Ron Brown had closed down his successful online business and was checking the CNN website in 2008 when he spotted a story that compelled him to jump back into the field of ecommerce.
"I saw an article about a new selling site that was ready to compete with eBay," says Brown from his home in Kentucky. "I read the article about Wigix and their ideas for homesteading, catalog experts and their fee structures. I joined that evening, which was their first day of public beta."
It's hard to be unique in the field of ecommerce these days. But terms like "homesteading" and "buy and sell orders" are just a few of several features of Wigix that just aren't seen anywhere else.
The unique aspects aren't insignificant add-ons, either. They include the way products are listed for sale and the way prices are determined.
Typically, on eBay or another traditional venue, you search the site for a product, and the site returns one or more pages of search results. You browse through all the listings, clicking on the ones you want to investigate further.
In the Wigix world, search for a single item such as "iPod touch 8GB," and you get a page full of links to products that include some of those search terms. But click on one single result, and there the similarity ends.
The page you see is a product page, not a page created by a single seller. You may see that 10 sellers are offering the iPhone for sale by offering "sell orders" of between $160 and $540. You may also learn that the item has sold for an average of $75 in the past. You get detailed product specs and photos and even links to reviews and user manuals and that have been made available on the site for free. You see that buyers have placed "buy orders" for the same item, too.
That's because buyers and sellers are able to collectively determine the current market price. Sellers and buyers alike can place "orders" that can either be accepted or rejected. Sellers can also specify fixed sale prices as an alternative, and buyers can snap up the merchandise instantly at those prices.
Wigix items are priced much like commodities in the stock market. A buyer can make a purchase outright at a price the seller suggests. But alternatively, the same buyer can also place an open "buy order," in effect saying "I'll buy this iPhone for $309, and my offer is good for three days." (Offers can also be designated as good until cancelled.)
But that's not all. Sellers can list everything they own in the form of a product "portfolio," which can be either public or private. You can be notified when someone expresses interest in an item that's in your portfolio but not advertised on a sale page.
For Brown, 40, a seller who has sold on eBay, on his own website, and on Wigix, the differences are both refreshing and empowering. "Wigix maintains two item values," he explains. "First there is the MSRP, and then there is the market value. When a catalog entry is created for an item, the person entering the page can set both of these values. As sellers list items for sale, the market value adjusts based on those sell orders. It also adjusts when a sell is completed."
Brown's level of enthusiasm in the fledgling marketplace - he has created more than 41,000 separate product pages - might seem surprising given that he specializes in unique collectibles that are low priced. They're items you might think wouldn't do well on Wigix, which seems geared toward popular electronics and computer goods. But he's enthusiastic about the low seller fees and high level of personal attention that sellers get on the site.
"I applied to be a Catalog Expert in Wigix's baseball trading cards category," he says. "I was approved, and they allowed me to set up the category in the way I thought was needed. This is a change from most sites, but Wigix actually takes the input from its users and experts."
Fees are the reason many sellers are looking beyond eBay, and Wigix is a site (sight?) for sore eyes. There are no fees if your item is less than $25, and sellers pay a flat $1.50 for items that sell between $25.01 and $100. For items that sell for $100.01 to $1000, the fee is $1.50 plus 2% of the portion above $100. For orders of more than $1000, the fee is $19.50 plus 1% of the portion above $1000. (See fees page.)
"Once the site is fully operating, it is going to be really enticing for the big sellers as well," says Brown. "A flood of large sellers followed the introduction of the eBay import tool and the bulk load tool."
Brown started selling baseball trading cards on eBay in the mid-1990s. Toward the end of the decade, the business grossed $10,000 even though Brown and his cousin were only running it part-time. To escape eBay's fees, Brown created his own auction site, BKcards.com. After changing jobs in 2000, he closed his business down.
The feature that really excites Brown, along with the fees and customer service, is the user community. Themed communities with names like Book Worms and Todduits bring together users who can discuss products they know and love.
Although Wigix is still in beta, the site's CTO recently told users that its features are almost complete. "As long as they keep going the way they have so far, working with their community, I think they will do more than succeed. They will become the premier site for buying and selling on the Internet," the enthusiastic Brown predicts.
Selling on Wigix
Becoming a Product Expert on Wigix
