Flunkies of Fiction: Online Auction Industry Exposé

After announcing a 200% increase in its store fees from $9.95 to $29.95 on May 2nd, Wagglepop Auctions has attempted to stifle all fee hike protests by  using heavy handed censorship on its forums.  The site’s moderator Andrew Pittino, who many suspect is really a sock puppet posting ID of Wagglepop owner Ray Romeo, has spent the night banning sellers and deleting all forum posts which are critical of the fee hike or mention store closings.

WP Members,

We seem to have some need for specific clarification of the Board Participation Policy and Clarification of Board Participation Policy.

They are available for viewing at the top of this forum.

In particular, the following are prohibited and seem the source of ongoing violation recently.

1. Posts about closure or about pending closure are prohibited by existing policy.
2. Posts about post removals by WP staff are prohibited by existing policy.

wagglepopCC2 03 May 2008 18:21

WP Members,

When posting to this thread (and all Wagglepop Community threads), please post within the guidelines of the Board Participation Policy and all Board Participation Policy clarfications.

I have asked Chris is Customer Care for strict policy enforcement this weekend and moving forward due to an inordinately high number of posts removed due to being outside of the posted policy. Additional posts in violation will subject offenders to possible site sanctions as per policy.

Thank you for your support and respect for your fellow members and the User Agreement.

AP

More information on Wagglepop’s heavy handed censorship may be found on these two threads at Powersellersunite.com and TulipTools.com:

http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=18689

http://community.tuliptools.com/index.php/topic,3775.msg69677.html#msg69677

The site is also attempting to blackmail sellers into keeping their stores open and paying the higher fees by threatening them with the loss of all the feedback they have built up and the loss of buying privileges if they close their stores. Wagglepop’s Andrew Pittino responds in the following post to a longtime seller who asked if she would be able to keep her feedback and remain as a buyer if she closed her store:

wagglepopCC2 03 May 2008 17:56

I think it would be a mistake (and unfair) to rework convention in the name of making leaving the Wagglepop Marketplace an easy transition.

Part of the benefit of dedication to the Marketplace is that the feedback earned is kept as an ongoing part of that dedication.

If a seller chooses to leave the Marketplace by closing their SmartSell account, they also leave behind the Feedback Score associated with the account. Dedicated long term sellers will and should benefit from an ongoing seller feedback score as part of their “permanent” record.

I think that is highly appropriate and reflective of what we see as a common sense dynamic.

AP

A PSU poster had this to say about Wagglepop’s intimidation tactics

In other words, “keep shoveling us your stores fees and you can do whatever you want — stop feeding our piggy bank and you become an outcast, effectively excommunicated from ‘the light.’ Your future support of our remaining sellers is not only inconsequential, it’s not wanted.”

Great attitude to draw new buyers to the community — treat the existing members like “non-believers” for not lining the management’s pockets.

No matter how you cut it that is extortion and strong arm tactics to the hilt! The more I learn about this “management group” the more I am amazed that they can keep anyone involved in the site.

If any of you who actively work on WP also decide to expand to other sites in addition, I would recommend using a different seller ID. With the lack of integrity and arrogance displayed on their own boards by “AP” above, I seriously doubt it would be beneath them to attempt to sabotage your business on other venues in an effort to “show you the light and return you to the fold!”