elee, you would be better served to go with another company that offers seller's services. Andale's does have a bad reputation with buyers. It doesn't matter how professional you are. Many will not give you a chance when they see you sell with Andales. JMHO!
~~Anais~~
posted on March 18, 2001 01:57:18 PM new
Hi, please don't be offended but I HATE ANDALE .....I don't use it , I won't use it, and I won't knowingly bid on auctions that do use it. I am a seller and buyer. When I have bought items and tried to pay for them, I resent jumping thru all the hoops just to pay the darned bill. Sometimes the communication glitches between the buyer and seller and I find it confusing. Sorry for the rant, but when I unknowingly buy from an Andale seller (finding out AFTER the auction is closed) I simply email them..ask for the costs and send the payment thru either paypal or USPS. I ignore the link to go to the Andale site and be put thru this irritation. I KNOW its supposed to be easier for sellers to manage their auctions but I just don't think its worth it as a buyer. WHEW...sorry this was the post to take out my frustration...but I feel better
posted on March 18, 2001 02:04:07 PM newmrpotatoheadd
Okay suppose any company is bought, what then? How is that relevant to the current reality? I can use hypotheticals to indict anyone or anything.
As for Andale having a bad reputation with buyers, keep in mind that you people represent only a small but vocal minority on eBay. Most buyers, thankfully don't have the time or the inclination to hang out on AW and get 3rd hand misinformation.
My sales are brisk and the margins good. I suppose that if you sell a bunch of widgets hoping to clear a $1 profit then paid professional services wouldn't really be in your best interest though.
All of my customers have the option of emailing me their address to receive a total and payment instructions (before you bristle I charge state sales tax and ship worldwide), that doesn't pose a problem since I just enter the information for them. Contrary to what you may wish to believe most choose to use the Checkout system and I receive kudos for my professionalism all the time. Maybe my customers are just more adept at buying online than the average AW'er? Go buy a book at Amazon to see how it works in the majority of the online world.
posted on March 18, 2001 02:20:40 PM new
I'm not sure why you are being so defensive, bemused. Potential customers are telling you that they don't like Andale. This very vocal "minority" may very well represent the "majority" of eBay shoppers' opinions. Fine, your sales are great, but maybe they could be even better and who wouldn't want that?
I too HATE Andale as a buyer (never tried it, and have no desire to as a seller). In fact, I found an item last night that I truly wanted, but decided to wait for again since it was by a seller using Andale. I don't want to release my information to a third-party...I want contact and customer service from a living human being, not an automated system. Sorry, but that's how I personally feel. And I dislike their gaudy templates too.
posted on March 18, 2001 02:23:17 PM new
As a bidder, I avoid Andale auctions--I don't like the way they load (slow), I don't like the way they look, and I'm not sure I like the notion of just supplying my personal info without a confirmation email from the seller. So far, I've successfully avoided them, but I wouldn't let it deter me from bidding on something I really really want.
posted on March 18, 2001 02:25:28 PM new
bemused ...
Ohhhhhhhh, such erudite and learned language. Is it meant to impress us? This is not a jihad against Andale sellers, just Andale and its browser-crashing forms and crappy privacy policy.
As for your snide comments about "amatuerish sellers", if you are going to attempt to insult those you disapprove of, please spell it right (amateurish is the correct spelling). It has more effect when correctly spelled.
You see, dearie, I have READ Andale's privacy policy, and while they take great pains to explain how they protect seller info, they are silent on what they do with buyer info. It's what they DON'T say that worries me.
The only asset a dot.com service like Andale has, other than their rapidly depreciating servers and some used office furniture, is the information they have on file about users, their addresses and their buying habits.
But it's a moot point ... they're down at the moment.
posted on March 18, 2001 02:26:58 PM new
Yup, count me anti-Andale too, in every regard already mentioned.
Plus, the way I feel about it, if the seller wants me in their database, THEY can do the blankety-blank data entry.
I don't think Andale sellers have been smeared so much as the Andale system. But then, one does have to wonder at the basic customer orientation of someone who uses Andale. Or at least I consider it a reasonable question to ponder. Won't get to gather much evidence on the subject, tho, since I too try to avoid Andale sellers.
posted on March 18, 2001 02:30:51 PM newathena1365
What you call defensive I call a dissenting opinion (not very popular around here). Get over yourselves really, eBay has millions of buyers and the "Usual Suspects" around here certainly don't represent a majority of them or Andale would already be out of business. And just to clear up your misconception, I have Andale all over my ads exactly because I don't want customers who are activists, so you aren't potential customers of mine. Frankly I'd rather deal with a deadbeat than be sucked into a political debate.
posted on March 18, 2001 02:44:55 PM new
Well, I am glad it was not just me that found BEMUSED rather abrasive. As I posted in another post the other day....One can disagree or state an opinion without being abrasive or sarcastic. And BEMUSED...Not liking Andale does not make us stupid or inept....
posted on March 18, 2001 02:45:26 PM new
The almighty has spoken...and we are humbled.
"Dissenting" opinions are usually not so personally combative. But, certainly we lowly few submit to your obviously superior wisdom. As a potential (NOT) buyer, I'm certainly not missing much.
posted on March 18, 2001 02:52:11 PM new
JUST A SMALL NOTE ..I DO NOT USE ANDALE BUT MORE THEN LIKELY IT WAS NOT ANDALES FAULT...THIS IS A QUOTE FROM VRANE.COM SITE HE HAD THE SAME PROBLEMS THIS WEE
March 16 7:42am
Eastern USA Time -0500
Hardware upgrade lasted until around 7:30am this morning.
eBay has reversed their seller search page and as a result new coding done the day before and are no longer working. It's likely that eBay is doing all of that deliberately to make services such as ours more difficult to maintain and eventually unprofitable. Because they have competing services such as Auction Assistant it is in their interest to make us go away. Users cannot see the changes at all. HTML language is such that one can put as many line breaks as one wants and browsers will display the identical web page. Our services rely on the raw HTML and if HTML source is changed on eBay then we have to change it accordingly. There is absolutely no reason for eBay to be changing their HTML code unless they want to change the appearance and the appearance has not changed.
We have now put back the old code for power mailer and it seems to work. We will be putting back the old code back in for other pages later on in the day.
We are working on a more robust structure and hope to implement it soon.
posted on March 18, 2001 02:54:55 PM new
Now I get it, sarcasm isn't allowed on AW (Since when?), but recklessly and relentlessly maligning a service (and sellers) you've never used is? Well consider me educated!
Okay suppose any company is bought, what then? How is that relevant to the current reality? I can use hypotheticals to indict anyone or anything.
I'm not trying to indict anybody. I just asked a question- I'm sorry if you didn't like it.
As far as hypotheticals go...
I don't know about the newspapers where you live, but the ones here are full of stories about failed dotcom companies. I would guess that might be a concern to anybody who has their name, address, cc number and online buying history stored on the server of one of those companies.
If a regular eBay seller goes out of business, there is little chance that the information he has stored on his hard drive is going to wind up being sold to anyone else. I would suggest that the chances of that information being sold by a failed internet company is much higher.
Enough to be worried about? I don't know. As a seller though, that isn't your decision to make, is it?
posted on March 18, 2001 03:17:00 PM newmrpotatoheadd
You're right I don't like the question because it's overly broad and unfairly links the (mis)fortunes of other companies to Andale. What if eBay is bought? What about AW? What does that have to do with ACTUAL service that Andale (and its sellers) provide? How can you make authoritative statements about a service you've never used/experienced? Are you registered anywhere on the Net? If so why, given your concerns? Why is Andale being singled out for scapegoating?
posted on March 18, 2001 03:17:30 PM new
The more you rely on other companies, such as Andale or AuctionWatch, the more likely you are to run into problems with your auctions and communications. My business is far too important to my to place it in the hands of such companies. Just read through some of the posts in the AW section. (listed auction 5 times, no pictures showing up, AW down, etc, etc, etc.
It does not take a degree in engineering to figure out how to do this stuff yourself. You can setup more auctions faster with MisterLister than any "online" solution. You can create templates in MisterLister, any Web Publishing Software, and any Email Software. Spend a few hours knocking out the templates and you can easily process hundreds of auctions in a day.
Thanks for the advice, I don't have a degree in Engineering (its Computer Science actually) and I've been using computers since 1980. I am fully capable of doing all that you suggest, but carefully chose my current solution for a variety of reasons that make sense to me. You can localize all you want, but when the service we all rely on (eBay) goes down we're all in the same boat aren't we?
posted on March 18, 2001 03:56:46 PM new
Hello bemused. You said:
QUOTE
"All of my customers have the option of emailing me their address to receive a total and payment instructions (before you bristle I charge state sales tax and ship worldwide), that doesn't pose a problem since I just enter the information for them"
END QUOTE
That's the reason I won't purchase anything from an Andale seller. You have simply missed the entire point here. I DON'T WANT MY INFO going into Andale's database and it's obvious that I can't trust you not to enter it anyway since you just told us that YOU DO enter it anyway.
I'm sure there are many conscientious sellers using Andale's automated checkout who would respect their customer's privacy wishes by not entering their transaction info into Andale's database. Unfortunately, there are also sellers who have no consideration for their customer's preferences and I have no way of telling which is which so I can't bid on Andale auctions.
This has nothing to do with politics but has everything to do with customer service and respect.
posted on March 18, 2001 04:14:52 PM new
The whole ANDALE concept raises some real interesting issues:
My experience with Andale as a seller was, for the most part, a TOTAL DISASTER! A full 50% of my winners REFUSED to follow the link to enter info! OTOH, around 5% complimented me on "professionalism" (LOL!). I found the CS folks at ANDALE to be EXTREMELY KIND, CARING, & HELPFUL! However, the software was so wierd that most of the time they could not figure out how to fix real obvious boo-boos in their set-up!
It is totally 100% beyond me why ANYBODY would PAY for this "service!"
The auctions are way too CLUTTERED & BUSY! You stand a real chance of OFFENDING customers! The whole ANDALE concept BEATS THE HELL OUT OF ME!
HOWEVER!... If ya think about it, the AW WBN system is THE SAME STUPID CONCEPT! So, if you don't like Andale, how many of you folks use WBN's?
I think with all your auction activities, following the KISS RULE is probably the best advice!
Yes I am. It appears, however, you are failing to make a distinction between my decision to provide personal information on a website and an eBay seller making that choice for me. There is a difference.
How can you make authoritative statements about a service you've never used/experienced?
Why do you assume I have never "experienced" Andale? I asked a question, and made a couple of comments based on my opinion. Authoritive statements? Where?
Once again, my opinion is that it is not necessarily safe to trust that personal information given to one company will not later be sold to another. If you, as a seller, are satisfied with Andale and their privacy policies, feel free to give them all of your personal information that you wish. It is presumptuous, however, to assume that your buyers will all agree with your decision.
posted on March 18, 2001 05:48:17 PM newmrpotatoheadd
It's you who have totally missed the point. Every potential buyer makes the decision about trusting me/Andale with their information by placing a bid. They know up front that I use Andale, none have ever requested that I change my record keeping procedure after they already made the decision to buy from me (every email they get states that it was generated by Andale even when modified). YOU HAVE THE CHOICE TO BID OR NOT, BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE THE OPTION TO DECIDE HOW I RUN MY BACKEND OPERATIONS. I have stated repeatedly that I don't want those kind of activist customers and fortunately through full disclosure that I'm an Andale seller I never get them/you.
I am not cleaning out my closets, I'm running a business. I pay taxes (sales, local, state, federal, self employment) and I take the responsibility for the inherent liabilty that selling online (credit cards etc.) poses to me as a seller. I minimize that liability by having the most complete record of every transaction that I can maintain. No one buyer gets to decide how I run my business, only if they want to bid or not.
I've efectively managed to use Mister Lister, AW, GoTo, and eBud in the past to manage my auctions without any major problems. Ultimately how succesful you are depends more on you're own ability. Obviously I've managed to communicate to the majority of my customers the benefit of using the checkout while allowing them the option of not going through it. If someone wants to PayPal/Billpoint me a payment and never use the checkout I couldn't be happier.
My customers must be unusually smart because they all seem to know where their info is going (or they've shopped online before).
