06-14-2007, 04:20 PM
[quote author=Riverwood link=topic=3775.msg57038#msg57038 date=1181837140]
[quote author=bratpack link=topic=3775.msg56941#msg56941 date=1181781343]
I really think/hope that this months round of store closings will be quite hefty. I think the ones that our left sell as a hobby and must not need to make income off their wares or they are just staying because of the false sense of family amongst the members. I think after the announcement of Karen departing and Andrew's bad cop routine, the feeling of belonging to an on-line "family" will be gone and thus many hard core poppers. Anyone who stays after all that nonsense must be beyond the realm of help. Its really very sad.
[/quote]
Morning All!
As a soon-to-be ex-koolaid drinker, I have a question for you folks that have been around this block a few times. I know there's a million auction sites out there, many of them doing quite poorly with no traffic, some better than others, some of them charge, some of them don't, some of them advertise, some of them have virtually no advertising budget....very few of them seem to have the highly charged emotional impact that WP has had - neg. & pos.... (that I'm aware of).
Initially, WP seemed to be one of the auction sites that could be quite successful; it had numerous ebay refugee sellers, a similar set-up to ebay and lots of hype. Myself and many other sellers spent months & months promoting & promoting, only to find it extremely difficult to lure our customers over to buy there, or to get new traffic onto the site. I can tell you from my own perspective that getting even my regular customers to make purchases there was like pulling teeth without the novocaine, not sure why. WP ballooned up to over 900 stores, only to dwindle back down to barely over 200.Â
This is my question: What do you think is the one biggest contributing factor to the gradual decline of wagglepop?...is it Ray's treatment of sellers? is it bad karma from the first failed go-round? poor public perception of the site? lack of advertising? ebay being the place to buy? the efforts of nay-sayers? something else??? Just curious as to what people think
:cinqo2:
[/quote]
My personal opinion is that it boils down to what DB has been saying for months: WP wasn't, isn't, and will never be a business. It's the ego-maniacal experiment of a hothead that has delusions of grandeur. Seriously.
As far as "naysayers" - sure, word spreads quickly. So many things were promised, not one promise ever came to fruition. From the traffic-tripling Grand Opening that was way off the mark to the "Mercedes" of a bulk lister that sadly was nothing more than an Excel spreadsheet - and not a very sophisticated one at that. These disappointments and many more are being echoed on forums all over the place.
Ray missed the boat, I think. His ego wants an eBay competitor. An unlikely feat if you look at all the fledgling auction sites that aren't doing any better than WP. He should have picked a niche, something narrow enough to attract a distinct audience. I believe one of the mods here (Reg, Amy, BBH, Mandy - sorry if I left anyone out!) mentioned this before - a niche would have done far better (think Etsy).
As far as being emotionally charged, I think that goes back to the disappointment. Lies, censorship, flat out BS. That'll create an emotionally charged atmosphere in any area of life.
My 2 cents. Would love to hear others take on it also!
[quote author=bratpack link=topic=3775.msg56941#msg56941 date=1181781343]
I really think/hope that this months round of store closings will be quite hefty. I think the ones that our left sell as a hobby and must not need to make income off their wares or they are just staying because of the false sense of family amongst the members. I think after the announcement of Karen departing and Andrew's bad cop routine, the feeling of belonging to an on-line "family" will be gone and thus many hard core poppers. Anyone who stays after all that nonsense must be beyond the realm of help. Its really very sad.
[/quote]
Morning All!
As a soon-to-be ex-koolaid drinker, I have a question for you folks that have been around this block a few times. I know there's a million auction sites out there, many of them doing quite poorly with no traffic, some better than others, some of them charge, some of them don't, some of them advertise, some of them have virtually no advertising budget....very few of them seem to have the highly charged emotional impact that WP has had - neg. & pos.... (that I'm aware of).
Initially, WP seemed to be one of the auction sites that could be quite successful; it had numerous ebay refugee sellers, a similar set-up to ebay and lots of hype. Myself and many other sellers spent months & months promoting & promoting, only to find it extremely difficult to lure our customers over to buy there, or to get new traffic onto the site. I can tell you from my own perspective that getting even my regular customers to make purchases there was like pulling teeth without the novocaine, not sure why. WP ballooned up to over 900 stores, only to dwindle back down to barely over 200.Â
This is my question: What do you think is the one biggest contributing factor to the gradual decline of wagglepop?...is it Ray's treatment of sellers? is it bad karma from the first failed go-round? poor public perception of the site? lack of advertising? ebay being the place to buy? the efforts of nay-sayers? something else??? Just curious as to what people think
:cinqo2:
[/quote]
My personal opinion is that it boils down to what DB has been saying for months: WP wasn't, isn't, and will never be a business. It's the ego-maniacal experiment of a hothead that has delusions of grandeur. Seriously.
As far as "naysayers" - sure, word spreads quickly. So many things were promised, not one promise ever came to fruition. From the traffic-tripling Grand Opening that was way off the mark to the "Mercedes" of a bulk lister that sadly was nothing more than an Excel spreadsheet - and not a very sophisticated one at that. These disappointments and many more are being echoed on forums all over the place.
Ray missed the boat, I think. His ego wants an eBay competitor. An unlikely feat if you look at all the fledgling auction sites that aren't doing any better than WP. He should have picked a niche, something narrow enough to attract a distinct audience. I believe one of the mods here (Reg, Amy, BBH, Mandy - sorry if I left anyone out!) mentioned this before - a niche would have done far better (think Etsy).
As far as being emotionally charged, I think that goes back to the disappointment. Lies, censorship, flat out BS. That'll create an emotionally charged atmosphere in any area of life.
My 2 cents. Would love to hear others take on it also!