A screen shot of the Auctiva home page (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Auctiva, one strike, you’re out?
As fallout continues from the Auctiva crisis, many sellers are throwing in the towel, deleting their Auctiva accounts and changing their eBay passwords.
Is this the right course of action or an over-dramatic knee jerk reaction? While they have badly mishandled this, this is the first time there has been an issue like this for the site.
How do you feel about it?
I agree that Auctiva has badly mishandled this issue in three key ways, namely:
- Not being timely with notices about this issue. Bloggers picked up the slack and message boards were a buzz for almost 24 hours before Auctiva jumped into action. That left a lot of time for people to think the worst and lost some people a lot of sales.
- Not being transparent enough. Auctiva still hasn’t said directly what the issue was. The truth would go a long way towards resorting some consumer confidence right now. Right now, we still don’t know if they are really the bad guy or just a victim of mis-reporting.
- Giving bad safety advice. When the truth came out, Auctiva recommended bypassing the safety features of your browser and using the site anyway. Esspecially in light of my second reason above, asking users to bypass safety settings without giving a reason or explanation of what the issue was in the first place seems not only unreasonable but also a little suspicious to me. Why acting so guilty?
ColderICE has some great articles examining the fallout from this issue over at his site but what I wanted to know now is, from those of you that are Auctiva users, how does this crisis affect your future use of their services?
Are you willing to give them another try or is this too much of a violation of trust?
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I quit using Auctiva back when their site was still getting bogging down at busy times – before they upgraded their servers. I got tired of not being able to list or it taking forever on Sundays to list anything but then I felt like then you get what you pay for. Cant complain if its free now can we? Especially when for minimal costs you can get a whole website these days that includes picture hosting with FTP with your own domain name…not to mention there are places like Inkfrog who offer the same type services as Auctiva – PIC hosting templates & a lister for about 10.00 a month. I dont remember**ever* getting mad a Inkfrog because there was too much traffic & things were so slow I could not use the site or even better – certainly not for ever getting their severs infected with malware! Again I feel it proves you get what you pay for…the insurance is cool but If you take your eBay business serious, I realized you cant leave it in the hands of a free service. Its fine for the occasional seller but I bailed on them a LONG time ago…and now I am sure glad I did!
I quit using Auctiva back when their site was still getting bogging down at busy times – before they upgraded their servers. I got tired of not being able to list or it taking forever on Sundays to list anything but then I felt like then you get what you pay for. Cant complain if its free now can we? Especially when for minimal costs you can get a whole website these days that includes picture hosting with FTP with your own domain name…not to mention there are places like Inkfrog who offer the same type services as Auctiva – PIC hosting templates & a lister for about 10.00 a month. I dont remember**ever* getting mad a Inkfrog because there was too much traffic & things were so slow I could not use the site or even better – certainly not for ever getting their severs infected with malware! Again I feel it proves you get what you pay for…the insurance is cool but If you take your eBay business serious, I realized you cant leave it in the hands of a free service. Its fine for the occasional seller but I bailed on them a LONG time ago…and now I am sure glad I did!
I am considering leaving Auctiva for InkFrog, but the downside is the prospect of moving over 750 store items and auctions to another service, which would require hours of work.
What I’d like to see Auctiva do is follow InkFrog’s model. Charge users a small amount each month (they could do it for $5 each say), and then hire some real IT and Tech Support people. I know I’d pay it!
For now I may stay, (still not 100% sure) just because the process of moving would be so painful. But one more bad time like this past weekend and then I’m outta there.
I am definitely far from an occasional seller and I use Auctiva. But, oddly enough, I do only use it occasionally. For me, the best features are the free supersize (which I only use on items that need many large pictures) and free inventory and auto-relist features because we sell a lot of items we have a ton of so I saves time to automate that process. We don’t pay for any listing service, we mainly use good old Turbo Lister and, occasionally like the cases above, Auctiva.
I wouldn’t recommend making it your primary eBay client, no. But I think, like McDonalds food, it’s fine to use sometimes.
I am considering leaving Auctiva for InkFrog, but the downside is the prospect of moving over 750 store items and auctions to another service, which would require hours of work.
What I’d like to see Auctiva do is follow InkFrog’s model. Charge users a small amount each month (they could do it for $5 each say), and then hire some real IT and Tech Support people. I know I’d pay it!
For now I may stay, (still not 100% sure) just because the process of moving would be so painful. But one more bad time like this past weekend and then I’m outta there.
I am definitely far from an occasional seller and I use Auctiva. But, oddly enough, I do only use it occasionally. For me, the best features are the free supersize (which I only use on items that need many large pictures) and free inventory and auto-relist features because we sell a lot of items we have a ton of so I saves time to automate that process. We don’t pay for any listing service, we mainly use good old Turbo Lister and, occasionally like the cases above, Auctiva.
I wouldn’t recommend making it your primary eBay client, no. But I think, like McDonalds food, it’s fine to use sometimes.
I just recently returned to Auctiva, having left before they changed their servers and were never available when I needed them. I have two accounts and definitely will not be using them for one (my store) and have been in the process of getting everything moved from Auctiva. The second account…We’ll see. I won’t close it without waiting to see how the recovery process is handled on the part of Auctiva, IE what about all the members who have 100’s or 1000’s of listings and are dependent on them. A lot will be dependent on how they proceed with this issue. Everyone is entitled a mistake, it’s the proces of accepting responsiblity and correcting it that will make the difference for me.
I just recently returned to Auctiva, having left before they changed their servers and were never available when I needed them. I have two accounts and definitely will not be using them for one (my store) and have been in the process of getting everything moved from Auctiva. The second account…We’ll see. I won’t close it without waiting to see how the recovery process is handled on the part of Auctiva, IE what about all the members who have 100’s or 1000’s of listings and are dependent on them. A lot will be dependent on how they proceed with this issue. Everyone is entitled a mistake, it’s the proces of accepting responsiblity and correcting it that will make the difference for me.
cranger7, I know you implied you find it unprofessional, only for occasional sellers. Would you mind clarifying? IE, do you find their service (website, downtime, etc) unprofessional or is it the impression that it gives to buyers that you are worried about?
I agree you get what you pay for but, even with all the drama of the past few days, I still feel like Auctiva still gives you an awful lot for nothing which is worth a little bit of trouble from time to time.
cranger7, I know you implied you find it unprofessional, only for occasional sellers. Would you mind clarifying? IE, do you find their service (website, downtime, etc) unprofessional or is it the impression that it gives to buyers that you are worried about?
I agree you get what you pay for but, even with all the drama of the past few days, I still feel like Auctiva still gives you an awful lot for nothing which is worth a little bit of trouble from time to time.
I like to think I am far from a newbie, having been on eBay since ’98 (back in the days when we all had to write out own HTML to format item descriptions.)
I like Auctiva. I like the templates. I like being able to pick up an old auction and relist it. I like that they have more fields than InkFrog does (the About Us field lets me put the grading system in that I use for my cards.) I like the supersize. And free is good.
So I do have to say I somewhat resent the implication that it’s only for non-professionals or noobs. I make real money with my eBay sales, and would rather not have to port all my auctions somewhere else.
I think I might be with you on this one, Katy. Is something unprofessional just because its free?
I like to think I am far from a newbie, having been on eBay since ’98 (back in the days when we all had to write out own HTML to format item descriptions.)
I like Auctiva. I like the templates. I like being able to pick up an old auction and relist it. I like that they have more fields than InkFrog does (the About Us field lets me put the grading system in that I use for my cards.) I like the supersize. And free is good.
So I do have to say I somewhat resent the implication that it’s only for non-professionals or noobs. I make real money with my eBay sales, and would rather not have to port all my auctions somewhere else.
I think I might be with you on this one, Katy. Is something unprofessional just because its free?
Hillary – Personally I find it unprofessional. It seems to subtly state that the seller does not have a vested interest in their business and they just use what ever is free.
KatyDids – That is great you make real money with your eBay sales. It just doesn’t change my opinion though. I just think seeing auctions plastered with multiple ads for their service looks unprofessional and makes the seller look kind of tacky.
Hillary – Personally I find it unprofessional. It seems to subtly state that the seller does not have a vested interest in their business and they just use what ever is free.
KatyDids – That is great you make real money with your eBay sales. It just doesn’t change my opinion though. I just think seeing auctions plastered with multiple ads for their service looks unprofessional and makes the seller look kind of tacky.
Elilly,
So what service do you use? And how do you suggest I easily port over the 750+ listings I have up now to another service? If there were an easy way to do it, I would. Don’t think there is though.
Thanks for the tackiness compliment, appreciate that.
KDC
Elilly,
So what service do you use? And how do you suggest I easily port over the 750+ listings I have up now to another service? If there were an easy way to do it, I would. Don’t think there is though.
Thanks for the tackiness compliment, appreciate that.
KDC
And hey Elilly, how about you show us one of your auctions? I think mine look pretty good. See one here:
http://tinyurl.com/dybnjp
And I still don’t know what you mean by “auctions plastered with multiple ads for their service”. I see a scrolling gallery and a logo down below. Turbolister does the same thing, and so does Inkfrog. How is Auctiva worse?
Compare mine with a listing from a Powerseller with over 13 thousand feedback:
http://tinyurl.com/ccbeud
Does hers look unprofessional? She makes a boatload with her auctions, and honestly, I think mine look better. With my background in graphic design I think her description is cluttered and hard to read, but not because she uses Auctiva. I also avoid cutesie templates, but that’s just me, I feel they distract from the item.
At any rate, let’s see one of yours to compare. Put your money where your mouth is. 🙂
And hey Elilly, how about you show us one of your auctions? I think mine look pretty good. See one here:
http://tinyurl.com/dybnjp
And I still don’t know what you mean by “auctions plastered with multiple ads for their service”. I see a scrolling gallery and a logo down below. Turbolister does the same thing, and so does Inkfrog. How is Auctiva worse?
Compare mine with a listing from a Powerseller with over 13 thousand feedback:
http://tinyurl.com/ccbeud
Does hers look unprofessional? She makes a boatload with her auctions, and honestly, I think mine look better. With my background in graphic design I think her description is cluttered and hard to read, but not because she uses Auctiva. I also avoid cutesie templates, but that’s just me, I feel they distract from the item.
At any rate, let’s see one of yours to compare. Put your money where your mouth is. 🙂
I just finished removing them from all of my listing, took me three days. I did not like the fact that I had to hear about the problem from customers having problems paying. One customer asked me if he could pay with paypal instead of auctiva because he kept getting a virus warning page. Wtf? I thought all these people were crazy because I hadn’t heard of any problems. Then I thought all the problems customers were having had something to do with Auctiva, so I googled it and found everything. Then three days later I get an email from auctiva stating there had been a problem, and that the problem was fixed. Then I got another customers who complained and I started the long process of removing their scripts from my auctions, removed their token permission, and changed my password so they could not list items.
I agree, Faith, though I am still using Auctiva. But I only use it occasionally and it is not my main listing tool so it’s a different case for me. But I am annoyed that they knew since the Thursday prior and didn’t email us until Monday following.
According to the interview they did with ColderICE, they only sent the email when they realized people weren’t reading the forums. When the forums were part of what was blocked, that seems like a pretty stupid reason to me.
I just finished removing them from all of my listing, took me three days. I did not like the fact that I had to hear about the problem from customers having problems paying. One customer asked me if he could pay with paypal instead of auctiva because he kept getting a virus warning page. Wtf? I thought all these people were crazy because I hadn’t heard of any problems. Then I thought all the problems customers were having had something to do with Auctiva, so I googled it and found everything. Then three days later I get an email from auctiva stating there had been a problem, and that the problem was fixed. Then I got another customers who complained and I started the long process of removing their scripts from my auctions, removed their token permission, and changed my password so they could not list items.
I agree, Faith, though I am still using Auctiva. But I only use it occasionally and it is not my main listing tool so it’s a different case for me. But I am annoyed that they knew since the Thursday prior and didn’t email us until Monday following.
According to the interview they did with ColderICE, they only sent the email when they realized people weren’t reading the forums. When the forums were part of what was blocked, that seems like a pretty stupid reason to me.
The auctiva virus is VERY real. I have been down over a week with it. It comes as Trojan Vundo!Grb on McAfee and is also spotted by symantec. Auctiva is downplaying it and appearing supportive, but basically they are just doing a big PR job to minimize it. It made my computer so that the only soluation was a total system wipe and I have all the current virus software and updates from MS. EXTREMELY awful. The virus transmitted through the javascript picture loader and affected many sellers trying to list at the point when they were trying to upload pictures. I’m going back to vendio. Would rather pay for safety than deal with the total lack of support
The auctiva virus is VERY real. I have been down over a week with it. It comes as Trojan Vundo!Grb on McAfee and is also spotted by symantec. Auctiva is downplaying it and appearing supportive, but basically they are just doing a big PR job to minimize it. It made my computer so that the only soluation was a total system wipe and I have all the current virus software and updates from MS. EXTREMELY awful. The virus transmitted through the javascript picture loader and affected many sellers trying to list at the point when they were trying to upload pictures. I’m going back to vendio. Would rather pay for safety than deal with the total lack of support
One thing to be aware of with Auctiva, as I found out. Any lisitng I had on ebay that was listed with Auctiva would give buyers an error message when they tried to pay. It did not matter if you had closed your Auctiva account, removed their token from ebay and changed your pass word, and removed their codes from your listing. Relisting the item did not remove this, so I had to list everythng again. It was simple for me because most of my listing were of similar items, and I wrote the html for my auctions. Since I saved a copy I was easy for me to just change the description when needed. I used Ebay turbor lister and had 1/4 of my auction up in an hour.
One thing to be aware of with Auctiva, as I found out. Any lisitng I had on ebay that was listed with Auctiva would give buyers an error message when they tried to pay. It did not matter if you had closed your Auctiva account, removed their token from ebay and changed your pass word, and removed their codes from your listing. Relisting the item did not remove this, so I had to list everythng again. It was simple for me because most of my listing were of similar items, and I wrote the html for my auctions. Since I saved a copy I was easy for me to just change the description when needed. I used Ebay turbor lister and had 1/4 of my auction up in an hour.
Sorry I don’t think my last post made any sense, posting a clear version.
One thing to be aware of with Auctiva if you close your account with the plans of getting it off of your listings, as I found out….
Any lisitng I had on ebay that was listed with Auctiva would give buyers an error message when they tried to pay. I had to send buyers invoice throw paypal.
It did not matter if I had closed my Auctiva account, removed their token from ebay and changed my pass word, and removed their codes from your listing, it would still always go to Auctiva checkout and give them an error message.
Re-listing the item did not change this, so I had to list everything again.
It was simple for me because most of my listing were of similar items, and I wrote the html for my auctions and I use the same html page for all of my auctions. Since I saved a copy of the html page. It was easy for me to just change the description when needed. I used Ebay turbor lister and had 1/4 of my auction up in an hour.
Sorry I don’t think my last post made any sense, posting a clear version.
One thing to be aware of with Auctiva if you close your account with the plans of getting it off of your listings, as I found out….
Any lisitng I had on ebay that was listed with Auctiva would give buyers an error message when they tried to pay. I had to send buyers invoice throw paypal.
It did not matter if I had closed my Auctiva account, removed their token from ebay and changed my pass word, and removed their codes from your listing, it would still always go to Auctiva checkout and give them an error message.
Re-listing the item did not change this, so I had to list everything again.
It was simple for me because most of my listing were of similar items, and I wrote the html for my auctions and I use the same html page for all of my auctions. Since I saved a copy of the html page. It was easy for me to just change the description when needed. I used Ebay turbor lister and had 1/4 of my auction up in an hour.