With eBay's parts compatibility feature coming soon to more eBay Motors categories—and delivering a Best Match boost to listings that use it—this feature took center stage during Auctiva's latest release cycle.
But parts compatibility is not the only new feature Auctiva introduced this week to make selling easier for its customers, according to Tony Maxey, Auctiva's senior product manager. Auctiva users will also be better prepared for eBay's upcoming item condition requirement, and they'll have access to a revamped Help section to get the most out of their Auctiva accounts.
Later this month, Auctiva also plans to unveil a new and improved Welcome Center with new informative video and tutorial content that will help new users get up and running with Auctiva quickly and easily.
Auctiva always looks for ways to make its software easier to use, and these enhancements are another step in that direction, Maxey explains.
Users can create parts compatibility listings right from Auctiva's One-Page Lister
Getting the right fit
eBay began supporting parts compatibility for both fixed-priced and auction-style listings in March in several eBay Motors categories, including Air Intake & Fuel Delivery; Exterior; Lighting, Lamps & Accessories; and Tires & Wheels. This feature provides a better way for sellers to offer their parts on the site and for buyers to find what they want, says Mohan Patt, eBay Motors senior manager of product development.
Parts compatibility listings allow sellers to focus on describing the item they have for sale and not the vehicles these parts are compatible with, as they had in the past, he explains. Before parts compatibility, sellers would often create several listings for one product, knowing that buyers expected to see which vehicles these parts were compatible with in a listing's title.
"You can only fit so much into a title. You can't fit 20 different cars," Patt explains. "Our sellers are very creative, so they would create 10 different listings for the same product."
Now sellers can create just one listing, pay one listing fee, focus on the part itself in their title and description, and add the compatibility information by looking for the item in eBay's catalog, or by entering this information manually and it will show up in their posted listing essentially like a second subtitle, Patt says.
Auctiva supports both options for creating parts compatibility listings right from the One-Page Lister, Maxey notes. Users can find and select their part using eBay's catalog and compatibility data, or enter that information manually. Read more about the parts compatibility feature in Auctiva's Help section.
In addition to saving on listing fees, sellers who use parts compatibility will also get a boost in Best Match because, Patt says, it provides buyers with a better shopping experience and promotes trust. "We want sellers to use this," he adds.
"eBay has clearly articulated the significant benefits that parts compatibility listings provide to sellers, including savings provided by the elimination of redundant listings, and also from the boost their listings will receive in Best Match," Maxey adds. "We are delighted to provide Auctiva sellers the ability to create these listings fully integrated with all of Auctiva tools. We strive to be the listing tool of choice for eBay sellers, and delivering parts compatibility listing capability is an important part of fulfilling that objective."
Auctiva took a proactive approach to help sellers comply with this new requirement by supporting it ahead of eBay's deadline
New, used and what have you
Specifying an item's condition should also be helpful to sellers by reducing the number of returns and buyer questions, according to eBay. The site will begin requiring item condition on July 27 for items in more than 35 categories, including Art, Baby, Books, Camera & Photo, and Clothing, Shoes & Accessories. Listings that don't include this information will fail to post.
Auctiva took a proactive approach to help sellers comply with this new requirement by updating the One-Page Lister ahead of eBay's deadline. Now when users create a listing in one of these 35 categories, they are prompted to specify the item's condition from eBay's new list of item conditions.
To make sure customers' saved listings are also in compliance, Auctiva developers expanded Auctiva's Find & Replace feature to enable customers to revise item conditions in their saved listings. Good Til Cancelled listings have until 2011 to comply with the new item condition requirement, but Auctiva is already considering giving sellers the ability to add this information to these listings ahead of time, Maxey says.
Help, now even more helpful
Auctiva's Help section has also been revamped. Help content now has its own primary navigation tab on Auctiva.com, making these resources even easier to find. The main help page itself also underwent a redesign that brought more of the content "above the fold" and made our help videos and tutorials searchable, just as FAQs were, previously.
"Auctiva's hallmark is using software to help its users become more effective and efficient," explains Communications Manager Robert Green. "The changes to our help content are just an extension of that principle.
"As we enhance Auctiva.com with new tools, we aren't just trying to check off a box on some chart that compares our features against our competitors'," Green adds. "We're looking for the best ways to implement these features to make them powerful, flexible and easy to use in our ongoing commitment to save sellers time and money while also helping them increase their sales."
More details on the updates included in this latest release are available in this Auctiva Community Forum post.