Determined to burn Wagglepop to the ground, Andrew Pittino (aka owner Ray Romeo) throws out his knee jerk reaction to give his auction site 6 months to lose sellers, and he immediately moves up the date for changes to June 1st, promising to give his remaining sellers "a few surprises". During the time, the site has been down for over 4 hours in the last week due to some configuration problem with Ray's DNS servers.

Those surprise(s) include removal of final value fees, which most sellers at WP weren't incurring anyway. The "other" big surprises were that Ray was tripling the monthly fee for a WP store, and he plans to include Wagglepop's own dropship items on the Wagglepop site to inflate the number of products being offered there, probably competing with sellers that sell the same items! These changes were to happen in October, but it seems Ray got too greedy, and moved the changes up 5 months.

It also seems Ray/Andrew has determined to do what he can to get the most money out of his sellers quickly, and then attempt to sell the site as he did with Wagglepop 1, claiming that Wagglepop 2 has burned through over $300,000. He's been really busy lately deleting negative posts from Wagglepop.com from his sellers, and suggests they go to other boards to complain.

Not surprisingly, Wagglepop sellers are pissed, even the kool aid drinking faithful are starting to teeter on their loyalty. Ray/Andrew, naturally, blames stupid sellers that can't see his vison.

Most of this information (and a few blogs are listed in these links too) can be found on TulipTools.com and PowerSellersUnite.com. Hit the jump for the offical announcement from Ray Romeo.

Wagglepop Announcements
http://www.wagglepop.com/bin/Accessory/announcements

TulipTools Discussion
http://community.tuliptools.com/index.php/topic,3775.17295.html

PowerSellers Unite Discussion
http://powersellersunite.com/about18689.html

Wagglepop Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
5/2/08
We are very pleased today be be able to officially announce the sitewide participation and policy changes that will ensure not only a solid ongoing future for Wagglepop the company, but benefit the entire Wagglepop community of buyers and sellers. The participation structure changes announced today (and effective starting 6/1/08) mark an extraordinary "break" from online auction convention, and will do much to help support the continuation unabated of our existing high standards for features, functionality, and performance.

Our foremost intention is to create and support an environment that allows for and rewards successful sellers in the most meaningful of ways - the bottom line. At the same time, the new structure will help buyers find the very best in pricing and product and all members transact in an environment of fairness, respect, and trust.

After much internal debate and considerable restructuring, we are all very happy to announce that there will be no cut in any of the services, features, or functions on Wagglepop. All of our existing dynamics will remain in place, including most notably the BusinessBuilder Advanced Selling Tools. While the proprietary and legacy features we offer are quite "maintenance intensive", we simply did not and do not want to compromise the "package" that has come to represent Wagglepop. High standards of operation reflect who we are and what we wish to be and I am personally very proud to announce that we will continue to support that.

All announced participation and policy changes are effective 6/1/08. We will continue to operate under the existing dynamics until that date. The breakdown below is sectioned by subject.

  1. Introducing SmartSell Enterprise Package

As of 6/1/08 the existing SmartSell Pro Package will be retired and replaced by the SmartSell Enterprise Package - a package that at $29.95 per month supports not only unlimited included access to the Wagglepop Marketplace through a complete marketable storefront featuring the BusinessBuilder Advanced Selling Tools, but unlimited included selling as well. SmartSell Enterprise represents a 21st century approach to online selling that allows sellers doing to the work to keep more of their earned profits - 100% in fact! Starting 6/1/08 the new base for participation and entry into the Wagglepop Marketplace will be SmartSell Pro Enterprise.
   SmartSell Enterprise Package
A 21st century online selling solution by Wagglepop

SmartSell Enterprise Package Features

 
   
SmartSell Unlimited Listing Pack
Unlimited Listings - No Insertion Fees! All listing formats
FREE Thumbnail Gallery Picture Upgrade
FREE Buy Now Options - All prices
   
Basic Wagglepop Store with BusinessBuilder!
Featuring the value-packed and innovative BusinessBuilder suite of Advanced Selling Tools:

> Buy More Now with DynamicDiscounts
> Red Carpet Customer Program
> OnTarget Cross Promotions
> InStore Promotions
> Merchandising Manager

Plus a complete storefront with up to 100 custom categories, unlimited custom pages, a custom URL for your Store, available Store Listing Header, and much more!

Learn more about Wagglepop Stores featuring BusinessBuilder
   
SmartSell Independence Pack
Tired of sharing your profits? Declare your "independence" from Final Value fees!

NO FINAL VALUE FEES!

Sold listings are not subject to any percentage commission as Final Value Fees under SSE are not applicable - meaning no more penalties for success - a "freedom" in online selling that is long overdue.

There is no action that existing Wagglepop Marketplace merchants must take. Existing SmartSell Pro accounts will migrate automatically starting 6/1/08 to SmartSell Enterprise. All posted charges to accounts prior to 6/1/08 will reflect SSP, while all posted charges on 6/1/08 and beyond will reflect SSE.

SmartSell Enterprise comes with a Basic Wagglepop Store as under SSP, and the Store component can continue to be upgraded to Featured or Showcase under the existing upgrade costs. Existing upgraded Stores will migrate and continue at the same Store subscription level.

The introduction of SmartSell Enterprise marks the start of a dynamic that allows sellers to focus on their customer base and businesses in the most meaningful of ways while spending less time on the bottom line - a fixed cost under SSE. We feel strongly that any comparison to listing on eBay, or to quality independent shopping carts will continue to show Wagglepop as an extraordinary value and uniquely effective offering.

Welcome to the New Wagglepop and the future of fair and effective online selling.

 

  2. Introducing Wagglepop Marketplace Marketshare

In the coming weeks we will be introducing Wagglepop Marketplace Marketshare. Marketshare has the sole purpose of "completing" the Wagglepop Marketplace by offering, direct through Wagglepop LLC via dropshipment and other agreements, the items and products that we do not currently offer within the Marketplace through lack of population from the online selling community. Basically, we will be "in the trenches" with our existing Marketplace Merchants attempting to fulfill the wants and needs of our shoppers. We owe the very best experience possible to those that consider and visit Wagglepop, and what the online selling community has not provided we will provide ourselves through a variety of methods.

As per existing policy, we are proud to state that we do not and will not accept outside advertising within Wagglepop for competing items and products as on eBay. Our Marketplace Merchants have earned and deserve that protection from outside competition - the Wagglepop Marketplace is for Wagglepop Merchants' items and products, and the items and products from Marketshare.

When people come to Wagglepop looking for something - we want them to find and buy it - and Marketshare will help to build that.

 

  3. Wagglepop Marketplace Access

As many of our most successful sellers know, participation within the Wagglepop Marketplace as a merchant is a valuable commodity. Access to the Wagglepop Marketplace will continue in the current "open" format at this time, but we will be introducing "closed" format over the next few months. The new format will require verifiable online selling references and/or upfront payment along with a few other requirements that will do much to attract what will serve all membership best - dedicated and trustworthy sellers. There may even be a short period where we will not accept new sellers into the Marketplace. Expect announcements as appropriate in the coming weeks and months.

 

  4. New Search and Browse Results Displays

Over the next several weeks we will be testing a new set of search and browse results displays that better reflect the expectations of shoppers and further differentiate us from the typical "auction site" look and feel. Shoppers we believe will find the new displays easier to navigate and interpret, and in doing so make for a better overall experience which can lead to more sales.

Look for them in the next few weeks and we will have public polls posted for membership input.

 

  5. New Selling Opportunities through Expansion

Based on some preliminary investigation into the buying behaviors of the online buying community, we are exploring the idea of expanding Wagglepop into a "family" of related but independent ecommerce shopping sites that could mean more opportunity for sellers to expand their customer bases and sales. The changes we make today to ensure the viability of Wagglepop moving forward may allow us through revenues to support development of additional smaller "specialty" sites with highly targeted focuses. Our ability to effectively rank in search engines is a dynamic worth optimizing through expansion.

At some point we will conduct public polls to gauge the validity of and need for expansion that existing membership would be a part of and support. Should support be pronounced for Wagglepop under the new structure, we envision completion of existing Wagglepop projects at some point (such as Wagglepop Checkout) as a part of the new expansion initiative.

 

  In Conclusion and Our Commitment

I would like that thank all of our membership - buyers and sellers alike - for your support to date that has helped build our small but powerfully effective community. The very existence and success of Wagglepop is something we can and should all be proud of. Wagglepop was built out of "thin air", from a single idea and a desire to make a difference for online buyers and sellers and to break away from the limited effective options available and the unfair dynamics that came with that.

While we leave the "eBay competitor" vision behind, I am struck by the fact that Wagglepop proves that good people working hard and together can achieve something real and lasting for the benefit of everyone - for buyers, for sellers, for community friends. Together, we have made and continue to make a little part of the online world a better place - not through criticism but through positive attitudes and action. Achievement on any level is a joy that no critic can or will ever know, as few critics know anything of hard work or sacrifice.

How much we achieve is not nearly as important as who we are and what we did and continue to do working together in respectful trust-based environment. I am proud to be associated with such good people, and hope to continue that association for many years to come.

Andrew Pittino
- Wagglepop Director of Business Development & Vice President, Wagglepop LLC