posted on August 20, 2004 01:50:08 PM new
When I went shopping around I found a couple of cheap ones and then went out and looked for them being used in running auctions. One had a lot of red X pictures in almost all of the auctions that I found and the other didn't seem to have clear pictures. (that could have been luck of the draw and all I found were really bad pics) Anyway, that is all I can say. Took me the better part of 2 weeks to do all of the looking. Glad I did tho. The package I am currently using here is saving me about $40 per month in pic fees alone.
(Just my 2 cents worth, change please.)
Kevin
posted on August 20, 2004 01:51:34 PM new
I used to be a BIG SD booster -- I had provided modest help when the owner was setting up & going thru first mos growing pains. He then gave me TWO YEARS free as THANKS for the help I had rendered -- a nice surprise at the time!
But then, things never quite worked right all the time -- but since I wasn't launching many auctions, I didn't raise too much of a stink.
Last SEPT-OCTOBER (if you can believe THIS???) he decided to do a complete major overhaul of his site, thus ruining the XMAS season.
I threw a hissy-fit on his boards about screwing with the site during the MOST IMPORTANT SEASON of the year, & he revoked the FREE years (LOL!LOL!LOL!)
So, I left & never looked back.
Eventually, I landed on FROG-VILLE, and I'm very happy with their reliability.
I use VENDIO GALLERY, as I like the appearance better than FROGGY'S
SOON, I'll probablt dump even FROGGY, as I feel pretty confident in my HTML & PC skills now to the point where I can just use FREE IMAGE HOSTS provided by my ISP or CHEAP IMAGE HOSTING from DEAD-ZOOM, etc.
So, I'll probably stick with the VENDIO GALLERY & EBAY'S SELLER MGR LITE for PSM.
There are a lot of choices out there, but, unless you're launching 100's/week, I donna think any are worth the HUGE FEES!
If you are launching 100's/week, then yes, I's use VENDIO -- although I like CA better, they be such SNOTS & their BROADBANK has whacky SLOWNESS
“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we! They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” ~ GWBush White House 8/5/4
posted on August 20, 2004 02:26:15 PM new
I started with CA but when I outgrew their 250 MB storage I came over to Vendio.
I had no problems with Vendio but I tend to list 1000 this month and maybe 200 next month so I went with the pay as you go plan.
Resulted in $50+ (I think it was in excess of $80 but can't remember...I'm getting too old for this) in fees for FLD last December alone and hours spent trying to change auction listings to FP for the November FP 10 cent day last year which also cost me $50+ in fees.
Then, in January I found Auctionsagesoftware.com. It is just wonderful! $89 or $95 (I can't remember which) per year for use and that is it! I hate other services taking a cut of my profits. Ebay and PP do enough of that already.
You do have to host your own images (but like tomwii said, if you don't do thousands you can probably use space provided by your ISP.
John has any problem or Ebay change they throw at him fixed within hours (often minutes). John is great at customer support. He will help with anything.
And, with his program I cancelled 1200+ store listings with one click of the mouse, converted them from store to FP with another click, and then released them with just one more click. Presto, last FP sale day everything was up and running. It did take a couple of hours for them to post, but only 3 clicks from me!
I can relist and repost from the current screen by highlighting as many as I wish to list or post, the inventory totals are always accurate (since I sell one of a kind items this is mandatory for me), you can see at a glance who has paid, how many auctions are running, etc. There is a Paypal payment processor that grabs all current payments and even puts the address into the invoice for printing labels, my personal inventory numbers show up on the invoice for easy pulling of items, and the list of features goes on and on and on and on.
He offers a 30 day free trial and anyone looking for a change really should check him out!
posted on August 20, 2004 02:52:06 PM new
Linda: considering that there's NO image hosting included with Sage, I donna see no great economic advantage to it??
Looks like a glorified SYI page combined with SM-LITE!
“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we! They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” ~ GWBush White House 8/5/4
posted on August 20, 2004 03:14:30 PM new
It does anything and everything except host images. I get the image hosting for $96 a year making my total cost $185 a year for true "unlimited" listings.
I can make a new ad in less than a minute. It is close to Ebays SM Pro but without all the hassles and errors and long delays waiting for Ebay updates. And that costs $24.95 a month. Of course, you can use Ebay pix but now they are limiting space on that as well so AS is still the best option out there!
Edited to add:
My comments are aimed more at the medium to large volume sellers. Smaller volume sellers can definitely do better. For me, it would cost me $99 a month at CA and $65 a month at Vendio for the current volume and sales I am running.
And, neither of those offer half the features AS does. Speed, dependability, customer support and ease of use and ability to change auction formats (fp to store to auction) and starting bids, and even gallery pix...all with the click of a mouse on hundreds or thousands of listings at one time.
posted on August 20, 2004 08:53:39 PM new
You made it sound too good to be true so I went and downloaded it for the 30 day trial.
The post-sale would be pretty much worthless to me. It appears to be setup for sellers that only have one size item.
My items vary a lot in weight and they have no workable shipping combination method that could possibly work. I usually most bidders win at least a couple auction.
All my items are different too and their listing process would be much slower.
posted on August 20, 2004 09:30:01 PM new
There's lots of users that sell multiple items and combine shipping and sell heavier items.
You just have to explore it and give it a try to see all the benefits. I sell one of a kind items and from record albums to postcards I can make a listing in under a minute. The only thing I have ever found that is as fast is the Vendio offline lister.
But, you do have to give it a fair trial. I actually bought the 6 month trial a year before I went back and used it. That one expired because I didn't think it would work for me. IF CA hadn't pulled their outragious increase I probably never would have taken the time myself. As it was, I spent a full week just learning everything there was to know about making it work and for me it is the best I have found. And, I have used them all...including SD and what used to be auction works and SM Pro as well as Vendio and CA. I wanted to be sure this would be my last change as I had to remake over 800 ads when I transfered over.
Edited to add...you have to use the listing templates to save time. I have a custom one set up for each type item I sell...postcards, records, crafts, books, etc. All the standard auction info is in the template (including shipping because I do use a flat rate for each type item) so all I have to do is attach a photo and a description.
Anyway, I only posted because someone asked and to me AS is much better than SD. I won't say anymore on it becuase this is the Vendio board and just because Vendio didn't work for me (because I constantly change items from store to auction) doesn't mean it doesn't offer a great service for those who don't need the other functions.
posted on August 20, 2004 11:00:25 PM new
<Been using Vendio...Sparedollar seems ALOT cheaper fee wise>
You get what you pay for, in most cases. Sometimes, you pay and don't get anything. I've checked out all the options and decided that Vendio was best for my situation. The range of payment plans they offer should appeal to most sellers. You can try some of the cut rate providers out there, and there are plenty of them, but sooner or later you will have to make the decision on how important reliability and ease of use are to you. It's extremely important to me that my auctions launch on time and my images show up whenever a potential bidder clicks on one of my auctions. I consider my time worth $$$, and the time I save using Vendio more than offsets the fees they charge. Again, this is my personal experience, and it may not apply to your business model, but I would proceed with caution when you trust your income source to an unknown third party. Set up a second account and list a few items through some of the others. Get your feet wet before you dive in.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on August 21, 2004 11:04:32 AM new
lindajean,
I emailed them because I thought I might just be missing something.
They wrote back and said it wouldn't do what I wanted.
