"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.Â
"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.Â
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?