posted on September 17, 2001 10:30:27 AM new
Gegy is going to open October 20, with pre-registration October 1. Comments? Does anyone trust the people running this site?
From the website at www.gegy.com:
"As members of a uniquely global community, the management and staff of Gegy
Inc. extends our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of all
those affected by the tragic events in New York, Washington and
Pennsylvania. Gegy.com has postponed its original September launch
date. Like so many companies across North America and around the World, we
would like to offer our US based employees, clients and friends the time to
rebuild homes, family and country. Therefore, we have rescheduled our launch
for Saturday October 20th.
Additionally, for the month of October (from October 20-October 31) - auction revenues will be sent to the American Red Cross and the United Way of America Relief Funds.
We hope you will join us on October 20th - to see launch of a new
e-commerce experience. Preregistration will begin on October 1st."
posted on September 18, 2001 11:59:50 PM new
Someone's going to make a serious run at ebay, it may as well be gegy who seems to have some smart people runing it. I haven't seen the finished site so I'll reserve my final opinion for October.
posted on September 19, 2001 03:53:35 AM new
How smart do you have to be to hire someone to run a script to pull email addresses from another site's database?
Or set up a bogus auction news site and then spam everyone and their bidders with a phony newsletter?
posted on September 19, 2001 07:03:11 AM new
The site looked amateurish the last time I checked. They had really great ideas but the layout was mediocre, although some features were implemented nicely. The more I think about it, will people be comfortable giving their personal info (CC#s, bank account #s, identifying info, etc.) to the site operators after all that's happened? Think there really is a million $ advertising campaign planned or is it a bunch of hogwash??? I tend to think the latter until proven otherwise. As they say, "Once bitten, twice shy".
posted on September 19, 2001 07:36:54 AM new
I think it's the same million dollar advertising campaign that Carnaby is promising. That getting to be a standard small online auction promise.
posted on September 19, 2001 07:55:50 AM new
I think Carnaby is cut from a different cloth, or at least I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. They haven't been deceptive and have been very forthcoming. It would be stupid of Carnaby to launch a major ad campaign right now with little to bid on at the site. Their hands might be tied until listings build to a certain threshold. They still ought to do some advertising to at least bring in sellers --- maybe advertise on AuctionWatch like BargainandHaggle and ePier have been doing.
A million dollars isn't much and the incredible effort they've put into the site tends to make you think they wouldn't have a problem getting backing.
posted on September 19, 2001 08:08:05 AM new
Have you noticed Gegy is trying to get back in people's good graces by indirectly using last week's tragedy? It might be underhanded but it seems as good an opportunity as any for them to come off as good citizens and then use that goodwill to launch. eBay and Gegy are cut from the same cloth!
"As members of a uniquely global community, the management and staff of Gegy
Inc. extends our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of all
those affected by the tragic events in New York, Washington and
Pennsylvania. Gegy.com has postponed its original September launch
date. Like so many companies across North America and around the World, we
would like to offer our US based employees, clients and friends the time to
rebuild homes, family and country. Therefore, we have rescheduled our launch
for Saturday October 20th.
Additionally, for the month of October (from October 20-October 31) - GegyAuction revenues will be sent to the American Red Cross and the United Way of America Relief Funds.
We hope you will join us on October 20th - to see launch of a new
e-commerce experience. Preregistration will begin on October 1st."
posted on September 19, 2001 09:15:44 AM new
toollady, they're building awareness of their site with the cheapest way available, and reaching a lot more people, so yes, that is smart business.
eSeller, all corporations act in the same manner, some will take certain measures to protect the customer but that's a decision only to win your trust, not because they are so honest.
Gegy will get into America's pshyche and I bet word of mouth alone will make gegy a close #2 auctuin site because people will find it irresitable.
posted on September 19, 2001 09:26:22 AM new
quickdraw29 >
I bet word of mouth alone will make gegy a close #2 auctuin site because people will find it irresitable.
What has "word of mouth" done to attract bidders at every other auctionsite?
posted on September 19, 2001 09:52:28 AM new
toollady, most American's haven't heard of gegy so whatever happened in the past is forgotten news.
dimview, the diferrence being, the other sites are just copycats, nothing to draw interest. Gegy has a new concept, and I think the buzz will be a lot stronger because it is unique and also like I said, designed to get into America's psyche.
Remember, any company that tries a new concept is a serious threat if they create the right identity. From what I've seen so far, they are on the right track.
posted on September 19, 2001 09:59:18 AM new
quickdraw29 >
Gegy has a new concept, and I think the buzz will be a lot stronger because it is unique and also like I said, designed to get into America's psyche.
posted on September 19, 2001 10:04:28 AM new
Oh you mean the new concept of having to download a java plugin to use their live auction format?
I hope anyone downloading it is aware of the security issues.
Or their own inhouse payment system? Where you will need to fork over financial information to a company who has already openly lied to their beta testers and is not exactly known for their integrity and trustworthiness?
Yep, sounds great to me, let me run right over there and sign up again.
posted on September 19, 2001 10:24:49 AM new
The new concept is comprised of energy, vibrance, youthfulness. Not even ebay has that!
Toollady, betatesting is a time for the company to work out its kinks, give them a chance to open their doors before condeming them. While lying is not an admirable attribute, it doesn't stop presidents and senators from being reelected.
posted on September 19, 2001 10:32:11 AM new
If Java had security issues then many of us would be dead! I run the Datek Streamer which is a Java applet with streaming quotes. I just turn it on and leave it run all day. E*Trade, Scottrade, Schwab, Waterhouse all have their own Java trading apps and they're all entrusting highly sensitive user financial information to Java. If Java was unsecure the financial industry would never use it to develop trading programs. SUN also makes the claim that Java is the most secure Web development language since a Java program can do very little to a user's machine. Hackers don't write programs in Java for this reason. Besides, how else are you going to have dynamic Web apps if it wasn't for Java?
posted on September 19, 2001 10:39:22 AM new
quickdraw29,
It wasn't so much the lying that was the problem. The problem was and is the fact the CEO has this pious attitude that gegy, et al, is above it all.
I liken it to the Emperor(CEO referred to himself as that, inside joke or not) and the serfs(us lowly auction users)
When confronted with the knowledge that it was known that auctioneagle and gegy were one in the same, the CEO denied it, then admitted it, then stated there was nothing else to come clean about, when asked. Had he taken the high road and admitted to the email harvesting, instead of denying any other shenanigans, they probably wouldn't have had to shut down and re-group.
In addition, the software being used for various parts of the site was "out of the box" with the brand taken off and being passed off as gegy's own.
How's that for ethics?
Is this just the tip of the iceberg? Are there more unethical doings hiding in the shadows? Who knows? But how many are willing to take a chance to find out?
When you state from the get go that your auction site is beyond reproach, then you better make sure it is.
Us auction users are a savvy bunch. Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you.
As far as their million dollar ad campaign goes? How many email addys were harvested from ebay? At a cost of $1 a piece, there ya go. Be prepared to be spammed in a mailbox near you.
posted on September 19, 2001 10:40:26 AM new
Quickdraw .. I sense that you are more than a casual gegy enthusiast and may have achieved zealot status. You must have something at stake to warrant such glowing posts and relentless defense of the site. Of course we all hope that you are 100% correct but most of us are extremeley skeptical after seeing the brief 'track record' of the site.
posted on September 19, 2001 10:48:18 AM new
If you would like to run someone else' code on your computer, have at it.
Gegy has already proven themselves untrustworthy. I would not run executable content on my machine from an untrusted source. Let's see, 10,000 people sign up with 10 email addys in their address book. Do I need to do the math? Hmm, a little creative programming and gegy has a whole new spam list.
You are talking about 2 different things here. A stock firm is a verified business. An unproven auction site is a very big risk.
posted on September 19, 2001 11:19:25 AM new
I understand the ethical issue, I've cut business with four major corporations this year because their ethics were poor, but for me spamming and use of software are not a big ethical issue.
I only speak of gegy's potential. There's sellers on ebay who make good money selling on the site and they defend all criticism aimed at ebay, doesn't mean they are zealots or have a financial stake in the company other than what they make selling there.
posted on September 19, 2001 11:27:42 AM new
dimview, I saw a sneak peak of gegy before they started betatesting. If you go back through the old threads you might be able to find a link that is accessible. There may be some betatesters here who can provide you with a lot more info than I can.
posted on September 19, 2001 12:56:18 PM new
I was a beta tester. There was nothing there to test other than the Live format. There was trouble by many trying to download the java plug in. Certain Mac users were unable to use the live auction format because the jave plug in was unavailable for them.
The regular auction portion was out of the box software made by mewsoft, the same software that snaprat uses.
Their chat forum was free open source software that had the copywrite removed from it until someone reported the "oversight".
Their live chat was using freeware that was NOT to be used for commercial purposes.
Gegymail was a FREE GPL licensed software package.
All of the links have since been either password protected or killed entirely.
All I saw was lots of smoke and mirrors before the site went down in flames.
The only original portion of the site was the GegyLIVE site and that was filled with problems as mentioned above.
posted on September 19, 2001 03:46:25 PM new
Quickdraw,
This is a very rare occurrence, but I must agree with Dimview on asking for the new concepts that Gegy will offer. I was a beta tester, and the only new concept that I saw was the live auctions. I do not see this as a very successful new concept. When I am looking for new concepts, I am looking for something like Bargain and Haggle with the concept of negotiations, E-wanted with reverse auctions, and Half.com with fixed pricing. To me, the PR terms that you used are not new. Look at the PR releases on any new site or business and you will see the identical or similar terms being used.
Also, Gegy had way too many problems for a beta test. The problems encountered demonstrated that this was an alpha test. If not, then they should have fired their alpha testers, totally rewritten the code, and conducted another alpha test.
Also, most serious auction sellers currently consider Gegy to be a joke and will not come near it with the proverbial "ten foot pole". Only a major advertising campaign will start to change minds.
posted on September 19, 2001 05:10:55 PM new
Just say NO.. to all these wannabess with all their Bells and Whistles and Glitz!! Not to mention the Java Downloads..OOuch.
Totalllll waste of time and effort.
