Is WIGIX an eBay killer?

When I first heard about Wigix a few weeks ago, it was mentioned as being an eBay killer. It´s not the first time that someone comes on the seen and tries to take on eBay, but to date no one has succeeded. Although it is still to early to come to any kind of a conclusion, since Wigix is not even two moths old, and is still in beta, I have my doubts that it can seriously compete with eBay.

Having said this, and since it´s a web 2.0 oriented site, I do believe Wigix will be successful , enough so that anyone that joins the party now might make some decent money. I can´t tell you if you will make a lot of money, but as you read on you will see that there is lots of potential here.

Lets take a few steps back and look at what Wigix is. The name Wigix comes from "WantItGotIt Exchage", and the site is an online platform to buy and sell merchandise, that works in a very similar fashion to the NASDAQ stock exchange. Wigix takes this online exchange type of environment and adds a little from eBay, Amazon, Wikipedia, and web 2.0 and social site´s profit sharing models.

Like I have already mentioned, Wigix tries to bring sellers and buyers of a particular product together, and a sale is made when these two groups agree on a price. Having said this, you can conclude that Wigix will not be the ideal place to sell one of a kind items, but instead to sell items for which there will be a regular supply, and preferably items that have some kind of a unique SKU. For now, and since the site is only about a month old, there isn´t really much buying and selling going on.

Now that I have explained how the site works, lets get down to how you can eventually profit from it.

Homestead - Add products to the catalogue

Much like with most web 2.0 sites, Wigix invites us all to add products to the Wigix catalogue. This will be the first way you can profit from Wigix, and it´s called "homestead", which comes from colonial times, when the first American settlers were rewarded for exploring and settling on land beyond the 13 original colonies.

To add a product to the Wigix catalogue (homestead), you don´t need to sell, own, or have that product. You don´t even need to know anything about the product. All you need to do is insert the product description and specs into the Wigix catalogue. Than, once you have added the product to the catalogue, you will be entitle to 5% of all future revenue Wigix generates from the sale of that item, as well as from any advertising generated by that page. Can you imagine what kind of revenue this would mean if Wigix ever grew to a fraction of eBay?

Along with the revenue generated by the homesteads, you also have the option of being able to sell your homestead, or buy homesteads from other users.

Adding these products to the Wigix catalogue is pretty straight forward, and you just have to fill in certain information, that depends on the type of product. I am already a proud owner of a few homesteads, and have several more waiting on approval.

All I really did was search the Amazon top sellers list by category, and added some of the products that were not yet on the Wigix catalogue. All of the required information was already on Amazon. That´s really all there is to adding a product !

Become a category expert

Another way to make money off of Wigix is by becoming a category expert (CE). After you sign-up, you will be able to see which categories don´t have experts and apply for the job. As a category expert you will be asked to approve homesteads, and organize and maintain the category spam free. As a category expert you will make 1% of the revenue generated by the category from transaction and advertising revenue.

Applying for a category expert position is also straight forward, and you are asked to give a reason why you should be named category expert. The CE position is valid for one year, after which time there are elections, and the next term if valid for two years.

In my case I have already applied for CE positions at two categories that had not yet been created and for which I feel I am qualified.

Spread the word about Wigix

The final way to make money from Wigix is by letting others know about the site. Wigix has an affiliate program that pays out 4% of the revenue that the homesteads created by your referrals make. It also pays out 2% of the revenue generated by the homesteads of second tier referrals, and lastly, another 1% of third tier referrals. The motivation behind this affiliate program is to get people to contribute to the Wigix catalogue.

Summing it all up

With not much more than a month under its belt, still in beta stage, and with official launch expected for late summer, it is still too early to come to any definite conclusion about Wigix. Wigix is expect to court eBay sellers, and is a breath of fresh air in the all too stale e-commerce marketplace. The money making potential is there however, especially for those that claim many "homesteads". I also noticed that Wigix already has some decent ranking is Google, with searches for several keywords showing up in the first and second page. Attaining good search engine ranking can be a deciding factor in determining the ultimate success of Wigix, since we all know how Google likes web 2.0 and social sites, and likes to offer different alternatives to searchers on its front page, I expect to see Wigix showing up there also.

If you haven´t visited you can find Wigix here.