If you have questions about ahTEXT, you're in the right place. Below you'll find our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), our Getting Started Guide, and our Advanced Management Guide.
What does ahTEXT really do?
ahTEXT is a service that
automatically monitors your eBay account for
several types of activity. Depending on what that activity is, ahTEXT
will send you a text message on your mobile device.
What types of events does ahTEXT monitor?
ahTEXT can monitor all types of
events. From the perspective of a seller (that's you), you
would be interested in questions from buyers or best offers from
buyers. You may also be interested in getting a notification
every time you make a sale on eBay. Depending on how much you
want to know about what is happening on your eBay account, you ahTEXT
can be configured to do just about anything -- and it's very simple.
How does ahTEXT send me messages?
ahTEXT sends text messages to your mobile device. We sometimes use the
term "SMS", which stands for "Short Message Service" -- its synonymous
with "text message". So the moment that an event takes place,
ahTEXT checks to see if you want to receive that event information, and
if so, it sends the message.
What are the costs to use ahTEXT?
ahTEXT does not
charge you on a per-message basis. ahTEXT only charges you a
low flat monthly fee. However, it is important you check with
your wireless carrier to see what type of text messaging plan you have
on your account. If you do not have a plan, wireless carriers
can charge you for every single message you receive -- not just from
ahTEXT, but from friends or other SMS based services (like when you
vote for your favorite dancer on TV).
How do I pay?
eBay actually handles the subscription and billing, and you just have to approve your PayPal account. There are no obligations, and if you ever want to cancel your subscription, it's very simple (even though we're certain you'll love ahTEXT). To subscribe, click on ahTEXT's Subscribe button in the eBay Selling Manager Applications catalog. Next, you will be sent to PayPal where you will approve a monthly billing. The maximum that ahTEXT can bill your PayPal account is $3.95 per month. For security reasons, you need to pre-approve a maximum amount that ahTEXT can bill in the span of 24 months, and we rounded that amount to $100. This is a security measure for your PayPal account to restrict the maximum amount of money and time that ahTEXT can debit its monthly fee from your account. This simply permits ahTEXT to automatically bill you the $3.95 monthly fee, as well as enforcing a maximum time and amount cap.
I don't have a text messaging plan - can I still use ahTEXT?
You may be able to use ahTEXT
without a text messaging plan; however, we strongly discourage it.
Call your wireless carrier and see what types of plans they
offer. If you haven't negotiated your voice or data plan
recently, you may just discover a new plan that gives you more
features, and costs less.
I entered in my mobile number & carrier but I never did receive a verification code. What's going on?
It could be a number of things.
Please make sure that you do not have any spaces, dashes, or
special characters where you input the phone number. Also,
make sure that you have the correct provider selected. If
you're convinced you have everything set up correctly, but you're not
getting the verification code, just
e-mail support@ahTEXT.com, or catch us on
Skype (ID is ahTEXT). Tell us what your mobile phone number
is and who
your provider is and explain that you're having a problem receiving the
verification code. If you already have an ahTEXT account with
us, send
along your eBay name, too.
Why do I have to verify my mobile phone with this code?
We need to verify that you
actually own that mobile device so that we're not sending a bunch of
ahTEXT notifications to the wrong device. This is also how we
prove that you opted in to our service -- without verification, we will
never send you a text message to that mobile device.
I have a text messaging plan, but I only get XXX messagse per month.
Can I restrict how many messages ahTEXT sends me?
Absolutely.
Throttling messages is easy to do. You can set a
maximum number of messages sent per month (or even per day).
If that threshold is ever met, ahTEXT automatically stops
sending you messages until the next period. There are even
more ways to program ahTEXT so that you only receive the messages that
matter to you -- and we'll cover those below.
I live in the US or Canada - My wireless provider is not shown in your list of compatible providers. Can ahTEXT send me text messages?
ahTEXT supports the following
North American mobile carriers:
If your provider is not shown
above, ahTEXT still may be able to send your mobile device text
messages. Just e-mail support@ahTEXT.com, or catch us on
Skype (ID is ahTEXT). Tell us what your mobile phone number
is and who your provider is. If you already have an ahTEXT
account with us, send along your eBay name, too.
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I do not reside in the US or Canada. Can ahTEXT send me text messages?
ahTEXT supports the following
providers around the world:
For O2 in the UK, you have to configure an e-mail account for your mobile device. You may also have to whitelist (allow) ahTEXT to send you messages.
Once you have verified the e-mail gateway is set up, login to
ahTEXT, go to the Mobile Phone menu, and choose "My Provider Not
Listed". At the bottom of the form, simply type in your O2
e-mail address. Message fees may apply, check with your
carrier.
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I'd like more control over what ahTEXT sends me. Are there controls that allow me to set conditions, such as the price of the item I'm selling, to detrmine whether or not I receive a notification on my mobile device?
Great question. Wow,
it's almost like we wrote it. Yes, ahTEXT gives you a lot of
control over what you receive. For instance, not only can you
choose what type of notification (i.e. Sale, Question, Best Offer,
Feedback, etc.) but add additional qualifiers, such as, Item Price.
So, for instance, if you receive a question about a $1.00
trinket, you may not want to receive questions on your mobile phone
about that trinket. However, if you receive a question on a
$18,000 luxury sport utility vehicle, you would want to receive a
notification the moment someone asks you a question. This is
easily done with ahTEXT. More details about how to do these
things are in the Advanced Management Guide.
It was working, and now its not. I haven't received an ahTEXT message in a while, and I'm certain that there's action on my eBay account. What's going on?
It could be a number
of things. Sometimes there are delays in regards to the data
that ahTEXT retrieves from eBay. Sometimes, text messages
aren't as 'real time" as we would like, and carriers queue or stack the
messages up if there's maintenance going on, and broadcast them out
later. If you're concerned that something is wrong, just
e-mail support@ahTEXT.com, or catch us on
Skype (ID is ahTEXT). Tell us what your mobile phone number
is and who
your provider is and explain that you're having a problem of not
receive notifications. Tell us your eBay user ID, too.
My question isn't listed here. Who can I reach for support?
Support is available for free
online via e-mail. Just send a message to support@ahTEXT.com
along with a detailed explanation of your problem, and one of our
customer service specialists will help you as soon as possible.
We also may be online with Skype -- our Skype ID is ahTEXT.
Getting Started with
ahTEXT
Setting Up Your Mobile Phone
Setting Up Your Time Zone and Allowable Time Ranges
Did you know that ahTEXT
is already
monitoring your eBay account activity? Every item that you
have listed
is being watched, and the moment that you list or re-list a new item,
ahTEXT automatically watches that item, too. There is only
one
mandatory step to complete your ahTEXT account, and that is to tell us
where to send the ahTEXT messages!
Setting Up Your Mobile Phone
After
you start the ahTEXT application in eBay Selling Manager, click on the
left navigation selection titled Mobile Phone. The Mobile
Phone menu
consists of three simple steps:
- Choose your wireless service provider
- Type in your phone number
- Type in the verification that ahTEXT sent to your mobile phone
Setting Up Your Time Zone and Allowable Time Ranges
After you set up your
Mobile Phone, you should tell us what time zone you're in. By
default, your account should be set to Pacific Standard Time (PST).
Click on the left navigation selection titled Time
Restrictions. The Time Restrictions menu consists of the
following three sections:
- Time Zone
Simply select the time zone where you are currently located. For instance, if you are on the east coast, your time zone is Eastern Standard Time (EST). If you're in Texas, your time zone is Central Standard Time (CST). If you don't know what time zone you're in, go to your favorite search engine and search for the term "time zone" followed by your city and state (ex: time zone Detroit, MI)
- Time Ranges for ahTEXT to Send Notifications
By default, ahTEXT is set to send messages between 8 AM and 9 PM. Depending on what your preferences are, you can change these settings to whatever you wish. If you're always open, choose 12:00 AM to 12:00 AM. You have the option to add multiple time ranges. So, for instance, you can receive ahTEXT messages from 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM, and continue again from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM. You must have at least one time range set in order to receive messages. ahTEXT will not send you messages outside of these time ranges (in respect to your selected time zone).
- Frequency Limits
If you're a higher volume seller or if you have limitations on your wireless text messaging plan, you can set frequency limits. These settings tell ahTEXT to only send a maximum number of messages per interval. The intervals are:
- per minute
- per hour
- per day
- per month
During each interval, ahTEXT keeps track of how many messages you receive. At the end of that interval, the counter resets. The "per minute" setting is really to protect you from being inundated with messages at one time. At the other end of the spectrum, the "per month" setting is really to shield you from overages if you have a limited text messaging plan with your wireless provider.
For filtering event notifications based on other criteria (price, feedback level, etc.) read the Advanced Management Guide by clicking on the tab at the top of this help window.
Advanced Management Guide
Pre-Sales Events
Sales Events
Post-Sale Events
Ideas for Additional Event / Content Filters?
Configuring ahTEXT to your specific needs is easy to do. You
have already set up your time rules, including your local time zone and
allowable time ranges that ahTEXT can send you messages.
Here, we will take a look at how you can create effective event
filters, so that you can refine exactly what types of events ahTEXT
sends to your mobile device.
Pre-Sales Events
Within the Events to
Monitor menu, Pre-Sales events
refers to events that take place before the sale, including questions
and best offers. The filters for "Questions from Buyers"
include:
The only filter for "Best Offers" is:
- Minimum Price - The current price of the item must be at lesat this amount
- Feedback Score - The buyer must have at least this score
The only filter for "Best Offers" is:
- Minimum Price - The offer must be at least this amount
Sales Events
Within the Events to
Monitor menu, Sales events refer
to actual purchase events that buyers make on your items, including
Auction, Fixed Price and Store Listings. The filters for
these types of events include:
- Minimum Price - The offer must be at least this amount
- Include unsuccessful auction listings (auction listings only)
- Include Best Offer Sales - Send alert to your mobile
device even if this was an accepted best offer
Post-Sale Events
Within the Events to
Monitor Menu, Post-Sale events
refer to the buyer-initated events that take place after the sale has
been made, including Feedback Received, Item Not Received (INR)
disputes, and additional dispute responses. The filters for
"Feedback Received" include:
- Positive Feedback
- Positive Feedback Milestone Increments - Your positive feedback count must be divisible by this number (ex: if you enter "100", you will only received feedback alerts when your score is divisible by 100, such as 300, 400, 11500, 78000, etc.) For high volume sellers, setting this to "100" or "1000" is recommended.
- Neutral Feedback
- Negative Feedback
Ideas for Additional Event / Content Filters?
If you have some
suggestions for new types of event
content filters, let us know by writing an e-mail to support@ahTEXT.com.
We are always interested in hearing your ideas and feedback
so that we can improve ahTEXT.