Social Wigix challenges evil eBay, a closer look

Written on 5th May 2008                                                                                                              1 COMMENT
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

“Keep fees at eBay“, with that catchphrase Wigix challenges eBay for an open fight. This new socially-driven marketplace wants to compete with the online trade giant by offering transparency and a Web 2.0 flavor. They managed to stir up the blogosphere last week with their bold statements, so let’s take a closer look on what this service offers. The transparency comes down to this:

Stop guessing your fees. Wigix doesn’t aim to gouge its members.
For items sold between $25 and $100, we ask for a buck and a half from both the seller and the buyer.
We ask for an additional 2% of the portion above $100 from the seller if the price goes over $100.
If the price goes over $1000, we ask for an additional 1% of that portion.
For items below $25, we charge nothing!
Stop letting other marketplaces chip away at your profits with multiple fees. Wigix asks for no listing fees, and has no hidden fees.

And for the Web 2.0 flavor, or maybe Web 3.0 – you name it, Wigix is giving users the opportunity to become a category expert. He or she has the responsibility to review, reject, approve submissions made to their category and update blogs and discussion boards several times a week. It pays one percent of the category’s revenue. After a while this can become an interesting source of income.

There’s a second way of contributing to the community for a financial reward: homesteading. Just like the US government gave away land to pioneers in the Wild Wild West, Wigix gives users money for adding items to the catalog. So imagine there are no Burberry umbrellas on Wigix yet. You can then add this item and earn 5 percent of all the fancy umbrellas that will be sold in the future. Nice, uh?

It’s obvious that Wigix wants to create a community of people who all feel their part of a revolution. That’s why they draw a line with the Wild west and speak of “like-minded collectors and traders”. Smart strategy, if you ask me. They might even approach active eBay users and lure them into the Wigix camp by addressing their conscious: “Wouldn’t you want to be part of this honest way of trading?”. Let’s see if Wigix can pull it of.