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

[Sweet Girl 70]

page 166

[quote author=FineThings4U link=topic=3775.msg32484#msg32484 date=1163953309]
Many of you know me, some of you don't.  My posts, like Alsking's were deleted, edited and frowned upon greatly.  I have quietly lurked for quite a while because, while there are some people honestly trying to make a living on WP, I did not feel it appropriate to drive any business away from them.  Now, however, I don't give a flip.  Many months ago, after vomiting up my  , I closed up shop and moved on.  I was furious when I found Ray's stores still open on the big E.  I got tired of stupid answers to honest questions and attacks on those who were trying to develop a business plan (that requires advertising).  I would have been banned, but my account was in good standing (meaning I paid) when I challenged the business plan.  An honest buyer was driven away and banned for asking questions (yes, that was my friend).  So Ray and Karen kiss this 
[/quote]

[Sweet Girl 70]

Ray and his lack of "people skills" is one of the biggest reasons Wagglepop failed.  His unwillingness to advertise the site, to listen to his customers and to implement the things that were most needed caused him the biggest problems.  As far as why customers did not follow stores to WP....I think there is/was a lack of a welcome feel to a customer and the "ease of use" is just not here.

Ray/Karen's insistence in monitoring the boards and injection into conversations are another reason that WP will never do well.  Double talk and insults don't fair well with customers.

From the Archives:

[quote author=regic link=topic=3775.msg23043#msg23043 date=1158106905]
WP's 3rd largest store is closing

Actually, I looked at WP as a shopping mall rather than a hosting company. I rent space at a shopping mall because it draws traffic. It advertises that it exists. It offers services like security. I may put ads in the local newspaper that my shop is in the mall, but the mall operators have a GIANT BILLBOARD that entices people to go there for their shopping.

These are all things I thought I paid WP for. As that is not the case and I am derided for not knowing WP's unpublished business plan, this is my parting post. I spent a lot of time manually entering listings that could have been done quickly and easily, had a bulk lister been available at the outset (and I had installed Excel to make it work...). At one time I had the second largest number of listings in any WP store, so it's not like I wasn't trying. Even now I have the third largest number of store listings.

But as I have made my effort and WP seems reluctant to make theirs, I will be closing my store.

Good luck to you all!

Doug

and

For now, my $9.95 is better spent to offset the $39.95 that renewing my Amazon subscription costs. Since I re-opened there last Friday, I've sold 4 times the dollar amount I've sold here since opening in late June.

Karen WP made an insulting comment to Doug and then deleted her own post.  What follows are sellers' responses to her post:

Oh Man! If I was on the phone with customer service and someone said that to me, they would have just gotten an earful AND lost my business.

You talk of upside and show us nothing. You must stop these unprofessional comments and I cannot believe you are talking to your customers like that.

Maybe it's time to redesign my business plan if this is what I have to look forward to...

I try to be neutral and listen to both sides but that wallet comment was uncalled for and ridiculous. When did ego come up at all? He is making a decision blindly because you provide him no information on which to make a good decision on... then you insult him.

Karen -

As an American, I'll ALLOW you to say your comments about my ego, but I will not agree with them or accept them graciously.

Your position about low risk with high potential return sounds good... but I've also listed on Yaho*, where cost is free!!!! It sounds good too, but it's performance isn't guaranteed by low cost, any more than on Wagglepop.

At such time as WP has a bulk lister and has buyer traffic from sources outside of its seller community, I will consider returning. If my ego will let me..

another seller, formerly a big WP cheerleader comments on Karen's comments:

I have beed sitting here watching this and am amazed! I have been extremely supportive of WP but this is ridiculous. The comments coming from CS are getting far from professional. This is an Auction site NOT a Web hosting site, otherwise it would be named as such so yes a seller CAN expect for this site to do its own advertising as well. I have helped numerous people and even kept my mouth shut on computer related issues where the answers given are obviously untrue, and there are some serious unattended to problems. But all that Chain Man is asking for is a time frame of an advertising schedule from WP. There is no huge secret to that. Your not giving away your secrets here! a simple "we will be advertising within 1 to 2 months " most likely would sufice. The anwers are getting so round about its really kind of sad. And there are ALOT of patient people here who are saying I'll just be patient"...but that WILL run out. I had to close my sotre due to no sales, and I did promote my own store. Eventually its business and people will realize that and not be so patient for answers.

At this point you have a cheap listing facility with no advertising....wheres the upside at this point??

Karen returns:

Hello Members,

It seems I have made a comment that is being interpreted as an insult, and for that reason, I have removed it from this thread.

I was rather enjoying the "give and take" with chain_man, and have every respect in the world for his ideas and the way he expresses them, and thought that we could speak openly in business terms.

In retrospect, that may have been a mistake on my part, and for that I do sincerely apologize to anyone who may have been offended in any way.

We work hard to not speak in "stock answer" type tones, but perhaps we've set the bar just a bit too high beyond that marker.

We speak in the same passionate tones as our members do at times, but I am realizing now, that may not be a luxury we should avail ourselves of.

Once again, my sincerest apologies to anyone for whom my words were unwelcome or inappropriate.

Maybe it's time for me to get some rest

:raypoop:
[/quote]

[moonMAJiC]

[quote author=Riverwood link=topic=3775.msg57038#msg57038 date=1181837140]
This is my question: What do you think is the one biggest contributing factor to the gradual decline of wagglepop?...is it Ray's treatment of sellers? is it bad karma from the first failed go-round? poor public perception of the site? lack of advertising? ebay being the place to buy? the efforts of nay-sayers? something else??? Just curious as to what people think
[/quote]

I personally will purchase nothing from WP - not against any seller there - I'd buy from many sellers past and present -- but it boils down to, who do I want to support? I don't want to support WP in any way, shape or form. Buying from a seller there would be doing that. It would not only give money to Ray from seller's fees, it would inspire the store owner to stay at WP and pay their monthly fee to him. I don't want to encourage anyone to stay there.

Treatment of sellers - no free speech, even real questions, allowed - all of that contributes as well. Most times when you leave WP - you're banned from entering - to post, purchase or interact. So most times ex-sellers are also ex-buyers because of that. I think some sellers there would still make sales from ex-sellers if it were permitted -- so Ray not only is not advertising, he's blocking potential sales as well!

I started having a very yucky feeling when I felt the need to be positive in all posts - to kiss butt that I didn't want to kiss - but I felt like anything else would land me in the sh*t pile with no sales at all and at least I was selling just enough to pay for my monthly store fee, so didn't want to end up in the pile of 'awful traitors'.

There's only so much of that a person can take though! I sat for a few months with every part of me telling me to cut and run - I stayed as long as I did because I truly enjoyed many of the sellers there - I didn't speak to them about my gut instinct though, because that just was not something you talked to anyone about openly... you just didn't.

I finally left though when I stopped posting on the community boards - it got to the point where I could not pucker to kiss up any longer, I couldn't say anything nice - even real concerns would have been taken as negative sh*t-starting - so why bother?

Once I stopped having interaction with the sellers I truly enjoyed, I was ready to listen to my instinct of cut and run.

I'm very happy I did too. The 'mystery shoppers' that come around every now and again and buy from sellers - usually when they're upset about having no sales or when they write something positive about WP on the boards for all to see - it wasn't enough - I need more than to just pay monthly fees... my sole income is from online sales - it's not a hobby for me and it's not just something fun to do so I can have some extra income to have fun with each month - my online sales pay my rent, utilities, feed my animals here (and lemme tell ya - that alone is a chore to provide for!) -- I had to leave - it did nothing for me at all but provide me with some fun chatting sometimes with other sellers and once I couldn't do that... well, it had nothing for me at all - no reason to stay.

So! To sum it up, I KNEW in my heart I needed to leave for months before I actually did - but I felt almost like I was betraying the sellers who were still there. I do not go back there to shop because it's supporting the site itself - the sellers... I'd still buy from many OFF of WP.

I think those who had been around before still had the sour taste of WP1 in their mouths and maybe didn't want to encourage people to support Ray's pockets. The nay-sayers- yep, probably helped with the downfall because they were uncovering lies before people could fall for them... but all in all, there's still places that I wont go back to because of poor, extremely poor, customer service or a lie underneath a pretty covering.

I agree I guess with DB - it all comes back to who Ray is as a person - do you want to support him or not? I don't.

[let the truth be told]

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

[moonMAJiC]

Oh! And I can't remember - it was either Fab or DB who sent me a note about TT for the first time - that's when I became a lurker here...  ...but, it helped me to see that I wasn't alone in my thoughts and instincts - it wasn't just me seeing these not-so-good things going on - I'd go to the boards and everything was so positive, everyone was selling tons or expecting to soon... for awhile, I was worried that it was just me seeing some of the things going on and that I must be crazy because no one else saw anything to worry or wonder about. So whoever it was that sent me the initial note to come and read - I do thank you! I knew it wasn't just me and that I wasn't imagining stuff!

[Riverwood]

[quote author=Sweet Girl 70 link=topic=3775.msg57065#msg57065 date=1181857376]
WP's 3rd largest store is closing

Actually, I looked at WP as a shopping mall rather than a hosting company. I rent space at a shopping mall because it draws traffic. It advertises that it exists. It offers services like security. I may put ads in the local newspaper that my shop is in the mall, but the mall operators have a GIANT BILLBOARD that entices people to go there for their shopping.

These are all things I thought I paid WP for......
:raypoop:

So that's what happened to Doug!  I missed all these posts.  One day he was there chatting with everyone and the next day his store was just gone, not another word...

[Riverwood]

[quote author=moonMAJiC link=topic=3775.msg57075#msg57075 date=1181859120]
  ...but, it helped me to see that I wasn't alone in my thoughts and instincts - it wasn't just me seeing these not-so-good things going on - I'd go to the boards and everything was so positive, everyone was selling tons or expecting to soon... for awhile, I was worried that it was just me seeing some of the things going on and that I must be crazy because no one else saw anything to worry or wonder about..... [/quote]

Yes, I can understand that feeling MoonMagic.....I've been feeling that way myself the last few months.  It's kind of a sinking feeling every time I went to the site, and no real desire to be there, or do anything with my store.  Slow starts, lack of traffic, I can deal with those things for a while...but they shouldn't get continually worse, and should at least get marginally better over time, never mind all the other issues.

[youroverheadbin]

[quote author=moonMAJiC link=topic=3775.msg57075#msg57075 date=1181859120]
Oh! And I can't remember - it was either Fab or DB who sent me a note about TT for the first time - that's when I became a lurker here...  ...but, it helped me to see that I wasn't alone in my thoughts and instincts - it wasn't just me seeing these not-so-good things going on - I'd go to the boards and everything was so positive, everyone was selling tons or expecting to soon... for awhile, I was worried that it was just me seeing some of the things going on and that I must be crazy because no one else saw anything to worry or wonder about. So whoever it was that sent me the initial note to come and read - I do thank you! I knew it wasn't just me and that I wasn't imagining stuff!
[/quote]

Moon, this and your last post were gems. Thank you. 

[youroverheadbin]

Carlitos, come on out and say hello! 

[let the truth be told]

[quote author=sherrand link=topic=3775.msg57078#msg57078 date=1181860720]
[quote author=moonMAJiC link=topic=3775.msg57075#msg57075 date=1181859120]
Oh! And I can't remember - it was either Fab or DB who sent me a note about TT for the first time - that's when I became a lurker here...  ...but, it helped me to see that I wasn't alone in my thoughts and instincts - it wasn't just me seeing these not-so-good things going on - I'd go to the boards and everything was so positive, everyone was selling tons or expecting to soon... for awhile, I was worried that it was just me seeing some of the things going on and that I must be crazy because no one else saw anything to worry or wonder about. So whoever it was that sent me the initial note to come and read - I do thank you! I knew it wasn't just me and that I wasn't imagining stuff!
[/quote]

Moon, this and your last post were gems. Thank you.   
[/quote]


I second that Thank you 




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