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

thentavius · 05-19-2006, 10:18 PM,

Quote:The protests over eBay's introduction of checkout in 2001 were far larger and resulted in far more listings being moved to other OAI sites like Bidville, BidBay,ePier, Carnaby,etc.

Ditto for the outcry over the combination of eBay's site problems and Pierre Omidyar's infamous "it's only $1 dollar" introduction of reserve fees in 1999 and the stampede to Gold's Auctions, and other OAI sites.

Ditto for the outrage over eBay's plans to introduce banner ads in 2000 that resulted in the Million Auction March, and the estimated moving of 500K-1 million listings from eBay to other OAI sites like Yahoo...that's 500K-1 million listings moved from eBay compared to WP's 11K.

Yep. Yep. And Yep.
Far bigger than the WagglePop thing. All three of them.

I remember participating in the checkout rollout "boycott" and the million auction march.

The WagglePop thing was not Ray. The stir, energy, and promotion came from THE PEOPLE; the mini "exodus", and their reaction to EBAY. The fee raise triggered it. The people who were finally looking elsewhere are the ones who started the avalanche. It may as well have been Granny with Granny's Auction Site standing in the path of the avalanche, as it came rolling down with lots of bandwagons attached. It would have had the same affect. Whomever was standing there, almost ready (but new), got nailed. Rather like a rebound relationship after the breakup; especially since many of the posters were emotional in such a way that they seemed like jilted lovers, or recent divorcees.

I'm sure a ton of the other little auction sites wish they had been the new guy with the bus when everyone needed a ride--but it was important that the site was new, untried, and essentially a greener-pasture-promised-land-neighbor's-yard. The older sites meant nothing, because they had not already performed in a magical way to the avalanche.

The whole thing was a microcosm of human interaction, based on a handful of message boards. It was fascinating from a psychological perspective, but no different from any bandwagon, in any type of industry or social situation.

To those watching it unfold, it seemed like it was rocking the world. All bandwagons seem that way, anyway, from the inside.

I say "microcosm" because a "macro" would have actually affected everyone. I'd say a good portion of people have never heard of WP; especially the many sellers who don't even use message boards. I'm even seeing the "what the heck was wagglepop?" here from a newer seller. No surprise to me.

Gegy did the same thing, but many sellers had never even heard of them--and at the time, Gegy and Gold Auctions seemed like they were rocking the world. It's a cycle that repeats itslef; whether it's about government, religion, business, or politics--or whether it happens in the ranks of Wal-mart employees, on school boards, or at the bus stop.

xppman · 05-19-2006, 11:28 PM,

Excellent post thentavius
Cheers

maggie777 · 05-19-2006, 11:34 PM,

Quote:I remember participating in the checkout rollout "boycott" and the million auction march

I remember the reserve fee uprising and MAM. I vaguely recall losing my eBaY board posting privileges during the checkout protest too. Icon_biggrin

Anita · 05-19-2006, 11:46 PM,

[quote author=maggie777 link=topic=3775.msg14509#msg14509 date=1148081648]
I vaguely recall losing my eBaY board posting privileges during the checkout protest too. Icon_biggrin

[/quote]

;D

maryrussel · 05-20-2006, 12:37 AM,

Interesting perspective Thentavius. Probably the best explanation of the Wagglepop impact I've heard to date.

thentavius · 05-20-2006, 12:49 AM,

Quote:I vaguely recall losing my eBaY board posting privileges during the checkout protest too.

Me three. I can't remember if the pinks really posted in pink at the time, but I remember getting busted.

iron_chick · 05-20-2006, 01:10 AM,

I'm such a gneub.
I didn't even have a store during the 2005 fee increase hit.
I'm pretty sure I'd never even sold anything when the checkout rolled out. (Why was that such a big issue?)

vitalfinds · (This post was last modified: 10-14-2006, 10:29 PM by vitalfinds.)

...

xppman · 05-20-2006, 01:48 AM,

thentavius post IMO is probably one of the best perspectives
of the impact on all of us in the NEW and ever moving biz
world I've heard to date. No matter what topic or company
is out there to be looked upon or discussed.

Board posting privileges? :blinkie: What's THAT?

thentavius · 05-20-2006, 02:35 AM,

Quote: the lack of an actual site was probably a bigger appeal then anything, since it allowed hundreds of people to create their own myth.

Absolutely. That's precisely why the avalanche got bigger. The site was new and upcoming. No one had seen it yet. It was going to be perfect. Perhaps it could have been, if he'd really had a programmer there making all the changes people were really asking for.

Just like the movie that gets hyped and hyped...