Quote:DRM
How much longer before DRM starts talking about
the mother of all tribes? :
Quote:Garbage traffic
It's garbage traffic for sellers but not for Ray since he's using the number of site visitors as a basis for setting the Flagship Banner Advertising program's rates The sellers are unlikely to receive any benefit from spending their time clicking through to other Traffic Swarm sites but Ray definitely will benefit from it.
[quote author=BellisimaJ. link=topic=3775.msg68670#msg68670 date=1205956387]
Quote:Wagglepop's original cheerleader DeepRiverMan
[/quote]
*whistles theme from Deliverance*
[quote author=regic link=topic=3775.msg68671#msg68671 date=1205960430]
*whistles theme from Deliverance*
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Excerpts from a lengthy post on the WP boards by a long time member
Quote:eBay is the giant purple hippo in the garden. They didn't get that way by all the users doing promotion - they advertised the heck out of it themselves. While WP has talked about former advertising budgets, I have never personally seen ANY WP advertising EVER. That includes from when I joined the first time you rolled out, until now. NEVER.
However, WP has NOT done their part on fulfilling seller requests for simple things like additional categories (please spare me the programming details - you have the structure in place already - adding xxx's long-asked-for baby categories is simply copying the same drill-down coding and assigning new category numerical coding to it. Not rocket science.). WP complains about seller retention, but what have you done to improve it?
If you have a massive amount of people leaving in your "30/60/90" day time frame, there is a reason for it. Does WP do exit interviews? Do you ASK the sellers why they left, or just hold open the door for them? If the problem is being repeated over and over, the current sellers can't fix that - it is a WP issue...
Lightbulb time in Popperland!
Quote:Not trying to argue, but seems like every time there are posts from WP, there is never any fingers pointed at themselves - always at the current seller base. WE didn't promote enough, WE didn't bring over enough other store owners, WE didn't pay our bill fast enough, WE __________. Not very much on what WP needs to do.
I've sen WP time and time again totally let opportunity go right through its hands.
The big strike in 2006 is an example - WP was open again, ready to roll, but I never saw even one ad or promotion anywhere. Two years later, eBay is getting ready to tork off another large percentage of their sellers, and WP is backing up, not promoting or advertising, and spending more time focusing on how they can cut back than how they can move forward! Oye!
AndRayBoinktard responds
AndRayBoinktard Wrote:Interesting comments. A little outside the boundaries of board participation, but I will let them stand because I think they deserve a response and out of respect for your contributions to date.
1. I was not at all saying Wagglepop lost to eBay, of course. I was saying that eBay members lose to eBay's will, yet again, because they allow it.
2. Angelsong777 (as an example of many exhibiting similar qualities) is one of our very best examples of what is possible through hard work and dedication to a goal. We continue to be impressed by her efforts (along with many others) each and every day.Â
3. Wagglepop has done plenty of advertsing - I have the receipts to show for it, but not much else. The marketing initiative from May 2007 through September 14, 2007 alone cost just over $42,000. Money, if I may add, that we borrowed. We carry the bulk of that still as debt.
Estimates on how much it would take to truly present effectively an alternative to eBay in advertsing dollars? $4-6 million dollars over six months to start. Wagglepop is a privately owned enterprise and does not have access to such funds or the participatory support that would encourage an outside investor. We know, because we tried dozens of times with dozens of meetings in dozens of cities. Participation (or lack of it) made our efforts utterly fruitless.
4. Regarding categorization drill down and adding categories - it is not as simple as your propose. InventoryDirect and the automated relisting systems that we use rely on precise correlation to that categorization. One error, and the entire site can relist or upload into the wrong category.
5. Why do sellers leave? Easy to answer because we hear it all and more in Customer Care. Non-payers are suspended for non-payment. For those that request closure, lack of sales quickly enough is number one. In excess of 85% close in less than 90 days. Not even enough time for search engine indexing.
6. Explain the process for payment of seller invoices? We practically plaster it all over the site between the 10th and 19th to all members, it's posted in the center of the Registration Agreement at signup, email reminders are issued on the 10th, and one (and sometimes two) overdue account emails are issued on top of that. The very notion that that is not enough coverage or notice is just plain silly - it is more than enough, quite clear, and fair as evidenced by the bulk that have no problem paying each month.
7. Your comment regarding "what we need to do" is disappointing. I would hope Wagglepop speaks for itself, but I may be naive in that notion. Perhaps (i.e.) "superbidz" or one of the other hundred dollar "free" sites out there fills the bill for online sellers. We aimed a bit higher than that, because we felt online users wanted and deserved that. Maybe $45,000 in custom programming was a mistake. I suppose we could have just taken any one of dozens of $100 software programs and added a bright logo, but again, we thought we should do more than that. You did. You spent $500 for Rscript 
The tone of your comments and the idea that we have not always listened to and acted to the wishes of membership as best we could surprises me, which is odd as I was sure nothing else about Wagglepop could or would do that ever again.
Now you see it...
Quote:Pizza Lunch Meeting 3/14 (wagglepopCC2) 21
Now you don't...
Quote:Information
The topic or post you requested does not exist
The posts, and topic, from my previous post have been deleted. ;D
AndRay posted a new topic after deleting them:
Quote: Board Participation and Information Policy Changes (wagglepopCC2) 0 21 Mar 2008 00:57
After some very deliberate and careful consideration this evening, we are going to implement stricter enforcement and clarification of both the Board Participation Policy and the Information Policy...
AndRayAssHat Wrote:Board Participation Policy violations (i.e. calling another member or a member of staff a "liar" by implication or engaging in personal disputes) will be handled quickly and firmly. Posts and threads outside of the policy guidelines will be removed, as per existing policy.
TRANSLATION: The compound residents must praise the cult leader and everything he touches at all times. Those who fail to show proper adoration to their divine leader will be forced to drink poisoned Kool-Aid and will die.
How appropriate. The Wagglespam is on the eBay hobby sellers board --the only place you'll find people who can afford to go without sales and be
"in it for the long haul" 