Switching from Auctiva to Vendio

[axe_n_gear_music]

I have done some research into image hosting and listing application companies, and have settled on Vendio.
Here is what they are offering (copied and pasted from their site):

The Vendio Platform FREE for the rest of 2009 and only $10/month for 2010.
No Listing or Transaction Fees - Easily Import Your eBay Listings - Completely FREE Online Store - 2GB of Image Hosting - Unlimited listings on eBay, Amazon, and your own Vendio store
Robust and full featured free online store
2GB of Image Hosting
100s of free templates for your listings and store
Order management with tax and shipping calculation
Integrated with multiple payment platforms
Item and inventory management across all sales channels
Advanced item scheduling

The rep assisted me with setting up my free account, and I was up and running in 20 minutes. I also took them up on another offer- a one hour person to person phone seminar tomorrow morning with their rep who will assist me in getting everything changed over and help to familiarize me with the site and all of it's features. This was a one time cost of 30 dollars and was optional.

If anyone is interested, their toll free number is 877-258-8488 , or if you want to speak directly to the rep that helped me, his name is Allen and his number is 877-426-3253 extension 7001.

Cheers,
AXE

[surplusdealdude]

Have a REALLY CLOSE LOOK at their fees - they nickel and dime you something fierce.

I signed up for them as well, but I've rethought it and I'm going to go with PSU or GoDaddy - probably use Cubecart for my store. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."
- Ralph W. Sockman

[surplusdealdude]

BTW, vendio charges more than ebay for store listings ON ebay, and they charge every time the listing is renewed if it's a GTC listing.

And the "free store" deal expires after 50 listings, apparently.

Tricky little devils they are. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."
- Ralph W. Sockman

[axe_n_gear_music]

So these extra charges that you are talking about would kick in after 2010 when the promo is over?

[surplusdealdude]

Or after you've listed 50 items, possibly.

I just get the feeling that these guys are a little, shall we say, secretive about the real costs.

They say the store is free, but they'll charge for picture hosting, listing fees, a "success fee", whatever that is.

The list of fees is a couple of pages long. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."
- Ralph W. Sockman

[axe_n_gear_music]

Sounds kind of like what I'm getting from Auctiva- the support guy there is trying to tell me my monthly fees will be around 25 dollars, but when I input the numbers myself, I am getting 50-75 dollars a month in fees on average. And there is no set fee- every month will be completely different, something which I really hate the thought of!

I think I will hold off for a couple of weeks and let the dust settle a bit before making any changes.
Thanks for your info.

Cheers,
AXE

[surplusdealdude]

I'm currently looking to set up my own web store - been doing it for about a month now.

I'm finding that you have to REALLY research these guys.

Company named Papa Johns or something like that - in Toronto, looked really good until I looked for complaints and found massive site outages and terrible help desk response.

It's a real jungle out there - I'm going at it very slowly now. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."
- Ralph W. Sockman

[dipmicro]

I am not sure if this is the good thread as there seem to be several about Auctiva recently.

These clowns have sent me the following recently:

Your Auctiva Commerce account is now on-hold.

Dear dipmicro electronics,

We have either not received a valid payment for your account, or your Free Trial has expired.

Darn! I must have missed paying my fees. Oh, wait! I did not subscribe to any free trial nor did I use it. They subscribed me automatically and I just ignored the emails.


Hm, what these guys are doing seems to be pretty undecent, immoral and on the edge of law. I would not be surprised if Google flags them as scam site again and it will not be removed as fast as last time.

[surplusdealdude]

That was something else - they had a virus infection.

But they do seem to be making a lot of really bad moves recently. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."
- Ralph W. Sockman

[axe_n_gear_music]

Just an update- After several lengthy conversations with Auctiva, they have finally given me a flat rate, fixed amount monthly deal for their listing and image hosting services, etc, based on my usage, etc, which not only matches or beats most of their competitors, it also takes me right to the end of 2010 at this fixed rate, plus I can continue uninterupted with the services that I like and am familiar with.
Good to see them making the attempt to retain some of their customers in all this turmoil.:-)

Cheers,
AXE

[surplusdealdude]

Well, that will work as long as they stay in business long enough to honour the deal....

Hope it works for you. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."
- Ralph W. Sockman

[recyclemikey]

I find that nothing beats FLICKR for hosting the images and Microsoft Frontpage for creating a template..

cost = $0

then again, I only list maybe 10-15 items a week and each listing could take me 10-15 minutes to create so I might not be the usual case.

[coxengines]

After several lengthy conversations with Auctiva

Axe, was that via phone or email?

Bernie

[axe_n_gear_music]

Hi Bernie,
That was strictly by email. It took a couple of days, but they finally agreed to give me a similar deal to what Vendio is offering Auctiva customers.

My deal that they finally agreed to provide me, as they say ,"based on my usage and previous recent history, etc" is exactly 10 dollars a month for 18 months. They were really good about it, and I must say, that I am very happy about it.

Cheers,
AXE

[coxengines]

Thanks Axe.

I don't mind paying 20 or 30 bucks/months for their service but the $70 to 80 I came up with was simply too much.

Bernie

[coxengines]

Just in from Auctiva:

Auctiva is officially moving to flat monthly pricing: $9.95/mo. everything included

Coupled with a very humble and apologetic email.

Their new offer makes great sense now.

Bernie

[axe_n_gear_music]

Yes, and as one of the first test pilots to be offered thier new plan on the weekend (it was actually 10 dollars/month for 18 months), and accepting, I guess they realized that their window of time to keep alot of their customers was closing, so they needed to unroll a common sense plan that would appeal to everyone, while combatting some of their competitors who were trying to get people to jump ship from Auctiva.

I actually signed up with Vendio early last week (it was free, so I didn't want to miss out on the option), and upon using their services briefly, I honestly found Auctiva to be much more user friendly and their templates to be way better than Vendio's.

All in all I'm glad to be staying with Auctiva, and after dealing with their knowledgeable and friendly support staff over the last week, I would recoomend them to anyone.

Cheers,
AXE

[coxengines]

Yup, I think it was damage control after the, undoubtedly, avalanche of angry responses.

I am still trying to hear how long they will lock this rate in (officially) as I fear this could be a temp patch to prevent mass exodus.

Bernie

[axe_n_gear_music]

I was told directly by Auctiva's support staff that it is guaranteed to be definately to the end of 2010, as this matches Vendio's offer also.

Cheers,
AXE

[surplusdealdude]

I was told directly by Auctiva's support staff that it is guaranteed to be definately to the end of 2010,


That guarantee is only going to be valid if Auctiva survives.

The $70/month figure wasn't picked out of the air - that's likely what their accountants said they needed.

Now they're looking at trying to survive on 12% of that.

I would suggest take the offer, but keep a competitor handy, just in case. -------------------------------------------------------------------

"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority."
- Ralph W. Sockman