posted on November 27, 2007 11:19:29 AM
I ask this question to those who actually use the Vendio service. I personally think it is not working correctly.
If you mention this on that forum they get all defensive. It takes forever to get new things from e-bay incorporated and lately weird things are happening when you list and relist.
It means that I have to go into ebay and revise items. Most times after things that I thought were there,but they are not.
It may be me or my computer but I think it is them too.
Please give me your feelings or ideas on this.
Thanks
posted on November 27, 2007 11:33:29 AM
Basically Vendio works fine for me BUT (and this is a very big "BUT", for whatever reason, they have not been able to keep up with eBay changes. If I hear "I will pass your recommendation on to engineering.." one more time I think I will toss my cookies!
This apparent ignorance of changes makes me think that Vendio is on the "outs" with eBay - surely they should know about this stuff before we do!! How come marketworks/channel advisor et al have these changes implemented while we twiddle our thumbs WAITING ????
On the stores board someone posted about an ANDALE virus that supposedly has infiltrated Vendio now - does anyone know anything about this?
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posted on November 27, 2007 12:00:22 PM
As I mentioned on that thread on ebay I tried to use the Andale side of Vendio. I have been waiting too long for these guys to catch up. Well Andale is exactly they way they were before Vendio bought them. I had to go to my credit card Co. to file a grievance to get them to refund my fees. I was there 7 days into a 14 day trial and they charged me for three months service!!!
Their platform is not Vendio it is a mere shadow of Vendio. If they force us to use that tripe we will all be quiting. Nothing was transferable. This of course is after you sign up. I asked about it before and was told someone will call later today to facilitate the TRANSFER of all picture customers and templates. Well they did call but knew nothing about it and said there was no way to do it.(as mentioned here on vendio troubleshooting) They were polite, but clueless.
I stopped using the off-line lister here on Vendio because it is woefully outdated.
I use Inkfrog as my back lister and for $10 it has everything and allows me to use the one set of pictures and templates for as many accounts as I have.
Vendio should have bought them and left andale were it was.
posted on November 27, 2007 01:44:00 PM
Call me an optimist, but I really do believe Vendio is working on incorporating item specifics in SMME and we should be getting it soon. If not, I'll have to list with another method.
posted on November 27, 2007 01:55:09 PM
They just responded to my post on the Vendio Services board - apparently some of these things will be coming next year (assumably along with custom item specifics):
1) Refund/return policy
2) handling time
3) ability to list Giving Works
4) ability to show different International Shipping rates
5) ability to offer Gallery Plus
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posted on November 27, 2007 05:15:58 PM
I learned something recently that changed my whole view of Vendio.
Vendio is one of eBay's most profitable affiliates. They are probably making far more money in affiliate commissions than they are in selling services.
How does Vendio make money in affiliate commissions, you ask? Well, any time you have a buyer who uses Vendio checkout, Vendio can drop a seven-day cookie on them that is completely invisible to both the buyer and to you, the seller. If the buyer makes any subsequent eBay purchase within seven days from any seller, Vendio collects a commission.
Heck, I'll bet any time a buyer looks at an auction with Vendio Gallery or Vendio picture hosting, the cookie drops.
This is how the "free" auction services companies work. This is how Auctiva works. Except that Vendio charges for services. They charge YOU to bring in the buyers so they can collect commissions on them. It's an insanely profitable and (in my view) ethically dubious business model.
fLufF
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Build an eBay business without selling a durned thing. Say goodbye to packing and shipping!
posted on November 27, 2007 06:45:51 PM
I am taking a break until the New Year as we are moving and Christmas is in there somewhere!
HOWEVER...I have been using Vendio less & less because of the situation with Item specifics. I sell mainly China & Collectibles so I have to go into each item on EBay and revise which is a pain. It was also costing me a lot of money!
Not quite sure what I shall do when I start up again as far as listing goes but I am hoping that Vendio updates their programs.
I do love this Community Board though as I have learned so much and never feel uncomfortable asking a question here.
posted on November 27, 2007 07:18:52 PM
Fluff, how is your eBay affiliate business doing? There is a great postal history (postmarks) site with terrific content about all U.S. post office, current and past. Serious postal history collectors pay $60 for a single state in hard copy. I refer to his site daily, yet it only promotes a single dealer's items. I would like to approach him for access to his data and then provide a search for his items and eBay items matching the search. Do you think it would make money? How much should I offer him for the data, taking into account I would be promoting his inventory as well?
posted on November 27, 2007 07:57:45 PM
The affiliate business is doing great. Just yesterday I got a $100 commission on a $29 sale (yes, you read that right). It wasn't an eBay commission but one of my other affiliate advertisers. They must have a really interesting business model!
Hmmm, don't have a clue what to pay for original content. I pay very little for articles that are written for me, usually 5 cents a word. I still write most of 'em myself. But in an old established collecting area like philately with highly specialized niches I think things would be different. You can float your business plan past the site owner and get him to name a price.
Michael Donahue did a piece once on his show about this eBay seller who had 6,000-some pages of content on Star Wars action figures...and put it all up on eBay as Guides. Can you imagine? Giving it to eBay for free when you could set up a monetized site and enjoy a passive income stream?
Would your site make money? If you offer something unique, or a different spin, it very well might. I was looking at another guy's affiliate sites. He has six and some of them are very, very successful indeed in various aspects of comic book collecting. From him I got the idea to put up an RSS feed of Most Watched eBay Ring auctions. Pure eye candy. It's been paying off well. It also helps if there are non-eBay affiliate advertisers whose products would mesh well with your chosen subject area.
You can go the BANS route (see signature) to set up your site or do it by hand from scratch, which is what I did with ClearanceClarence.com.
fLufF
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Build an eBay business without selling a durned thing. Say goodbye to packing and shipping!
posted on November 28, 2007 07:12:08 AM
I did a redirect yesterday and ended up talking to the sales side of Vendio which I guess is the old Andale crew and got someone from India which really sucked because I have hard enough time figuring this stuff out without the headache of not being able to understand "Gracie" in Bangladesh.
The upside when I did get a hold of Chris, whom I could understand (Bay area) I got it handled at the tune of $5.95 for a phone call to tech support. Gimme a break.
That lag time for Ebay changes is a pain but you deal with it. Vendio is working ok, albeit a bit slow but as of late no unexplained page closing.
The Vendio affiliate commissions chapped my buns, just another reason not to use Vendio checkout. Come on Fluff you know Vendio is dropping the cookie when ever someone clicks on an item in gallery. Now the big question is, do I or don’t I show my Ebay items in my Vendio store? I agree that it’s an ethically dubious business model.Everyone including myself is in this to make money. The affiliate commissions are in part to blame of what’s driven up FVF and of course greed plays into it as well. Really doesn’t do much good if no one can afford to buy or sell on eBay. One obvious thing I learned in 30 years of retail sales is that 0 sales or low gross profit equal’s $0 or little commission so why bother?
Bottom line, I will stick and am stuck with Vendio until I find something better.
Just a few simple thoughts from a very simple mind.
posted on November 28, 2007 10:35:32 AM
Yes, Beth, I have to admit that that hit me like a bolt of lightning. I never before realized what third-party checkouts are all about.
It stinks. Your customer has to go through the hassle of going off-eBay to check out. Some people hate it so much they never return to your auctions. So you're losing customers but your service provider is making a tidy windfall off their subsequent purchases for seven days, having done nothing to earn it.
The only consolation I have is that the auction services providers can't be getting many of the $25.00 bounties for signing up new users. By the time a buyer gets to them, obviously they're already a registered eBay user.
fLufF
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Build an eBay business without selling a durned thing. Say goodbye to packing and shipping!
posted on November 28, 2007 10:40:23 AMThe affiliate commissions are in part to blame of what’s driven up FVF
Actually, the affiliate commission is at least 50% of the fees eBay collected for that sale. ALL the fees: listing, Gallery, FVF, even Featured. Some affiliates are complaining because the free Gallery days are reducing revenues. I'm not complaining; I benefit as a seller far more than it costs me in lost revenue as an affiliate.
fLufF
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Build an eBay business without selling a durned thing. Say goodbye to packing and shipping!
, for whatever reason, they have not been able to keep up with eBay changes. If I hear "I will pass your recommendation on to engineering.." one more time I think I will toss my cookies! 
