Wagglepop 2: Deja Vu as Auction Site That Left Sellers Stranded Reopens

[scampy7]

OOPS - Maybe he actually pulled the plug.  Very convenient timing that you can't get into the site right at the time the big announcement was to be made. 

 

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Did Wagglepoop go POOF?  It's still dead.

[sneakymagenta]

Naturally no explanation for the 4 hours of downtime.  The downtime sent at least one Popper Cheerleader into a panic.  From Google Blog Search--the post has since been deleted from the AllThingWagglepop blog

Gone Gone Gone
2 hours ago by LilyPadBoutique 
Sadly, Our best efforts and intentions weren't enough to keep Wagglepop.com operating. We wish the best to our customers and neighboring stores. Please know that we, stores will re-establish ourselves and continue offering the best ...
All Things Wagglepop - http://allthingwagglepop.blogspot.com/
[ More results from All Things Wagglepop ]

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FEE INCREASE ANNOUNCEMENT

a. fees tripled from $9.95 to $29.95 . 
b. new storeowners must pay before opening a store
c. Wagglepop LLC to sell dropshipped items on the site to pad the listing count
http://www.wagglepop.com/...n/Accessory/announcements

Wagglepop Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
5/2/08
We are very pleased today be be able to officially announce the sitewide participation and policy changes that will ensure not only a solid ongoing future for Wagglepop the company, but benefit the entire Wagglepop community of buyers and sellers. The participation structure changes announced today (and effective starting 6/1/08) mark an extraordinary "break" from online auction convention, and will do much to help support the continuation unabated of our existing high standards for features, functionality, and performance.

Our foremost intention is to create and support an environment that allows for and rewards successful sellers in the most meaningful of ways - the bottom line. At the same time, the new structure will help buyers find the very best in pricing and product and all members transact in an environment of fairness, respect, and trust.

After much internal debate and considerable restructuring, we are all very happy to announce that there will be no cut in any of the services, features, or functions on Wagglepop. All of our existing dynamics will remain in place, including most notably the BusinessBuilder Advanced Selling Tools. While the proprietary and legacy features we offer are quite "maintenance intensive", we simply did not and do not want to compromise the "package" that has come to represent Wagglepop. High standards of operation reflect who we are and what we wish to be and I am personally very proud to announce that we will continue to support that.

All announced participation and policy changes are effective 6/1/08. We will continue to operate under the existing dynamics until that date. The breakdown below is sectioned by subject.

  1. Introducing SmartSell Enterprise Package

As of 6/1/08 the existing SmartSell Pro Package will be retired and replaced by the SmartSell Enterprise Package - a package that at $29.95 per month supports not only unlimited included access to the Wagglepop Marketplace through a complete marketable storefront featuring the BusinessBuilder Advanced Selling Tools, but unlimited included selling as well. SmartSell Enterprise represents a 21st century approach to online selling that allows sellers doing to the work to keep more of their earned profits - 100% in fact! Starting 6/1/08 the new base for participation and entry into the Wagglepop Marketplace will be SmartSell Pro Enterprise.
   SmartSell Enterprise Package
A 21st century online selling solution by Wagglepop

SmartSell Enterprise Package Features

 
   
SmartSell Unlimited Listing Pack
Unlimited Listings - No Insertion Fees! All listing formats
FREE Thumbnail Gallery Picture Upgrade
FREE Buy Now Options - All prices
   
Basic Wagglepop Store with BusinessBuilder!
Featuring the value-packed and innovative BusinessBuilder suite of Advanced Selling Tools:

> Buy More Now with DynamicDiscounts
> Red Carpet Customer Program
> OnTarget Cross Promotions
> InStore Promotions
> Merchandising Manager

Plus a complete storefront with up to 100 custom categories, unlimited custom pages, a custom URL for your Store, available Store Listing Header, and much more!

Learn more about Wagglepop Stores featuring BusinessBuilder
   
SmartSell Independence Pack
Tired of sharing your profits? Declare your "independence" from Final Value fees!

NO FINAL VALUE FEES!

Sold listings are not subject to any percentage commission as Final Value Fees under SSE are not applicable - meaning no more penalties for success - a "freedom" in online selling that is long overdue.

There is no action that existing Wagglepop Marketplace merchants must take. Existing SmartSell Pro accounts will migrate automatically starting 6/1/08 to SmartSell Enterprise. All posted charges to accounts prior to 6/1/08 will reflect SSP, while all posted charges on 6/1/08 and beyond will reflect SSE.

SmartSell Enterprise comes with a Basic Wagglepop Store as under SSP, and the Store component can continue to be upgraded to Featured or Showcase under the existing upgrade costs. Existing upgraded Stores will migrate and continue at the same Store subscription level.

The introduction of SmartSell Enterprise marks the start of a dynamic that allows sellers to focus on their customer base and businesses in the most meaningful of ways while spending less time on the bottom line - a fixed cost under SSE. We feel strongly that any comparison to listing on eBay, or to quality independent shopping carts will continue to show Wagglepop as an extraordinary value and uniquely effective offering.

Welcome to the New Wagglepop and the future of fair and effective online selling.

 

  2. Introducing Wagglepop Marketplace Marketshare

In the coming weeks we will be introducing Wagglepop Marketplace Marketshare. Marketshare has the sole purpose of "completing" the Wagglepop Marketplace by offering, direct through Wagglepop LLC via dropshipment and other agreements, the items and products that we do not currently offer within the Marketplace through lack of population from the online selling community. Basically, we will be "in the trenches" with our existing Marketplace Merchants attempting to fulfill the wants and needs of our shoppers. We owe the very best experience possible to those that consider and visit Wagglepop, and what the online selling community has not provided we will provide ourselves through a variety of methods.

As per existing policy, we are proud to state that we do not and will not accept outside advertising within Wagglepop for competing items and products as on eBay. Our Marketplace Merchants have earned and deserve that protection from outside competition - the Wagglepop Marketplace is for Wagglepop Merchants' items and products, and the items and products from Marketshare.

When people come to Wagglepop looking for something - we want them to find and buy it - and Marketshare will help to build that.

 

  3. Wagglepop Marketplace Access

As many of our most successful sellers know, participation within the Wagglepop Marketplace as a merchant is a valuable commodity. Access to the Wagglepop Marketplace will continue in the current "open" format at this time, but we will be introducing "closed" format over the next few months. The new format will require verifiable online selling references and/or upfront payment along with a few other requirements that will do much to attract what will serve all membership best - dedicated and trustworthy sellers. There may even be a short period where we will not accept new sellers into the Marketplace. Expect announcements as appropriate in the coming weeks and months.

 

  4. New Search and Browse Results Displays

Over the next several weeks we will be testing a new set of search and browse results displays that better reflect the expectations of shoppers and further differentiate us from the typical "auction site" look and feel. Shoppers we believe will find the new displays easier to navigate and interpret, and in doing so make for a better overall experience which can lead to more sales.

Look for them in the next few weeks and we will have public polls posted for membership input.

 

  5. New Selling Opportunities through Expansion

Based on some preliminary investigation into the buying behaviors of the online buying community, we are exploring the idea of expanding Wagglepop into a "family" of related but independent ecommerce shopping sites that could mean more opportunity for sellers to expand their customer bases and sales. The changes we make today to ensure the viability of Wagglepop moving forward may allow us through revenues to support development of additional smaller "specialty" sites with highly targeted focuses. Our ability to effectively rank in search engines is a dynamic worth optimizing through expansion.

At some point we will conduct public polls to gauge the validity of and need for expansion that existing membership would be a part of and support. Should support be pronounced for Wagglepop under the new structure, we envision completion of existing Wagglepop projects at some point (such as Wagglepop Checkout) as a part of the new expansion initiative.

 

  In Conclusion and Our Commitment

I would like that thank all of our membership - buyers and sellers alike - for your support to date that has helped build our small but powerfully effective community. The very existence and success of Wagglepop is something we can and should all be proud of. Wagglepop was built out of "thin air", from a single idea and a desire to make a difference for online buyers and sellers and to break away from the limited effective options available and the unfair dynamics that came with that.

While we leave the "eBay competitor" vision behind, I am struck by the fact that Wagglepop proves that good people working hard and together can achieve something real and lasting for the benefit of everyone - for buyers, for sellers, for community friends. Together, we have made and continue to make a little part of the online world a better place - not through criticism but through positive attitudes and action. Achievement on any level is a joy that no critic can or will ever know, as few critics know anything of hard work or sacrifice.

How much we achieve is not nearly as important as who we are and what we did and continue to do working together in respectful trust-based environment. I am proud to be associated with such good people, and hope to continue that association for many years to come.

Andrew Pittino
- Wagglepop Director of Business Development & Vice President, Wagglepop LLC

wagglepopCC2      


A Showcase Store would total $59.95, and a "Showcase+Featured" Store would be $69.95, total.

AP

A comment from The Flunkies of Fiction blog:

Wagglepop Owner Ray Romeo Loses His Mind, Triples Store Fees to $29.95

...The site also annunced its intention to pad its listing count by selling dropshipped merchandise on the site.

[sneakymagenta]

Wagglepop LLC's dropshipped items will compete against sellers' items for buyers

the marketshare is confusing. Because we all know there are a lot of areas that nobody is selling in now. But if we decide to go into one of them, will we then be in direct competition with WP's dropshipped items. It is interesting that you say if they are looking for a tv they will find one. I'll be interested to see how that all works.

Marketshare will not be competition any more, or any less, than your existing fellow merchants are.

The intention of Marketshare is not "competition", but population, and to join our merchants within the Wagglepop Marketplace for the benefit of our shoppers and ultimately, the reputation of Wagglepop as a good place to shop.

That can only strengthen our market share for the long term. 

[bargainbloodhound]

a. fees tripled from $9.95 to $29.95 .
b. new storeowners must pay before opening a store
c. Wagglepop LLC to sell dropshipped items on the site to pad the listing count

I just borrowed that part of your post Sharkface.  Hope you don't mind (not that I care if you do anyways)


prepay $29.95 for a store on a site with 54K monthly uniques vs. $0 for a store on a site (Ecrater) with 460K uniques ->

We feel strongly that any comparison to listing on eBay, or to quality independent shopping carts will continue to show Wagglepop as an extraordinary value and uniquely effective offering.

[amy]

We feel strongly that any comparison to listing on eBay, or to quality independent shopping carts will continue to show Wagglepop as an extraordinary value and uniquely effective offering.

You want a comparison, you got one.

I know sellers who are grossing over $1 million annually on eBay.
I know sellers who are grossing over $1 million annually on Amazon.
I know sellers who are grossing over $1 million annually on their websites.
I know sellers who are grossing over $700,000 annually on their Pricegrabber storefronts.
The best Wagglepop can offer is a board junkie making $76 daily.

There Ray, I did a comparison and Wagglepop was shown to be unique all right--unique in its inability to deliver buyers to sellers (which is because WP's management has been too busy the past 2 years trying to bleed the sellers dry to even advertise its own site).

[BeenThereDoneThat]

OMFG!  Wagglepoop is a bargain at twice the price!  I'm going to race right over there and reserve myself some space. 

$29.95 a month???  wow..What a bargoon. 

[xwpopper]

He has lost his flippin mind!
I paid $30 for a short (very short) while for a Presto Store. I had, in just 2 months with 350 items listed, over 16,000 views of individual products, not just page hits. That's an average of 300 hits per product in 2 months. In fact, for about 2 weeks, a Google search for "Wagglepop" placed me at #2, but I still got more 100x views on Presto Store. I also sold 10 times what I sold on WP during those 2 months... I sold on both concurrently, and this made me realize what a dud WP was. I was one of 5 "founders" who left the same month after test driving a Presto Store.

And, let's look at the promises...
Wagglepop Checkout - 2 years running on this promise.
No competing ads promise - BROKEN... this doesn't mean that I expected Ray not to compete with 100 year old magazine pages. But, give serious competition to sellers through SaleHoo, or Doba? Sounds like competing ads to me. It also sounds like Ray's little insurance policy when he is left with just 50 stores, at least he can have some income. Maybe he just wants the site all to himself? He's the only one he can trust? No one else will trust him again?


He's officially LOONEY! I know of no one with any brain at all who would pay that amount for no buyers. Thus, I see many of the 2 and 3 store sellers closing down to just one, the smart ones getting their butts out of there, and then see the true numbers come out.

Now, who wants to make bets on the July 1 store count?
I bet 50.

At least we know 3 people happy to hear this news... Mark, Mo, and S Ray. Now the spotlight is at least off them for a little while. 

[sneakymagenta]

A new WP feature! Sellers who speak out against the fee hike have their user IDs changed to report_050208-1! Neat-o! 

The seller formerly known as EPM  says his goodbyes:

report_050208-1   03 May 2008 01:18

I agree xxxx, I think it's just too much.

report_050208-1   03 May 2008 01:33

I've been booted off the boards for expressing my opinions. I'm sure this post will also be pulled, but to anyone who sees it, I wish you the best of luck in your continued ventures. Goodbye to all the friends I've made here.

report_050208-1   03 May 2008 01:34   

Oh yeah, it's EPM Stxxx. Bye all.

EDIT because I missed the best one

report_050208-1   03 May 2008 01:55       


So, I've been booted from the boards and wish to close my store, however customer service has not responded. They apparently can follow me around and pull all my posts, but don't have time to close my store.

Great customer service here.

How very eBay of Wagglepop.

EPM Stxxx

[sherrand]

Sneaky, an earlier poster who left was renamed "null". Check back in the threads and you'll find him. Isn't Ray inventive? Just another form of intimidation.

wagglepopCC2   27 Mar 2008 23:05       


WP Members,

I would ask that members please refresh their understanding of the Board Participation Policy and this Clarification of Board Participation Policy.

As per existing policy, please do not extend discussion of, or link to, "disputes" from non-WP forums or blogs.

These boards are for respectful and productive exchanges and nothing else.

AP

wagglepopCC2   06 Apr 2008 10:45       


WP Members,

I would ask that members please refresh their understanding of the Board Participation Policy and this Clarification of Board Participation Policy.

We are updating this Clarification of Board Participation policy as a courtesy.

1. As per existing policy, posts which do not meet our standard as constructive, courteous, or productive - or "expire" by way of intent or need - are removed from the Community boards (daily if necessary) as part of routine board maintenance.

2. As per existing policy, please do not extend discussion of, or link to, "disputes" from non-WP forums or blogs. That sort of "discussion" can be done somewhere else - but not here.

All members who choose to use our Community boards agree to respect this section of the Board Participation Policy and Clarification of Board Participation Policy (and all sections) as a condition of participation.

Members who cannot respect and abide by all of the sections of the Board Participation Policy and Clarification of Board Participation Policy cannot participate.

These boards are for respectful and productive exchanges and nothing else.

AP

wagglepopCC2   10 Apr 2008 18:05       


WP Members,

I would ask that members please refresh their understanding of the Board Participation Policy and this Clarification of Board Participation Policy.

In particular, all sections regarding post and/or thread removal. Posts which are outside of the Board Participation Policy and/or the Clarification of Board Participation Policy will be removed as a part of routine board maintenance.

While we do not expect that all active members will agree with all facets of the Board Participation Policy, we do expect that all members who choose to participate will respect our decisions regarding post/thread removal and to acknowledge that determination of such is our responsibility and ours alone to make.

Abiding by the Board Participation Policy and the Clarification of Board Participation Policy is a requirement for partcipation.

Posts whch are made with the sole topic being discussion of our decisions as a staff on posts/threads that were removed are outside of the Board Participation Policy and the Clarification of Board Participation Policy and will be further removed.

AP

wagglepopCC2   03 May 2008 01:07       


WP Members,

I would ask at this time that any member unfamiliar with the Wagglepop Board Participation Policy or any posted clarification to please update their understanding of them.

Posts that represent ideas or thoughts outside of support of Wagglepop and the community should be posted elsewhere. Not here. These boards are for friendly support and constructive exchange of ideas and solutions.

Thank you.

AP

The above is evidence of a broken record. The sheep just aren't listening!!! Baaaaaa

[eclectica]

Posts that represent ideas or thoughts outside of support of Wagglepop and the community

Well, at least he finally admitted that any posts that aren't Rah-Rah-Sis-Boom-Ray will be deleted. 


And $29.95?

 

[amy]

One Popper is happy about today's news

My favorite favorite favorite part of the announcement is that Wagglepop will soon be selling on Wagglepop. There are an endless stream of buyers who show up at Wagglepop looking for items that they can't find on the site because the online selling community never stepped up to properly populate the site. AWESOME that Wagglepop is going to take matters into their own hands as far as that goes

I think it's great that they will be getting in the trenches with us sellers to help populate the site with the items that buyers come looking for. That will increase traffic, and more importantly, it will encourage buyers to return the next time they look for something online. It's a unique approach that I've not seen from other sites except for maybe Amazon and Overstock??

As someone who has sold on Amazon for years and listed over 55,000 items on Oversuck before leaving (with my middle finger extended  ), I can tell you, and I'm sure every Amazon seller with the exception of PS could tell you, that the seller is at a disadvantage when they're competing against the site for buyers. 

But, give serious competition to sellers through SaleHoo, or Doba? Sounds like competing ads to me.

It sounds like 2 things to me

1. POTENTIAL DISASTER (FOR RAY'S FINANCES) -a seller (KaRay) whose only experience is with low risk categories (magazine cutouts) starts selling in the categories with the highest fraud rates- TVs, consumer electronics, cell phones, etc. Scammers target sellers on small auction sites who sell these items because they're an easy mark. WP sellers don't have the same fraud prevention tools that website sellers have available to them.
 
2. A WASTE OF TIME AND PROOF THAT RAY IS AN IDIOT- buyers in most dropship categories don't want to take the time to register at a site, especially an unknown one, and wait for an invoice. They want to purchase and pay immediately,  Ray should have learned from Floormat Guy's lack of sales (or the owner of Bid-alot's lack of sales when he tried to sell tens of thousands of dropshipped consumer electonics items last year) that dropshipped items and eBay alternatives aren't a good mix. You might be able to attract a collectibles buyer to a small site but your chances of luring the average buyer of new mass market dropshipped items is slim to nil.

It's a unique approach that I've not seen from other sites except for maybe Amazon and Overstock??

It's not unique. Bid-alot tried it last year (and probably used the same dropshipping middleman- i.e. doba or drop ship design that Ray is planning to use).  Bid-alot pushed their listing count from 15K to 100K doing it--their reason for doing it was because the site owner had the site up for sale and wanted to artificially inflate the sale price.