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

[Platzki]

[quote author=cash1381 link=topic=3775.msg39374#msg39374 date=1168016152]
Wagglepop 2007 and Beyond
January 2007
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As 2006 ends and 2007 begins, we enter not only a new year but a new chapter in the history of our community and endeavor. 2007 will bring many changes, but the most important dynamic that the new year brings is one of ongoing vision; the ability to analyze where we have been and see clearly where we are going. To date, we have shown clearly that there is extremely good acceptance of Wagglepop and the Wagglepop "values and beliefs" as the foundation that we are built upon. Our challenge for 2007 is simply one of scale. If we can build a site with 10,037 members and 154,841 listings over one year with minimal marketing and a limited target area (the US, the UK, Canada), what can we do with accelerated marketing, additional and improved features and functionalities, and a worldwide expansion?
To us, the answer is clear. We are just getting started, and the best, as the saying goes, is yet to be.


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"We're looking for something where we can make something happen: an industry where the competition is asleep, hasn't taken advantage."

- Wayne Huizenga

For about a dozen years, eBay has virtually monopolized the online auction arena. For the majority of that time they've done it in the ways that all large companies are built, by offering a timely or unique product at a good value, but somewhere along the way the "good value" part got lost, and in in doing so also lost was the sense for many users of community and trust.

Where there are unhappy customers, there is an opportunity, and that's an opportunity we intend to seize over the coming year and beyond.

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

   - Thomas Edison

Building Wagglepop into a worldwide alternative will not come from simply our ideas about how an online auction site should be built for the 21st century alone. Wagglepop is being built and will continue to be built the way all successful companies are, through hard work, dedication, and perseverance.

The world is full of talented failures, and those who blame everything and everyone for their failures or shortcomings. But find someone who is willing to work as hard as needed, who puts ideas and thoughts into action, and you'll find a success in the making.

We will not be able to outspend our main competition, but we will certainly outwork them by doing all of the things that need doing and understanding that our single greatest resource is the voice of our customers.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

   - Mark Twain

To cost of participation as a seller under SmartSell Pro is an incredibly value-packed $9.95. But there is a greater force at work with each passing day for those that are participating and those who would; the hope of building something together that will stand the test of time.

It's always easier to stick with the status-quo, to say if it has not been done before it will never be, to say trying is fruitless.

Don't believe it. Every great endeavor throughout history came with the same baggage. To start something, to be David to the Goliath, to persevere when times are tough, to have faith and patience and vision when you know your path is the right one; those are the things that make greatness and lead to our greatest successes.

Never be afraid to try, and never listen to the cynics, who know the price of everything yet the value of nothing.


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Recognize opportunity.

Do the work.

Believe.

That's it. That's the philosophical formula we'll use as a company and community to accomplish we clearly see as our goals both today and tomorrow. Together, if we can recognize opportunities and seize them, are willing to do the work no matter how long or hard, and work with clear vision and patience with belief in our common goals, we are sure to succeed.

The world is full of people who have achieved great things simply by daring to.

Those who achieve great and unexpected things leave that legacy forever, while the critics who said it could not be done are resigned to the trash can of history.

Let's make 2007 the year we changed everything.

For those who cannot read the wonderful informative January 2007 newletter



[/quote]

Oh no... not again... here it comes... 

[Alskling]

TRANSLATION OF THE WP NEWSLETTER:

1) Oh, how we love the word "dynamic."

2) Since we are incapable of coming up with any original thoughts, we'll quote everybody you've ever heard of.

[cash1381]

Wagglepop 2007 and Beyond

I'm thinking Buzz Lightyear would be proud!

[Kaboing]

[quote author=cash1381 link=topic=3775.msg39374#msg39374 date=1168016152]
To date, we have shown clearly that there is extremely good acceptance of Wagglepop and the Wagglepop "values and beliefs" as the foundation that we are built upon.
[/quote]

I guess the 9.95 a month fee is really tithing.

[Alskling]

From the WP 2007 newsletter:

To start something, to be David to the Goliath, to persevere when times are tough, to have faith and patience and vision when you know your path is the right one; those are the things that make greatness and lead to our greatest successes.

And, to prove that KaRay is incapable of coming up with an original thought:

From Blogging Stocks, by Designers Bargains (ahem), Nov. 16:

Wagglepop sees itself as David and eBay as its Goliath. The religious references in the site don't end there. But unlike David, Wagglepop has no slingshot and its owner Ray Romeo does not walk on water. And unlike Goliath, eBay is not a big, mean ogre all e-buyers hate. Like it or not, the reality is, eBay, despite its size, reputation, experience, and longevity in e-commerce, still activity works to maintain its presence and position which pure and simply brings the site business. Wagglepop is simply a novelty, a party line largely composed of disenfranchised eBay sellers of books, post cards, magazine ads and trading cards (curiously these were the types of items the owner of the site sold on eBay, where he still has a store, although he claims to have severed all ties with eBay) and stay-at-home moms selling crocheted doilies, home-made candles and their todders' out-grown overalls.

Alskling, Dec. 22:

What I find a real mystery is why THEY would want to waste THEIR time coming on the boards here to defend this boinktard and his non-business venture. They could answer no questions put before them, addressed none of the facts (which they call "bashing"),  and like Ray himself, are obviously in the Waggle game as part of Ray's big "neener" campaign against eBay, the nasty Goliath of the e-commerce world.

[let the truth be told]

Alsking, Dec. 22:

Quote
What I find a real mystery is why THEY would want to waste THEIR time coming on the boards here to defend this boinktard and his non-business venture. They could answer no questions put before them, addressed none of the facts (which they call "bashing"),  and like Ray himself, are obviously in the Waggle game as part of Ray's big "neener" campaign against eBay, the nasty Goliath of the e-commerce world.

It's the same old double standard. It's ok to bash eBay but not wagglepop for the same reason's. Nobody defends the eBay price increases that have hurt sellers because they have hurt sellers. Some find the need to defend WP's failure to address it's problems and that is free speech. The only person that needs to defend WP is Ray. His failure to answer the call has cost him dearly and will continue to cost him long term. Questioning the business pratices of WP is not only any business person's right, it also provides information that will allow sellers to make an informed desicion about the venue they choose as an alternative with lower costs. Questioning WP's motives is FREE SPEECH.



let the truth be told
u1it4less - "it's all in the name.."
X-POP NATION, A real seller's network

[bargainbloodhound]

If we can build a site with 10,037 members and 154,841 listings over one year with minimal marketing and a limited target area (the US, the UK, Canada)

Um, hello, earth to Ray.  Over the same time span Oztion which is limited to the much smaller target area of Australia/New Zealand built a site with over 110,000 members and over 350,000 listings.

10,000 members is tiny compared to your small competitors: ePier 104,000 members, Bidville over 900,000 members, uBid over 4 million members, Overstock Auctions (*see below), the large FREE listing sites (LiveDeal, iOffer,Yahoo Auctions,eBid,etc)...and the list goes on and on..even friggin' AuctionFire has several times more members than WP...and then of course there is eBay with 210 million members.

*

Fast facts about Overstock.com Auctions’ first year in business:
*  ...
...  of registered users: 660,000

FYI- After 1 year Overstock had 66X more members than Wagglepop has despite targetting an even smaller market: Overstock Auctions is US-only.

Members=potential buyers. Only 10,000 potential buyers on a site with over 15,000 categories. :blinkie:

It's a little too early to be comparing yourself to eBay...perhaps ePier or AuctionFire would be better comparisons.

PS Ray: Tazbar didn't open until AUGUST and it topped 20,000 MEMBERS 4 months later in December...that should tell you something.

[Alskling]

Questioning the business pratices of WP is not only any business person's right, it also provides information that will allow sellers to make an informed desicion about the venue they choose as an alternative with lower costs. Questioning WP's motives is FREE SPEECH.

Well said, Truth.

Questioning business practices is not only a right, in my mind it is an OBLIGATION. As an independent business owner, I have to treat my business is an entity in itself, and I have to decide daily what's best for IT. I question myself constantly regarding the decisions I make that will affect the health of MY business. Why would I not question others as well? This is not being mean, nasty, negative, and argumentative. This is being pragmatic, because it is MY business. Likewise, any person who deals with me has the right to ask about MY business practices.

I believe it was Regic who said something to the effect that a you (seller) can't treat any venue as a boss. The venue works for you. You don't work for it. And, as I recall, it was in response to some Popper who came over here and got all offended that we were hard-timing the place where SHE works. That's how Poppers think! Ray has himself a set-up where he's the boss of a company, staffed with employees that pay HIM for the privilege of working for him, instead of the other way around. Such a deal! That's why it's OK to have their PMs monitored, deleted, intercepted -- because a boss can do those things. And it's NOT OK to ask questions and an "employee" will get fired for doing so (cancel their accounts), because bosses are allowed to set the rules. And, if the boss decries NO FREE SPEECH, well, then there's no free speech. And how does he perform this feat of magic? By brainwashing, cult tactics, strokes, promises of fame and riches for the loyal and faithful, special treats, some "divine" calling to help Ray in his fingers-waving-in-the-ears "neener" campaign against eBay, and anything else to keep Poppers busy rallaying for the cause and segregated from infectious influences.

I don't know about anybody else here, but if I have to work under a boss, I EXPECT TO GET PAID, some vacation time, sick leave, medical benefits, and maybe even a pension plan.




 

[eclectica]

[quote author=let the truth be told link=topic=3775.msg39369#msg39369 date=1168012567]
[quote author=FineThings4U link=topic=3775.msg39368#msg39368 date=1168012406]
Thank you ADMIN

If I had known about TT earlier, I would NEVER had joined WP2 in the first place.


[/quote]

That goes for me as well 



let the truth be told
u1it4less - "it's all in the name.."
X-POP NATION, A real seller's network

[/quote]

Me three!

As far the latest newsletter..

The world is full of talented failures, and those who blame everything and everyone for their failures or shortcomings.

Uh, yeah Ray. You forgot to include "... and have public meltdowns."

[let the truth be told]

Quote from RoseBud on PSU

DesignerBargains

Quote: › ‹ Select ›‹ Expand ›
Sorry, not a single one of those posts are mine. All were made by TTers long before I ever posted or even knew TT existed.  


I think if you go back and read that post again you'll see that Angel edited it right after she posted it to say those post numbers are post you did on this thread not on the TT thread.


Also just to let everyone know I'm not without a sense of humor. Yes in some of the post on the TT thread people were just fooling around being funny "sick humor" as someone said. I'll admit I had a good chuckle a couple of times myself reading it. But there were some post on there that were not they were just "sick" and vicious.

We all know there are many types of people in the world so it only makes sense that forums would be representative of that. There are some who will cross certain lines and others that won't.

I think anyone posting on there has a very good idea or knows which ones there would cross these lines. I know after reading it I do you can begin to tell who is who if you know what I mean.

U1it4less is a very good example of what I'm talking about. One that seems to cross way over the line. Even many of the posters on TT had to tell him that and told him they didn't want him to post certain things anymore.

What I can't understand is why those that are there who would not cross the line still cheer someone like this on. He seems like a complete fruitcake to me. I don't know why you would want to associate yourself with him. It does not make you look good at all. Just my opinion but if that's the impression I get there are most likely other who will see it the same way.

There are a few others posting there who have crossed the line too maybe not as much as U1it4less but have stepped over it just a bit too much.

Quote from sherrand on PSU

From the PSU Forum Rules

Be considerate. No flaming of other members to incite or perpetuate
an argument. Personal attacks or name-calling is not permitted. Any member who is intentionally unpleasant or disruptive may be banned without warning

I think this reminder is required.

Thank you sherrand however that is up to PSU to decide. Don't worry dear I have very thick skin and it doesn't bother me one bit. I have made statements and I stand behind my statements and business desicion's 100%. I choose not to confront those posts on PSU for the very reason that they prove where the true malicious people are and that is the people who are posting my statements on PSU. They haven't had the experience I have had with WP. For them to continue to rip TT posters apart without discussing the facts and issues that I and many others have asked and presented here prove only one thing. There intent is to place blame for the failure of WP2 onto others without taking the time to investigate proven facts.

Not one of them have addressed the listing fudge, censorship, lack of a hands on owner or any of the hundreds more proven facts by TT members. They are the ones attaching. It happens in the WP forums, PSU, here on TT and a few more forums. I choose not to respond on PSU because I feel there actions prove my point. Information I provide will only be helpfull to those who are seeking answers about why WP is not a good alternative for eBay.

I in no way fault PSU for allowing there statements to continue as I support free speech. I will not report them either as it is up to PSU to decide who is allowed to post and who is not. I also will not comment on PSU about there posts.

Thank you again to TT for allowing the truth to be told!  



let the truth be told
u1it4less - "it's all in the name.."
X-POP NATION, A real seller's network