posted on March 20, 2003 07:18:23 AM new
I do not want "POWERED BY AUCTIONWATCH" on my Invoice/Packing Slip. Looks very tacky, non-professional. How can I turn this feature off???? Please let seller's add items to the Invoice/Packing slip, not the enigineers.
Thank You,
Robert
posted on March 20, 2003 09:46:18 AM new
I also do not wish this "enhancement" to my invoice. Among other things I believe the new format creates an extremely haphazard look. I prefer that the fields be optional allowing the user (me) the ability to toggle them on or off at the least and prefer to be able to edit them if possible. The format as it is now looks like a laundry list or worse, it is not the image I wish to present my customer.
posted on March 20, 2003 07:37:22 PM new
Sonja,
Thank you for your prompt reply. My question is why would a company initiate something without asking the customers or giving the customers the option of using the new feature on the invoices??? Why would AW assume that all their customers would want "POWERED BY AUCTIONWATCH" on their invoices????
I think AW saw an avenue for marketing and tried to capture it. Please remove it from my invoices. I do not appreciate someone else trying to supersede my needs or wants prior to me asking for it. As a consumer, I want it off of my invoices.
Kind Regards,
Robert
posted on March 20, 2003 08:18:02 PM new
Hello shadowwand,
Thank you for your feedback on this issue.
We are always trying new ways to help both you and ourselves promote our goods/services, and while there will certainly be more changes/updated to this invoice as time goes on, the AuctionWatch logo cannot be opted out of at this time.
posted on March 20, 2003 10:45:47 PM new
Christopher, I use QuickBooks. On the invoices I print it does not say powered by QuickBooks. Adding the additional logo in color so prominently on the invoice gives the invoice a cluttered look which I do not like and will not have. Branding services on the web has precedent; branding your services on my invoice on my paper with my ink does not. I have been deleting the logo but the process I go through adds about 60 seconds to the time required for printing and does not allow me to process an entire batch at once. Hopefully this feature will be removed in the near future.
posted on March 21, 2003 09:10:29 AM new
I am considering changing my subscription plan on AW. My question is:
Is it possible to change to image hosting/listing without postsales access yet still maintain a functional AW Storefront? I realize that I will have to combine any orders with auctions outside AW but believe I can do this manualy anyway as I am no longer using the invoice generated by AW and do not wish to continue paying for a service that I cannot utilize. Is image hosting/listing available month to month as I am looking at this as a temporary solution only.
[ edited by davebraun on Mar 21, 2003 09:13 AM ]
The store plans are seperate from the sales manager plans so you can have them independent of each other. If you wanted to have image hosting only, you could choose either the standard plan or one of the $12.95 per month plans and just use images. I am not sure what you ultimately plan to do -- are you going to be listing elsewhere? Keep in mind only listings that are created through AW will appear in your AW store.
posted on March 21, 2003 09:50:41 AM new
I am considering seperating my AW Storefront from my Auctions. Should I decide to make these changes I will no longer use AW's postsales services nor pay for them. I realize that if my Auctions are launched outside of AW that they will not be included in the storefront. My storefront generates sales without relying on ebay as a sales channel. I have developed a good relationship with my customer base and am not reliant on clickthroughs from my auctions. The main source of my hits is http://www.jewelrymall.com a website I developed years ago. I am considering this as an interim measure only as I have reached the conclusion that it may very well be time for me to move on.
[ edited by davebraun on Mar 21, 2003 09:51 AM ]
posted on March 21, 2003 05:46:47 PM new
Is the AuctionWatch Sales Manager Listing-Only Plan available month to month or only yearly? If I were to select this paln and discontinue it after a month or two is the unused portion refundable.
posted on March 21, 2003 05:57:22 PM new
Hello davebraun,
The listing only plan is only available annually. Please note that the annual plan does not include post sale management.
As stated in our Fees Policy section 1.3. Annual Fee. AuctionWatch will charge you the non-refundable, prepaid annual fee indicated applicable to your plan, if any, following your registration and on or following each anniversary of your registration until you cancel your subscription.
posted on March 23, 2003 10:18:49 PM new
Thank you for the response. It is not what I wanted to hear however. In the interim I have begun covering the logo with a label until I can make other arrangements.
posted on March 24, 2003 11:19:15 AM new
A general question to customer Service: It would be helpful if you could share with us your overall developing philosophy for the company because an interesting catch 22 is developing.
The more AW logos appear on auction related items, the more professional the auction seller looks--use of commercial business tools instead of copy and paste email out of the kitchen or the garage. If the store is merely a click thru device to promote auction sales, not a problem. (But who needs AW for that any more?--ebay stores and amazon zShops both get more visibility on their respective sites than AW can command)
On the other hand, the more the logos appear on non-auction related materials, the less professional we look as retail sellers. Use and visibility of the word "auction" anywhere simply dumps retail business credibility down the garbage. AW encourages us to enter the internet scene as a Store with a branding-possible business name via Froogle, but your then your provided services do not allow any independent business presence separate from the auction market.
I tweaked my titles in the store until my stuff came up fairly frequently on the Froogle searches, but there was practically no traffic because auction-related terminology was blasted all over the listing. Instead of the item location being given as in "My Store Name", it says very prominently the locatiion is "Auctionwatch Stores" (followed by the double jeopardy of my url: "shop.auctionwatch.com/username." ) Everyone thinks the items are auctions, or my store is merely an auctionfront. This does not help us, it ruins our business.
I am sure things are evolving and that AW started out as only an auction management software package. But now that the Stores are not free and being marketed on Google/Froogle, do you have any plans on separating the functions and approaches and software capabilities and AW marketing blitzes for your store holders away from the auction scene? Maybe it is even time for AuctionWatch to consider changing its name for its Storefront enterprise. Some of the major glitches seem to relate more and more to the problems of trying to run a retail store with auction tools or vice versa. For instance, post sale store communication content differs alot from retail business communication content--they aren't "winning bidders", and there is no WBN to send out if there is only one auction-related default. The checkout communication does not replace all post sale communication needs. That puts us back to our own post sale stuff, but even that has been hijacked by the vendio.com capabilities if we use customer manager, and very little of that integrates well. What trends do you see on the horizon for this? It would help us make responsible choices better.
Thanks.
[ edited by passedtothepresent on Mar 24, 2003 11:20 AM ]
posted on March 24, 2003 06:25:02 PM new
This afternoon when I read passedtothepresent's addition to this thread I began looking forward to AW's response to their inquiry which I believe addresses many of the questions a number of AW subscribers have regarding AW's future direction.
posted on March 25, 2003 06:34:29 AM new
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot believe that any company would add such an ink-guzzling logo to their *paying* clients invoices!
Tacky! Ugly! Costly! What am I going to do? I cannot afford any more $$ on ink each month. $50 is enough! I do not even want my own logo on my invoice, let alone a BILLBOARD SIZE ADVERTISEMENT for AuctionWatch.
AuctionWatch is NOT a FREE service. This is very, very bad. I will be looking into Andale after this.
If you have to put SPAM on our invoices, please make it a size 8 font tagline at the bottom of the invoice.
I am extremely upset, even more so than at your FALSE claims about Customer Management. (No importing of name and addresses from sales manager, what a rip off.)
I cannot express how disappointed I am with AW for springing this on this. I do not use a cheapie plan, I pay $45 a month, and we do not deserve this.
POWERED BY AN EXTREMELY DISGRUNTLED POSSIBLY SOON-TO-BE FORMER CUSTOMER
[ edited by ddeva on Mar 25, 2003 06:42 AM ]
posted on March 25, 2003 05:00:18 PM new
When I go to print the invoice/shipping label, I request just the invoice. After "refresh", just the invoice shows up with the hated new logo. Then I can highlight just the part I want to print (not the logo, but the info below it). I then go through my printer option (print just the "selection" and print on my own logo paper. It is one more step but looks good,now.
posted on March 25, 2003 07:23:41 PM new
Thanks baylor45. You're a pretty good teacher yourself! Much easier than what I had come up with to get rid of it.
posted on March 25, 2003 07:50:51 PM new
This method works but is not practical for large numbers of auctions. I have taken to placing my logo over the AW logo using a small label. I don't care for the way it looks but it serves the purpose and is quicker. It also allows me to add a small message to my buyer and labels are cheap.
posted on March 26, 2003 05:29:50 AM new
I used a brightly colored paper and light 'quick print' to tone down the garish "Powered by AuctionWatch" logo. I do not have the patience to cut and paste , obviously! Unfortunately, it really does look like the bidder won the auction from "AuctionWatch", not from me.
Despite the occasional burp, I have come to love the AuctionWatch service and actually think of the automated functions as being like having my very own employee. In fact, as I write, my son is in the hospital for observation. When he went in yesterday afternoon, I felt assured that AW would cover all of my auction closings, etc, and that I could stay the night with him without worrying about business.
I came in today to answer a few e-mails and ship some urgent packages that absolutely must go out today. But in a very few hours I will be by his side again, confident all will be well at work without me.
However, I see this move by AW as one of those haughty, "Take it or leave us, we don't care, we don't need you!" gestures we must swallow from eBay. What a slap. I'm definitely not happy with this new "'tude". I'd like to know why no one from AW seems to care about the overall consensus of opinion here. It be nice to get a more caring response than, "I'll pass your 'suggestion' on." It really would.
posted on March 26, 2003 09:18:56 AM new
Sonya & Christopher,
I must agree with my fellow AW users. The placement of the
AuctionWatch logo on the invoice makes it appear as though the item was purchased from AW not Cherry Tree Auctions!
I use paper pre-printed with MY OWN LOGO for printing invoices…. Guess What?… Your self- promoting (at our expense) logo goes right over MY LOGO. Thank you very much.
As stated by others, this is yet another example of AW’s “We didn’t ask you because we don’t really care about what you want” attitude.
We spend a lot of time tweaking our auctions, emails, invoices, and envelopes etc. to achieve the look we want. This takes time & money. AuctionWatch waltzes in, without prior notification, and makes changes that throw a monkey wrench into the works.
I have a program to make my own invoices. I never used it because I enjoyed the convenience of the AW invoices. After all, isn’t consonance the reason we PAY for AuctionWatch? If you are intent on making changes that makes it LESS convenient for us, why should we stay with AW? There are too many other Auction Management tools out there to have to put up with this constant meddling in OUR auctions/ internet stores.
Surely you didn’t realize the uproar the placement of your logo on an invoice would cause. Now that you do, I hope you will return the invoice to its original design or at least allow for an opt-out when you make these changes. Is there some one at AW that draws a paycheck for coming up with “New ways to stick it to the customer”? If so, please inform him/her that his/her services or no longer needed.
Remember amateurs built the ark - Professionals built the Titanic.
posted on April 1, 2003 09:43:23 AM new
This is ludicrous. Please post the e-mail address of the genious who came up with the idea of co-branding/spamming our invoices.
I am stunned that no action has been taken to remove this intrusive logo.
"Powered by AuctionWatch" does not even makes sense once it's printed. How can a flat invoice be powered? Does it fly? Wrap the packages for us? Buy our ink?
This supremely tasteless logo makes us look like idiots that don't even know the name of our own businesses.
Please take real action to remove this logo, or let us know who is in empowered to communicate with us more effectively than a tape recording. Thank you.
posted on April 2, 2003 10:53:00 AM new
We also pay a high fee each month, and there is NO WAY we are going to live with this ink guzzling, inconsiderate logo on OUR invoice!! What the heck were you people thinking???? This is the SELLERS invoice to THIER CUSTOMER! My customer us NOT Auctionwatches customer. Why are you using MY INK, MY PAPER & MY TIME to advertise!!! YOu charge me each month for a service. How about I charge you a fee each month based on the number of FREE ADVERTISEMENTS I put out for you each month! VERY TACKY & VERY UNPROFESSIONAL! Will be looking for alternative service beginning today!
and print on my own logo paper. It is one more step but looks good,now.
, obviously! Unfortunately, it really does look like the bidder won the auction from "AuctionWatch", not from me.