Official Statement from Auctiva's Kevin K., VP of Engineering

We are proud to have been able to provide you with our eBay listing and marketing tools for free for more than fours years now.

Because we value your business, we want you to be the first to know that, starting in July, some our services will no longer be free.

We did not come to this decision lightly. This adjustment was difficult for us to imagine after four years of being a completely free service. However, the e-commerce landscape is constantly evolving, and it has always been our promise to you to provide a complete e-Commerce solution that will meet your needs today, tomorrow and beyond. The decision to begin charging for some of our services is a direct result of this commitment we make to you. It will help us continue to support our site and add improvements in our quest to become the Web-based solution for those wanting to do e-commerce both on- and off-eBay.

As an eBay seller, we know you have many costs and an ever-increasingly competitive market that reduces your margins. We’re dedicated to providing you with the best service for your hard-earned dollars.

We remain committed to providing you with great tools—that save you time and earn you more money—at a great value. We’ve worked hard to develop flexible pricing options that will be affordable for all sellers.

We want to make this transition as easy as possible for you. We will begin implementing the necessary changes on our site to accommodate our new pricing structure during the first week of June. As a valued customer, you'll have 30 days to evaluate and select a pricing plan, and we’ll even help identify your best plan choice.

For more detailed information about our pricing plans, read "Auctiva Enters New Era" from Auction Education.

In an effort to get the word out to our customers as quickly as possible, we're emailing a letter from CEO Jeff Schlicht that announces the change. Additionally, we'll be hosting several webinars entitled "Auctiva: Our Vision" where you’ll hear from both Jeff and Tony Maxey, Auctiva's senior product manager, about the software upgrades and the new pricing structure that will be released to the site in early June.

In this dedicated Forum discussion, we’re also posting anticipated Q&As. Additional staff will be on-hand over the weekend to monitor the forums and help you get your questions answered. 

Your business is very important to us. If there is anything we can do to ease this transition for you, please contact customer support.

Kevin K
VP Engineering
Auctiva

Auctiva's Move from Free to Fee

Interesting new article on www.auctionbytes.com: 

eBay Sellers Squeezed with Auctiva's Move from Free to Fee.

New Store on Buyitsellit

We are wondering if anyone has any experience w/buyitsellit? Feel free to post your comments.

Kayleigh Anne Freeman (June 23, 2008 - May 11, 2009 )

Kayleigh Anne Freeman lost her battle yesterday. What a brave little girl she was. We all love you precious angel.

Bring Food and Hope to a Hungry Child

The latest report from Children's Hunger Fund, one of the Charities benefiting from Handbags4Hunger customer's purchases. 

A program report from Children's Hunger Fund® May 2009 Dear Lisa, Thank you for taking part in the exciting work God is doing through Children's Hunger Fund! Below is another great way for you and your family to get involved in serving the needs of poor children around the world. What can 5¢ do? A nickel? A dime? A dollar? What can they really do to help a child suffering in poverty? You may be surprised to know how far a nickel can go.   According to a recent UNICEF report, over 25,000 children under five years old die every day due to poverty, hunger, and preventable diseases. This horrifying statistic may stop you in your tracks, causing you to re-read it. It may overwhelm you with grief. It may paralyze you with the thought of the world's futile efforts to solve it. You may choose to ignore it. Or, it may energize you with a passion to find a heroic solution.   No matter how that fact affects you, you must surely see the need for intervention on behalf of these desperate little ones.   The current economic crisis is a hard reminder that resources are limited. With limited resources, the ability to act on a grand scale is limited too. But limited resources can't stop us from acting on an individual basis. In fact, it takes very little to bring food and hope to a hungry child.   Children's Hunger Fund has access to an incredible product made specifically for children suffering from malnutrition and hunger. It is a dehydrated, vitamin-fortified, casserole mix made with rice and soy. It was designed with multiple cultures in mind and tastes pretty good too. Here's where you come in. It costs around $12,000 to send a sea container full of rice casserole to the countries where CHF serves. There are approximately 240,000 servings shipped per sea container, so that is a cost of 5¢ per serving for a child in need. This month, we are asking our supporters, friends like you, to help us ship sea containers full of aid, like the rice casserole to our international Mercy Networks. With a gift of $20 you could provide 400 meals for a church outreach program in Perú. A gift of $100 could provide 2,000 meals for orphans in Ghana. If you are considering a more significant gift to the work of CHF, you could fund a whole sea container of rice casserole to one of our international Mercy Networks - that's nearly ¼ million meals - for $12,000 or $1,000 per month!   Will you consider joining with us to help impact one hungry child at a time this month? Together we can make an incredible difference for the children we serve. Thank you so much for your faithful support of Children's Hunger Fund. You can donate online here. Your gifts help us to change the future for so many young children! May God richly bless you for your generosity! Gratefully, Dave Phillips President, Children's Hunger Fund

Happy Mother's Day To Mothers Around the Globe

My 5 year old gave me a card today that is too sweet:

I think of all the things you do,

And then I know why I love you.

You make me breakfast, and wash my clothes.

You take me places I want to go.

You teach me things, you read to me.

You help me become what I want to be.

You sing me songs, you hold me tight.

You  hold my hand in the dark of night.

In all the world I know it's true,

There is no mom just like you!

Happy Mother's Day 2009

Heartbroken

I just found the saddest story about the sweetest little girl fighting for her life, and the incredibly brave and eloquent parents writing about their struggle to save her. This story will change you forever. Please visit Kayleigh's blog and consider helping the family in some way - from prayer to donating to their mounting medical bills.

This story matches the weather here today - gray and somber. Dear Lord please give this family a miracle so they may finally bring their baby home.

It's Official

Well it's official - I'm changing e-commerce hosts - from Auctiva Commerce to Buyitsellit. It's a no brainer really! Why fight bugs when you can just roll along easily with BISI? It's so much easier to open a store and manage it with NO hassles.

Stamp out hunger on Saturday - MyNorthwest.com

Stamp out hunger on Saturday - MyNorthwest.com

If you spotted a blue plastic bag in your mailbox today you know it's that time again.
The NALC Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive is going on next Saturday, May 9th. In addition to the usual letters and packages, mail carriers will be collecting non-perishable food donations left at mailboxes and in post offices. They will then deliver the goods to local community food banks, pantries and shelters.

To participate, all you have to do is fill up that blue plastic bag (or any other grocery bag) with non-perishable food. Then leave the bag by your mailbox before the letter carrier delivers the mail on Saturday.

This is the largest one-day food drive in the nation. Last year, 73,113,915 pounds of food were collected for the needy from postal customers.

Almost 35.5 people go hungry every day in America, including 13 million children. Participating in the food drive is one way people can help needy families from around the area.

By ANGELINE CANDIDO
MyNorthwest.com

Time for our Mother's Day Sale at Handbags4Hunger