Take Another Look At AUCTION WATCH --It's outstanding for sellers!
Written: Dec 10 '02 (Updated Dec 15 '02)
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| Full Review |
Sellers can manager their auctions from one place--list, manage, track payments, ship, track packages, leave feedback, and more! This service makes the chore of auctioning easier for not much money.
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IMPROVEMENTS MEAN IT’S TIME TO TAKE A SECOND LOOK!
There hasn’t been a recent review of AuctionWatch.com, and they’ve made a lot of large changes, so I decided it was time to update.
I use Auction Watch myself and have off and on for the last 4 years. I sell sporadically on eBay and just recently finished over 200 holiday auctions—a feat that would have been impossible without the help of Auction Watch.
I stopped using it originally shortly after they started charging for services. Since I don’t sell year round, it wasn’t a financially smart move to sign up for a monthly service I wouldn’t be using.
Auction Watch listened to its customers and as come up with a menu of services that fits nearly everyone’s needs—and one that is flexible with the ability to change as the users needs change.
THE PLANS
There is a plan for everyone—I use the STANDARD PLAN which has no monthly fee, and listings are $0.10/$0.05 ($0.10 per listing for the first 50 listings and $0.05 for additional listings per monthly payment period) and a FINAL VALUE FEE of 1% of sold items only, $4.95 maximum per item. An example, I sold a Disney Collector’s piece—it cost me .10 cents to list and .41 cents for final value. What did I get for my 51 cents? FREE PHOTO HOSTING and POST AUCTION handling. There are plans that do not charge Final Value Fees and others that charge less per listing—all are spelled out and there’s assistance in finding the one that best fits your needs.
PHOTO HOSTING
There are several ways to put pictures in your eBay ad. The cheapest is to use eBays IPIX which is free for the first photo. The downfall is you have no say in where the photo is placed in the ad—it is automatically placed at the bottom of the ad, not an advantageous spot. Secondly, the photo is compressed in quality so that it takes less server space—the problem with that is that the photo cannot be enlarged for details by your buyer—something that’s very important in the collectible market.
Another option is to host your own photo on your web site or free server space offered by your ISP. The problem with this is people can link to your photo (stolen photos are a problem on eBay) and this can cause extra traffic on your server. Some ISPs limit the traffic allowed and some charge for the extra traffic.
The way I choose to host pictures is through Auction Watch. With all plans the photos are FREE! you can host as many as you like and the size is quite adequate for allowing potential buyers to zoom in and see all the details. I regularly place 3-4 photos in my auction listings—Auction Watch converts them to thumbnails (smaller versions that load quickly) which link to the full-size photos.
If you choose to use AW’s photo hosting only, and not the Manager, you can do so for 10 cents per photo.
AUCTION TEMPLATES
As a web designed I appreciate the easy-to-use templates. It allows novices to produce professional-quality auctions. Their easy-to-use auction interface reminds you to include the important information. The only drawback is there aren’t enough templates for my taste. There is minimal customization of the templates, and if you search eBay much you’ll recognize the templates…this is one area I hope they improve on.
AUCTION INTERFACE
This service works with all the big online auctions, but I’ve only used it with eBay. They are exceptionally fast at keeping up with eBay’s changes making them a great addition to my eBay auctions. You have the ability to schedule when your auction will be listed—a huge advantage since you can work anytime on the listings (I do so very late at night) and have them list and thus close at times that are more likely to catch buyers. Ebay offers this now but charges extra for the service. You can also set up an AW Store (I chose not to) that will be advertised to your winning bidders.
POST SALE
AW has the best after-the-auction assistance around. You can set it up to automatically send a winning bidder e-mail or do it manually—whichever is more comfortable for you. Follow the steps for receiving payments, shipping items, tracking them, and closing out the sale for a perfect auction experience! There’s even assistance in helping when you have a non-paying-bidder and need to file a final value refund. Relisting items is done with one simple click.
ONLINE STATEMENTS
You can verify your balance at anytime, change your plan in seconds, and change your personal information (e-mail, etc.) in just a few clicks.
CONCLUSION
I’ve tried many other auction services—one’s that were downloaded to my computer (the worst as it could only be accessed from the computer it was downloaded on to—no way to list or check auctions if I was away from that computer) and others that were web-based (no other web-based service has the reliability of AW—crashes and days of not being able to list were a problem).
Auction Watch is web-based so it’s available from anywhere in the world. I can go on vacation and still manage my auctions from any Internet connection. I also have the convenience of setting up AW to take care of most of the post-auction procedures automatically (although all the information is personalized by me so the e-mails are not impersonal or canned like some services) while I’m at the beach.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
briandalsmom
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Member: Mom
Location: USA
Reviews written: 250
Trusted by: 192 members
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