Wagglepop 2: Deja Vu as Auction Site That Left Sellers Stranded Reopens

[stardust]

Well, she didn't seem very convinced from reading the stuff on this board.  I feel for her dumbness...   

[amy]

bad news Ray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WP's #2 store wants OUT!!!!!!!!!

I want to move my store from wagglepop due to their lack of anything going on. Does anyone recommend a good place. Thank you much,

http://powersellersunite.com/about7599.html#78806

He must not have bought into Karen/Ray's line that sell-through is "eBay think" and "immaterial" (he has 2 sales since August 1 with an inventory of 3600).

[stardust]

This is starting to become entertaining again.  After a lull of a few hours.  :  I sure hope the seller just empties the store suddenly and leaves rr in a cloud of dust! 

[amy]

http://www.wagglepop.com/auction/images/buynow.gif

Ray must have a short memory if he's using a button with "buy it now".  I know BBH told him in November 2004 that eBay had trademarked the term for use on auction sites.  :

I sure hope the seller just empties the store suddenly and leaves rr in a cloud of dust!

A "professional seller" would be willing to stick it out for 1 or 2 years on WP without any sales--or so Karen/Ray says.  : 

[Alskling]

So, I guess Ray and Karen aren't professional, by their own standards, since they publicly admitted they were making money about a month ago, which is more than I can say for about 99% of the "sellers" themselves.

Since PSU is crawling with cheerleaders for sites that THEY are on, or started, or have services (I got bombarded with spam when I posted a similar question there), I'm afraid this seller is just going to walk away as befuddled as he did when he posted. Since he has almost 3700 listings in his WP store, it wouldn't surprise me if Ray himself bribes him to stay in some way, just to keep the listing numbers from dropping into the crapper.

[xppman]

SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE

Screw eBay. Screw Wagglepoop.
START YOUR OWN WEBSITE!!!!!!!! 

[Sweet Girl 70]

Popper asks:

I was wondering if buyers could have the option of viewing "Items Recently Sold" in addition to "View Seller's Feedback" ? Also would be great to have a number next to our seller id representing TOTAL Sales.

Not all buyers are leaving feedback. When they are viewing our feedback they are not getting an accurate representation of our sales. If they could view ***all sales and all buyers***, not just the ones that leave feedback, it would be true picture of the seller's transactions.

How can we make it easier for non WP to leave feedback? Can we have a contest? "Leave Feedback and get entered in a weekly drawing for a $10 gift certificate from one of our participating stores!" I would agree to be a participating store. (WP sellers are excluded from entering...)


OR: Do we make it only about total sales? Buyers can view our list of sales, some with and some without feedback?

The response....

You bring up an interesting topic, one that has been at the forefront of many of our internal discussions about the value of feedback and the peculiarities of the online auction environment.

The entire concept of "feedback" is unique for the most part to the traditional auction environment, and along with that the notion of "membership" as a requirement for bidding and or buying, and the ability to commit to a purchase before payment need be made.

Contrast that with the traditional online retail environment where no membership is required to purchase, and items that are selected for purchase are "held" in a shopping cart and not considered completed transactions until paid for in full, generally via credit card. Generally, there is no means of leaving feedback.

When viewed in that light, we find them strikingly different as business models.

We attribute the difference in dynamic for online auction sites to:

- Feedback reflects the environment of "multiple" sellers on one site
- The ability to accept "non" online payment methods, such as checks

Adhering to the online auction model can have some limitations, and some advantages, and I'll share now that we see the future of Wagglepop to be somewhat of a "blend" of the two different models.

For the most part, I'd say that today's online buyer cares less about feedback numbers, and more about seller performance.

Along with that, that's the reason that many sellers have not received feedback from the great number of sales we've sourced from search engines and shopping comparison sites, like Froogle.

The traditional online buyer finds an item to buy, buys it, and waits for it's arrival. Once they receive it, the transaction is completed. "Feedback" is, in many cases, a completely foreign notion.

While we do believe that "feedback" has it's place in today's online auction environment (and on Wagglepop), the way it's currently applied may be an older "90's" convention, and require reworking so that sellers get the credit they deserve, and buyers understand that it has value in today's environment.

It's something that we'll be actively reviewing as Wagglepop evolves over time

Karen - WP Customer Care

[stardust]

The traditional online buyer finds an item to buy, buys it, and waits for it's arrival. Once they receive it, the transaction is completed. "Feedback" is, in many cases, a completely foreign notion.

For once, I agree with RR on this statement.    My guess is that all folks breaking the ebay umbilical cord will have to undergo no-feedback withdrawal for a while.

[amy]

[quote author=stardust link=topic=3775.msg27971#msg27971 date=1161099234]

The traditional online buyer finds an item to buy, buys it, and waits for it's arrival. Once they receive it, the transaction is completed. "Feedback" is, in many cases, a completely foreign notion.

For once, I agree with RR on this statement.     My guess is that all folks breaking the ebay umbilical cord will have to undergo no-feedback withdrawal for a while.
[/quote]

Outside of eBay and eBay refugee sites very few buyers leave feedback.  Less than 20% of our Overstock buyers leave it, and well under 5% of our buyers do at Amazon.

Since WP is 100% eBay refugees and everyone is a seller, the majority of buyers will probably leave feedback. 

[regic]

"If I hear another Wagglepopper complain about WP not advertising I'm gonna IGNORE THEM because I KNOW:

Wagglepop is the BEST VENUE anywhere on the Internet
Nowhere else can you get so much from a venue for just $9.95 a month
I can and have jumped in with fellow poppers promoting Wagglepop
I can and have opened my own website promoting Wagglepop, my store and fellow promoters of Wagglepop
I can, have and will continue to promote my store and Wagglepop on the search engines
I can, have and will continue to look for, find and use legitimate, worthwile venues to advertise and promote my store, fellow Wagglepop promoters and Wagglepop.

In sum, I will continue to do all I can to make my business grow - it's my job, not Wagglepops!"

We have been handing out flyers about Wagglepop in our town and surrounding towns.. My husband is a truck driver, and he has been putting flyers in all the rest stops he comes to, to help promote this site..

As the old saying goes "Rome wasn't built in a week" and Wagglepop won't be either, but if the sellers continue to have a possitive outlook on here we will become just as if not more successfull as the other site..

It's WP's business to HOST OUR BUSINESSES ...

For the 9.95 per month hosting fee, WP goes above and beyond what any other 'hosting company' would offer us. I think, no, I know, I still get discouraged sometimes with my own website if customers aren't buying. I think that's pretty much human to do so - but if you think of WP as your business' hosting company - the monthly fee is great for what you get here.