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

[Platzki]

Scary...

They are also changing up the Buy One get as many as you want for people with more than one store... Now it's buy one, pay a discounted rate for each additional store... so some sellers may still be paying well over $100 a month for rent...

[Alskling]

[quote author=Platzki link=topic=3775.msg74321#msg74321 date=1240762897]
Scary...

They are also changing up the Buy One get as many as you want for people with more than one store... Now it's buy one, pay a discounted rate for each additional store... so some sellers may still be paying well over $100 a month for rent...


[/quote]

Oh, and I forgot to mention: The whole 62-post thread regarding the increase to $59.95 has magically disappeared.

[sneakymagenta]

wagglepopCC2
Date Posted: Mon 04/27/09 12:19 am
Posts: 367
Member Since: 20 Jan 2007


Hello Wagglepop Members,

Well, we found a way.

As of May billing, SmartSell Enterprise will remain intact and include a Wagglepop Store with BusinessBuilder, include unlimited listings, and no final value fees.

SmartSell Enterprise will be billed at $39.95 per monthly subscription, a $10.00 increase, and not the more radical level previously announced and now reworked.

I am not sure the details matter on "how" we achieved this, but suffice it to say as of this Tuesday morning I am not only part of the management team, but part owner of Wagglepop LLC as well.

Existing SSE accounts will automatically post at $39.95, and additional new Stores under the free trial will remain free until the trial end. At that time, additional SSE accounts (Stores) will be billed at a generous discount - the exact discount as yet undetermined.

Anyone wishing to reopen their SSE account under this new framework should contact Customer Care and Chris can process that on Monday.

I would like to thank membership for the invaluable input and dialogue from the past two days - it was and is your passion and support of Wagglepop that lead directly to my monetary investment in Wagglepop.

I believe in Wagglepop and I will be making some more aggressive changes from my new standing as a part owner that I think can grow the site in the ways that everyone can enjoy and benefit from.

Best of luck to all of us.

Andrew P.
WP

edit:

I am not sure the details matter on "how" we achieved this

You (Ray the Boinktard) decided on the $39.95 before you posted the $59.95 announcement.  The $59.95, and the "WP might close" scare tactic, were posted so your Kool-Aid drinkers would feel like they were getting a good deal rather than shafted when you posted the real $10 fee increase announcement.

[Platzki]

Why am I not surprised...

I was curious to know others opinions on this one... I am wondering if Andray is contacting the sellers that don't participate on the forums and informing them of these changes or is he just assuming that all the sellers read the boards... and it doesn't look like many do...

That would suck to all of a sudden be hit with a bigger bill and not know it was coming...

[Alskling]

I was curious to know others opinions on this one

Just more wombat poo poo, IMHO. Charging ANY monthly fee with no FVFs on a site like WP, which gets pathetic traffic, has limited features, does zero advertising, is grossly undercapitalized,  has only a handful of sellers, and is owned by an egotistical hot-head will eventually sink it -- period. Even PS realizes that -- FINALLY.

And the "open-ended" rate for subsequent stores after the "trial" period is just a stall tactic to keep sellers on the hook for a few more months of dues.

Edit:

it was and is your passion and support of Wagglepop that led directly to my monetary investment

Good thing you DELETED the entire 62-post thread regarding the original sales increase announcement so the other brethren will never know it was the sellers' bemoaning the loss of all the hard work they had put into setting up there stores and keeping them operational that was at issue, and not the "support" of Wagglepop because it's such a great place to make money. I don't recall ONE SINGLE POST actually in support of the site itself and "ownership's" decision to increase the dues to keep it open. 

And by the way, moron, what are you planning to do to bring BUYERS to WP, or is it all about a handful of loyal sellers (aka future deadbeats) left threatening to blow your pop stand, leaving you without ANY monthly dues?

Never mind, I think I know the answer.

Oh, and Sneaky: I think you are absolutely SPOT ON. It was all a big con to make it appear as if "ANdrew" (yeah, right) was taking the faithfull's frustrations and shock to heart , coming in riding in on a white horse to save the day. OH, thank you kind sir (fawning). Notice it didn't take long before sellers actually DID start to leave that management magically "found a way" to pull another rabbit out of Ray's behind.

[xwpopper]

So, now we have a virtual business partnership with two alter egos of the same lying, cheating, bait and switch phenomenon named Ray Romeo, trying to figure out how he can make it all seem like they are both real people.
I'd like to watch a webinar similar to eBay Town Hall meetings to see how he would pull that one off! 
All Ray did was get rid of some of his CC time by losing some sellers, but keeping his income steady. Now he gets the same money with fewer to brainwash, just like when he dropped 2/3 of his stores when he tripled the fees last year. Now, he'll lose about 25% and keep his income steady. Not a bad 3 years of work Ray.
Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't Ray actually claim that Wagglepop started in 2005 because of the "bait and switch" tactics of eBay?

Oh, BTW popper faithful, better watch your bill. You may get an invoice for an extra $30 for your showcase store that was supposed to be a free upgrade this year.
http://www.wagglepop.com/bin/Help?cmd=view&pages=sellingFees

[sneakymagenta]

Good thing you DELETED the entire 62-post thread regarding the original sales increase announcement

DELETED THREAD HIGHLIGHTS:

1. BB's (cheerleader, 2 stores, 5500 combined items) monthly sales after 2+ years are barely over the $59.95 fee AndRay first proposed
2. several longtime sellers are having a hard time selling more than the current $29.95 monthly fee

drumroll.......

3. Wagglepop Marketshare produced a whopping $47.61 in revenues during the first quarter.  tolensmiley:

[BeenThereDoneThat]

It really sickens me to think about Ray snickering and smiling to himself about a job well done. 
I will never understand why people stay on that site, pay fees and never get any sales to speak of.  Are these people so bad off that they feel the need to belong to something, even if it is costing them money?
I just don't understand that kind of mentality and I hope that I never do.
Selling online is supposed to be ran like a business, not a freaking social club.  Join the Legion and pay less than $40/month for crying out loud.

[amy]

I will never understand why people stay on that site, pay fees and never get any sales to speak of

I also have a hard time understanding why anyone would willingly pay the same amount for a WP store as an Amazon ProMerchant subscription costs.

Using Ray's favorite traffic measurement service Quantcast, compare the traffic the average Popper gets for $39.95 to what I get for the $12.73 it costs to host Zen #3 in my signature (the store is on a $140 dedicated server with 7 other Zen Carts, 2 PrestaShops, and a WordPress blog)

Popper store: 295 monthly unique visitors (17,400 WP total uniques visitors split among 59 stores) for $39.95
My store: 9,600 monthly unique visitors for $12.74

In terms of sales, I'd be willing to bet that my one store's sales are more than all 59 Popper stores put together --and as an added bonus I don't have to live in fear of Ray's "legal department".  tolensmiley:

Why would anyone pay $39.95 and receive virtually nothing in return : when their are so many other alternatives that will provide more for less -your own website, BISI, Vendio's new free stores, classifieds like Craigslist and Kijiji etc.  Even Bonanzle or iOfferReplicas can provide more traffic (i.e. buyers) to the average seller than Ray's best SEO on the planet delivers for the Poppers.  

EDIT:

my editing functions don't work with this site.

You can't edit posts on TT with Google Chrome (it doesn't save the edits) but Firefox and IE should work

[Alskling]

You can't edit on TT with Google Chrome (it doesn't have the edits), but Firefox and IE should work.

I have IE.

:'(