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

[regic]

DAILY SITEWIDE STATS

2/24 16 items sold, GMV $34.36, ASP $2.15
2/25 8 items sold, GMV $52.75, ASP $6.59, Mo Posts 14, Daily US visitors (Quantcast) 155
2/26 20 items sold, GMV $39.17, ASP $1.96, Mo Posts 17
2/27 7 items sold, GMV  $10.70, ASP $1.52, Mo Posts 16
2/28 6 items sold, GMV $19.80, ASP $3.30, Mo Posts 8, Daily US visitors 167

In Mo's defense, Alsoshop is doing much better than Milbid which has had a grand total of 10 sales totalling $43 over the last 11 months and no sales since October 2, 2009 (see the 'recently sold' section http://www.milbid.com/our_stats.php).

In related news, two weeks ago...
http://www.everydaynodaysoff.com/2010/02...e-officer/
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/north_bay&id=7276282

Correcting something Mo posted on PSU: Cannon temporarily stepped down from his positions at Calguns and the Calguns Foundation.  He did not step down as CEO of GunPal.

[amy]

re: GunPal, or one of the reasons why I won't be adding it.

Rule #5a of retail: stay away from controversial issues that might alienate a sizeable segment of your target market. Rule #5b do not publicly take sides, or appear to take sides, in controversial issues.

Gun control (especially when the NRA is involved) is a controversial issue.  You might attract more pro-gun buyers by adding GunPal but there is a strong likelihood you will alienate many existing customers, or potential customers who are in favor of gun control (or who disagree with the NRA's tactics, view the NRA as an extremist group, or who belong to one of the many groups which the NRA has placed on its blacklist). 

A Gallup poll in October showed 44% of Americans (55% of women, 33% of men...59% of Easterners, 55% of those with postgraduate education, etc. etc.) are in favor of stricter gun control, 43% say gun control laws should be kept as they are now, and only 12% are in favor of making the laws less strict.  Based on those numbers, and depending on the demographics of your customers,  the backlash (i.e. lost/alienated customers) from adding an NRA backed payment solution could potentially outweigh any gains.

[xwpopper]

OK, just a bit off topic...
[quote author=amy link=topic=9139.msg75811#msg75811 date=1267411249]

Gun control (especially when the NRA is involved) is a controversial issue.  You might attract more pro-gun buyers by adding GunPal but there is a strong likelihood you will alienate many existing customers, or potential customers who are in favor of gun control (or who disagree with the NRA's tactics, view the NRA as an extremist group, or who belong to one of the many groups which the NRA has placed on its blacklist). 

[/quote]

Wow, I always thought of the NRA being the Charton Heston hunting club.
When did they get so extreme in conspiracy theories???
http://www.nraila.org/Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?id=390&issue=011
Or here?
http://www.nraila.org/Issues/Articles/Read.aspx?id=395&issue=011
Or even worse:
http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?id=5454

State Senator Ken Cheuvront (D-15) added a hostile amendment, by a vote of 15 to 14, which would prohibit the private sale of firearms at gun shows, unless the seller asks for “proof of citizenship.” 
The amendment is an unnecessary imposition on lawful private party transfers and heavily flawed.  As drafted, if the purchaser presents an Arizona Drivers license issued after 1996 or a photocopy of another state's driver ID card, the purchaser would meet the “proof of citizenship” requirement.  The main problem with this amendment is that it arbitrarily and unconstitutionally forbids eligible purchasers from obtaining firearms at gun shows and conscripts private citizens to enforce a flawed understanding of state and federal law.  Under this amendment, non-citizens who are legal residents of Arizona, who can serve in the military and enjoy all the protections of the Bill of Rights, would be unable to legally purchase a firearm in their own state.

Correct me if I am wrong, but don't we have drug wars spilling over the border into Arizona involving non-citizens?

Wow, so much for my support of gun rights. I wouldn't align myself with any extremist organization like that myself either.

[amy]

See, I told you it was a controversial issue. :twistedevil:

My question: ASs currently offers direct payment by PayPal, Google Checkout, and GunPal.  Who was the brainchild that decided to integrate a payment service with 10,000 users (GP) instead of one with 80 million plus users (Amazon Simple Pay Marketplace)?

[sneakymagenta]

Why sites are afraid to show their stats is beyond me..


...........And I agree, sellers do want to know they are on a site that has potential. And when you stop showing those numbers... Why? and what are you trying to hide?

It's no mystery to what Mo was trying to hide when she made the stats page her siggy banner links to 'members only' last month: a drop from a historic sitewide $57 daily GMV to a recent average of $30 daily (38 cents daily per store owner....the average Alsoshop store will gross less than $12 monthly) .

I'm not worried if my stats for this Jan was lower then the stats for last jan... My site still had sales.

http://www.powersellersunite.com/post-29...tml#296017

:blinkie: :blinkie: :blinkie: :blinkie: :blinkie: :blinkie: :blinkie: :blinkie: :blinkie: :blinkie: :blinkie: :blinkie: :blinkie: :blinkie:

Would eBay's Don Hoe or Amazon's Bozo make a moronic comment like that? NO!
Does any real online or offline retail executive not worry or care if their business shows a significant year over year sales decline? HELL NO!

translation 1: amateur, incompetent, unfit to run a lemonade stand.....RUN! RUN! RUN! AVOID Mo's ASs!
translation 2: Alsoshop is primarily a social club and is not a viable solution for any serious seller because the site's management knows diddly about running a business.

[bargainbloodhound]

a drop from a historic sitewide $57 daily GMV to a recent average of $30 daily

There were 3 sales totalling $3.09 yesterday.  No wonder MoIncompetent said "I dont' post STR by Cat" ....a page full of of 0%'s probably wouldn't lure many sellers to Mo's parking lot for dollar store items.

Would eBay's Don Hoe or Amazon's Bozo make a moronic comment like that? NO!
Does any real online or offline retail executive not worry or care if their business shows a significant year over year sales decline? HELL NO!

Discussion of real retail executives is off topic. This is an AlsoShop/Rinky Dink thread not an ecommerce/business thread.  REPORTED!

[sneakymagenta]

DAILY SITEWIDE STATS

2/24 16 items sold, GMV $34.36, ASP $2.15
2/25 8 items sold, GMV $52.75, ASP $6.59, Mo Posts 14, Daily US visitors (Quantcast) 155
2/26 20 items sold, GMV $39.17, ASP $1.96, Mo Posts 17
2/27 7 items sold, GMV  $10.70, ASP $1.52, Mo Posts 16
2/28 6 items sold, GMV $19.80, ASP $3.30, Mo Posts 8, Daily US visitors 167

3/1 31 items sold, GMV $49.82, ASP $1.61, Mo Posts 7, Daily US visitors 146
3/2 11 items sold, GMV $30.59, ASP $2.78, Mo Posts 2, Daily US visitors 170
3/3 3 items sold, GMV $3.09, ASP $1.03, Mo Posts 10
3/4 10 items sold, GMV $12.45, ASP $1.25, Mo Posts 13, Daily US visitors 202
3/5 6 items sold,  GMV $23.73, ASP $3.96, Mo Posts 14, Daily US visitors 186
3/6 5 items sold, GMV $6.49, ASP $1.30, Mo Posts 2, Daily US visitors 166

3/7 12 items sold, GMV $17.03, ASP $1.42, Mo Posts 18, Daily US visitors 155

Good news! Alsoshop's sitewide total sales today were exactly enough to buy one can of Raid flying insect spray (the branded version of troll spray)!

Now for the bad news.  The $1.88 which the average ASs store owner grossed during the past 7 days (27 cents daily) won't even buy a place to sleep in a van cardboard box down by the river. 

$*$*$*$*$*$*"$
On the Plunderhere front: PH kicked out of Google Product Search.....again

[xwpopper]

http://www.powersellersunite.com/post-29...tml#296426

I am very glad I don't allow either of you nor anyone else determine if my site is a success or not.

Really? How would you define "success"... As wasted traffic exchange hours that produce less than $200 in weekly sales?

How successful is ecrater really? They have a lot of items, but no one is posting any sales stats about them.  Nor BZ!

Well, I have at least a few dozen monthly sales on "BZ", using very little effort and less than an hour a week. All it took was uploading my website "Googleplex" Feeds into Bonanzle. If I put any effort at all into it I could easily have 10x that many. aSs? Well, lets just say my currently low (by my standard) monthly Bonanzle sales  would be a good week for the whole aSs site right now.
And Ecrater? No one posting sales stats, huh?
http://www.powersellersunite.com/about31303.html
And those are just the few who care enough to post at PSU.

[maggie777]

How would you define "success"

Success may mean, but is not limited too:

    * a level of social status
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Success

By that definition Mojavelyn's Alsoshop venture is a roaring success.  It has allowed her to achieve the coveted social status level of "Site Owner" on PSU.  Her fellow posters, who otherwise would have ignored the incoherent ramblings of an unemployed mediocre hobby seller, now look up to her and seek out her wisdom on marketing and the all-important googleplex because she is...a Site Owner. 

[bargainbloodhound]

...and the trolls instantly become jealous of your "success" when you become a member of the elite circle known as 'site owners'. 

I think Maggie's definition of success is the correct one.

mediocre

Ummm, if your auction site submits over 20,000 items to Product Search and other CSE's/social media sites and your 7-day GMV is only $143 your marketing and management skills are several levels below mediocre.