Disturbingly Affectionate Email from Zibbet CEO Jonathan Peacock.

Zibbet makes me sad

Anyone else receive this disturbingly affectionate email from Zibbet CEO Jonathan Peacock?  (Posted in its entirety below).  I paid rent to this guy to host e-commerce shops and get a totally unprofessional and overly familiar email in place of the services I paid for.  Including thanking me for my LOVE and patience.   And he "loves" me back 5 times in this short email.  Eww.

Are we supposed to be so bowled over by how much he loves us that we're going to overlook the fact that his site has NEVER worked well, works even worse in his relaunch, yet he's keeping everyone's money?

This cloyingly sweet "business" message is disturbing on another level...his attempt to get business people to reveal lots of personal information on his site.  My FAMILY?  You want to know about my FAMILY?  What does that have to do with my selling a vintage teacup?  

You want to know where I live???  (Hmm....I've been threatened to be arrested for tweeting about Zibbet by someone who claimed to be in daily telephone conversations with Zibbet owners.)    

You want to know where else you can find me online?   ICK.  The Zibbet owners have already revealed that they scour the internet for "bad" posts made by its sellers as data on who to approve or not approve for access to its closed forums.  Whatever else do you want that info for?

Some have suggested that the hopelessly desperate for affection folks will fall for this "Jonny come's a-courtin" email and reveal personal information that can be sold.  With this guy, it's hard to know.  I recently learned about his Dinars for Dollars scheme, he lures people into buying premium shops on Zibbet knowing he wasn't providing the services he sold us yet refusing to refund the money, who knows?

Now I know Jonathan's "regulars" are going to claim I am misinterpreting his intent here.  But truly, WHAT IS THE INTENT?  He still misrepresents how malfuntioning Zibbet is.  The "nasty bugs" are the giant chasms of gaps in basic programming that still makes search unusable.  It's not fixed as of the date of this blog post.  That's a lie.  They DIDN'T EVEN PROGRAM for search to recognized plurals and didn't fix it til he read about it on social media!  The whole tone is a disturbing blend of a faraway lover and a teacher getting the pre-schoolers to sit up straight by saying "My how straight you all are sitting!" And to SHUT YOU UP.  And honestly, what did the half-baked relaunch do for you as a seller?  He ADMITTED the search was bad, any buyers who do wander into Zibbet can't even find YOUR ITEMS, yet you are supposed to be contented by fake lovin'?  Aren't we smarter than that?  

But bottom, line, it reeks of insincerity and fakey fake.  Jonathan Peacock, if you or your pal Andrew Gray want to show me your love, refund my money.  That's the PROFESSIONAL thing to do.  If you are finding this blog post like lots do via google, you might want to read this blog from the bottom up.  But grab a cup of tea from that vintage teacup first because it's full of info, all of which is documented.

Pleased to meet you! We hope that you've enjoyed getting to know the new Zibbet. We're amazed at how well you've embraced such a big change. Finding your way around a totally new layout isn't easy! Thanks for all the love you've given us over social media or via email. It makes our day!! And, thanks for your patience as we've worked to fix some nasty bugs - kudos to the Zibbet team for working late nights and weekends until these were fixed. So proud of our small, but mighty team! It's great to see your shops being updated with a big, beautiful banner (new size = 1048x200px). I love seeing each shop's individual creativity being reflected through their banners. GETTING TO KNOW YOU My favorite page in the new Zibbet, without a doubt, is the new Meet the Seller page. I love getting to know you better by reading your stories, looking at your photos (your workspace, where you live, your family etc), and seeing where else I can find you online. Part of Zibbet's appeal, from a shoppers perspective, is that they are supporting and buying directly from an independent seller. It makes it all the more special when they can "meet" you and even connect with you online (Facebook, Twitter etc). It's all about building a personal connection. That's why we don't allow drop shipping or outsourcing your creative process to manufacturers. It loses that personal touch, and that's just not what Zibbet's about. If you haven't already, make sure you spend some time creating your new Meet the Seller page. HERE'S 4 GREAT EXAMPLES TO DRAW INSPIRATION FROM Kf Gifted Hands from Gloucester, United Kingdom. ZiL Vintage from Texas, United States. The Vintage Teacup from Florida, United States. Unlimited Party Themes from California, United States. You can create your Meet the Seller page from your shop admin panel. Go to "Shop Front" (in left navigation) and it's the second tab on this page. Create your Meet the Seller page → P.S. Stay tuned for a big announcement coming soon! Clue? S _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ // _ _ _ S _ _ _ S. Tweet us with a letter guess and we'll reveal the most requested letter on Monday via @Zibbet! Jonathan and the Zibbet Team

From the team at Zibbet. Lovingly crafted "Down Under" in Australia (G'day!) Have a question or want to say hello? We'd love to hear from you. Tweet us @zibbet or hit reply!

Or, Don't Read the Zibbet Forums, Owners Jonathan Peacock and Pastor Andrew Gray Close the Doors

Zibbet makes me sad

In my last post (again, I thought my last one on this subject) I invited anyone thinking of selling handmade or vintage or supplies at Zibbet to read their forums, in addition to googling and reading about the experience of others who have given it a try.

But last night, the Zibbet forums doors were closed by the owners, Jonathan Peacock and Andrew Gray.  Apparently, some observations about how the owners of Zibbet made their money from unsuspecting newbies were not appreciated.  So instead of answering the questions and comments, Peacock and Gray just put a padlock on the door. 

And they won't open it for anyone whom they have suspended.  Which is anyone who's questioned how the money we gave them is being spent, why the services we paid for weren't provided, and why the traffic and sales are just SO BAD.  Or anyone they just don't like, apparently, even people who have never posted in their forums!

So if you wanted to check out the Zibbet forums, you are out of luck unless you're willing to sign up to read them.  But really, why bother?  Does a "say only nicey-nice things about this site you invested in, or else you aren't allowed to READ, much less POST" forum really provide any data for you to use?  Uh, no.  And what's particularly sad is that there isn't much nicey-nice to read either.  Hours and hours pass with nary a peep except for self promotions ("I need to pay my bills, buy from me") and ("Show me your pink items and I'll show you mine"), which somehow passes as professional marketing in Zibbet land now.  Unless someone asks a real question, then a flurry of comments before the post is closed by the owners and the questioner quickly muted and denied access to even read.  No real discussion allowed!!!

So, no worries! I take back my earlier advice to visit them.  Don't even bother with the Zibbet forums, they are officially useless.  There's plenty of info, real analysis, real facts, including screen shots, all over the internet.  Again, I'd invite you to read this blog from the bottom up.  Do a search in the Etsy forums, where the Zibbet BoyZ can't zip up lips they don't like.  Take a peek at Twitter.  There's lots of info out there on Zibbet, you don't have to have a secret password and pledge of undying love and loyalty to find it!  And then decide if your time and money are worth it.  Robin

What kind of selling site is Zibbet, anyway, Jonathan Peacock and Andrew Gray?

Let's TALK about Zibbet!

One of the reasons a huge group of us chose to join Zibbet en masse last fall was that they advertised that they automatically submitted our items to 20 million buyers via The Find.com.  A quick search the other day revealed that this advertised service was NOT being rendered.  They'd been using it as a major selling point on their "Sell" page even after owners Jonathan Peacock and Rev. Andrew Gray made the decision not to submit to the Find due to Zibbet site issues. And when confronted about that fact in their forums, the owner admitted it. Finally.

I want my money back!

I contacted Zibbet who ignored me, then  paypal, who were most sympathetic, but I learned that Paypal protection never covers services promised but not rendered even if a claim is made immediately, and that I could probably get a refund through a chargeback by my bank.  I am considering that.

I've also gotten emails from other unhappy sellers telling me about class action suits, official departments in Australia, attorneys general, lawyers and agencies here and abroad, enough to make my head spin!  Getting my $237 back could be a full time job!

Less than two months ago, I was promoting Zibbet everywhere!   Now I was thinking about making phone calls to Australia????   What?  How had it come to this?

Did so many of those of us who joined last fall just ASSUME Zibbet owners Andrew Gray and Jonathan Peacock were eager to build a huge competitive destination site with internal traffic like we did?  Were we wrong?  It's what we wanted, but did they?

Perhaps we were like the dads on the hockey team who had a kid with a spark of talent.  Dad had dreams of the NHL the kid didn't have.  Hockey camps, special foods, private instruction, weight training, ballet lessons, intensive coaching, all to turn a kid into a pro when all the kid really wanted was to have fun, hang with friends, and have something interesting to do on the weekends instead of watch t.v..

Oh, this is sad!

Maybe that's all Zibbet wanted.  And we were the hockey dads. We assumed the owners Andrew and Jonathan wanted for Zibbet what we did.

We expected more, and especially to be dealt with in a professional manner...which includes refunding unhappy customers!

From a moral perspective, it is owed us.  It's what the big boys, Etsy and Ebay, expect us individual sellers to do with our own customers even if we aren't to blame for a customer not getting what they paid for.  And we do it because it's right, it's the honest and moral thing to do.  Yes, it's the right thing to do, ethically.

But you know, from a BUSINESS perspective, it's the right thing to do, too.  It's Customer Service 101, that you work with disgruntled customers, you don't throw gasoline on a fire!  You contact them personally, try to soothe and smooth, and yes, refund if necessary.  Giving back the money to disgruntled customers asking for a refund for services promised but not rendered should be a no-brainer.

But no. 

 Bottom line, Jonathan Peacock and Rev. Andrew Gray sold me a service they weren't providing and took my money and won't give it back.  And that's why it's hard to just let it go.  Like I really, really, really would love to.  The only thread holding me to the site is my $237.  And I can sure use that money.  I could list 1,100 more items at Etsy!  And never think about Zibbet again.  Wouldn't that be loverly?  More info about ZIBBET