posted on February 12, 2003 12:45:38 PM new
I just signed up for auctionwatch and have listed about 20 auctions. Ebay is charging me for the listings, is this right? I was under the impression that the fees I pay to auctionwatch are the only ones I get. Thanks for you feedback in advance.
posted on February 12, 2003 01:13:23 PM new
ebay still charges the regular fees...Auctionwatch is charging you for hosting your pictures...you can use as many as you wish in an auction without any additional charge...for actually launching, tracking and managing the post sale of your auctions.
Auctionwatch is a very valuable tool and worth every penny they charge.
posted on February 12, 2003 01:23:13 PM new
So then what's the point? I will pay more money that way. Why would I pay AW $12.95 a month, plus $0.10 listing, $0.25 Gallery and plus 1% final value fee? And then turn around and pay ebay $0.55 listing and 5% final on top of it? Seems silly to me. I thought AW fees were in place of ebay fees. Oh well wishful thinking I guess.
posted on February 12, 2003 02:35:11 PM new
Your getting, all the images you want no charge in your auction, that right there saves you money, you can manage your auctions with AW with post sale program etc... your paying to make your life easier, plus more pictures more bids, store with froggle, etc...
it's worth it but you can do it on your own with ease if you only run a few auctions and want to work online all the time, and want to pay for image hosting etc...
AW just makes your job easier less time, but don't let them hear me they will raise the price, I remember when it was free!!!
posted on February 12, 2003 03:49:53 PM new
I don't think you have your fees straight. AW doesn't charge for the gallery, only ebay charges for that. I have the Standard plan because I am just a smalltime seller...no more that 20 per week ever. I am charged 10 cents per auction plus the FVF. Best money I have spent lately.
posted on February 12, 2003 04:59:00 PM new
Rariffle, I agree.
I would have to be running 200 auctions per month to make the $12.95 worthwhile. For me, that was the make-break point between whether I did the $12.95 per month, or a per-auction fee. I figured that with 2 pictures per auction.
I used to sell that much. I have scaled back, changed what I sell and will be opening a webpage to sell from, discretely linked to my "About Me" page (per Ebay guidelines).
specialoccasiongifts,
Be sure you do all your listings and relistings through Sales Manager on AW, whether on or off line (you can download their software - Auction Manager Pro- if you haven't yet). You WILL pay an additonal per-auction fee and picture hosting fee to AW for those that are created or relisted on an Ebay screen, no matter what plan you are on. It happened to me. I caught it though and mended my ways.
Even if you are running only 6 or 7 auctions per week, AW is worth every penny. It saves an incredible amount of time, especially managing your auctions after the sale. But I suggest do the per-auction plan if you are doing less than 50 auctions per week.
And yes, gallery fees are an Ebay thing. The AW software is integrated with Ebay's so you can pick your Ebay options while in AW's software. That's likely where the confusion came from. You are picking Ebay fee options in AW's online or offline software.
Good luck,
Patty
(edited for my ever-present typos!)
[ edited by meadowlark on Feb 12, 2003 05:01 PM ]
posted on February 12, 2003 06:07:46 PM new
The AuctionWatch service provides two features that a do-it-yourself situation does not provide:
1) Beautiful layouts with your auction description
2) Clickable thumbnails that lead to larger images
But if your needs are not as complex, you could easily host your own images and use an auction management program to list for you. The only fees would pay for is the auction management program (hopefully one time fee) and your web host cost. Personal home pages offer free web space, or you can find reliable hosts for $10 a month.
posted on February 12, 2003 06:24:15 PM new
The only problem with independant software is whether it fully integrates with Ebay, especially after Ebay arbitrarily changes something. Auction watch has an agreement of some kind with Ebay so they can continously update as needed.
Does any independant software live up to this? I haven't tried any.
posted on February 12, 2003 06:32:15 PM new
meadowlark,
Regarding your link to your website on your "About Me" page....
---------------------------------------------
I just got a website this week that I am selling from and was wanting to promote it on my eBay listings. The "About Me" angle intrigued me. But...then I was reading the "Guidelines" and ran across this:
"The eBay About Me page may describe the seller's business and may contain URLs or links to the seller's individual Web site. It may not specifically promote off-eBay sales or sales of items prohibited on eBay, nor may it contain links to commercial Web sites where goods from multiple sellers are aggregated by a search engine."
Since sales from the website would definitely be "off-eBay" I guess I would be in violation if I put in a link to it.
posted on February 12, 2003 06:35:20 PM newan agreement of some kind
I think you may be referring to the eBay API.
any independant software live up to this?
I've been using SOLD! by timbercreeksoftware.com for about 1.5 years. They always come up with fixes very quickly. If a major feature is broken because of an eBay change, the programmer is on it right away. Poor guy! I think he's a night person because he's always announcing fixes around 2 or 3am.
[ edited by sun818 on Feb 12, 2003 06:35 PM ]
posted on February 12, 2003 08:29:46 PM new
sun818,
Thanks! I will check it out.
Bones 21, I'm searching Ebay for the reference that allows one to link an item to a webpage with further info on that item, but not selling off Ebay. I'm looking as well for the data I read in the last few weeks that said a discrete link could be place on the "about me" page that would link to a non-commercial site, which itself could have a discrete link to a commercial site. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm still searching.
I do not want to violate Ebay TOS either. They have all the data in so many places, it's hard to assimilate it all.
posted on February 12, 2003 11:33:52 PM new
I do what rarriffle does; besides the multiple photos allowed, I have to say that the ease of listing an auction seems so much greater. I'm hooked on AuctionWatch. The 10cents per listing plus 1% FVF is worth every penny for me in ease and peace of mind.
