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• Paid Feebay Employees With An Agenda

  1 (1.6%)

  Infiltrators

  0 (0%)

  Trolls

  0 (0%)

  Naysayers

  1 (1.6%)

  Morally Bankrupt Miscreants

  3 (4.9%)

  Upstream Providers

  0 (0%)

  Jealous Types

  1 (1.6%)

  Deadbeats

  1 (1.6%)

  Ray Romeo

  40 (65.6%)

  Ray Romeo's Alter Ego KaRay

  10 (16.4%)

  Wagglepop CEO Ray Romeo Listing Items On eBay In His eBay Store Instead Of Listing On His Own Site

  4 (6.6%)

Total Members Voted: 61

[sherrand]

I hate feet.

  That's the spirit! Keep your chin up - you'll never spot them!   

[Tags:]

Tags: wagglepop fuzzy pink slippers auction site pee pee no nos karay rscript wagglefact dynamic morally bankrupt miscreant deadbeats and infiltrators 

[Platzki]

I hate feet.

  That's the spirit! Keep your chin up - you'll never spot them!   

Holy crap!  You're right! 

[myobeeswax]

HI Waggle-Lurkers!
Hi Ray!

I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am......

[Designers Bargains]

134 Stores

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

"New Fire Gaming" -- Member since AUG. 18, 2006 (why no "Founding Member" icon?) -- ZERO FEEDBACK-- only 29 items -- recently upgraded to SHOWCASE level.

Um, go figure 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, and does anyone see a problem with these two statements?


From WP's TOS page

At no time does Wagglepop possess, hold, or offer any merchandise for sale or auction, nor are we involved in any part of the actual transaction

and from the "grand announcement" dated April 2

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.

[Kaboing]

134 stores?

I wonder if he will see any income growth from the rate increase with the way stores are dropping.  The amount of deadbeat stores should be huge this month.

[sherrand]

"New Fire Gaming" -- Member since AUG. 18, 2006 (why no "Founding Member" icon?) -- ZERO FEEDBACK-- only 29 items -- recently upgraded to SHOWCASE level.

This conundrum isn't a founding member because they didn't open a store until recently, even though registration was in August 2006. Only active stores were gifted with this distinction.

Makes one wonder. Why were they not tempted to open in the summer of 2006 when the store count soared to 936?
Why were they not tempted to do so in the winter of 2008 when the store count rose again to reach a peak of 309?
Why wait until now to make a public appearance? And why jump into a Showcase/Featured subscription to the tune of $80.00 a month?

Goes to show...ours is not to wonder why.     You'll just get a headache.   

Oh, and does anyone see a problem with these two statements?


From WP's TOS page

At no time does Wagglepop possess, hold, or offer any merchandise for sale or auction, nor are we involved in any part of the actual transaction

and from the "grand announcement" dated April 2

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.

A bit of a contradiction - no doubt about it. Have no fear DB, Ka/And/ChrisRay will explain it away in due time. Doesn't he always?

I wonder if he will see any income growth from the rate increase with the way stores are dropping.  The amount of deadbeat stores should be huge this month.

At triple the price he'll still make out like a bandit in the interim; until he can launch and 'populate' his drop-ship stores to supplement his income. I too expect the June bloodbath to be a whopper. At least 18 empty stores should receive the axe. I can't begin to speculate about the active ones.

And there are still a few puzzlers out there. This is the biggest in MHO. Trying to figure out Gilbert the photography guy. A founding member who registered the day WP2 opened. Since then, one sale made according to feedback - no evidence found of additional sales. Therefore their track record would leave us to believe that this store, which has never listed more than 11 items at one time, which has had one sale in it's history under $20.00, and sits empty 6 months out of the year, has paid $248.75 to date in store fees to stay active.

He begs another question. Has life dealt him a career breaking blow? Did his camera break - can't afford a new one? Has his shutter pushing finger been damaged beyond repair? I ask because in the last 2 years not one new photo has been offered for sale. Just the same ones over and over again.

Based on this analysis I cannot recommend contacting this seller to take precious moment or scenic photos for your family album.   

[Kristijntje]

Unique Visitors Update:

April traffic numbers from Compete:
wagglepop.com     47,219     -16.6%

April traffic from Quantcast
Uniques per Month     46,234 (down from 56,600 in March and 67,400 in February)
http://www.quantcast.com/wagglepop.com/traffic

Compete and Quantcast released May traffic numbers yesterday and both show an increase in May traffic

Quantcast: 49,911 uniques
Compete: 56,113 uniques

[Designers Bargains]

Another conundrum: EMR Collectibles (Snugglepuppy). Registered in May, 2006. ZERO feedbacks in 6 months. 303 FBs total -- almost all as BUYER to other WP sellers. Hardly any sales (mostly to buyers back in 2006 who are no longer at WP) and suddenly she creates a SHOWCASE/FEATURED store. Hmmmm.

Did she sign up for WP Dropshippers Unite?

133

Edit: 132

Edit: 129 and tomorrow's invoice day, right?

[Platzki]

129

   Another few bite the dust...

[sneakymagenta]

Breaking news! Ray Romeo will close WP 2 and sell his copy of RScript in July!
More breaking news! Ray will open WP 2.5 in August!
WP 2's SSE will be renamed WP Auctions Gold 2.5!
WP 2.5 will charge users a $24.95 licensing fee to use its auction software!


Exclusive Preview of WP 2.5!

 

[Designers Bargains]

128

Breaking news! Ray Romeo will close WP 2 and sell his copy of RScript in July!
More breaking news! Ray will open WP 2.5 in August!
WP 2's SSE will be renamed WP Auctions Gold 2.5!
WP 2.5 will charge users a $24.95 licensing fee to use its auction software!


Exclusive Preview of WP 2.5!

 

Sneaky, you're a genius.

[sneakymagenta]

Just a small update for loyal membership and our dedicated seller base on how the restructure is progressing.

As expected, as we abandon completely our original vision for Wagglepop as an eBay competitor (due to pronounced lack of good faith participation in the numbers required to do so ) and re-invent ourselves as a diverse retail-type marketplace, we start a new chapter in the history of our company.

Existing Wagglepop Marketplace sellers continue to leave, and we anticipate a merchant body of around 75-100 independent merchants will remain under SmartSell Enterprise. At some point we expect to cap that number and likely close the Marketplace to new merchants while we introduce a new requirements package to join the Marketplace.

The very fact that so many (who are leaving or who have left) consider less than $1.00 per day in fixed operating participation costs - in totality - to be too much to continue only cements for us as a company that the decision to set aside the original vison for Wagglepop as an eBay competitor was indeed the correct one to make and implement.

Wagglepop continues to represent an afforable and feature rich online selling opportunity - but outside of the handful of wonderfully visionary and dedicated members we have currently - woefully underutilized or underappreciated in general.

In many ways, that might have been expected to some degree - eBay has "institutionalized" it's seller body in many ways by making the very mechanisms that it offers seem as if they are the actual business dynamics, such as "listing" alone being a sum total of a business plan.

Based on current numbers, eBay sellers do not mind very much the fees and fee increases (beyond public complaints), and eBay apparently knows that and will continue to exploit that. Our own research indicates two more increases over the next 36 months as likely.

We will continue to offer a truly effective and affordable alternative, though we have very little expectation that we will increase the anticipated merchant base of 75-100, total. Should the merchant population drop to 10, then that is the number we are prepared to support.

Wagglepop was founded on a simple principle: That people would and could come together to support their own auction-style site, and based on that ability to organize generate the media attention and activity that would start and sustain growth.

Unfortunately, quite the opposite was the case. Sellers came, gave it 30-60-90 days, listed a few things, and left - oftentimes without honoring their outstanding balances, now in collection.

For some of us here it is difficult to verbalize our feelings about that. An awful lot of time and expense went into building and sustaining Wagglepop, and the continuation of it in any form reflects that very effort. We want those who wish to be here to get the very best site we can provide. Dedicated membership deserves nothing less.

As far as eBay goes, I can state with full assurance that the original Wagglepop vision and support structure was most likely the last best chance eBay members had to support something of their own. Built independently with private funds, we were prepared to re-invest every penny of participatory revenues back into the site to keep growing towards our competitor goal based on participation.

Sadly, none of that original vision has come to or will ever come to pass.

Many smaller independent sites are now closing (such as Bidville) or are woefully understructured to handle either traffic or customer needs.

For those remaining with us, we are honored to have you as a part of the Marketplace and we will soon begin population of the site under Wagglepop Marketshare so that we may offer a truly item and product rich destination for online shoppers.

I am unsure exactly why the online selling community continues to discard opportunities such as Wagglepop and favor instead villification of any attempts at non-eBay alternatives. While I understand that everyone wants to be heard - to have a voice on forums and blogs - I am confounded that so many would not recognize that a single voice of people building and working together at an alternative would speak volumes to both eBay and the media.

I am disturbed that so many of the so-called "independent" reporting/help sites have ignored Wagglepop, yet continue to tout themselves as impartial and part of the solution rather than an obvious symbol of the problem that eBay itself represents.

We waited two years for the online selling community to recognize this opportunity and do the work required, together, to finally show eBay that they work for membership, and not the other way around.

As a company - at worst - we lost some invested finances in the original Wagglepop vision through construction and operation. We can and will write much of that off in coming statements, and the restructure near ensures our ability to continue operation for many years to come.

The general online selling community and the people they serve?

They lost so much more.

  
         

Ownership has made it very clear to myself and staff that it is our responsibility to ensure that all merchants make on-time payment of seller fees as invoiced monthly.

The payment record for the "30-60-90" day crowd is utterly abysmal, and ownership contends that our management policy of a fully "open" marketplace is partly to blame.

I agree. I am personally tired of witnessing over 50% of staff resources dedicated to account referral and collections, malicious behavior, and processing of closures or suspensions.

New merchants who understand the User Agreement? We welcome them with open arms.

A continuation of past non-payment history? Ownership says "absolutely not", and I agree and support that 100%.

Expect changes related to that in the coming weeks, including introduction of a "requirements" package that will ensure we do not dilute oue existing dedicated merchants with dissimilar ones and/or waste valuable staff resources on basic User Agreement enforcement as related to seller invoicing and payment.

 

xxxxxxx,

In regard to your statement about the number of Stores appoximating 800.

If everyone who had opened a Store had just stayed, we would have well in excess of 6,000 Stores today.

Six thousand.

With that, Wagglepop would have been like a freight train barreling through all forms of business related media and likely increasing in dimension exponentially in just a matter of months.

 
 

I would hazard to guess that eBay never deals with the "non-payment" dynamic as we do. eBay asks for and stores credit card information for automated billing. They get every penny due and perhaps more based on word of mouth reports of incorrect billing there.

Wagglepop is a 100% trust-based community. For the protection of membership we do not ask for or store any sensitive financial information such as a credit cards. We refuse to put any of our members at potential risk. We feel it is not only the "right thing" to do to give sellers a safer selling environment, but our responsibility.

Unfortunately, an unexpectedly large portion of the general online selling community and the faith we put them in under that policy have been an incongruous and uncomfortable mix. Sadly, not all people can handle trust.

 
 

[Designers Bargains]

Just a small update for loyal membership and our dedicated seller base on how the restructure is progressing.

As expected, as we abandon completely our original vi son for Wagglepop as an eBay competitor (due to pronounced lack of good faith participation in the numbers required to do so ) and re-invent ourselves as a diverse retail-type marketplace, we start a new chapter in the history of our company.

Existing Wagglepop Marketplace sellers continue to leave, and we anticipate a merchant body of around 75-100 independent merchants will remain under SmartSell Enterprise. At some point we expect to cap that number and likely close the Marketplace to new merchants while we introduce a new requirements package to join the Marketplace.

The very fact that so many (who are leaving or who have left) consider less than $1.00 per day in fixed operating participation costs - in totality - to be too much to continue only cements for us as a company that the decision to set aside the original vison for Wagglepop as an eBay competitor was indeed the correct one to make and implement.

Wagglepop continues to represent an afforable and feature rich online selling opportunity - but outside of the handful of wonderfully visionary and dedicated members we have currently - woefully underutilized or underappreciated in general.

In many ways, that might have been expected to some degree - eBay has "institutionalized" it's seller body in many ways by making the very mechanisms that it offers seem as if they are the actual business dynamics, such as "listing" alone being a sum total of a business plan.

Based on current numbers, eBay sellers do not mind very much the fees and fee increases (beyond public complaints), and eBay apparently knows that and will continue to exploit that. Our own research indicates two more increases over the next 36 months as likely.

We will continue to offer a truly effective and affordable alternative, though we have very little expectation that we will increase the anticipated merchant base of 75-100, total. Should the merchant population drop to 10, then that is the number we are prepared to support.

Wagglepop was founded on a simple principle: That people would and could come together to support their own auction-style site, and based on that ability to organize generate the media attention and activity that would start and sustain growth.

Unfortunately, quite the opposite was the case. Sellers came, gave it 30-60-90 days, listed a few things, and left - oftentimes without honoring their outstanding balances, now in collection.

For some of us here it is difficult to verbalize our feelings about that. An awful lot of time and expense went into building and sustaining Wagglepop, and the continuation of it in any form reflects that very effort. We want those who wish to be here to get the very best site we can provide. Dedicated membership deserves nothing less.

As far as eBay goes, I can state with full assurance that the original Wagglepop vision and support structure was most likely the last best chance eBay members had to support something of their own. Built independently with private funds, we were prepared to re-invest every penny of participatory revenues back into the site to keep growing towards our competitor goal based on participation.

Sadly, none of that original vision has come to or will ever come to pass.

Many smaller independent sites are now closing (such as Bidville) or are woefully understructured to handle either traffic or customer needs.

For those remaining with us, we are honored to have you as a part of the Marketplace and we will soon begin population of the site under Wagglepop Marketshare so that we may offer a truly item and product rich destination for online shoppers.

I am unsure exactly why the online selling community continues to discard opportunities such as Wagglepop and favor instead villification of any attempts at non-eBay alternatives. While I understand that everyone wants to be heard - to have a voice on forums and blogs - I am confounded that so many would not recognize that a single voice of people building and working together at an alternative would speak volumes to both eBay and the media.

I am disturbed that so many of the so-called "independent" reporting/help sites have ignored Wagglepop, yet continue to tout themselves as impartial and part of the solution rather than an obvious symbol of the problem that eBay itself represents.

We waited two years for the online selling community to recognize this opportunity and do the work required, together, to finally show eBay that they work for membership, and not the other way around.

As a company - at worst - we lost some invested finances in the original Wagglepop vision through construction and operation. We can and will write much of that off in coming statements, and the restructure near ensures our ability to continue operation for many years to come.

The general online selling community and the people they serve?

They lost so much more.

And now the no booty-kissing, no abridged form:

"There was a time we thought that with King Ray's hot-headed ego, hatred of eBay, and ability to crank full volume on his smoke and mirror machines, we could flip a red-hot, pulsating middle finger at eBay by snaring naive, disillusioned eBays sellers before they had a chance to find other more productive venues or figure out how to get smart and start their own sites. Unfortunately, most who gave us a try did not turn out to be the manic-depressive, easily-fooled, Koolaid drinkers we'd hope they'd be. Shame on them! And shame on those still on our rosters who are preparing to blow our poop stand. They are all good-for-nothings and fools for thinking eBay, with all its presence, traffic, track record and proven success could be more attractive than our piss-poor excuse for an auction venue that doesn't work, has no money to advertise and nobody visits -- or that they could do better with their own sites instead of working like slaves and unquestioningly hand over their money for the glory of WP, receiving nothing in return. And shame on the media for not recognizing our nano-blip on the radar screen is not particularly "newsworthy". And while we're at it, let's blame those trolls, miscreants, and naysayers one more time before we kiss Ray's ego-driven "original vision" good-by.  And as a parting shot, without disclosing sources (because we just made it up), for you eBay sellers still out there, eBay is going to raise rates on you some more soon. So there. HA! May you rot in hell.

Goodby WP2. "We hardly knew ya." Oh, wait, that was WP1? Oh well. We'd NEVER admit we have no business sense and failed AGAIN. Rather we've come up with a new scam to keep us fuzzy, pink-slipper clad - the WP Marketplace program. And if you think the old WP was a cultist, oppressive, despotic regime, just wait till you see what we have coming."

 

[Platzki]

My gawd... does that man never shut up?  BLAH BLAH BLAH... It's like he just keeps cloning a post over and over again.

A freight train... WP?  Um, no.  When are these poppers going to realize that it's not WP as a whole that they are working for... that each seller is on their own.  INDEPENDENT sellers as Ray refers to them... even he tells them that he's not behind them... they are just too drunk on the kool-aid to see it.

And the thing about sellers in collection... BAH!  I would bet that he doesn't even have a collection company working for him, let alone accounts in collection.

And Ray, you are right... you and eBay are different and sellers fail to see that.  Only WP sellers though.  You see, eBay doesn't post on the forums crying about money and collections and how nobody acknowledges them.........

I am unsure exactly why the online selling community continues to discard opportunities such as Wagglepop and favor instead villification of any attempts at non-eBay alternatives. While I understand that everyone wants to be heard - to have a voice on forums and blogs - I am confounded that so many would not recognize that a single voice of people building and working together at an alternative would speak volumes to both eBay and the media.

I am disturbed that so many of the so-called "independent" reporting/help sites have ignored Wagglepop, yet continue to tout themselves as impartial and part of the solution rather than an obvious symbol of the problem that eBay itself represents.

Poor baby, if you feel that you're not getting enough attention... get a dog.

 

[xwpopper]

"Many smaller independent sites are now closing (such as Bidville) or are woefully understructured to handle either traffic or customer needs."
Did he really call Bidville a small independent site? And WP is not?
Over 1 million listings for years, and a corporate buyout... hardly small independent.
I'd call Wagglepop a small, very small independent though. And, none of the woefully understructured sites require a BS phone registration. That makes WP a real boil on the butt of e-commerce.

"We will continue to offer a truly effective and affordable alternative, though we have very little expectation that we will increase the anticipated merchant base of 75-100, total. Should the merchant population drop to 10, then that is the number we are prepared to support."
Translation: We don't care if you stay or go. We will fill the site with dropshipped items and sell it with or without you.

"As far as eBay goes, I can state with full assurance that the original Wagglepop vision and support structure was most likely the last best chance eBay members had to support something of their own. Built independently with private funds, we were prepared to re-invest every penny of participatory revenues back into the site to keep growing towards our competitor goal based on participation."
I never saw one penny reinvested when I was there, except for a phone registration. And believe me, it is not their last best chance. They were smart enough to leave for a better best chance.

"I am disturbed that so many of the so-called "independent" reporting/help sites have ignored Wagglepop, yet continue to tout themselves as impartial and part of the solution rather than an obvious symbol of the problem that eBay itself represents."
Is he talking about AuctionBytes, who clearly said they would not mention WP since they can't even be open and honest about who really runs WP? This was said 2 years ago Ray... and Ina was right.

"I am personally tired of witnessing over 50% of staff resources dedicated to account referral and collections, malicious behavior, and processing of closures or suspensions... Expect changes related to that in the coming weeks, including introduction of a "requirements" package that will ensure we do not dilute oue existing dedicated merchants with dissimilar ones and/or waste valuable staff resources on basic User Agreement enforcement as related to seller invoicing and payment."
Sorry Ray, every marketplace deals with stuff like that, and they are 1 man run shows. If you want the respect of your 10 members that will stay on board, tell them the truth about all your alter-ego staff members. To members, this means you will have an audience of exactly 75-100 buyers from today forward. 

"I would hazard to guess that eBay never deals with the "non-payment" dynamic as we do. eBay asks for and stores credit card information for automated billing. They get every penny due and perhaps more based on word of mouth reports of incorrect billing there."
Word of mouth reports of incorrect billing. Hey jackass, you incorrectly billed me almost 4 days after I asked to close my store, then idly threatened collection. Pot calling the kettle black? Because I am sure eBay got every penny for your 2% sell-through of magazine pages.

"Wagglepop is a 100% trust-based community. For the protection of membership we do not ask for or store any sensitive financial information such as a credit cards. We refuse to put any of our members at potential risk. We feel it is not only the "right thing" to do to give sellers a safer selling environment, but our responsibility."
Or maybe it's because RScript doesn't integrate merchant accounts?

"Unfortunately, an unexpectedly large portion of the general online selling community and the faith we put them in under that policy have been an incongruous and uncomfortable mix. Sadly, not all people can handle trust."
Incongruous... Been skimming the dictionary again to sound smart? I really don't see how Ray can get away with the "Trust" statements. That means only 100 out of 6,000 sellers were trustworthy. That is an irrelevant and illogical consideration.  You lost good honest supporters boinker, because you are a FRAUD.

But just think of all the dynamic new terms Ray has loaned to the OAI... Wildly disparate, Healthy dynamic, Trust Based Environment. Where would we be without him?