Hello everyone....
Yes, my store is now closed as my account has been suspended. I do not blame WP as I have broken their rules and they have every right to do as they did. I received an email stating that I am suspended for 30 days and the reason why. The email I received was not rude in any way, just matter of fact. I am surprised it lasted this long. I thought it would be gone soon after some of you posted about it, but it seems that my posting here must have triggered things. Anyway, I must apologize as it wasn't really right for me to use my landing page to link outside of WP. I only did so to get something for my last month of fees, but that doesn't make it right. Anyway, I will now reply to that email and ask for my store to be officially closed, along with an apology.
[quote author=Designers Bargains link=topic=3775.msg58274#msg58274 date=1182993300]
Nikki,
Welcome.
Quote:I have come to my own conclusions and have decided it is now time for me to move on.
Please tell us what were those conclusions and what lead you up to them?
[/quote]
As to my conclusions and how I got to them.....
To start with, I'd like to say that I have no personal issues with WP, all of my conclusions and decisions are purely from a business standpoint. I had sincerely hoped WP would grow and be a great place to buy and sell. I don't care as much about having another large venue to replace eBay, rather just a place where I can build my store and then promote it and help it grow, but without having the sole responsibility of promotion resting on my shoulders like a stand alone website. While my sales weren't skyrocketing at WP, I was happy with my sales there so far. (My feedback didn't show many of my sales, as many of my customers aren't the type to mess around with feedback.)
I was watching the trend of sellers coming and going and watching to see if there was any hope left, because I figure at some point when the drop in stores crosses over a certain amount, keeping WP open won't be worth it to Ray from a business standpoint. If WP closes, my store would be gone. Shortly before Andrew's announcement on the boards, I had come to the conclusion that I just didn't see any hope left, and therefore wouldn't feel comfortable recommending other sellers to invest their time setting up shop. I started delisting and stopped posting on the boards as I didn't want to disturb things in the community. I wanted to leave quietly. I still monitored the boards for a little bit and saw Andrew's announcement. I found his attitude very condescending and negative towards the sellers in general and decided at that point that there was no more hope for the community either. The community just isn't what it had been. I think the unique community at WP is what has kept WP going as long as it has. Without a strong community at WP, it is just a matter of time.
One of the other things I concluded, was that WP was actively doing things in the beginning to improve the site and make it a better place to buy and sell. I saw WP respond to sellers and changes occurred for the better, as they seemed to have a vision. However, I think that vision has been gone for some time now, and WP isn't putting any more time and effort into anything now, but rather just riding out the wave. No one puts more effort into something that they think is going down. This is exactly my reason for leaving. While I hated to delete all of my work there, I just couldn't justify putting in more effort. And I'm not one to let things just sit there...if I'm going to do something, I'm going to invest some effort in it.
I know that many of you believe that WP is a one man show and that Andrew, Karen, and Christine are fictional. I don't know whether this is true or not, and personally don't really care. I didn't care if WP was run by one person or a whole team, as long as things were ran well. We have a very successful log home business that we run from our home without any additional people outside of our family. We do quality work and give quality service, therefore we are recommended highly as the best in our line of work in the area that we serve, even though we are a smaller company than many others. So size really isn't all that important to me. However, a stable and secure site with the owner putting faith into it by investing in making improvements is very important to me, and I just don't see that as the case anymore.
Sorry for the long post again, I tried to keep things as concise as possible while still trying to be clear. I am not a WP basher and am no longer a WP supporter. I guess that puts me somewhere in between....just moving on.
OnAJourney
Nikki =)
