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

[sneakymagenta]

paranoid dillusions.

Did you mean: paranoid delusions

:imptongue: 

[rose]

[quote author=sneakymagenta link=topic=3775.msg73780#msg73780 date=1231775992]

paranoid dillusions.

Did you mean: paranoid delusions

:imptongue: 
[/quote]

Paranoid dillusions is an abnormal fear that Mr Pickle will jump your bones while you're sleeping.

[regic]

[quote author=rose link=topic=3775.msg73784#msg73784 date=1231805589]


Mr Pickle
[/quote]

[mandy]

AndRay took time out from running his eBay store to post an announcement

Hello Wagglepop Members,

As noted in the recent announcements package we are close to the integration of Wagglepop Marketshare to join the Wagglepop Marketplace.

Marketshare has one single goal - to supplement the items and products featured on Wagglepop and ensure that shoppers can come to the Wagglepop and find what they are looking for - either through the Marketplace or via Marketshare.

By supporting that dynamic we feel we will build a steadily increasing flow of traffic and a reputation as a productive place to browse and shop. As traffic increases we will then attract more sellers for the Marketplace - and the retail "cycle" begins to sustain itself.

While we have a terrific dedicated merchant base here on Wagglepop, the majority of subcategories continue to be woefully underpopulated or not populated at all.

Nearly 80% of all keyword searches return "zero" results!

Wagglepop attracts right around 30,000 unique visitors per month in U.S. traffic alone.

As a company and community we simply must better serve that traffic. We need to make each of those 30,000 visitors feel that Wagglepop is a site worth visiting, a site where they can find and buy what they are shopping for, and most importantly a site that is worth returning to and telling friends and family about.

Yes, Marketshare items and products will "compete" in their own portal and selectively inserted along with Marketplace items and products. But only through that increased competition can the site grow and thrive - leading to more traffic and sales for all Marketplace Merchants.

We need for Wagglepop to feel - and be - "overflowing" with choices for shoppers.

In my own experience, succeeding in business is mostly about taking risks, about setting aside what is "safe" and taking a chance on something that is new and challenging.

Simply put, to grow requires change - sometimes BIG change.

After many months of analysis and discussion we firmly feel that only through a complete "re-invigoration" of the shopper experience can we achieve that.

We would very much like membership input on this subject and want to be very clear that everything we do is to both serve our site traffic and help all of our Marketplace Merchants attract more traffic and more sales.

Looking forward to discussion on this topic and what we hope is membership support in this time that requires radical change to build a better buyer (and seller) experience.

Andrew P.
WP

the thread: http://www.wagglepop.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=8393

January 2009: Wagglepop attracts right around 30,000 unique visitors per month in U.S. traffic alone.

February 2008: At the time of this writing Wagglepop receives approximately 67,462 unique U.S. visitors per month.

Perhaps he should think about changing the Flagship Banner Advertising help pages to reflect the 55% drop in traffic.
http://www.wagglepop.com/bin/Help?cmd=view&pages=category_flagship

[xwpopper]

From the same thread:

I support the idea, but I'm wondering how it will look -- will ads with similar competing items be placed right on our listing? Will they exist as separate listings, and will we be able to tell the difference between a member listing and a MP listing? Will it show up in the search in the same rotation among member listings or will it have greater or lesser rank in the search?
 
I don't expect management to share private information regarding what these other companies are being charged for listing on the site, but naturally, I'm just a wee bit curious. I'm actually quite happy if this provides some good revenue for WP, as this would reduce the chances of another price increase too soon -- the last jump was a big one.
 
Also, when this plan was originally planned, it was stated that management would attempt to NOT choose products already on WP, but concentrate on filling the holes. Was this plan ditched in favor of just filling the site? Not necessarily a bad thing, but just curious.
 
And thank you for the millionth time for Management's willingness to solicit input from members. You rock!                       

I will answer the bolded questions in my own special way.
but I'm wondering how it will look:
Look at BidOnUSA.comto see what happens when you introduce a dropshipper's middleman data feeds into Rscript, which "shouldn't" be able to happen since Ray retired Inventory Direct. You get about 10 new stores with no traffic that clutter the site with overpriced stuff that is available on hundreds of other sites because they are run by the owners, and filled with the same thing that anyone else can get with $50/month.
share private information regarding what these other companies are being charged for listing on the site:
Are you freakin serious? No company, not one with leadership sharing half a brain cell would touch a site that requires phone call registrations and forces them to send an invoice manually. This site is, and always was, setup for the non-serious part time seller just like Ray was. This is gonna be Ray in his basement wearing his jammies, bringing his whopping 1% sell-thru to compete in every single category and completely bury any seller's products in that category. Again, see Bidonusa.com.

Management's willingness to solicit input from members:
This is special? The only reason this happened was to give members the feeling that Ray gives a darn about what you think. He is thinking now on a 5 year plan, and seeing his income dropping to his eBay sell-thru of 1%.
Dead sites that solicited input from members:
Theauctionman
Bidwhale
Ewaey
Auctioncities
Bidalot

That's a pretty distinguished crowd Ray.

One last quote from a top cheerleader:
"Besides, the stores within WP Marketplace or Marketshare are NOT our only competition.... the WHOLE internet is our competition."

Um... That's right. The whole internet where shoppers don't have to wait for a phone call or invoice to shop. Sorry, your only real competition is on Wagglepop, because only a few hundred of those 30,000 monthly are willing to go through that to buy something for the same price they can get it elsewhere.

[amy]

Look at BidOnUSA.com to see what happens when you introduce a dropshipper's middleman data feeds into Rscript

You get a site with 117,351 listings that receives less traffic than a Zen Cart store with 3,200 items.


edit:

Code:

<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="auction, online auction, bidonusa,
online auction site, bidonusa.com, auction site, bidonusa.com online auction">

they put a lot of thought into their metatags arcasm1:

[Alskling]

a little competition is healthy they say. I know WP has the best of the best when it comes to customer service and being a nice and friendly environment

Edit:

In my own experience, succeeding in business is mostly about taking risks, about setting aside what is "safe" and taking a chance on what is new and challenging."

Spoken from the master of success (insert sarcasm) who's been selling  listing the same magazine cut-outs in the same eBay format for the past 6 years.

Do people really pay $175 for a newspaper clipping photo of Eddie Mathews?

[mandy]

I am attemting to start a lingerie line, does that mean I will have to compete with victoria secret.

Victoria's Secret is just the tip of the iceberg. According to unconfirmed rumours, Target will be ending their relationship with Amazon and moving to Wagglepop in order to benefit from the best SEO on the planet.

arcasm1:

[sneakymagenta]

January 2009:

Wagglepop attracts right around 30,000 unique visitors per month in U.S. traffic alone.

February 2008:

At the time of this writing Wagglepop receives approximately 67,462 unique U.S. visitors per month.

Perhaps he should think about changing the Flagship Banner Advertising help pages to reflect the 55% drop in traffic.
http://www.wagglepop.com/bin/Help?cmd=view&pages=category_flagship

Date Posted: Fri 01/16/09 5:18 am
WP Members,
 
Excellent discussion.
 
It is absolutely critical that we focus near immediately on converting the huge amount of unique traffic Wagglepop receives  while at the same time keeping the Marketplace accessible for those that wish to build an affordable and effective online ecommerce shop.
 
I will have some details of the Marketshare program added to this thread over the next few days for extended discussion.
 
AP

[sneakymagenta]

Waiting for the stampede...

1/2: 53 paying stores
1/2-1/19: 2 paying stores closed, 4 free stores opened, Ray forced to close his Ebay store
---------
1/19: 55 stores (51 paying, 4 free)