Vacation and Other Enhancements

After reviewing members’ feedback, a vacation feature is now available for all sellers. Sellers can set their accounts to be on vacation for a minimum of 3 days. Items will remain active for buyers to only ask questions. Sellers can customize a vacation message to be displayed on their profile page. Their item detail and store pages will have a default vacation message. Seller icons will be replaced with a vacation icon until they return from vacation.

You may update your vacation setting in your selling preferences. Learn more about the vacation feature here.

When creating or editing an item listing, the item preview will now match the look of the item detail page to provide a better visual of the item listing. Updating changes is now easier and more convenient with better navigation links.

We have added and improved many item categories to enhance the category browsing experience. These categories will also be applied toward new listings, bulk uploads, and item transfers.

Thank you for your patience in our continual process to improve the iOffer website.

Group Offers

To help optimize our members' buying and selling experience, we have added a new feature we're calling "Group Offer".

Buyers can send a single offer to multiple sellers on similar or matching items, saving time and energy while increasing their chances of getting what they want. The first seller to accept the offer wins the buyer's business.

Sellers are encouraged to update their notification settings to be notified immediately once they receive a new offer. The remaining offers in the Group Offer will automatically be retracted once the first seller in the group accepts.

For more information, please visit the Group Offers FAQ.

More Enhancements for iOffer

After reviewing many suggestions, we have upgraded some of iOffer's features to improve the website's usability for our members. These improvements include a new look to the "Questions and Offers" board in item listings and the "Questions and Answers" board in the want ad pages. Accepted offers and bought items will now be highlighted with a green shade to increase its visibility and importance.

All image uploads are now FREE.Feel free to add more pictures when you create new item listings, and preview them immediately with the new image upload process.

Members are now able to modify sub-categories when editing an item listing.

To maintain a safe and secure online community, we have also upgraded security checks in the member registration process.

Thank you for all the suggestions. We appreciate your support and commitment to iOffer.

Member Rating Page Upgrades

In addition to our updated rating system to present a more accurate percentage of members' past transactions, we have improved the look of the ratings page with softer tabs to view all ratings, ratings from buyers, ratings from sellers, and ratings left for others.

We also added a new link to direct you to the item you last viewed from the seller in the 'Quick Links' box, giving you a convenient way to return to the item detail page.

Website Improvements

In our continual process to enhance the iOffer website and maintain the website's user friendliness, we have made improvements to the 'My iOffer' message center and the item negotiation process.

Messages will now be automatically archived once they are read or acted upon. Old and invalid negotiations have been cleared out of the message center to keep it up to date. Members can now use the 'Buy Now' button at any point in the item negotiation process. Improved 'Question and Offer' reply pages are easier to understand and use.

In addition, we have shortened the page-loading time in the community club pages and the Swap center. Member searches will provide more relevant results based on recent activities. Our updated rating system will present a more accurate percentage of members' past transactions.

Thank you for your dedication to iOffer. We hope you are having a wonderful experience with us.

Recent Upgrades & Enhancements

Recently we have been experiencing a delay in the process of item updates and listings changes and been working hard to resolve this issue. With a redesign of our item index system, all future item updates and listings changes will be made and visible within one to two hours, depending on the amount of inventory we get in any given day. Loading speed of search results has also been increased by loading the 'hot items' section on the left bar after the cebter content of the page loads.

Sorry for any inconveniences this may have caused. We are in a continual process to make further upgrades to our site.

Thank you for your support and commitment to iOffer.

Google Checkout integration

We have added support for sellers to give buyers the option of Google Checkout as an alternate form of payment.

To add Google Checkout to your list of accepted payment options simply enter your Google Merchant ID on your Seller Preference page

We have also added support for Western Union payments.

Update your Seller Preferences

Store Widget

We have created a Store Widget to allow sellers to feature their iOffer items anywhere on the web.

The widget is customizable and you can select from 10 pre-defined themes and two different layouts. You control what items you wish to display and what order.
Here is a sample widget:

New Features

We have received several requests to allow the removal of friends from your profile page and have added this feature.
When you are logged in and looking at your friends list there is a link that will allow you to remove individual users from your page.

iOfferLite program ended

As of February 1st, 2008 we will no longer allow items to be listed using the iOfferLite option. Any items that have been listed in iOfferLite will remain as a "iOfferLite" item and will be subject to no final value fee, however no new items can be listed with the iOfferLite option.

Site Updates

Redesign of the Seller Center page. We've re-organized the layout and actions on this page to make it easier to find out all the different ways to list items on iOffer. We've also added quick links to all Selling related actions in the left column for logged in sellers.

New password "meter" and registration tips added to the new user confirmation page. The idea of adding these is to help new users select a strong password to prevent unauthorized access to their iOffer account.

Failsafe listing path added to the item listing form. When a seller tries to list an item using a browser that may have any javascript issues we will automatically take them into the listing form to allow their item to be listed. Previously if there was a javascript error the listing form page wouldn't load.

New offer forms on items

We've made it easier to purchase an item and added what we call a "simple" path.

The previous Make Offer, Buy Now and Ask Question forms on the item detail page used advanced javascript that would scroll your browser down to the bottom of the page. The problem we found with this was that it caused a lot of issues with older computers and the like. We've re-engineered these forms and now open up a new layer so there is no scrolling.

The "simple path" provides a method to complete a purchase even if you encounter issues with the new forms. By clicking on the "Help with this page" link on the item detail you can go to a very basic form page to Make an Offer, Ask a Question or Buy Now.

New and improved listing forms

The listing forms have been given a complete overhaul. We've re-organized the page and added a few new features:

1. Easy to use drop down menus for category and subcategory
2. Easy access to pre-fill your previous keywords (clicking on the "previous keywords" link)
3. Larger description box to describe your items (the previous one was too small)
4. Preview or Create listing buttons - You can choose to preview your listing or simply create and move on to the next one

Scheduled Downtime

On October 20, 2007 11PM PST - Our datacenter is upgrading several power distribution units in our location and we will need to power down all of our equipment during the upgrade.

We are planning on this during our slowest traffic time which happens to be a Saturday night. It is scheduled to start around midnight and last 1-2 hours.
Thank you for your patience during this time.

Mr. Grabber application now entirely Web Based!

We have archived the Mr. Grabber client application that was needed to transfer items and ratings from other auction sites and made in completly web based. By getting rid of this application we can better manage updates and keep an eye on possible issues with Mr. Grabber.

First time users of Mr. Grabber can simply enter their remote site user id & password (we never store this and is only used one time to authenticate your account) to get started. When your account is successfully authenticated your items and/or ratings should be transferred within a couple of hours, depending on the number of items you may have.

Read our entire Mr. Grabber FAQ's

iOffer gets a new look

We've completely redesigned our homepage as well our our header. The header now has several features that will help both buyers and sellers alike.

• Saved "History" - Searches and items you visit are easily retrieved
• Quick access to the most important pages on the site
• My iOffer areas can all be accessed in one click now
• Buy categories accessible on any page

We'll be enhancing the header a bit more over the next couple weeks, so keep an eye out and we love to hear your feedback!

Mr. Grabber application now entirely Web Based!

We have archived the Mr. Grabber client application that was needed to transfer items and ratings from other auction sites and made in completly web based. By getting rid of this application we can better manage updates and keep an eye on possible issues with Mr. Grabber.

First time users of Mr. Grabber can simply enter their remote site user id & password (we never store this and is only used one time to authenticate your account) to get started. When your account is successfully authenticated your items and/or ratings should be transferred within a couple of hours, depending on the number of items you may have.

Read our entire Mr. Grabber FAQ's

iOffer Swap released

We are proud to announce something NEW for our members!

Innovative & easy to use ’Swap‘ allows members to swap items with ease. Everything is built into your store listings and functions. There is a ’Let's Swap‘ button on the item detail page. Clicking this button will allow you to start a swap with another member.

How does the Swap process work?

The swap process is fairly straight forward, the steps to swapping are below:

1. Make sure you have Items Listed
2. Post more Want Ads so other swappers know what you want
3. Find an item you are interested in swapping
4. Click on the ’Swap‘ button to initiate a swap
5. Fill out the Swap Invitation form (you can send comment to the other swapper)
6. The other swapper will receive your invitation to swap and decide if they wish to swap with you
7. You will receive messages via your iOffer inbox letting you know if the swapper selected items from your store to swap

Read our Swap FAQ's now and have some fun swapping!

New Help layout

We have better organized our help section updated with the most frequently asked questions we receive. This includes an updated set of buyer and seller safety guides as well as safe trading tips and buyer and seller help. We hope that providing this information should assist most users to find what they are looking for.

Simply click on the Help button located in the upper right hand side of our header to find easy access to any question that you may have.

Want Ad Homepage & Snag a Sale

We have added a new tab in the navigation bar that leads to our Want Ad homepage.This page is designed for both buyers and sellers alike;

• Sellers can find new Want Ads posted from buyers
• Buyers can see how fast our Want Ad system works by browsing our Recent Finds area (Want Ads with responses)
• Sellers can also browse Snag a Sale* items and list items to current negotiations.

ID Card summary & Banners page

Due to popular demand, we've brought back some banners to help promote your iOffer store & profile: Click here to place on your external blog, myspace, any other site you are using.

We've added an ’ID‘ card summary to profile pictures. Take a look at the ratings page and hover over the mini avatars on the right hand side and you will be presented with an ID Card summary of the user.

New and improved Header

We've released a new header that centers on an action that over 95% of users who visit the site perform; search. The search box has been enlarged and its size reflects the dominant action on the site. Most people come to iOffer looking for something and we want to make sure they find it. We've also re-organized our header navigation to allow for the smallest of screen sizes to work with our header. The logout link is now located on the left hand side while the login boxes are on the right.

Keep me logged in

We have added a feature that will allow you to remain logged in everytime you visit the site (for a period of 2 weeks).

To enable this feature, simply check the checkbox on the login page http://www.ioffer.com/login

Seller Center Updates

We've redesigned the layout of the entire Seller center:

The new layout has drop down lists of available actions that can be performed. We have also added a mini-thumbnail of your item with a magnifying feature so you can view the larger format if desired.

Item Detail Updates

After digging through nearly 6 months of data collected from our Item Detail page we've redesigned the layout and added a vertical item scroller.

The most widely used link on the item detail page is ’View Sellers Other Items‘ so we thought it would be more convenient to allow the buyer to ’browse‘ other items without leaving the item detail page

We've also re-positioned the ’Action‘ links (Buy Now, Make Offer, Ask Question) on the left hand side of the page. Another new feature we've added is the ability to ’zoom‘ on large format pictures. This can be found on items that have large format images by clicking on the Zoom icon in the right hand corner under the image.