Poll: Who is to blame for sellers leaving Wagglepop en masse?

cranky_hippie · 10-15-2006, 07:38 PM,

Quote:WTF?

Pretty much everything about waggleflop AND Ray screams WTF.

***regic*** · 10-15-2006, 07:55 PM,

[quote author=thentavius link=topic=3775.msg27749#msg27749 date=1160940969]

*cough* ...umm, I suppose the crack team might be the software customer service people, or the software technical support. ;D
[/quote]

¡Usted está correcto! Occasion18

WP's software team in 2005 was Rainworx's developer/tech support, the maker of WP1's box script.

Meet Wagglepop 2's software 'team': Rob from Fairfield county Connecticut based RScript, the developer/tech support of WP2's box script.
http://www.wagglepop.com/bin/auction/vie...w_feedback&userID=3 . Member since January 16th.

thentavius · 10-15-2006, 07:58 PM,

Quote:I just received a follow-up email to help me pay the existing invoice of $9.95, which was sent Oct. 10 and covers the period of Oct. 19 - Nov. 19. Since I registered on July 19, and paid monthly in advance, my account is paid up to Oct. 19. They've already gotten me to donate $30 to the cult -- I owe them nothing and refuse to pay this invoice. I suppose I'll get some threatening emails on this, but I owe nothing and they will not get one penny more from me, "business is not always about money", as one cultist said, unless of course, your name is Ray. Again, how do you spell the word H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E?

Oh, yes. This is the celebrated pay-for-the-month-you're-gone clause.

He forces all sellers to pay the month AFTER they close their account, when they get terminated.

thentavius · 10-15-2006, 07:59 PM,

Stardust, I like your new avatar!

p.s. she's right. For those who were warned, it's their own darned fault for not listening--but it still doesn't prevent Ray from screwing people who DIDN'T get to read the warnings.

For those who didn't know about the pre-warning, and found WP some other way, I'm sorry for the crap pool you stepped into.

stardust · 10-15-2006, 09:39 PM,

Thanks, thentavius, for the compliment, but don't too excited..it's only in use til the spook's night is over! Then the toopid grin returns. Smile

rho · 10-15-2006, 09:54 PM,

Yup, xuppman. Outed myself, huh? That was me. All bright-eyed ambition with less than 1 yr of eCommerce under my belt. Swartz was looking for input from disgruntled sellers, and I wrote and told him we were not sitting in a puddle crying, sharing some of the WP pre-launch stats, ambitions, and Ray's contact info with him.

Oh, and my stupidity did not stop there. In April 2005, Sally Schultheiss, a free lance journalist who was doing a piece for the magazine Budget-Living (circulation 400K) contacted me after reading that article. She interviewed me for the June 2005 issue, interested to see where I was in relation to eBay alternatives. I took that opportunity to mention BidChaser and Overstock Auctions. Most of that article made it to the web, too.

BidChaser was a total waste of time/energy/promo efforts. Overstock was a bad choice for numerous reasons, one of the worse is that consumers are regularly ripped off by designer knock-off's. BTW, when Overstock was handing out free listings to select members, I'd asked if I could have free listings, too. They gave me a $10.00 credit (which I'm using the remainder of this week) and you know what the customer care twit said? "For free listings, you have to do somehting nice for Overstock." I replied that I had, explaining about Budget-Living and pointed to the article online. That kind of marketing, evidently, was not good enough. She blew off my free listings request.

Most reporters don't want to write about the alternatives anymore, except to poke fun at them. It's a monumental waste of time with the amataeur antics of these vendors. I stopped talking to reporters about alternatives as the public associations degrade my credibility.

All that bright-eyed ambition I started with in 2004 has matured into a jaded, skeptical, critical eye for these venues and vendors...I've become a "drive by lister" and rarely mention a site unless I've had a sale there or see that the place is jerking people around.

thentavius, unfortunately, you're on target about the fact that some people did not know WP's history and never had the benefit of being warned. They were lead to the kool-aid by the ignorant and selfish. Some of 'em, like myself, were probably newbies...small time sellers that eBay likes to shake out of their tree every so often. Those who know about WP1 and still choose to swallow the demon seed will get what they so richly deserve. Cold comfort, I know, but it really does warm my little black heart.

While I agree, startdust, that tossing $$ at these venues for a store is, at best, a risky way to get our goods to market, spending the extra $5.00 and fees w/ eBay is still the better investment for me. I never fail to profit from my eBay store, even if sometimes I run really lean on inventory to compensate the slower weeks. I'm still moving away from all these leaching bast!ds...ain't none of 'em can do more for me with that piddly little $10 - $20 bucks @ mo. than I can.

Well. That was more than I intended to say. Opinions are like @$$holes, everybody's got one. That thar's mine...

Later, Good People!

Alskling · 10-15-2006, 10:12 PM,

As "Then" say, I truly had no clue. I don't even think I posted on any board, including eBay's until this year, and I've been selling on eBay since 1998. I'd never heard of WP until I had gone into the eBay boards to post on a topic regarding the fee increase. Like many others, that's where I got snared.

I joined WP with a very positive attitude which turned very sour early on, when it became very clear that something wasn't kosher and the dots weren't connecting. Questions were never answered. Any suggestion I had was viewed as a challeng to some "grand plan", and when I asked what the "grand plan" was, no one had a clue. I was supposed to "trust" that Karen, et. al. knew what's good for us all because they're so much brighter, wiser, and entrusted with some secret knowledge. Nothing made sense. It was then that I decided to start doing my own research. Suddenly, I discovered this guy Ray and the fiasco of WP1. I asked about it, but got no answers and began to be met with antagonism. Where is this guy? What association does he have with WP2? Where is this company? Zip, zero, nada. Everybody avoided the issues and started giving me grief. Blind faith does not exist in my vocabulary.

WP created its own monster in me. Folks might have been warned, but I didn't even know that this site existed until about a week ago. I didn't even frequent PSU. I was too busy trying to make a living to bother with board nonsense. So, I was ignorant, it's true, but not stupid. After talking to other sellers, reading as much as I could, critically analyzing WP's own data right there in black and white, following the WP/Ebay connection, etc., the dots did start connecting and the picture they were making was not a pretty one. Time to blow the WP stand. So call me a moron, if you will, but I was insulated from the warning. If I did not have a business to run, I'd blow my horn on every available forum on the net. The censorship of free speech over there (Karen calls it "selective enforcement of personal responsiblity" or some such pile of bunny bullets, but censorship is exactly what it is) is a violation of my constitutional right, and in my mind, makes WP an elitist club at best and downright dangerous at worst.

Now that I have been terminated, I can't even lurk WP and comment on the goings on this site. Ray has it set up that only members have the privilege of viewing posts. At least on eBay anyone can at least see the posts. This restriction alone substantiates the cult edicts of No. 5, No. 8 and No. 25 as expressed in a previous post:

5) segregate, punish and banish dissidents as polluters of the purity and sanctity of the cause, and praise those that participate in this "cleansing"

8) carefully control the image of the movement

25) control and eliminate, if possible, the availability to information that might tarnish the image of the leaders, its followers, or the movement in general.