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

[yowlsnhowls]

[quote author=sherrand link=topic=3775.msg53742#msg53742 date=1179444855]
On a more serious note
[/quote]

Sherry, what a wonderful, profound essay. You've certainly provided much food for thought.

It hints of either buying friendship or of a person desperate for a certain comfort level with people that they are unsuccessful at achieving offline. Exchanging personal emails and continuing the correspondence with cyber-friends as a non-WP seller should be just as important, just as attractive, just as fulfilling and just as rewarding but wouldn't cost a dam cent.

I have an article I clipped from the Loss Prevention Magazine pinned to my bulletin board next to my desk. It was written several years ago by Gus Downing, the CEO of Downing & Downing, Inc. entitled "The Ball and Chain of Friendship." In part, he states:

Sigmund Freud took the position that there are only two things in life - love and work - with the objective being to find balance with both in order to live a full, productive, and happy existence. He also suggested that we all intuitively gravitate toward happiness and consequently find ourselves struggling each day to find what makes us happy and ultimately reach fulfillment. It is only then that the human potential can be realized.

... the true objective of any career is to merge both love and work so that they become one. You then find your potential and experience fulfillment, which feeds happiness, albeit fleeting when mixed with the daily storms and dysfunctions of life.

With the human tendency to merge the two, we form relationships with those closest to us that become friendships that in some cases last a lifetime and have an unbelievable impact on us as humans and as executives, both in positive and negative ways. But this desire inside us all is so strong that we all fall victim to it. We ultimately pay a price that at times can lead to our failure of not reaching our own potential, or simply blind us to the realities of human imperfections and substandard performance.

The bottom line is that good relationships make it easier to work together, but business is still business. Though I deeply treasure my friendship with other sellers, friendship doesn’t determine sales and profit.

Thanks for the intellectual nourishment. It's very much appreciated. 

[I want 1 2]

From the Flaming Penis guy's ME page:

... AND MUCH MUCH MORE GREAT ITEMS,IF YOU DONT SEE IT HERE IN MY LITTLE STORE PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AND ILL TRY AND SEE IF I COULD FINE IT FOR YOU.. I CAN SELL ITEMS IN BULK OR SINGAL ITEMS.FIND ALL YOUR ITEM NEEDS FOR YOUR NEXT FLEA MARKET,OUR YOUR AUCTIONS.

-Bolding is mine-

I know we have touched on this before. One of the marks of a professional seller is attention to detail. Here is a page in all caps (the internet version of screaming), poor grammar, and several spelling mistakes.
What this really screams to me is that this seller is someone I wouldn't want to deal with. How you present yourself and your items is not a cost issue, it's a matter of taking the time to do it right.
I don't mean this as a personal attack on this particular seller, just as an example of a bad first impression.

Thoughts?

[yowlsnhowls]

[quote author=I want 1 2 link=topic=3775.msg53748#msg53748 date=1179455027]
From the Flaming Penis guy's ME page:

... AND MUCH MUCH MORE GREAT ITEMS,IF YOU DONT SEE IT HERE IN MY LITTLE STORE PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AND ILL TRY AND SEE IF I COULD FINE IT FOR YOU.. I CAN SELL ITEMS IN BULK OR SINGAL ITEMS.FIND ALL YOUR ITEM NEEDS FOR YOUR NEXT FLEA MARKET,OUR YOUR AUCTIONS.

-Bolding is mine-

I know we have touched on this before. One of the marks of a professional seller is attention to detail. Here is a page in all caps (the internet version of screaming), poor grammar, and several spelling mistakes.
What this really screams to me is that this seller is someone I wouldn't want to deal with. How you present yourself and your items is not a cost issue, it's a matter of taking the time to do it right.
I don't mean this as a personal attack on this particular seller, just as an example of a bad first impression.

Thoughts?
[/quote]

Oh I agree with you 100%, Hon. When I found his thread on Babbleopia, I immediately noticed his poor grammar, improper punctuation, typing in all caps, and misspellings.

Jeeez, if you're going to sell on the internet, for gawd's sake learn the difference between "sell" and "sale"! ARGH!!! That's truly a pet peeve of mine.

[yowlsnhowls]

Man, are we boosting this count up today for those flagitious non-payers or what? The low today was 240 and now it's 244 Stores found

[racedream]

[quote author=I want 1 2 link=topic=3775.msg53748#msg53748 date=1179455027]
From the Flaming Penis guy's ME page:

... AND MUCH MUCH MORE GREAT ITEMS,IF YOU DONT SEE IT HERE IN MY LITTLE STORE PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AND ILL TRY AND SEE IF I COULD FINE IT FOR YOU.. I CAN SELL ITEMS IN BULK OR SINGAL ITEMS.FIND ALL YOUR ITEM NEEDS FOR YOUR NEXT FLEA MARKET,OUR YOUR AUCTIONS.

-Bolding is mine-

I know we have touched on this before. One of the marks of a professional seller is attention to detail. Here is a page in all caps (the internet version of screaming), poor grammar, and several spelling mistakes.
What this really screams to me is that this seller is someone I wouldn't want to deal with. How you present yourself and your items is not a cost issue, it's a matter of taking the time to do it right.
I don't mean this as a personal attack on this particular seller, just as an example of a bad first impression.

Thoughts?
[/quote]

If I was browsing a site looking for a certain item and came across a seller that had this (or something similar to this) on their 'Me Page' or in a listing, I would hit the back button immediately. If a seller doesn't have the time to present themselves or their items in a professional manner, doesn't take the time to proof read what they have written, I won't take the time to buy from them.

I am NOT attacking this seller. I am just stating what I look for in a seller.

Sellers, take the time to make sure your listings are professional looking and well worded. In online selling, first impressions are so important. If you don't take the time to make sure your listings and other information are worded correctly, you won't get the sales you hope to get.

[chiquita]

OK I am going to post this for the 4th or 5th time. Just for all the new peeps who might not have seen it back in this long long thread


These are from OTWA a forum that followed WP1.

I know you are excited about Wagglepop. I know you LOVE the idea of a new site coming along and the power you feel that you are finally taking some control of your business and getting past the frustrations eBay has dealt you... the anger that eBay has made you feel... It's not JUST about the fees, is it? It's about a lot more than JUST the fees. It's about eBay spending all of it's energy doing things to make eBay more money, and NONE of that energy to make YOU more money. Nobody is trying to put money in YOUR pocket, and that is exactly what eBay SHOULD be doing... but they don't. You know it, and it makes you angry, and it should, because it could be so very different than it is...

But this Wagglepop. That's not going to do it either. It's going to feel good for a while, and then it's not going to feel so good. You will fight for it, protect it, try to nurture it to life, but in the end, IT WILL DIE. It will because every other site just like it has died. It will because it is not a formula for success. Not for you, not for Ray. Your hopes, your dreams of what you want it to be will be dashed against the rocks, run straight into the wall, thrown off a cliff... because this is NOT a forumla for success folks. It's just not.

You can build something for yourself on the web, but it's not going to happen at an auction site. If you want success for yourself on the internet, if you want an internet based business, then you need to face up to facts, look reality in the face, put down the happy cake and get serious about your business. That day when you could be naive and pop a few things on eBay and make a bunch of money are OVER. They aren't going to revive at some other place. You think your sales on eBay suck, just wait until you've spent a couple of months at Wagglepop. Oh, you can still chat with your friends and have fun at the community site known as Wagglepop, where buyers and sellers are all the same handful of people... and there is nothing wrong at all with doing that... but if you are serious about building a business online, you are wasting your time with this.

Flame away, I know you do not want to hear it, but it is absolutely the truth.... and you need to hear it.

And this post

That was a time of discovery... because, before that, most of us did not know what possibilities were out there for our businesses... and we went to find out. Now, 4.5 years later, we know. We know what will not work. We are learning what will work.

Wagglepop will not work. It just won't. I'm not guessing into the future, I know because I have been there and done that and so have many of you. These folks are coming into it fresh and excited, but they are unwilling to even consider the possiblity that all this has been done before, and it's been done bigger and better, by staffs of people who had vast experience in the industry, and excited newcomers like Ray, and all kinds of different people with the same hopes and dreams and enthusiasm. This is just a replay of what we've been doing for the past 5 fricken years! They don't want to hear that, and they don't. They don't even read it...

But some do. A few do. They don't post, but they do read it and it makes them think and that is all I want to accomplish.. Those who don't/won't listen can go right ahead and Waggle away... but some can't afford to cast their lot with a sinking ship, and they need to hear that before they chug another glass of Kool-Aid and jump off that cliff.

And

Of all the posts I've read on this board, Toy Ranch's comments not only are logical and well considered, but they ring true based on my own online selling experience.

The WP "phenomena" we are seeing is exactly what I've seen with Bidville and Ioffer. A huge amount of hopeful and wishful thinking, mixed with a high dosage of cheerleading. The whole thing reminds me of the stock boards - I was a professional stock trader for about 5 years. People buy a stock and only want to hear good news and positive analysis. They want to believe they have discovered the next big thing - but mostly - that they alone are wise enough or keen enough to realize this. Professional traders make money because most people buy and sell out of emotion (greed and fear).

Anyone that shows up with a contrary opinion, technical analysis, or financial analysis is immediately dismissed as a shill, a shorter, or someone trying to "talk down" the price so they can get in themselves. Only rarely does an investor engage in intelligent argument, but it happens enough to reinforce the cheerleaders.

Now I'm not saying that the naysayers are always correct - but when one shows up armed with factual data and significant experience in the area - they generally make more sense (and are usually more often right) than the "masses" who think they can "feel" when a stock is gonna be big.

I don't think Toy Rancher's motives are anything more than a good will effort to inform a community of sellers of what he knows to be true.

I know a couple of powersellers that would agree 100% with TR's sentiments, but wouldn't ever think of actually stating it. They love the idea of an eBay exodus. In fact, they would like nothing more than seeing their competitors move their items to some remote amateur site that has virtually no chance of attracting a credible mass of buyers. They really don't care about the countless hours their competitors will waste posting on these other sites with 1 and 2% sell thrus. And they really don't care if it means that some will have to go back to their wage-slave jobs and put away their dreams of online selling for good this time.

But they are also quite pragmatic. If by some miracle of the marketplace, WP becomes the next big thing, they know it will take a lot of time. If critical buyer mass happens, they'll be happy to sell there. Because that's what professional sellers do - they follow the only thing that really matters - the buyers. It won't matter if they like Ray, or the software, or the site, or the policies, or the fees. If there are good buyers for their products, and they can make a profit selling them, all of this can be overcome. This is business, and there is zero advantage to jumping on to this bandwagon early.

Now I know I'm new to this board, but I'm not new to this discussion. I think TR is just one of those sellers that actually cares about this community and doesn't want to see sellers become fodder for another auction pipedream.

[Platzki]

[quote author=bratpack link=topic=3775.msg53743#msg53743 date=1179445286]
You know your out of shape when you just to go out to pull weeds and plant flowers and the back of your legs are in extreme agony for 3 days after...lol  I still will not sacrifice taste for beauty, its real sugar and no fat free garbage for me....I will just walk the dog a little longer when I think I have overdone it.  
[/quote]

Well... I don't consider it garbage... actually, I like it.  I hate sugar in my coffee and have used sweet & low forever.  The girlish figure thing was a joke... to add sugar is sacrificing taste to me... but to each his own.

[youroverheadbin]

JAG ELECTRONICS blinked out, empty but not closed. I missed that one earlier this week.

Lori's Loft is back and restocked.

[let the truth be told]

244 stores found
8 showcase stores
16 featured stores





let the truth be told
u1it4less - "it's all in the name.."

[regic]

[quote author=let the truth be told link=topic=3775.msg53763#msg53763 date=1179496866]
244 stores found
8 showcase stores
16 featured stores

[/quote]

A blast from the past:

Back on topic:  WP stores now count 916.  That breaks down monthly to:
  916 Basic x $10 = $9160
  46 Featured x another $10 = $460
  28 Showcase x another $30 = $840

Total monthly income right now on Store fees alone:  $10,460

yep.. they've had a strong recent growth in featured stores.. that cost 20 dollars a month...56 and soaring...

wagglepopCC1  13 Feb 2007 16:25     


Hello Members,

Just a quick addition regarding any questions or curiosities about the depth of the campaign and our expecations on how it will affect the marketplace that I thought might be worthy of discussion.

Our projections for January 1st 2008 are:

1. 3125 Stores
2. 1.5 million listings in all formats

Imagine the effect that will have on our already active marketplace

Karen - WP Customer Care