Auctiva.com is not an auction site itself, but a free service that supports your eBay auctions with templates, unlimited photo hosting and a number of other features like scheduling, that eBay would normally charge for. Unbelievably, this service is absolutely free and you can save a considerable amount on your eBay fees.
Registration ========== Using the Auctiva website requires a quick registration. Choose a user name, enter your e-mail address and choose a password. That's all there is to it. You can start using the service immediately.
eBay Token ========= In order to list your eBay autions from Auctiva, you need to generate an eBay "token" first. You can do this immediately after you've registered. You'll be required to log into your eBay account through a secure server. This way, Auctiva will not have direct access to your eBay password, but with this token, which is your unique identifier, they'll be able to communicate with eBay on your behalf. You only need to generate this token once and it will be used for all your listings.
Free Selling Tools =============== Auctiva offers a whole range of free selling tools that eBay would normally charge for. Some of these tools include:
* Free Image Hosting: You can upload an unlimited number of photos to support your listings absolutely free. eBay offer the first photo free, but they charge £0.12 for each additional photo. All photos you upload to Auctiva are supersizable, which means your customers can see close-up details of your products. eBay normally charges an extra £0.60 for this feature.
* Free Templates: You can choose from dozens of templates to make your listings more appealing to buyers. Choose from a number of different designs and colour schemes to match the profile of the item you're selling. The use of an eBay template normally costs £0.07 and their range is a lot more limited.
* Free Scheduling: This is probably the most useful feature of this service. You can schedule your listings to come live at any time on any day of your choice. This way, you can start and finish your auctions when you think your potential customers are most likely to be shopping, for maximum exposure. Also, you can take advantage of eBay's 10p listing days or other special promotions which require you to list on certain days. Ebay normally charges an extra £0.06 for each item that you schedule.
* Save Your Listings: Auctiva allows you to save as many listings as you like without submitting them. This way you can work on several listings simoultaneously and submit them whenever you choose. You might want to wait for a special promotion offer and save on eBay fees, or postpone your listings for other reasons. On Ebay, there's no possibility to save your listings. You can only work on one at a time and you have to submit it or cancel it before you can move on to the next one.
* Create Profiles: You can generate different profiles for your item descriptions, marketing tools, shipping options and payment methods making it easier and quicker to create your listings. This way, you can simply select one of your profiles from a pull-down menu without having to enter the information manually for each item. You can also define master profiles for listing similar items. It is essentially like a template, that already includes most of the information, and you only need to change some key details. This can save considerable time and effort in the long run.
* Seller Details: You can define your seller details, which will appear in all your listings. These might include: payment instructions, shipping information, information about yourself, your terms and conditions, and your contact details.
* Scrolling Store Window: Auctiva automatically adds a scrolling store window to your listings which shows all the items you're selling at any given time. This encourages buyers to look at your other items and might result in multiple purchases.
* Auto-feedback: You can set your account to automatically send feedback comments to your customers.
There are a few more features that are not yet operational, eg. sales reports, but you can sign up for a message to alert you when these features become fully functional.
My Experience ============ I used Auctiva to list a few items the other week and I have mixed feelings about it. When it works, it's great! The problem is, half the time it doesn't seem to work very well. I've just found out that the website is in its Phase One release, with Phase Two coming up in early 2007. This would explain the inconsistencies I have experienced. The site kept bouncing me back to the Home Page all the time, and sometimes it logged me out as well. I even lost some of my work because of this. However, because it's free, you tend to put up with these things even at the cost of losing some hair!
I did manage to schedule about 20 items and took advantage of the 10p listing day last Monday. Each of my listings boasted 3 photos and fancy templates and they only cost 10p! I was very pleased with the way my listings looked and I managed to sell most of my items. Despite the difficulties, I'm planning to use Auctiva from now on for all my eBay auctions. Hopefully, they will sort out some of the problems soon. I can't help wondering though whether they will start charging once the service is fully functional? I have a feeling they will.
Recommendation =============== In its current status, I would recommend this service to occasional sellers like myself, provided that you have a certain amount of patience. However, if you sell on eBay for a living, Auctiva is probably not the best way to spend your valuable time. It's worth checking out though in a couple of months to see if they managed to sort out the issues.
UPDATE AS OF JULY 2007 ====================== I'm glad to report that the performance of the AUCTIVA site has greatly improved within the last few months and I have upgraged my ratings accordingly . I've recently used AUCTIVA and had no problems whatsoever. No more logouts and losing my work. It's much faster as well and best of all it's still free of charge! It takes a little extra effort to list your items this way, but your customers will appreciate the additional photos and your jazzed up listings and more of your items will sell in the end. It's well worth a try!
More details
Content Update
Often
Security & Privacy Statement
Satisfactory
Search Facility
Average
Bid Tracking Function
Satisfactory
Ability to Customise
Good
Customer Service Support
Satisfactory
Client Number / Order Number
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