TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

Quote:the TT agenda.

What is the TT agenda?  My only agenda is to compete and survive against my mostly larger competitors  (a partial list of whom can be found here (you'll find my store midway down the list) --you'll note that there are no rinky dink auction sites/fixed price venues on the list of businesses I consider my competitors. The success, failure, or existence of any of the forum promoted small eBay alternative sites (especially a site with only 4700 members like AM) has no bearing on my business.  The average participant in the rinky dink world and my business may both sell items online, but for the most part that's about the only thing our businesses have in common at this point.  There is no "hidden agenda" involving AM or WP, nor would there be any reason to have one since their presence poses about as big a competitive threat to my business as the 6 year old lemonade stand operator down the street.

My only reason for pointing out problems with rinky dink sites is I think sellers would be much better off if they put more faith in themselves rather than putting their faith in guys like this

edit: after reading the "no skills required/all you need is the ability to take a picture and write a description" Squidoo promo, I think I can safely say that there would be more reason for me to have a hidden agenda against the 6 yr old lemonade stand operator because he probably has the ability to pose more of a long term threat than any rinky dink. :twistedevil:

Quote:some of those higher volume sellers have a staff and/or partners who handle a lot of the work for them so they have time to scour the internet for info

...and then again many of those "higher volume sellers" may have been working 16-20 hour days the past month even though they have staff or partners.  I know I haven't slept more than 2 or 3 hours any day this month. 

Quote:heck the site is slow as hell now in terms of loading IMO.

It's definitely overloaded.  I received the infamous blank white page that overloaded poorly tuned php sites give when I clicked on a few pages.

Quote:Is it me or does it appear that atomic mall is hosted on a shared server

On a shared server and it shares an IP (and SSL certificate) with unleashxxx.com, freepornxxxvids.com, milf-unlimited.com, and a few hundred other sites.

EXHIBIT A:



EXHIBIT B: http://www.robtex.com/ip/74.54.128.18.html


edited to add:

Quote:After reading the whole thread, I had a flashback to the beginning of WP1

I had the same flashback but the thing that really struck me was an AM cheerleader who puts www.atomicmall.com as the return address on all of his (or was it her) packages. To quote something Sneaky would say, "MORONS!"  You (sellers in general) should be promoting your own business and brand not building someone else's friggin' brand.  It's no wonder people have such a hard time getting sales off eBay when they do idiotic things like this. ~end of rant~

Quote:at best $12.95 a month

The $12.95 plan includes a dedicated IP address which rules it out since they're sharing an IP with 200 other sites.  They're most likely using the $7.95 monthly plan.  Apparently spending an extra $2 monthly for a dedicated IP and $15 annually for their own SSL certificate isn't in the budget of this latest "outstanding new viable eBay alternative."

[quote author=xppman on PSU]
Guys.
I'm not trashing AM or any of you anywhere.

If you are seeing a like ID at TT or any site trashing any of you or Atomic Mall.
It's not me.

This wont be the first time the criminals of TT
and their little merry gang have tried to set others up,
in an attempt to make other people, like yourselves,
think its someone like me for instance, trashing you.

Also just an FYI. The owner of TT is a convicted felon and is named
in an ongoing lawsuit. They are indeed scammers and it took me and many others
a while to figure it out.
Myself and several others have been victimized by these frauds more than two years ago.
There's a whole bunch of threads (and we have all the evidence as well)
at a place called the Ross Show that spells it all out.
Another really strange place.
If any of you were members there, you would indeed remember this.

So, again if you do see anything anywhere with 'someone' using the xpp ID
It's not me. I've only been posting at these boards
for the last several months and not posting at any other forum on the net
and haven't been for quite some time.

And yes SF, my admitting I was wrong was an apology.
When I'm wrong I'll say so.

So, to spell it out.
I'm sorry guys.
It's not my place to try and persuade anyone to do anything.
Nuff said and good luck out there.

Now I will stay out of your thread and again, I'm sorry.
[/quote]

Has any "owner" of tuliptools ever been convicted of a felony, or is any "owner" of Tuliptools named in a current lawsuit? Have we just pounced on aSs Ray's alter identity? I'd say that little B.S. post and page he made months ago has now caught wind and is spreading through the rank and file of rinky dink auction site sellers.

Keep in mind though, this is a seller who was, and by his own admission was banned from many different sites who said this. And you also must look at the source of the original "facts."

[quote author=xwpopper link=topic=18789.msg73544#msg73544 date=1229299209]
I'd say that little B.S. post and page he made months ago has now caught wind and is spreading through the rank and file of rinky dink auction site sellers.[/quote]

This wasn't an auction site seller.  He is one of the "invest in yourself" evangelists.

Quote:Keep in mind though, this is a seller who was, and by his own admission was banned from many different sites who said this.

Not this guy.  That was RiverRat and her "partner".

[quote author=PowerSeller link=topic=18789.msg73545#msg73545 date=1229300397]
[quote author=xwpopper link=topic=18789.msg73544#msg73544 date=1229299209]
I'd say that little B.S. post and page he made months ago has now caught wind and is spreading through the rank and file of rinky dink auction site sellers.[/quote]

This wasn't an auction site seller.  He is one of the "invest in yourself" evangelists.

Quote:Keep in mind though, this is a seller who was, and by his own admission was banned from many different sites who said this.

Not this guy.  That was RiverRat and her "partner".
[/quote]

He was an auction site seller. And, he is banned from posting on the eBay boards because he stalked and harassed employees of eBay's partner, Live World. He has made many unfounded accusations against a number of people, including myself and the owners of TT. He is also banned from TT for similar reasons. He is scum, and you would be well advised to stay away from him because he has no conscience.

And, xwpopper, you didn't ask me, but I will tell you that no one, owners or otherwise, that I am aware of, is named in any current lawsuits or has ever been arrested for anything. The repetition of this kind of crap is nothing more than libel, and could result in a defamation lawsuit filed against those who keep repeating it.

Finally, my two cents re TT and the alt site bashing. In the years that I have known them, they have been kind, helpful, and consistently decent. The alt sites get bashed because they lie, they cheat their customers (sellers), and they are a waste of time for sellers. Those are the only reasons they get bashed. Anyone who says or assumes anything else is either deluded or intentionally lying.

Quote:Has any "owner" of tuliptools ever been convicted of a felony, or is any "owner" of Tuliptools named in a current lawsuit?

The current "owner" of tuliptools.com is a UK corporation (the previous owner was a US corporation).  None of our sites have ever been owned by an individual --we incorporated before our first site went live in 1998 The current owner BTV's stock is 100% owned by  a US corporation.  Neither the company nor any of its officers have ever been charged with any crimes or convicted of any crimes.  The statement is libelous because the idiots found the criminal record of someone who has the same name as BBH  and claimed it was him.  If they had bothered to check the birth dates or several other facts it would have been apparent to them it wasn't BBH --plus it would be impossible for BBH to have a DWI conviction since he doesn't drive or own a car and doesn't drink.

The last lawsuit involving any "owner" was in 2002 (Blink.com Inc vs Tulips and Bears LLC).  Blink was a member of our affiliate program (which was run by Commission Junction).  We caught them using an automated program to inflate the traffic they were sending us so we withheld their monthly affiliate payment since they were ripping us off. They sued for the withheld payment.  Blink filed for Chapter 7 and liquidated shortly after the suit was filed and the suit was settled out of court a few months after it was filed.  One lawsuit in 10 years of operation for an Internet company is nothing when you compare it to the number of lawsuits other Internet companies have faced--take eBay and Google for instance who are constantly being sued.

Power Nimrod Wrote:some of those higher volume sellers have a staff and/or partners who handle a lot of the work for them

A staff is something you'll never have to worry about having since you insist on being a total NIMROD and driving customers to your competitors by plastering affiliate ads all over the home page of your web store. :imptongue:

Power Nimrod Wrote:That was RiverRat and her "partner".

Did you mean...

"That was RiverRat and her "partner" who help sellers build viable off Ebay businesses where they'll make more than the $10-$12 per month they'd gross if they were suckered into joining the Pro Bid site du jour?"

or did you mean...

"That was RiverRat and her "partner". who help expose the rinky dink site owner scammers, liars, and cheats that try to scam gullible sellers"



EDIT:

Quote:On a shared server and it shares an IP (and SSL certificate) with unleashxxx.com, freepornxxxvids.com, milf-unlimited.com, and a few hundred other sites.

Quote:They're most likely using the $7.95 monthly plan.

I pay $499 for a semi-dedicated at Volusion, Maggie and BBH run their stores on dedicated servers, and none of us are claiming to be "outstanding new viable eBay alternative."  You can't create a viable alternative with a $7.95 investment in infrastructure.

Quote:You can't create a viable alternative with a $7.95 investment in infrastructure.

Yes you can. Gegy invested $99 in Mewsoft and created an eBaY killer.

[quote author=BellisimaJ. link=topic=18789.msg73546#msg73546 date=1229301429]

He was an auction site seller. And, he is banned from posting on the eBay boards because he stalked and harassed employees of eBay's partner, Live World. He has made many unfounded accusations against a number of people, including myself and the owners of TT. He is also banned from TT for similar reasons. He is scum, and you would be well advised to stay away from him because he has no conscience.

And, xwpopper, you didn't ask me, but I will tell you that no one, owners or otherwise, that I am aware of, is named in any current lawsuits or has ever been arrested for anything. The repetition of this kind of crap is nothing more than libel, and could result in a defamation lawsuit filed against those who keep repeating it.

Finally, my two cents re TT and the alt site bashing. In the years that I have known them, they have been kind, helpful, and consistently decent. The alt sites get bashed because they lie, they cheat their customers (sellers), and they are a waste of time for sellers. Those are the only reasons they get bashed. Anyone who says or assumes anything else is either deluded or intentionally lying.

[/quote]

Just a couple add-ons...
As badly as PS has bashed Tuliptools, how many times have we tried to help her with her site? I was a WP supporter and that has never been held against me, and I have received more help than I asked for from any member of Tuliptools since leaving. On the other hand, the only advice I ever received on PSU was to keep trying rinky dink alternatives to eBay, and to sign up a PSU store. Great advice...

If you notice something, sites like USIFF never get "bashed" by TT because there is nothing to bash. They don't try to inflate their numbers, traffic, stats in any unethical way. They give real answers to questions, usually make the facts known before they are asked, and I fully respect the owners for it. I don't think they should be aligned with someone like Mark through United Best since they are on a different level professionally, but I never claimed to know the right thing all the time.

Admins of sites like Atomic Mall, Plunderhere, Alsoshopp, Wagglepop, Milbid, HiBidder, AWW, etc. do engage in less than ethical behavior, such as either falsely inflating numbers or just lying about numbers, defaming anyone who questions them, or using questionable marketing (otherwise known as SPAM) practices. Therefore, they get the treatment that they get out of TT members.

I have more respect for admins of auction sites like Yourhighbid and Wensy because they seem to be honest and respectable people regardless of their site stats. They also seem to care about a little more than themselves and their own egos, which keeps the general "bashing" away from them.

But when a site owner decides to visit a public forum, and push a member enough to get them to attack the owner's business practices, then bans the member? That is unethical, whether you like xppman or not.

As far as the site... Any site that loads that slowly on a shared hosting account with less than 50K listings, and uses a shared SSL certificate that pops up in a new window to transmit info back to the main site that is not secure, is going to have major problems.  None of my sites load that slow on shared hosting, and one I am almost finished testing has over 50,000 products. It seems to me that he should have taken some of those programming skills and learned how to install the site on a dedicated server instead of risking the database dependability. JMO...