To continue to Auctiva or not to Auctiva

[rosscd57]

I am still using Auctiva and I wonder if I should continue doing so.

I just looked at my listings using my ipad and found that I only get the gallery picture to show on the initial tap - in order to look at the rest of the pictures, I have to tap the description and they are very small, they take a long time to load and I have a hard time enlarging them.

When I look at other sellers pictures I can scroll all of there pictures from the first page without messing around - easy/peasey.

I wonder if I will be losing sales because of this.

Any thoughts from anyone?

Are those of you who are still using Auctive still happy and were you aware of this issue?

[pocomocomputing]

Auctiva has a relatively new option in the listing to allow your Auctiva photos to be in the eBay Gallery at the top as well in the description. Auctiva allows up to 24 photos but eBay can only have 12 so the first 12 are transferred.

The option is called

Optional eBay Gallery Images

and under this is a check box with

Enable Optional eBay Gallery Images

If you revise your listings through Auctiva, just check the above option and you listings should be revised to add these photos to the eBay photo gallery.

I used Auctiva years ago and still have a free account. I was using their Auctiva scrolling gallery for a long time but no longer. I keep the account as I occasionally help eBay members with questions I can answer about Auctiva (like you).

[rose-dee]

I've used Auctiva for years (still do), and 'poco'  is right -- it is quite easy to add up to 12 eBay Gallery images when you're drafting your listing on Auctiva.  I load the Gallery up with as many as I can, especially if I have an item of some value to list.  Here's an example of one of my listings, with Gallery images and a quite a number of listing frame images: 161156806452. 

This gives you the best of both worlds really.  The mobile users will be able to easily scroll through and zoom in on the 12 Gallery images, and the regular PC users will see everything.  Incidentally, I always make sure I use as much of the Item Specifics area as I can (Auctiva has a checkbox to allow you to fill those in when preparing a listing).  That way, mobile users will be able to easily see all the most important basic details about an item even if they can't easily access the descriptive text.  

That little box to choose "Optional eBay Gallery Images" that 'poco' mentioned is right below the section where you add your listing frame images.  It's not exactly prominent, but once you know where to find it, it works very well.  Here's how to best make use of it:

(a)  Choose up to 24 images from your uploaded photos to put in your listing frame as usual (in the first photo section on the Auctiva listing preparation page).

(b)  Decide which image you want to be your Gallery image by using the drop-down box above the Gallery Image box to the right  -- as you probably know, it doesn't have to be Image #1

(c)  Click the box "Choose Optional eBay Gallery Images", located below your photo section -- a set of 12 photo boxes will pop up, and these will fill with the first 12 of your listing frame images.  You don't necessarily have to use the images shown (except for the Gallery Image, i.e. the main image that will display on eBay).  Aside from the Gallery Image, you can pick and choose from among your other 24 images.  Just click on the 2nd photo in the Optional Gallery Images section and it will take you to your uploaded photos.  You can re-order, delete, replace them, with any other 11 photos you like.  

You'll notice that below the Optional Gallery Images section, there's a line of text that says "Remove all Optional Gallery Images".  This is useful if you're creating a new listing from an existing one.  You'll be prompted about the first image having to be the same as the Gallery Image in your main section.  As far as I know, you can't alter that.  

By the way, I'm not sure whether you were aware, but you can set up separate folders in your saved photos on Auctiva to organize your uploaded photos by category.  Create the folders first, then you can choose the appropriate folder when you upload your pictures to Auctiva.  I find this saves me a lot of effort scrolling around looking for the pictures I need for a particular listing. 

I have to say I'm a real fan of Auctiva.  They've kept up with eBay's incessant shape-shifting and I've found my listings always upload to eBay seamlessly.  I like it particularly because I never have to "start from scratch" in preparing listings and I can keep all my photos in one place.  For the $2.95 I pay each month, it's been well worth it so far. 

I hope this helps -- give the expanded Gallery a try! 

[rosscd57]

Thanks for the-  advice - I will change my templates accordingly.

However, I can't seem to change my existing listings to be able to hit the "Enable Optional eBay Gallery Images" - I can't find a way to do it in revisions.

[bigscotty]

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@pocomocomputing wrote:

....

The option is called

Optional eBay Gallery Images

and under this is a check box with

Enable Optional eBay Gallery Images

If you revise your listings through Auctiva, just check the above option and you listings should be revised to add these photos to the eBay photo gallery.

,,,,

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Thank you for the information. I really like using Auctiva, but I was unaware of this feature. It shows that you should really pay attention to what you are doing occasionally, as I hadn't changed my templates for years; other than the necessary, freight price increases, at least once a year.

Something that has been bugging me for awhile now, especially since I prefer to use the auction format, is Auctiva has not changed their BIN price to 30% greater than the starting price. So, when you check a listing for errors, any starting price, which is 10% lower than the BIN, is accepted as having no errors. Only after this listing is transferred to eBay, does it get rejected, if the starting price is not at least 30% lower than the BIN. A bit of a pain, as I almost always post at a specific time, not the moment the listing is created.

I have contacting Auctiva twice about this, via email, and received the response that this is acknowledged, and my request has been handed over to engineering. My first contact was greater than 6 weeks ago. In the second contact (about 3 weeks ago) I sent them a link to the 30% eBay rule change.

If you list via the auction format and this effects you, maybe drop them a note about this, as I'm sure, if enough people contact them about this, they will prioritize the change.

[pocomocomputing]

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@rosscd57 wrote:

Thanks for the-  advice - I will change my templates accordingly.

However, I can't seem to change my existing listings to be able to hit the "Enable Optional eBay Gallery Images" - I can't find a way to do it in revisions.

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Just to make sure we are talking about the same thing, the listing have to be revised using Auctiva. The option is an Auctiva listing option. You cannot revise using eBay directly for this option.

My apologies for stating the obvious but just in case there is a misunderstanding ...

[rosscd57]

Pocomo wrote:

Just to make sure we are talking about the same thing, the listing have to be revised using Auctiva. The option is an Auctiva listing option. You cannot revise using eBay directly for this option.

My apologies for stating the obvious but just in case there is a misunderstanding ...

_________________________________________________________________________________

Nope I understand that - what I can't seem to be able to do is open the revision of an active listing in Auctiva and make the change.

[rose-dee]

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@rosscd57 wrote:

What I can't seem to be able to do is open the revision of an active listing in Auctiva and make the change.

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Are you trying to to do the revision from your "Active" list on Auctiva, or from your "Saved Listings" list?  You should be using the latter, although keep in mind that that will not update the eBay listing in real time in any case.  There is no way to do the revisions from Auctiva and have them automatically upload to eBay.  

In other words, if you prefer to make your revisions on Auctiva, you will need to de-list the item from eBay, make your revisions on Auctiva, then re-post the (revised) listing to eBay from Auctiva. 

Now, if the only revisions you're making are to add more photos to the eBay Gallery, you don't have to do this in Auctiva at all (provided you've saved your photos on your computer).  Select "Revise Your Listing" on eBay, go to the eBay photo upload section, and simply upload them straight from your computer.  You can then re-arrange them in the Photo Gallery as you wish, complete any other revisions you want to do on eBay, then post the revised listing.  

By the way, I've discovered I can also make revisions to the text in the Auctiva frame when using eBay "Revise Listing".  You have to be a bit careful not to accidentally remove photos in the Auctiva frame (which can't be easily replaced on eBay's listing revision screen unless you're proficient in HTML), but otherwise I often enlarge fonts and add or delete text, etc., after the upload from Auctiva.  One caveat though: I've found out that if you leave a listing too long on eBay, it becomes more and more difficult to revise the text within the Auctiva listing frame.  So I try to get to any "touch up" revisions on eBay within a week or two of listing an item.