Vendio Free Store Offer
Vendio is offering a free online store as described in our previous article/Review on the All Business Auctions Blog:
Does anyone have a follow up on this service and the effectiveness of the free ecommerce store Vendio is offering to the public?
If you do, please chime in here on the TAJ Forum with your thoughts!
Thanks!
Scott
Warning....
Ok, the drama started June 1st when Auctiva sent out an email to anyone and everyone who had ever done business with them. I know this because I received one of those emails and I have not done business with them in like - oh I dunno - 4 years maybe? In any case, it was a sweet hello and by the way, we now have to charge for the services that we have been providing for "free" all these years.
Why? you ask? Well, simply because the eBay Partner Network is so screwed up that we no longer generate enough revenue from our affiliate plan to support giving away the software for free. Oh, and we have been cut off, because - well we don't really understand why, with 20% of the eBay sellers using our tools, but our revenue stream just dried all the way up with 30 days notice! (I am paraphrasing).
OK - from my point of view - no surprises here... I had always known that Auctiva was simply a huge eBay affiliate and I also knew that the eBay Partner Network has been cutting affiliates to the bone since it was created. This is, in my opinion, one of the many reasons why eBay has less traffic now than they did when Commission Junction was running the affiliate program, a point I have made in the past.
So whats the big surprise? Auctiva must make money, they are a business and can not be expected to give away services without compensation, if that compensation does not come from affiliate revenue, it can only come from the user. - No story here - right?
It seems that while I did not immediately follow the reaction which developed from this revelation from Auctiva's announcement it seems that the world went mad... The eBay world that is...
That's it in a nutshell, all good things in life are not free and to expect them to be free, especially in regards to a tool or service used for the advancement and management of an online business... is a myopic and naive point of view. I am so sorry eBay sellers, but to gain access to the very complicated software required to transmit secure information back and forth between your computer and the eBay API you can not expect to not pay one red cent. I know, I had my own eBay management software brand, this is not childsplay - it is labor intensive hard work to keep up with the eBay API.
eBay charges you for almost everything that they can get away with and you gladly come back to the trough time and again to contribute, but when a third party software company expects to be paid for making your life easier - Wo Nellie! We are off the Tracks!
I understand all of you Auctiva users became spoiled by the free bandwagon all of these years and in exchange for the free nature of the product you put up with some of the major drawbacks of using the Auctiva tools, it was a tradeoff... Free listing tools and management for almost no support and a very clunky program, but hey - you loved the free part.
Now you find out that - oh my gawd - Auctiva was making money after all... and even worse than that, they made this money through what? oh please don't tell me, AFFILIATE commissions off of the sale of my products listed on eBay? Oh the horror - How dare they?
Get a Grip People! - There is nothing wrong with being an affiliate - without the affiliate program developed under Commission Junction for eBay, the place would never have had as much traffic as all of you so love to quote that it has (or had before CJ got the boot).
My experience with using Auctiva has been limited, I checked out the listing tool in the past, did not like it, and moved on.
I knew enough back then to realize my business needed a paid solution which had reliable support and which worked more smoothly.
(I went with AuctionSound by the way, a software I highly recommend but no longer use).
The time saved by using a reliable and well thought out program to automate my selling on eBay, more than paid for the software expense. I will never agree that a free offering could be as efficient as a paid solution. Especially when dealing with eBay listing software.
Of course Auctiva has updated the program since my early trial so I can not say how it works now but for my MONEY, trusting my business operations to a FREE software package did not make sense.
Thousands of eBay sellers disagreed with my assessment however and happily dipped in the trough at the Auctiva soup kitchen to operate small eBay businesses or hobby selling activities for free (plus eBay fees - always remember the eBay fees).
Great, no argument from me, but for those same people to now act as though this "Free" status was somehow an entitlement that would last forever just tends to offend the business person inside of me.
I have no trouble with paying money to help me make money - this is hurdle many eBay sellers need to overcome!
This last week has been a maelstrom of attacks upon the management team and CEO of Auctiva. From bloggers and journalists to customers and competitors - it seems everyone felt that Auctiva had somehow ripped them off or personally attacked the eBay world by actually proposing to charge for services.
Sure - the fee structure could end up costing a pretty penny but it was not unlike several other paid software plans.
Many good quality eBay listing platforms such as InkFrog, Vendio, and MerchantRun-Globallink charge for their services and does anyone in the room think that Channel Advisor or Infopia will offer a free software or eBay listing services any time soon?
It is up to the merchant to evaluate the features, service, and workflow of each software package or vendor program, then select the one that fits within their business plan, their user/operator needs and capabilities and the businesses budget. Free should not be the deciding factor!
The attacks have been merciless and after a week of soundly being beaten up from all corners of the eBay universe, Auctiva has cried UNCLE!
Today, I received, along with millions of other former Auctiva users, another nice little note from Auctiva and it's CEO Jeff Schlicht.... It said... Basically...
Pardon the Paraphrase here Jeff....
Auctiva will NOT charge high fees for the software used by thousands to list stuff on eBay, we will however charge $9.99 a month just as InkFrog does! We are sooo sorry, we dared to try and remove your eBay entitlement to free software, but seriously - this whole eBay Partner Network thing is not working out for us... We gotta charge something... like please let us charge something, won't you?....
Quoting from the email:
Since we first announced our new pricing structure, I've been listening to the community's concerns. Considering the frank feedback you've provided, through email, surveys, customer support cases, our community messages boards and other forums, a few facts are abundantly clear:
- You'd prefer a simple, no-surprises flat-rate pricing structure.
- You don't want to pay any additional FVFs.
- You want image hosting included.
- Your margins are tight.
If you are asking yourself, "Why didn't they just use this pricing in the beginning?" the answer is that I thought our customers would like to have the choice of picking a tailored plan based on usage. Clearly, I was wrong.
At least you got Auctiva's name mentioned on the Internet about a bajillion more times than this time last year with your "free" program. (Always looking for the silver lining). More people know about Auctiva today than when the product was free, so seriously ... was this some sort of master PR stunt or marketing plan? I mean, eBay has not upset the masses lately and they have stayed out of the daily news cycle for several months, pretty much licking old wounds, could it be that you learned from the eBay induced turmoil of last year and decided to get a little negative attention flowing your way? Just for Grins and Giggles? Maybe?
I think Auctiva sincerely is trying to survive in an ever tightening eBay solutions marketplace and I think the eBay community should cut them some slack. They may have not been one of my favorite software packages in the past, but there is no reason to beat them into submission when times are tough. (Hmmm, I guess this article to too little too late - job done).
A lot of people are familiar with the Auctiva system and is it really too much to ask to give them a break?
I mean $9.99 a month is a small price to pay, unless you can get it for free.
Hmmm Vendio, did you say something? (Vendio is offering a free solution throughout 2009)
Vendio Platform Previewed by Robert Scoble
Robert Scoble is a fairly famous blogger, videographer, photographer and all around tech critic/guru. he has worked with all of the big tech conglomerates including Microsoft, Fast Money, and now RackSpace (More details about Scoble available via the link attached to his name).
While his interview of the powers that be at Vendio was not exactly from the perspective of a well informed ecommerce specialist or writer, (He refers or defers to his ex-wife's experiences with eBay) this video does offer some insight into how the platform Vendio has assembled works. Scoble does not venture into our world of eCommerce often so I find it interesting that this interview even occurred. Good job Vendio!
For more information about the Vendio Platform, read my review on the All Business Auctions Blog
This Article has been republished from the All Business Auctions Blog
From the very first day of my involvement within the eCommerce world, the holy grail of selling online included offering product on multiple venues yet managing that inventory from one central location or software package. Personally I have worked towards that goal for several years, working with developers and designers who had greater resources than my own and trying to convince them of the need for an entry level multi- channel solution. It's always nice to know you had the right idea all along, even if someone else implements it before you do.
What the company has to say about it's new eCommerce solution:
The Vendio Platform is a complete eCommerce solution that includes a robust, feature-rich online store as well as item, order and customer management – all for free. It doesn’t matter whether a merchant sells 10 or 10,000 items in their Vendio store – they pay no web hosting fees, imaging hosting fees, listing fees or success fees. There is no catch. No gimmicks.
Vendio doesn’t even require a credit card to sign up for the Platform.
Features of the Vendio Platform with free online store:
Again, Vendio offers all these store features as well as the sales management, for free. Just because the Vendio store is free, doesn’t mean that it’s subpar to existing paid store offerings on the market such a Pro Store or a Yahoo Store. Here is a helpful feature matrix that differentiates the Vendio store from just some of its competitors.
[SinglePic not found]What’s most unique and powerful about the Vendio Platform is that all items uploaded into the Platform are automatically placed in the store, immediately available for sale.
If a merchant wants to reach more buyers in places where they shop, such as eBay, Amazon or Google, then they can easily extend the Platform to multiple marketplaces for a small monthly fee plus percentage of sales. Extending the Platform means that the merchant uses just one set of inventory details for as many marketplaces as they’d like to sell on – all managed from one, single interface. This results in countless saved hours and inventory management control mix-ups.
Screenshots from the Vendio Platform Website and from the Application itself:
[Gallery not found]The pricing plan is here: Vendio Pricing Page
For merchants who are interested in extending the Vendio Platform to marketplaces, Vendio is currently offering a 60 Day Trial. Along with the trial comes a great bonus – Vendio is waiving its Amazon fees for the rest of 2009.
What "Others" are saying - Robert Scoble interview with the Vendio Founders
My Take on the Vendio Platform eCommerce /software solution:
Scott's Take
Vendio has a long history as a third party software and applications developer and is a familiar company to eBay sellers. The work that has obviously gone into this multi-channel solution is very apparent and indicates a long standing understanding about how merchants, especially eBay merchants, work to get product online.
Usability: I give it a 8 on a scale of 10
Functionality: I say 9 on a scale of 10
Intimidation Factor: 3 on a scale of 10
The Vendio platform may indeed be the light at the end of a long tunnel for many eBay merchants, especially if they have not yet expanded beyond eBay to sell on other channels or on their own web store.
If you are an experienced eBay seller, this Vendio Platform solution will give you the confidence to go forth and find new markets, to boldly go into the ecommerce world - feet first, while knowing that you will have familiar surroundings and procedures available at all times. No need to leave the comfortable blanket that is eBay or the traffic the megasite produces, yet with the Vendio Platform tools, new markets await that may help you to see beyond the eBay safety net. Expanding into multi-channel ecommerce is the next logical step for any eBay merchant.
The software has been extremely well thought out, it is apparent that years of development work went into this package. And the prior experience with an eBay focused offering shows through here.
Importing existing eBay listings is an easy proceedure and once complete all can be converted to free web store listings.
Importing eBay Listings
The control panel is well laid out and the instructions are comprehensive as can be seen by reviewing this extensive create listings PDF found in the help section. Or you can read it here before you sign up for your free account.
Keep in mind this is just one of the 23 extensive help manuals available for download on the site:
Cons:
While the platform has had a great deal of sweat equity poured into it prior to launch in March of 2009, this does not mean that the new platform is completely finished.
One example of need for improvement comes when users begin to list a new item. The list new item screen (which is a one page piece of organized well thought out web engineering) unfortunately does not have an integrated image upload function. A user must first go to Images -> upload images and then create a folder to then upload images one at a time to the site. Then come back to create a new item and choose the folder where the images reside to include those images in a new listing. Obviously this process needs to be refined to allow for a faster method of uploading image files directly from the listing form. I contacted my Vendio contacts about this issue to find out if there were any way to speed up the process? I had an answer back within 1/2 hour - the entire image upload process is being re-worked and should be complete in a few weeks.
It seems that not only does this company listen to their users, but they also act on the needs of the users to improve the product.
Overall Impression: I say give Vendio a try, the ecommerce webstore is free forever and with an eBay import you can easily see how the system works for you. Having the ability to test products and control inventory on Amazon and eBay as well as in other search driven marketing and a stand alone ecommerce store from one control panel is the ideal solution that I have been looking for ages. Vendio as a company has been working with eBay sellers for a long time and they know the business. One does need to keep in mind that optional features incur monthly charges but the base online webstore is completely free. Why not give it a test drive?
Additional Tid Bit: One feature that Vendio does not tout regarding this free hosted webstore that I find most intriguing is that the eCommerce webstore package can be added to any existing domain. In other words if you have a business with an existing brochure style website and you would like to add an ecommerce shopping cart to that site without all the expense or hassel of starting over from scratch, give Vendio a hard look. By following a few simple instructions and simply creating a folder on your server with a single FTP upload a small piece of code your website can almost instantly become and eCommerce website. http://mywebsite.com becomes http://mywebsite.com/store with a fully functional ecommerce shopping cart that is secure and can accept multiple forms of payment. How cool is that? And it is Free!
Here is a table of existing Vendio Webstores for your review: