PlunderHere and AlsoShop: A Web of Privacy Violations, Backstabbing, and Deceit

[sneakymagenta]

WHO in the hell wants ebay any more?

Who in the hell wants to gross $17.95 monthly and be forced to live in a van down by the river because the alternative site they were convinced to join has very few buyers?

Nothing it seems is going to please you guys... unless it looks or acts or squawks like ebay...

Amazon, Ubid, and my website please me because they have plenty of  B-U-Y-E-R-S
Ebay makes me puke but kind of pleases me because it has plenty of  B-U-Y-E-R-S

I have 5 employees who expect a paycheck every week.  I have suppliers who expect to be paid.  I have a landlord who expects to be paid for the warehouse and office space I rent. I have politcians and garbagemen who expect their payoffs. Wasting my time on a site where sellers average $17.95 monthly isn't going to help me meet my payroll or pay expenses. Capiche?

[Mojavelyn]

Xpopper, I have not have anything to do with Bidz or the UK site...  I've been there 2x I think. I may have even signed up... I can't remember. PH by itself has kept me extremely busy.  And frankly.. I don't think I can admin 2 sites.

[Mojavelyn]

Gee Magenta, I don't recall sending you an invitation to join plunderhere.

Let me have your IP addy adn I'll make sure you don't have to come there again.

[bargainbloodhound]

its two different animals.

The two animals being the needs of the full time seller (defined here as anyone whose income is 100% from online sales) and the needs of the part time or hobby seller.  While small auction sites might be a viable alternative for part time sellers, it would be suicidal for most full time sellers to devote substantial resources (defined here as time) to them when there are other channels that provide immediate results and more sales.  Most of us who rely solely on online sales don't have the option/luxury of waiting for a site to grow (i.e. of being "in it for the long haul" like the Popper faithful)...we need results today to pay the bills.  99% of small auction sites can't fulfill the needs (i.e. sales today not "sometime in the future", integration with order management tools, fulfillment solution providers, payment processors etc, etc) of full time sellers. If I want to stay in business I need to devote my resources to the best performing channels and unfortunately the "small ebay alternative" channel has never been one of the best performers for full time sellers.

[sneakymagenta]

[quote author=Mojavelyn link=topic=9139.msg69000#msg69000 date=1207856828]
Gee Magenta, I don't recall sending you an invitation to join plunderhere.

Let me have your IP addy adn I'll make sure you don't have to come there again.

[/quote]

You're in good company. Ray Wagglepop also can't take criticism and  bans the IPs of anybody who dares to speak the truth about the low volume of sales on his site   What's it like to be Ray's twin?

[valleygirl]

gross $17.95 monthly!

Is that a typo? :blinkie:

I'm so glad I bypassed the whole auction/Ebay thing when I started my business.  ;D

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=valleygirl link=topic=9139.msg69044#msg69044 date=1208023677]

gross $17.95 monthly!

Is that a typo? :blinkie:

[/quote]

Not a typo. That number,as low as it is, is actually much better than many other  auction sites that are promoted on OAI forums where the average seller is grossing less than $10 monthly.  In the past 10 years I've yet to see any auction site that self-promotes itself on OAI forums that can provide sellers with any meaningful income.

[xwpopper]

I still haven't seen a reply from Superdeals on any forum regarding why the old Bidz users were transferred onto PH-EU. The question has been brought there from here on another forum, and never responded to. Considering PH is comprised of many, many ex-poppers and ex-Ewaey members, I am sure they would have a vested interest in knowing that the new PH owners used the same practice of transferring unsuspecting members private information from one site to another.

Mo, as much as I respect your statement about not being in the EU loop, was this ever even mentioned in all the months of negotiations, that a name you owned and are forever associated with would be linked to such a blatant privacy infringement? If the members didn't sign up on Plunderhere.eu, then they have no business being on there without their explicit written consent. There goes the reputation of the entire PlunderHere name that you have worked so hard to build in one extremely poor business decision by the new owners, less than a week after the announcement.

[bargainbloodhound]

the same practice of transferring unsuspecting members private information from one site to another.

When our TulipStuff site joined TRUSTe we were required to include a clause in the information sharing section of our privacy policy on possible ownership changes (see below...the text was written by TRUSTe)

In the event Tulips and Bears LLC goes through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, your personally identifiable information will likely be among the assets transferred. You will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our Web site of any such change in ownership or control of your personal information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information.

http://www.buysafe.com/Web/Seal/TrustePr...HcXw%3d%3d

Both the Bidz.org.uk and PlunderHere.com (as well as the plunderhere.eu site) privacy policies should have contained a clause on ownership changes, and notices should have been emailed or prominently displayed on all 3 sites allowing members to opt out of having their information transferred.  If the privacy policies didn't include a clause on ownership transfers then the users info shouldn't have been transferred to the new owners (and this statement goes double for the UK/EU based Bidz).

[xwpopper]

Unfortunately, Bidz UK didn't have any of that in the privacy policy. Also, in fact, neither does plunderhere.eu, or plunderhere.com. But, Plunderhere does have a clause that they can change it at any time without warning if they make a reasonable attempt to notify users. Even better, when reading the PH-EU privacy policy, you'll notice this statement:
"We log IP's on this site to help us identify problems with our server and to keep our members safe from problems users. No other information is gathered from your visit and your activity at AuctionQuests is not logged or tracked."

AuctionQuests? Hmm... Plagiarism, or just plain forgetfulness by the programmer/writer?