posted on February 28, 2001 05:27:38 PM new
The only way any of our opinions will matter is if those complaining really leave. I'm in the process of moving my pictures tonight and will delete my pics from here as soon as I have my auctions revised.
That is the only thing that is going to cause anyone at AW to sit up and take notice.
You can have 5 cents per image, but you can't have a cut of my sales.
posted on February 28, 2001 05:28:20 PM new
digitalmaster, this thread is about AuctionWatch's decision to charge fees on premium services and not about your post being removed.
If you have questions regarding a moderated post it belongs in the moderator's corner only.
Further queries about this will be removed from the EO.
posted on February 28, 2001 05:28:44 PM new
To bad, it was great while it lasted. The 5 cents, maybe. But eBay has already pushed the extra fee thing to the max.
posted on February 28, 2001 05:29:24 PM new
HI All:
Have not posted here in sometime since AW had pic loading problems. Ebay has been slow enough. Then with the added ebay fees, the slow down in auction sales, increased postage, etc. I'll be gone too. The percentage of sales is really just too much.
otmj2
Okay, this thread is about AW's new fees, fine. So I assume [b]digitalmaster{/b] may post his email address in a new thread, correct? Or will that be deleted also?
Listing Fee...... 0.30
FVF.............. 0.50
PayPal Fee....... 0.30
AW Fee........... 0.05
AW FVF........... 0.10
Priority Mail.... 3.95
TOTAL............ 5.20
In a stagflation economy increased costs cannot readily be passed on to buyers. On eBay sellers have millions more competitors than they did a year ago. At the same time sales are trending down in most sectors of the economy. IOW it's not a good time to be in the online auction sales biz.
Here's a tip BTW. If you get one of those "free website" accounts, I won't mention any names, you can host your pictures there. I used to use beseen.com but they went under. There are many others. You upload your pic, the pic gets a URL which you can then use WITHOUT having a banner ad in your auction.
posted on February 28, 2001 05:37:26 PM new
AW - Are you getting the message(s)? WE ARE GOING TO LEAVE IF YOU CHARGE A %. Please rethink your decision. It's not too late to admit you've made a mistake. Don't spoil a good thing - charge for hosting, if you must, but let us keep our profits! PLEASE!
posted on February 28, 2001 05:38:11 PM new
Jamie, that's a good point. Here's what I think.
Yahoo is an auction service. AW is a listing service. Yahoo was nice (when it was free) because sellers could put items up and basically leave them there until the items sold. Sell-through rates at Yahoo were generally very poor. That's why sellers objected to a per-listing fee. Better for Yahoo to share sellers' interests by charging only when and if the items sold.
AuctionWatch offers listing services. And apparently most people feel a per-listing fee to a listing service is fair. I, for one, don't understand AW's mentality that they are in any way entitled to a share of the sellers' profits.
Regarding a co-op, the numbers are clear. Every auction-related service has increased fees and/or introduced new fees. We auction sellers are a profitable commodity. There are millions of us making billions of dollars in sales. It's time we recognize our own value and our potential, and start taking control of our own businesses.
The idea of an image hosting service charging a percentage of final value is ridiculous. (No, I don't use AW's service.)
I understand your need to protect AW resources and even make a profit with the site. Afterall AW is a business, and businesses need to make a profit to survive.
I think the 1% FVF would be more reasonable if it had a much lower maximum to it. If AW were to cap the maximum to something like $0.25, $0.50, or $1.00 that would be better. Like it is, I would only use AW to list lower value items to save the higher end 1% fees. The only true feature I really need to use is the rescheduling. In a month I will be transfered to the night shift at work. I think AW can expect a drop in the value of items listed with AW. For $2.00, $5.00, $10.00 or $30.00 in FVF an auction, I will lauch these auctions myself and host the pics on my website. I suspect other will think the same too.
Personnally, I would not buy the one year service up front even if the FVF value of my auctions supported it. This new business model of AW has yet to be proven as viable and what's to protect the $200 investment if the site files for chapter 11 in 4, 6 or 8 months from now.
Until it is proven, I believe a lower monthly charge would be better.
How many users does AW estimate to lose with this fee? What are AW's revenue projections and AW's expenses, profit, losses? When AW gave the service free, I didn't care much if AW kept all this info private. Now, AW wishes to sell subscriptions for $200.00 per year. I think these projections should be made public, especialy in light of Yahoo auction's 90% decline.
Can AW survive a 90% decline in traffic? I'm sure anyone considering the $200 subscription would be interested to know what to expect in 6 months from now.
posted on February 28, 2001 05:44:20 PM new
BYE BYE AUCTIONWATCH. I do believe you'll be out of business within the year. I will pay $0.05 to list but there is NO WAY I will give you a 1% FVF. See ya! LOOKS LIKE I'M GOING BACK TO TRIPOD....
posted on February 28, 2001 05:44:37 PM new
Ok, I understand about fees, but your moderators preach night and day about ettiquitte. I am just asking you Mark, what is wrong with me asking about standard business etiquitte? When I emailed support after I left another site who did this, I was told "we will have more respect for our customers and yes, will give you 30 day notice." thats funny, I did not get any notice....
I am asking about etiquitte, thats all.
May I post my email address or is that now against the rules?
posted on February 28, 2001 05:48:30 PM new
Capped at $30.00? How generous.
It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure that 99% of ebay sales are under $3000.00, so you'd be getting a percentage of practically everything hosted through here.
I work my butt off for my merchandise. I'll be damned if you'll get any percentage.
I'll be gone as soon as I find an alternative and it won't take long.
posted on February 28, 2001 05:50:07 PM new
I started on EBAy as uninformed of the ins and outs of computers as its humanely possible to be.
I taught myself everything I needed to know. It wasn't easy.
I don't want to have to learn to do things another way, but I will.
I'm just glad I didn't teach my mom how to use AuctionWatch yet, because this is all hard for her. I will teach her to use her own ISP to host pictures, just as soon as I learn how myself. I'll miss the chat boards, but I'm sure I'll find out where we all went to talk.
I don't do PayPal, Billpoint et al, and I do all right.
I'll do all right without Auction Watch. I knew that StoreFront thing was the kicker. I just didn't think that AW would put the bite on as quickly, as deeply, and with as little notice as they did.
2 weeks notice is what most of us do to put the screws to an employer we don't like.
I certainly get your point Mark.
posted on February 28, 2001 05:52:45 PM new
Censorship at its best my friends!!!!!!! I Sure hope they can afford to lose those annoying banners, after they start making all that money that going be rolling in!!!!!! I am kinda wondering if maybe once the fees go into effect, anyone would pay to advertise on a dead site!!!!!
posted on February 28, 2001 05:55:53 PM new
I guess, if there's not a change to the crappy fvf I'll be jumping ship, too. Nice service, but not so nice to give a piece of my pie to. Listing fee, great, even a month-to-month flat fee, but not anymore candy from my candy jar. Oh, I like to think that those of us who show to you higher sellthrough is because of the fact that we're a little more proficient with writing our listings and handling customers, not because of a template. C-ya come March 14th if there isn't a revision to the fvf, and 2 weeks? Come on!
posted on February 28, 2001 06:03:13 PM new
For some reason, this reminds me of the "handling fee = SCAM" threads. AW is "hiding" the real cost of the service. To sell a $25 item, AW will charge $.05 + $.25. Thirty cents total. Not much chance of AW eliminating the 1%. That's where they'll make the bigger part of their profit.
Now, if AW had come forward and said, "We're going to charge a $.25 listing fee (no FVF)," what would the response be? People would be going far more ballistic than they are. People, look at the numbers. The nickle listing fee is nothing. The 1% final value fee is everything.
posted on February 28, 2001 06:03:13 PM new
I'd like to thank you AuctionWatch for getting me up off my butt! I came here an hour ago and read the first portion of this thread. I then went directly to my ISP's website, learned how to access my free webspace, created my account, read all the instructions and info and began transferring my images over to there. I never used auctionwatch auction services for anything but image hosting (none of the templates, none of the other auction management tools) and yay! now I don't have to. I use AuctionSubmit to submit my auctions (they are going to be charging for extras soon - but the basics are still free) and if they start charging, I have dabbled in html and am a quick learner. So I would just like to say, thank you AuctionWatch for getting me off my lazy butt! Adios!
posted on February 28, 2001 06:05:30 PM new
I am amazed at the attitude of most of these posts. Would you all prefer that Auctionwatch kept it free, til they went bankrupt. Their fees are very similar to that of their competition, and charging a percentage is hardly something new for these types of services. And the remark that they should give 30 days notice is ridiculous. 2 weeks in plenty of time to either accept Auctionwatch's fees or go someplace else, and pay their fees.
Keep your head up Mark. We all remember the threads about Paypal when they first started charging fees. Where are they now? Richer and more popular than ever. Sorry for my ranting,just sick of seeing people having a hissy fit whenever a company attempts to stay in business, seems kind of childish and selfish. Nobody forces any of us to use these services. If $.05 and 1% will put you out of business, then you've got bigger problems.
posted on February 28, 2001 06:09:32 PM new
That isnt the point. I dont think anyone is saing that it should remain free. It is the 1% final fee that is WRONG! This is a image host, not an auction site!
