Vendio (formerly AuctionWatch) launched new products and enhancements to its online auction management tools. The company unveiled a new Zoom Viewer for high resolution image detail, a new Watermarking service for image protection, fully customizable listing templates, shipping integration and a spell-checker.

New Features for Images
Vendio's new Zoom Viewer gives sellers the ability to provide customers with extremely high-resolution visual detail. Designed as a Flash application, the Zoom Viewer delivers fast and efficient visual detail by streaming only the portion of an image a customer clicks on, avoiding a lengthy download. Vendio said it is the first eBay Preferred Solution Provider to provide high resolution Zoom.

Vendio will also offer image "watermarking" for better brand identification and image protection. With Vendio watermarking, sellers can add custom logos or other brand identifiers to an image. I asked Vendio CEO Rodrigo Sales if sellers could then take their images with watermarks and use them on their own sites. Sales said he would look into this, since he was very familiar with the problem of fraudulent use of stolen images.

Online Branding
Sales said other new features can help sellers brand their business. Vendio's Sales Manager auction-management tool now offers completely customizable templates, so online merchants can "create uniquely branded and professional-quality listings that stand out from competitors."

Vendio Customer Manager now includes domain support, so sellers can use their own unique email address in conjunction with Vendio's email automation and customer relationship management for small businesses. The tool now integrates with a merchants' auctions, stores and email sales, adding a more consistent customer experience, regardless of the sales channel.

Shipping Integration & Spell Check
Vendio also announced shipping integration and a spell checker, both free to Vendio customers. The shipping data export function allows sellers to easily integrate with popular shipping providers like UPS, USPS and Endicia, and promises to save time. The spell-check function is available when creating new inventory items, new listings, or customizing email messages. Merchants can add words or terms to the spell-check's dictionary, so they can enter words unique to their business or industry. Sales said he was surprised at the enthusiasm that greeted the new spell-check feature, and wishes he had implemented it sooner.

Vendio announced the new features at the eBay Live conference in late June. Sales said more information will be posted to the Vendio site as the features are released.

http://www.vendio.com