posted on April 11, 2003 01:49:44 PM
This is my first posting in years to the boards but this topic caught my attention. I am not happy with the fact that Vendio does not support eBay Stores. It is a pain to set up two separate item descriptions and images -- one for my eBay Store and one for my Vendio store.
I sell much more from the eBay Store than I do from the Vendio store so giving up the eBay Store is not an option. The eBay Store listings are just clogging up the "Active" listings area while not allowing me to take any actions, notify the buyers, nor closing follow-up from the Vendio site.
There must be some reason for Vendio not to support the eBay Stores and I'm sure it has to do with economics (Vendio's, of course). I have sent numerous queries to Vendio support and have been told that there are no plans to support the eBay Stores.
Am I missing something obvious? How come no eBay Store support from Vendio???
posted on April 11, 2003 07:27:54 PM
I think the reason is then sellers would have no reason to have Vendio stores. If seller can't easily follow up on auctions after the sale with an Ebay store from within Vendio, then maybe sellers will use Vendio store instead.
I am not angry with them, although I was at first when I found myself in the saem situation, excpet my Ebat store was not doing well. Vendio is making a sound business decision for their long term goals with this one.
I see very clearly (with help from my free newletters from AuctionBytes) that Vendio is building and morphing as it goes along. I personally am looking forward to the day they start offering webhosting services but I want a reasonable price. Yes, it's in the plans.
Why did they change the name? Likely, they will become a place to shop even much more so than now, a breed apart from Ebay. A place that is a lot more than an "auction watch". Something much bigger with a broad spectrum of sales opportunities. They are working on long term goals, unlike some other services that keep making stupid decisions in a short-term knee jerk reaction to grab onto what they can for the moment.
Hmm... Webhosting, Vendio stores, image hosting, integrated after sale software, shopping carts, staff that are responsive and care, etc. Do you see a pattern of quiet paced growth here?
They would shoot themselves in the foot if they fully supported Ebay stores. They would remain a sort of "back seat driver" if they did that. They are trying to generate traffic toward themselves, not away. They have to do it under Ebay's radar so to speak and not do anything too threatening.
I believe that Vendio is an up-and-coming contender, but with a different format. I like what I've seen all along. Thoughtful, intelligent growth.
I can betcha there is another after-sale software that will work with Ebay stores. Dunno. I am happy here and I'm not looking anywhere else.
I am looking for even more positive changes in the future here, as opposed to cringing every time Ebay decides to change something.
posted on April 11, 2003 08:12:17 PM
Thanks for your thoughtful and thorough reply. You are most certainly correct that if Vendio is looking farther down the road then they would not focus on support of eBay Stores at any time, let alone now. I began with AuctionWatch when it was in its infancy (and free). I have looked at other auction hosting services but they lack the peripheral features that Vendio offers. The learning curve on a new hosting service is daunting!
I would post my fixed price store items in both venues anyhow, so what's the harm in Vendio supporting eBay Stores? Wherever the item sells I just delete the item on the other site. I suppose the thing to do is drive customers to Vendio from MY EBAY since I can't do it within the item descriptions. At this point I am using a few low priced items as "loss leaders" in order to get the browsers to go take a look at the eBay Store items. I have to be careful there as I don't want to use key-word spamming, or otherwise tweak eBay's sensitive little feelings. Sometimes it's like dealing with a small child!
All in all there is no competition between eBay Stores and Vendio stores -- at least for my items (philately for the most part). I suppose I'll hang in there and continue.
Your reply was comforting and took a lot of the edge off my concern.
LEWIS (eBay username: honestyplus)
... or otherwise tweak eBay's sensitive little feelings. Sometimes it's like dealing with a small child!
Yes, I feel like I'm treading on eggs from time to time. And part of the reason is they seem unpredictable, like a small child ready to throw a tantrum.
posted on April 12, 2003 05:44:21 AM
Thanks, Patty. Maybe we could take a poll about how many Vendio users would like to have eBay Store support??
You know, from one perspective, Vendio not supporting eBay Stores is a little like the attitude eBay themselves take from time to time -- they are the only game going and won't do anything that eats into their profits, no matter how helpful to their users.
Does Vendio monitor these boards and give input where applicable? If so, here's a question for whomever:
"How about an honest answer to why Vendio does not support eBay Stores; I'm grown up and can take the truth and I'm not leaving Vendio no matter what the answer is!"
There... that should do it.
LEWIS
Nice thought on the survey. However, as you know, Vendio, like other businesses is not a democracy. But they do listen and they know aleady many of us don't care for the fact they don't support Ebay stores, but we are loyal because of their consistent sound moves otherwise.
My viewpoint is no business can completely gear every decision to the desire of the customer. If they did, they'd go under. I have some perspective on this as 5 years ago, my husband and I sold our sole proprietership - a service company that gross 250K to 450K per year that we had owned for 18 years.
Vendio makes smart, well thought-out business decisions with a long term view. Ebay makes what appears to be knee-jerk reactive decisions without fully considering the consequences. In my humble opinion, light years apart.
Vendio will not change this decision, most likley. I know you are a bit perturbed about the situation. Step back and consider your options. Find something that works for you. I say this with the kindest intent.
Patty
[ edited by meadowlark on Apr 12, 2003 06:12 AM ]
posted on April 12, 2003 11:37:17 AM
Congratulations, Patty, on your past entrepreneurial endeavors. It takes guts to do it-- I know because I have always been self-employed. I encorporated some 10 years ago but am willing to undo the sub-S corp status and go back to a sole-proprietorship. I don't like being the Pres, VP, Secretary, and Window Cleaner.
One last comment on Vendio and the eBay Store situation: The Vendio support for eBay Stores is the ONLY thing missing; and if they purport to provide a full-service venue for not only eBay, but other sites, then eBay Store support is needed.
HEY! Mention Saddam Hussein once and everyone jumps in on the commentary bandwagon -- I thought this was the eBay board! Where are the other opinions??
LEWIS
posted on April 12, 2003 03:46:52 PM
EBay doesn't support Vendio stores either. In fact if you happen to mention that in your auction your auction is pulled. Wouldn't it be nice if they could get together but I doubt if eBay wants that. You can figure that out by the way eBay makes changes and then at the last minute they tell Vendio and then we as sellers get mad at Vendio because they are not on top of things and it really is eBay. There is enough money out there for both of these venues but one of them will not give in and I am not going to say what one.
I thought this was the eBay board
I doubt that eBay ever comes into here. If they did they would learn alot. This is a board for us eBay sellers and buyers to come in and discuss eBay things. Paypal use to hang around here also but we haven't seen Damon in a long time. At least not since eBay took over PayPal. He was always around and very helpful but not anymore. eBay could do themselves a favor if they would have someone searching this board as the posters in here are up on everything.
[ edited by Libra63 on Apr 12, 2003 03:51 PM ]
posted on April 12, 2003 05:51:07 PM
Thanks for weighing in on the topic, Libra63.
I wouldn't bet any serious money on whether eBay eaves drops on these boards, as well as many others. It's just that they don't find anything mentioned here that they feel they must change. They're the 500 pound gorilla in the auction game.
Bottom line is that I am advocating that Vendio support the eBay Store. Support is not complete without it... regardless of Vendio having its own store format. They can't defeat the eBay store by not supporting it! The eBay Stores ain't gonna go away. My "Active" items in the Sales Manager area is stuffed full of useless information and I have to go thru several pages of them to get to my active auctions. This is a drag!
LEWIS
posted on April 12, 2003 08:36:42 PM
It's obvious that eBay doesn't stop here. A couple of months ago someone posted about Fraud, gave the user name and we watched it go and go and go. eBay didn't NARU the buyer into long into the payment phase of the auctions. PayPal shut them down way before that. If someone from eBay was around that user would have been done & gone a time long ago. They got away with $100,000.00 and fled the area. They had about $250,000.00 worth of goods in their auctions. Many buyers were ripped off.
Maybe write to eBay and get them to manage their stores instead of using Vendio to use their resourses and then eBay makes the money. If Vendio supported eBay stores it would cost you more. Vendio Listing fees, image fee, FVF and with that they might even up the price to manage the auctions. I don't use eBay stores and I have some auctions in my AW store. I keep that for the gallery. But I don't want my fees to go up because someone wants Vendio to support eBay stores. I hope you understand. Good Luck
[ edited by Libra63 on Apr 12, 2003 08:37 PM ]
posted on April 12, 2003 08:48:13 PM
I also wish that Vendio would support ebay store items. I have both stores - Vendio and ebay. Each compliments the othjer. It is a bear to sort out inventory and sales from the two stores. Many times, I have had sales on both sites from the same customer. It is confusing to deal this way.
posted on April 13, 2003 05:48:10 AM
I used to use Vendio. But when I started getting a bit more serious about auctions, I wanted a place that supported ebay stores.
So I no longer use Vendio. It's a shame - a good system but it doesn't do what I need.
posted on April 13, 2003 08:27:59 AM
Some good input -- now we're cookin'!
Libra63: I saw the same situation that you were referring to with the obvious eBay scam that occured a little while ago. That was truly amazing. What dark orifice was eBay's head in while that was going on? Surely eBay didn't end up with much in the way of selling fees when the smoke cleared, so they had no incentive to let the scam go as far as it did.
As far as your concern about Vendio's costs for supporting eBay Stores, well, they would charge for the support just as they do for auctions. I pay eBay and Vendio now for auctions so what's the diff if I pay both eBay and Vendio for store items? It should not affect your costs of doing business. I would expect to pay fees for the ability to follow up on my eBay Store sales just as I do for Vendio Store sales. The income model would be the same.
Certainly the programming for eBay Store support is not rocket science as other auction oriented service providers have this support. I have stayed with Vendio because of the many peripheral services which I use often (as well as the steep learning curve on getting used to another service). Once again I say that Vendio is losing out on a lot of potential income from handling eBay Store closure support. eBay Stores are gonna be here for the foreseeable future so why don't they jump on the revenue potential? It can't be because of the competition with Vendio stores -- Vendio Stores is NOT gonna out-compete with eBay Stores any time soon!
KOZERSKY makes the point that there is now the problem of double selling in both stores! That would be easily correctable if Vendio were controlling both store venues. There would be a simple fix: If an item sold in either store the competing store item would be deleted (at the prompting and choice of the seller, of course).
And for BARBARKE: I have two questions for you: 1. If you don't use Vendio what do you use now for your auctions/stores? 2. If you don't use Vendio how is it that you are keeping tabs on the Vendio board(s)?
Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful input, and I put the question to Vendio once again:
HOW 'BOUT EbAY STORE SUPPORT!? HOW COME WE DON'T HAVE IT?
Thanks for all the informative replies to my original question!
LEWIS (ebay username: honestyplus)
http://www.stores.ebay.com/burchettenterprises
posted on April 13, 2003 01:57:53 PM
While I know it is important to many of VD's customers to have this support. There are those of us who have stores here and on the web that would be outrageously expensive to run on Ebay. I have over 5000 unique, moderately priced items in my store. I can't even imageine what that would cost on Ebay. I want VD to improve the VD stores. Key word searching, searching using three-letter words and apostrophes, more partner services, etc. etc. So, while I understand your desire, I don't share your need. Maybe it is a low priority for VD to support Ebay stores because the majority of their customers (100,000 of us??? wow) don't have them. Just a thought. I could be wrong!
posted on April 13, 2003 04:39:11 PMMaybe it is a low priority for VD to support Ebay stores because the majority of their customers (100,000 of us??? wow) don't have them.
Of course the majority of their customers don't have an ebay store - the ones who wanted one have left!!
posted on April 13, 2003 05:16:35 PM
Good one! and probably correct. So, does that suggest a strategy for customer development and retention. Would jive with the earlier post suggesting that VD is moving into web hosting. Their next step would be pushing the VD stores out of the nest.
posted on April 13, 2003 08:04:45 PM
So why can't we get a good reply from Vendio about eBay Store support? Surely someone on the staff has followed this thread to this point!
How many of us use eBay Motors??? Probably not a lot, and that IS supported. And if they "push the VD stores out of the nest" the remaining folks would be more numerous if we had eBay Store support NOW rather than later.
Nothing bad would happen if Vendio supported eBay Stores and they would end up making more fees... what's the problem?
If I preceded this with a profanity they would take notice and edit my message.
But here it is:
Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful input, and I put the question to Vendio once again: HOW 'BOUT EbAY STORE SUPPORT!? HOW COME WE DON'T HAVE IT?
LEWIS (ebay username: honestyplus)
eBay Store: http://www.stores.ebay.com/burchettenterprises
Vendio Store: http://shop.vendio.com/postmaster
posted on April 13, 2003 08:34:14 PM
Vendio has tended to make sound decisions. The more their activities to produce income are tied to Ebay, the more Ebay has them by the throat (I was gonna use a more graphic term, but I'm playing nice!).
After building a loyal following, I don't see them dumping the stores for webhosting. It looks like they will simply be offering sellers more diverse ways to market as time rolls on.
If they expand to offer multiple ways to support sellers on the web, whether stores, webhosting, auction management, and picture hosting, they are less Ebay-dependant. Any business that bases it's business solely on support activities peripheral to Ebay (okay, Yahoo and Amazon too? - I don't even bother looking!) is subject to the whims of Ebay. So far, they have diversified without dropping what already works.
Dear moderator, if you think I've got it wrong, tell me. I really don't expect an answer. The most extreme nay-sayers (not any of the above posters necessarily) would attack. Sigh!
posted on April 13, 2003 08:59:48 PM
So, Patty, can we expect Vendio to start to phase out their support for the other auction venues other than eBay -- and eventually eBay itself?
I just find it peculiar that only the Store function is missing from FULL eBay support.
I know Vendio has had to peddle fast to keep up with all the capricious changes that eBay makes to their site requirements. Vendio has done a good job here!
Does Vendio poll the people who leave and ask why they are no longer using Vendio?
As I stated above, eBay is the 500 pound gorilla in all this and I can certainly understand Vendio's attempts to tie their future to other avenues of revenue production. I plan to stay a player in auction activity and have eBay's Store as a backup. I am not alone here as the majority of Vendio's users fall within the scope of my business plan -- casual seller with definite limited needs. I don't need a full-fledged web page for selling and I don't need to be at the top of every Google search.
Here's the point and I can't over emphasize it:
Vendio can outrun their customer base and ignore the real people who made them who they are! Just like eBay is in the process of doing, We little people are the backbone of both of these companies.
LEWIS
posted on April 14, 2003 04:44:23 AMSo, Patty, can we expect Vendio to start to phase out their support for the other auction venues other than eBay -- and eventually eBay itself?
postmaster,
No, that's not what I said. I said they must diversify so it is not their only avenue of generating income. They will very likely to continue to support the Ebay functions they do until or unless Ebay takes some swan dive or blocks them somehow from supporting Ebay functions.
There is no reason for Vendio to stop supporting what they do. If they did, it would upset thousands of sellers. That would be the type of knee-jerk decision Ebay makes. Vendio does not equal Ebay.
I didn't say either they would stop supporting the other auction houses. I simply said I don't even bother with the others as they are not contenders of Ebay's caliber.
Yes, Ebay is a gorilla. Vendio appears to be working toward ways that will not make the whims of a gorilla the only source of food on their plate. If the gorilla still feeds them, fine, but they must find food elsewhere as well. And if they have a choice, they will not groom the gorilla's fur, but groom their own instead. (stores) The gorilla could lash out and go home with all it's toys and refuse to play.
Patty
[ edited by meadowlark on Apr 14, 2003 04:50 AM ]
posted on April 14, 2003 05:24:53 AM
I too would like to see AW support for eBay stores. Seems to me it can't be a big programming endeavor since the items already appear under "active auctions" ...they don't support eBay stores because they don't WANT to support eBay stores.
I think you are right Postmaster....perhaps if enough squeaky wheels started squeaking they might have to take another look at their decision.
Ebay is coming up with a better listing mechanism and full service post-sale management programs...seems to me that if Vendio doesn't start listening to its customers it could change it name to "ImageHostio" - the one area where eBay is totally deficient.
If the Vendio "powers that be" truly think that they can give eBay a run for their money in hosting sales venues I think they had better check out what tobacco they are smoking because THAT IS A PIPE DREAM!!
I'll go on record as being a squeaky wheel if it helps any.
posted on April 14, 2003 09:02:34 AM
"posted by: Libra63
Here is an answer to your suggestion about eBay stores. I found this in the community board below.
http://www.vendio.com/mesg/read.html?num=15&thread=76655"
Thanks for the reference, Libra63. I reviewed the posts and sure enough the Vendio policy is stated:
"Unfortunately we do not support listings to eBay stores. If there are plans to support it in the future, we will let you know." .... per Sonya.
The WHY of the matter is the most important issue now. We need to know what the reasons are so we can make informed decisions based on future Vendio moves (or lack of action).
Sonya states that the situation is "unfortunate". This insinuates that Vendio can't do anything about it. It is within their control to support eBay Stores -- they have CHOSEN not to. How come?
baylor45's comments:
"There are those of us who have stores here and on the web that would be outrageously expensive to run on Ebay. I have over 5000 unique, moderately priced items in my store. I can't even imageine what that would cost on Ebay. "
I guess I missed something because I find that paying 5 cents plus 1 cent gallery fee for a total of a whopping 6 cents, for a 30 day listing on eBay Stores, is not all that much. Most of my stuff is well below $25. (Your cost of 3,000 items at $.06 each would be $300 per month... right?) Seems like pretty cheap exposure for internet store sales, but I'm certainly no expert.
Thanks for coming down on the positive side of Vendio providing eBay Store support!
And, finally, for SONYA:
How about an honest answer to why Vendio does not support eBay Stores; I'm grown up and can take the truth and I'm not leaving Vendio no matter what the answer is!
LEWIS (ebay username: honestyplus)
eBay Store: http://www.stores.ebay.com/burchettenterprises
Vendio Store: http://shop.vendio.com/postmaster
posted on April 17, 2003 07:27:49 AM
The following email has been sent to the powers that be at Vendio:
"This email is directed to those who determine Vendio's policy, and those who influence Vendio features/enhancements.
I have posted to a couple of threads in the Community boards about Vendio's lack of support for eBay Stores. I direct you to those threads:
http://www.vendio.com/mesg/read.html?num=15&thread=76655
and
http://www.vendio.com/mesg/read.html?num=2&thread=505977
My intention in this email is not to berate Vendio for the lack of eBay Store support. Rather it is my intent to bring three things to your attention:
1. Attitude is all important. We in the auction community have lamented the poor customer response from eBay and the seemingly blatant disregard for seller needs and wants.
Vendio must do all it can to avoid falling into the same trap; avoidance of answering direct questions to the board moderators about policy cannot continue. Honest discussion about Vendio's future plans affects all of us.
2. Business is paramount. I can fully understand and appreciate Vendio's goals and business plans. I sincerely hope that Vendio is wildly successful!
However, unlike eBay which can outright BUY any company that competes (witness: Half.com and Paypal to mention the most obvious) Vendio cannot buy-out the competition.
Vendio would have to buy eBay to remove the eBay Store competition with Vendio Stores. Therefore, it is with the utmost respect and best intentions that I request that Vendio look at the old axiom: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Support for eBay Stores is the only major feature of Vendio's superb business plan that is missing.
3. Vendio is currently missing out on sales fees for eBay Stores which many of your customers now have; you are doubling the work for us to make sales in Venio/eBay Store simultaneous sales.
Think about this for a while: Where do the Vendio Stores customers come from? Granted there is traffic from Froogle, but I'll bet the majority of it is from eBay customers whom WE have driven to Vendio to check out for an auction or view our Vendio Store items.
Further ignoring of eBay Store support is causing some major conflicts in this supposedly "integrated" sales support.
Conclusion: Please consider your stance on this and let us, the customers, know your plans -- with an explanation.
The small sellers made eBay what they are -- we also made Vendio what it is and what it will become.
Sincerely,
LEWIS BURCHETT
eBay username: honestyplus
Vendio username: postmaster"
posted on April 17, 2003 12:07:15 PM
Do you need to ask? LOL : "Vendio does not currently have plans to support eBay stores." But thanks for trying..but who knows?? Maybe, just maybe, they listened!
posted on April 17, 2003 03:25:33 PM
The team at Vendio is listening and has heard your suggestions about supporting eBay Stores. Perhaps I can shed some additional light onto the reasons we do not currently support eBay Stores.
As you may or may not know, our development resources are limited. Like any growing company, we have more items on our to-do list than we can actually get done. One of the ways we prioritize our development efforts is through surveys to our customers. In fact, we fielded one last fall asking customers to rank a number of service enhancements and features. And eBay store support ranked dead last. Items that ranked higher included: new templates, support for item specifics, and a number of other enhancements.
It would be erroneous to conclude that we will never support eBay Stores - they are on our list of things to do. However, we have a few things ahead of it that need to get done. We will be fielding other surveys in the near future that will ask customers about what is important to them, which features and services they would like to see. And based on those results, we may re-prioritize our efforts.
Also, as one post mentioned, we do have our own Store service that competes with eBay's. And there are sellers that have had success using a Vendio store to cross promote from their eBay sales traffic, in addition to leads brought in from Google. And we are working hard to determine other ways to drive traffic to our Stores and further increase their viability to our customers.
The grand plan is to enable our customers to sell in any location they please - with all transactions integrated and monitored through one dashboard. We simply ask that you give us some time to put this together. Other services try and deliver everything under the sun, but sacrifice reliability resulting in severe outages and inconvenient downtime. Our number one goal is to keep services up 24x7 while continuing to develop newer, better services for online sales. It's a balance that may not please everyone all the time, but has kept us in business during a turbulent business climate for pure Internet companies.
I hope this post address some of the concerns you have voiced about eBay Stores.
Happy selling,
Kevin Wray
VP, Corporate Marketing
Vendio
[ edited by kwray on Apr 22, 2003 09:56 AM ]
