Auctiva was founded by eBay seller Jeff Schlicht in 1998 as a desktop set of seller tools and moved to a web based environment for their auction management software in 2005.
From the website
Auctiva’s web-based tools were first offered completely free to users and still remain free to this day. From templates to image hosting, from scheduling to the scrolling gallery and store… it’s all free. And best of all, Auctiva is continually adding features to its suite of products that make the eBay listing process easier, faster and most certainly better!
On May 28th 2009 Auctiva announced that as of July 2008 they will be changing to a fee based structure.
“In order to remain free all these years, our business model included many different sources of revenue,” Schlicht continues. “In addition to shipping insurance and our other pay services, like Sellathon.com, we also derived more than half of our income from eBay’s affiliate program. However, eBay recently made changes to its affiliate program that greatly restricted, and ultimately eliminated, this critical revenue stream. As a result, we will have to begin charging for some of our services.”
I signed up for Auctiva (I think) in 2005. I am one of the very few who never found the site intuitive. I never really ‘got it’ despite a lot of help including a step by step telephone coaching session from a kind fellow seller. Auctiva and algebra froze my brain but it was not their fault! Everyone else managed to ‘get it’. Oh well.
There were parts of Auctiva I was able to use, mostly the scrolling showcase which was all over eBay at one point.
I never generated much income for them, my shipping and insurance has been done through endicia.com for years. When I left eBay last year I had no further need for the service.
I can understand how sellers who rely on a free Auctiva to run their eBay businesses are feeling hostile and devastated by the new fee structure. 12c to 22c in additional listing fees plus a 1% to 1.75% increase in Final Value Fees, small though the numbers are, will add up to a not so small increase in overhead burden for sellers who are already struggling on eBay. I sincerely sympathize.
I am sure management at Auctiva were equally devastated by changes to the eBay affiliate program which in turn made changes to their own program necessary. When a series of changes send a row of dominoes toppling, who do you blame for the fall of the last domino? I don’t know and the purpose of this post is not to point the finger or cast blame.
I spent a quiet morning removing my images and ancient dusty archived listings. As I did that it occurred to me that even though I no longer have reason to use Auctiva, I did use it (as much as my mental block allowed) for years and it never cost me a penny. That has to be worth a thank you.
So, thank you Auctiva for the years of free service. I hope everything works out OK for you.
Y’all come back!
I have no problem with Auctiva charging a flat rate for tools that suit sellers requirements, but I seriously question Auctiva’s sense of entitlement to a percentile commission on Ebay sales. Just how many companies feel that they are entitled to a percentile commission on a single transaction?
I summarised my views on this elsewhere, in this way:
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If you put a car into an auction, the auctioneer who introduces the buyer to the product, and/or sets up a system to enable higher prices (competitive bidding) earns a commission on the sale. The higher price they get for the vendor, the more they earn for themselves.
If the buyer pays with credit card, the credit card processor will earn a percentile commission for enabling the payment. Auctioneers usually pass on the credit card charges to the buyer in such circumstances, subject to local laws and conditions. Auctioneers will not encourage payment by credit card (unless they own the credit card processor).
If the car is taken into the auction by a driver or tilt tray truck, either operator is paid for the actual work that they do, and in the latter case the weight may determine the costs of the job.
If a detailer is used to present the car for the public, again the detailer is either paid a flat rate for detailing or specific hourly rates. The detailer does not receive a percentile commission on the auction sale of the vehicle.
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Ebay operates an auction / trading site. They supply the tools that lead specifically to binding contractual sales, and introduce buyer to seller. They also supply the tools that allow competitive bidding to increase the sales price to whatever the market is prepared to pay on the day (the same as any auction). Ebay DOES earn their percentile commission on the sales price.
The fact that Ebay owns PayPal and on the American site has made it virtually compulsory on most transactions, actually stacks the odds against the seller/vendor that they will be paying two sets of percentile commissions on their sale.
Auctiva is probably the equivalent of the car detailer. They help to present auctions to make them more attractive to the buyer, and have a range of tools that can be used by the seller to enhance the saleability of the item. However, unless Auctiva is introducing an auction site, they are not introducing buyer to seller, are not enabling the actual sale of the item or enhancing the fundamentals of competitive bidding, and are not processing the financial payment for the item.
I do not understand why they feel an entitlement to a percentile commission for the use of standard tools, or how the same tool being used in the same way can be worth $12.62 on a thousand dollar item, while being viable at 15 cents on a $2.00 item.
Ebay earns a commission on their sales. Auctiva is actually trying to take a commission for the part of the process that Ebay does.
I have no problem with Auctiva charging flat rates for tools for sellers, and I suspect that many sellers would feel that that is justified by the way that those tools enhance their listings, or make the listing process easier for them personally. However I don’t see many sellers accepting that a third company is entitled to a percentile commission for processing the actual sale between buyer and seller.
But that’s just me, Kevin (an old school auction addict)
Posted by Kevin_T on May 31st, 2009.