20091215 Scheduled Maintenence
What: Scheduled Downtime for Maintenance
Who: Affects all AuctionServices.com Members and Customers
When: 1AM Eastern Time, December 15th, 2009
At AuctionServices.com, we constantly seek to improve our products and services. This includes evaluating and implementing recommendations and feedback from auctioneers, but it also includes upgrading our infrastructure and hardware to continue to meet the growing demands and needs of AuctionServices.com’s Members, Member Companies, and organizations we serve. To further increase the performance, availability, reliability, and security of our systems and products, we will be performing after-hours maintenance tasks tonight at 1AM Eastern time, December 15th, 2009 that will require restarting of some of our core servers and services. Doing so will entail necessary, scheduled downtime for AuctionServices.com and AuctionServices.com-related customer websites and portals. We do not expect this downtime to last any more than one hour.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns, and thank you for choosing AuctionServices.com.
Best regards,
– The AuctionServices.com Team
Auctioneer Job Opportunities
The new AuctioneerJobs.com is now live! Click here find out more about exciting auction industry opportunities.
If you’re looking to hire the next guru for your team, click here to post a job to AuctioneerJobs.com. In celebration of the re-launch with our new job software system, we’re giving away 5 job posts for $5 each! Just use the promotion code 5AUCTJOB5 when posting your job.
UPDATED: Zimbra Email Service Impairment
9:43 AM EDT – We are in the process of correcting a database table corruption that has impaired the performance on our Zimbra Communication Service. This may result in inabilities to access webmail and timeouts when trying to use POP3 or IMAP4 clients such as Microsoft Outlook. This notice will be updated as soon as the repair is finished.
UPDATE: 10:56 AM EDT – The Zimbra service is now responding to requests. We are continuing to work on the Zimbra system to restore full functionality and capacity.
UPDATE: 12:30PM EDT – Service is now restored, but there is currently a backlog of email in the Zimbra queue waiting to be delivered. We are flushing the delivery queues as quickly as possible.
UPDATE: 5:00PM EDT – We are continuing to flush the email delivery queue on the Zimbra servers. Due to the exponential rate at which the email deliveries speed up once the queue size becomes more and more manageable, we do not have an estimate at this time as to when all of the emails currently in the queue will be delivered; however, we expect the bulk of the queue to catch up during off-peak hours.
10/21/2009
UPDATE: 9:00AM EDT – As of this morning, the backlog of email in the Zimbra queue was successfully scanned for viruses and delivered to the appropriate inboxes. Thank you for your patience while we worked to resolve this issue. We will continue to monitor the queue throughout the day to ensure it continues to function efficiently.
IBEAM Pricing Feedback
Based on customer feedback and research, we found two areas where our new IBEAM pricing structure is not as competitive with other systems as it should be. We are revisiting the pricing structure so that it will be of more value at all levels across the board and we can still properly support what is needed for this system. We received good feedback and we are listening.
As a footnote from the time we started IBEAM system which was many many years ago our pricing has always been way below every other competitive system out there. This pricing change is not an increase in profit for us but a reinvestment to make the system even better for you!
Over the years lists, sends, requirements and support for an effective email management systems has grown tremendously. Better detailed reporting, faster sends, scheduling, templates, auto replies, bandwidth, better more powerful servers etc. etc. etc. IBEAM has been a real value and I promise it will continue to be.
Please bear with us as we work out some details on our end a little more. Nothing will change until you know well in advance and we hear your valuable feedback so please keep it coming. Thank you!
Two areas of concern are marked with red arrows:
New IBEAM Package Pricing
In June 2008, we launched an upgraded version of our iBEAM software. We received great feedback from our customers. The new product had greater functionality and great new features. We provided this upgraded software at no extra charge to our customers.
The new software was so popular, that after a few months we started to notice some issues. Customers were reporting slow sending and delays. After a thorough investigation, we determined the source of the problem. The number of lists and subscribers in the system, coupled with the volume of emails being sent was overwhelming the email queue at peak times. This acted like a logjam.
As we looked further, we found that a third of iBEAM users have small lists under 500 total subscribers. Another third have lists totaling fewer than 10,000 subscribers. The top third are the heaviest users with total subscribers over 10,000 and some over 100,000.
In order to provide the best service for users at all levels, we decided to move users with larger lists to dedicated servers. Because server space and bandwidth come at a premium, I have made the tough decision to create tiered pricing for iBEAM based on usage. Click here to review the new pricing tiers. We researched the market and feel this new pricing is comparable to, and in some cases better than pricing offered by competitors. We urge you to research this for yourself.
New pricing will go into effect November 1, 2009, based on total subscribers in your list(s) at that time. To determine the package level for your IBEAM account, simply log in at http://ibeam.auctionservices.com/ and look at the “Total active subscribers” number under the Quick Stats section of your main administration dashboard. If you have questions or concerns, please give us a call (540) 206-3311.
Best regards,
Richard Romanus
President & CEO,
AuctionServices.com, Inc.
Half Price National Auction List Newsletter Ads
Regularly $88.50, National Auction List newsletter ads are half price this issue at $44.25! If you haven’t tried one in a while or you’ve never tried a classified in our National Auction List e-newsletter, now is the time!
Tammy Moore Marketing Manager AuctionServices.com www.asmarketingcenter.comTestimonial on AuctionServices web design & Ignite…
Check out my new Web Site: www.serrone.com designed and built by Auction Services.
Previously I had hired the company that created the Serrone & Co. logo to build the web site. After 10 weeks of seeing nothing, I ran into Clif McCormick and Stuart Bain at the NAA Convention. I fired the other company and having already wasted money and time Clif and his crew at Auction Services got to work and finished my site in time for me to make a significant presentation.
What has surprised me the most is the capability of Auction Services IGNITE package. I did not realize what I was buying into but having spent some time really looking at the Ignite Performance Package I was thoroughly impressed with their capabilities.
Thanks Richard Romanus and the entire Auction Services Group for a job well done.
Lou Serrone
Serrone & Co.
www.serrone.com
Office closed Monday, September 7, for Labor Day Holiday
Our business and customer support office will be closed on Monday, September 7, in observance of the Labor Day holiday. Should any emergency situation arrise, please utilize the emergency messaging system at (540) 206-3311. A technician is on call 24/7 to assist.
Our offices will open Tuesday morning, September 8 at 9am per our regularly scheduled business hours.
AuctionServices.com Team
Got bidders? Check out our new Auction Marketing Center site…
We have revised our AS Marketing Center site and updated some of our products and services to help you get the word out about your auctions and bring in the bidders.
Check it out here: www.asmarketingcenter.com
For more information, call or email:
Tammy Moore Marketing Manager AuctionServices.com (540) 206-3311(540) 425-0442 (direct) HIDDEN EMAIL