James' Blog

Negotiation can be said to be the very soul of business. Practically nothing gets done without it. Businesses grow because of it. Careers prosper or decline depending upon one's skill at it. Search for "negotiation" on TechCrunch and you'll find articles about Amazon negotiating with publishers over pricing or the latest news of the New York Times negotiating a content deal with the Bay Area News Project. Anything big going on in business involves negotiation.

If you want to learn more about it you can pick up books about "getting to yes" or "getting past no." They'll warn you that negotiation can easily get emotional, or be fueled by food, drink or hotheaded words. Well, negotiation doesn't have to get you crazy. Here are four simple tips:

That last one may have surprised you, but this is a blog about using Wigix more effectively and I did a pretty good job of negotiating that point in, don't you think?

Wigix gives you flexibility in negotiations. If you see an item you want to buy you can get it from any of the sellers listed. But did you know you can negotiate? Yes, you can, by creating a Buy Order. Look in the Open Sell Orders pane on an item detail page and click "Place Buy Order." Doing this means you're willing to purchase an item at a set price. Sellers who log on to Wigix will see that and might fulfill your dream price for your dream item. You can indicate the quantity, condition and price you're willing to pay, and also how long you're willing to list your buy order - until a specific date or keep it going until you cancel it. You can be smart about it too, because the Wigix listing can show you the market value for any item and also what the last buyer paid for it. You're fully informed. Everything is on the table.

With a Wigix Buy Order your negotiations will always go smoothly.

Diamonds and pearls. There's a nice sound to that. But this month it gets even better, because here at Wigix we've had a chance to make some people very happy on both Dr. Phil and The Rachael Ray Show. Here's what happened. To celebrate Valentine's Day, Rachael Ray gave every member of her studio audience a pearl bracelet valued at $195. Of course, they were thrilled - just take a look at the video. And you can be thrilled too, because you have a chance to save $50 on selected items during our "FEBulous" sale. The sale includes apparel, shoes and accessories, bags and luggage, consumer electronics, food and wine, health and beauty, home and garden, video games and of course jewelry. All you have to do is enter the code.

Dr. Phil also shared some love with Wigix on Valentine's Day as part of his ongoing Love Dilemmas segment. As you can see in this video, Chris and Terri love each other very much and have been together for seven years. (They're pictured to the left.) But life's challenges, including caring for a child with cancer and working through a failed business, made it hard for them to get around to getting married. Enter Dr. Phil, who got them started with a diamond engagement ring from Wigix. You can learn more about Chris and Terri on Dr. Phil's site, and we also have a photo album from Chris and Terri on Wigix. Does the "FEBulous" sale also connect to Dr. Phil's ring giveaway? You bet, just enter the code to save.

To celebrate along with Rachel Ray and Dr. Phil, we've added both of them to our Wigix Celebrity Corner. You can check out Dr. Phil's blog and watch the video of the Wigix ring giveaway. Rachael Ray offers her latest recipes.

It's good to do good and even better to make people happy.

The day is finally here: Wigix is out of "beta" and into general release. It's been an amazing journey and we're pleased to report on what we have perfected and also what we can offer to you.

Let's start with a few "zeroes." On Wigix, there are no fees to buy or to sell. How's that for a "zero?" There are no transaction fees at all, and we've never charged for listing anything in your portfolio, never charged for pictures, and never have taken a percentage of your final sale value. That, simply said, means more money in your pocket when you use Wigix for buying and selling -- more money for you than if you used other e-commerce or auction sites.

Speaking of auctions, we don't like them so much, so you won't find them on Wigix. The better alternative is simply to name your price. By creating a Buy Order you let the seller know what you're willing to pay. You don't have to worry about sniping, which is the practice of a person (or an automated system) outbidding you at the last second. You don't have to worry about hanging around your computer to monitor auctions. You won't have to make another pot of coffee so you can stay up waiting for an auction to end. Naming your price is simple and effective way to buy.

We've added new seller verifications for safer buying and added new trusted partners who are bringing exciting portfolios to Wigix or adding to existing ones. You can see many new product reviews, as we've imported some significant ones from our trusted partners. On Wigix you can use PayPal of course, but you have other options, too. We offer Google Checkout and Amazon Payments.

We believe in social networking. Wigix allows you to share information, news and reviews and connect with potential buyers with our robust networking tools. You can post your Portfolio and Want Lists to Facebook and also export notices of items for sale to Craigslist with integrated tools that you'll find right on the Wigix site. When communities can get together on Wigix that helps everyone because knowledge is power, and besides, it's fun to blog, review and chat with other collectors, buyers and sellers. It's part of a customized experience that we want you to have on Wigix and starts right when you log on. You'll see personalized suggested for items to buy based on your page views and buying history.

If you want the inside scoop on a product category, our Category Experts can help out with great advice and expertise. And we go one better than that with our Celebrity Corner, where you can meet our resident celebrities. Farina Wong Kingsley specializes in the essentials of Asian cooking. Dr. Wendy Walsh is a relationship expert and author of The Girlfriend Test and The Boyfriend Test. Tabby Biddle has Lotus Blossom Style, a yoga-inspired clothing line. Ingrid Von Burg's yoga DVDs are called Yoga for Families and Yoga for Grandparents.

If you are a high-volume seller you are welcome at Wigix - for free. Sign up before April 30th, 2010 and your Wigix Storefront is free for a year until April, 2011. Our Storefronts offer easy-to-use inventory, sales management and other tools specifically created for high-volume sellers. You'll be able to build a customized a web store that feels like your own, and every item that you offer can appear both in the Wigix catalogue and on your own site.

To celebrate our general availability, we’ve approached the Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray shows to help us get out the good news. We’ve teamed up with the Dr. Phil Show to do something special for a very deserving couple on its upcoming Valentine’s Day episode slated to air on Feb. 12th (please check local listings). As though that’s not enough, we've also approached The Rachael Ray Show to come together and give her audience members a reason to “Feel The Love. ” The gesture went so well it turned out to be one of Rachael Ray’s biggest giveaway shows.  It also airs on Feb. 12th (check your local listings on that also).

The next chapter of Wigix has started and we're glad to have you on board.