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

[wahm922]

At this point I won't even sign up and give him my info.  Things just don't "feel" right with all of this

[accentnepal]

If you havent gotten the email look in your spam filter - that is where mine was.

Yes - a shock to me too. I admit I was a (cautious) defender of Ray. I was impressed by the PR coups he pulled off -- skimming off thousands of eBays best sellers, the cereal box promo  - 50 million boxes with waggle ads on the back (If it was real. I imagine there was something to it, maybe not as certain as he said), mentions in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and other smaller media. A CNBC indepth story was about to be filmed.

If he was able to provide a stable site (both software and emotions) and continued to produce the kind of PR excitement he had already demonstrated he could create, by now Wagglepop would be a big deal.

Ray is, above all, a salesman. BS is part of marketing for that kind of person and, as long as it is not truly dishonest it is part of the game. Not a game I play, but I recognize the type.

To do big things you gotta make noise. Even those who feel Ray led them on would admit he is very good at making noise.

Yeah I will sit this out - I am way behind listing on Ebay, and will put my effort there, but I would not be surprised to see Waggle become very successful. And I would be happy to see it.

[Anita]

[quote author=wahm922 link=topic=3775.msg14188#msg14188 date=1147805369]
At this point I won't even sign up and give him my info.  Things just don't "feel" right with all of this
[/quote]

To register, all I had to give is my name, home addy, phone number, and e-mail addy.  Anyone can get that out of the phone book.  

[xppman]

Why would RR just up and copy the ebay listing page?  Is that stupid or what -- inviting instant lawsuits from ebay lawyers? Something's wrong here.  Really creepy.

Why shouldn't he? After all the supreme court just said it was OK for ebay to steal Mercs BIN  patent tech.

So it should be a free for all now. Fair game you know?

[wahm922]

[quote author=Anita link=topic=3775.msg14193#msg14193 date=1147805869]
[quote author=wahm922 link=topic=3775.msg14188#msg14188 date=1147805369]
At this point I won't even sign up and give him my info.  Things just don't "feel" right with all of this
[/quote]

To register, all I had to give is my name, home addy, phone number, and e-mail addy.  Anyone can get that out of the phone book. 
[/quote]

True!

I didn't even attempt to register so I didn't know how much info was being collected.  I'm just being overly cautious :-\

[regic]

Does he seriously hope to take this public one day?  :blinkie:

http://www.wagglepop.com/bin/Help?cmd=view&pages=media

He won't discuss advertising plans, or site traffic statistics with the media?

He won't discuss the RScript either.  :twistedevil:  To his credit, he did do a much better job of modifying the script's user interface than many of the sites I've seen using it.

[iron_chick]

Submit interview questions via REGISTERED MAIL??  :

[dimucci]

:popcorneaters:

[iron_chick]

Please Note: As part of the Wagglepop Account Protection & Security Protection Methods, we do not ask for or keep any financial information such as credit card numbers or bank account information on file for any of our members, nor do we do any passive automated billing.

Translation:  We make absolutely no effort to verify that our sellers are who they say they are. 

Hmmmm . . . maybe I'll sign up as Bill Cobb.  >

Wagglepop accepts only PayPal to pay all seller account balances. PayPal is completely secure, and there is no charge to send money using PayPal. We use only PayPal as a part of our ongoing effort to help protect our membership in every regard when it comes to online protection and security.

Bolding mine.

Wagglepop is a 100% trust-based community.

I trust there are going to be a LOT of scam sellers if you don't have to verify your identity.  Heck, you apparently don't even pay up front for listings.

[amy]

2/13/05 opening day: http://web.archive.org/web/2005021300580...lepop.com/
2/22/05 final day: http://web.archive.org/web/2005021605013...lepop.com/
2/24/05 "Closed. We will not be re-opening.": http://web.archive.org/web/2005022401583...lepop.com/

1/31/05 ecommerce-guide "Are You Ready for Wagglepop?": http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/news...hp/3466631
2/23/05 ecommerce-guide "Wagglepop CEO Sticks Fork in Site: It's Done" :
http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/news...hp/3485161

Two quotes for Nat and Bargainbloodhound:

"Since this is where and how the whole idea started, I think it's only fitting that it end here as well. Within hours, I will be closing Wagglepop for good, and forever. The servers will be shut down, and all drives reformatted, destroying any and all personal data. No one owes a single penny," he said.[/b]

http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/news/news...hp/3485161
and:

Regarding user information, in one email, Romeo answered, "The site software, data, and information have been wiped clean from the servers, and the servers themselves will be dismantled in the next few days." When asked what specific measures were taken to delete the information so they would be unrecoverable, he said, "The drives were reformatted, then wiped. Then rewritten, and wiped again..."

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m02/i23/s01


Get back to me in 9 days and I'll give my opinion on its reopening if it's still open.  :twistedevil: