Is Webuy.co.nz Dead?
Today I recieved this in my inbox:
SITE PROBLEMS:
Our site has been incurring ongoing unexplained problems. We are at this time, unable to stop this continued onslaught. We do not have the expertise to counter what has been happening.
Over the past week the site has been down several times. Bugs have been appeared to stop functions.
Saturday night they attacked admin to stop anyone logging in. It would take our passwords and allow admin to appear but once clicked on a function took us out to re login.
Our members could login but could not enter mywebuy to relist or execute any of their functions. If they clicked mywebuy a 2nd time they are taken back to login.
Then to top this off the site was out for the third time in 3 weeks. We were down for 18 hours.
SOLUTION:
We are working on the problems and seem to have things under control, and sincerely hope to overcome next lot as they appear. However our funder has put us on notice that “enough is enough”. He has given Kiwis a previously unheard of and generous opportunity “a chance to own something worthwhile and to create wealth with no outlay”. The results have been disappointing for three and a half years. The funder when setting the site up for members to own said 2 years was the limit “use it or lose it”. He funded for a considerably longer period.
Hopefully we will get on top of things but if we don’t do so in the next few days it will be goodbye from the Webuy team.
Wish us well as you own the site and if any site deserves support it really is Webuy.
All that this says to me is that the site is down and out. They don’t have what it takes to fix the issues and this email shows that there’s little chance that these issues will be fixed. If anyone trusted Webuy.co.nz I would seriously think again. Whats your thoughts?
The email seems very confusing.
In an email they should have been more though full and pronounced either the site will be closing or the bugs are being fixed and issues resolved.
I think if they are sending emails out like this, they must be running their site into the ground too.
Webu…er what now? Do you know anyone who even used the site?
I agree … Wrrite the “we’re dead” letter or don’t – but don’t send letters like this!
Agreed – a little honesty from the Directors to all those they gave shares to on what was really happening, that they were going to pull the plug, annual accounts etc would have gone a long way
It’s not surprising given the commentaries elsewhere of the history of the site & major shareholders that it is dead in the water
WEBUY WAS A GREAT SITE FOR OEDINARY KIWIS TO OWN AND IT IS A PITY THEY DID NOT SEE THE OPPURTUNITIES IT OFFERED i MYSELF USED IT EVEN THOUGH I DID NOT NEED TO BUY MUCH IT WAS GREAT RELAXING SITE TO LOOK AROUND AT THE END OF THE DAY AND TO THINK YOU OWNED A SMALL PORTION WAS A UPLIFT OF IT`S OWN I THANK BROOKE AND HIS TEAM FOR GIVING ME THAT CHANCE AND I AM SORRY TO SEE IT GO DOWN REGARDS TO ALL THE THE WEBUIY TEAM YOU DID A GREAT JOB SHAME ON THE KNOCKERS !!!!
I don’t care about my shares in WEBUY, but i really do feel for the poor members they were sucked in by all Brookes bleetings by how much their shares were worth, and fooling people into actually buying shares that were worthless, or definitely are worthless now, and if the company was being run at a loss, then the shareholders should have access to the accounts, as they might be entitled to a tax write-off against their now worthless shares. For anyone who didn’t buy shares, then the whole exercise has just been a waste of their time, but for those who were fooled into parting with cash, or those poor buggers who worked for shares (at WEBUY) then their should be some recourse. SELLA.co.nz seems to be the only serious opposition at the moment to the entrenched trademe.
@Captaincol Agreed – completely.
I know the shares are worth zilch, but I had $20.00 credit in my Webuy account and probably lots of others did as well. Wonder what’s happened to that ???
I worked for Brooke and Webuy for about 6 months. I came to realise soon after that Brooke ‘thinks’ he knows everything, yet really the opposite rang true. He was running Webuy down and wouldn’t listen to anyone else. I am happy his crap piece of crap website has failed, he deserved it after the way he treated his staff. Stupid man, I hope you learned your lesson – Angry Ex.
i had a lot of shares over 7000 what a assole.he was rude. and a con man
i payed for alot of those shares
Brooke is one big fat SCAMMER! Now my shares are bloody worthless. You have wasted my time and money.
was warned about getting involved with this site so steered well clear. What will Brookes little business venture be next ? ? ?
Haha I sold my shares I got for free on signup for $1. Made more money than anyone there. What a complete and utter moron guilt tripping his customers and wondering why people are still over at the FAT CATS!!
The guy was obviously an idiot. You don’t beat people up for not using your website. The real issue is the credit in customers accounts (yes – I put some money in it – doh!) That money does not belong to WeBuy, but to the customers, so Brooke has essentially taken customers money. Please, somebody, next time warn me about people who don’t know how to run a website business. Back to trademe.
Hi Annoyed, Try http://www.sella.co.nz you don’t need to put money in unless you want to. Free to list with some paying upgrade options & best of all no commissions. Meaning unlike trademe you get to keep all of the takings from sales.
Police Cyber Crime Unit are now looking into it
How on earth did this Brooke guy pay his staff when the website wasnt even making much money?
@dman maybe this was the reason webuy doesn’t exist anymore. Investment dollars can only last so long and without defined revenue streams it’s always going to struggle.
Webuy was financed out of my pocket for three years. It gave Kiwis the opportunity to own something worthwhile for nothing. It was extreme generosity on my part. I learned something which is typified by the winging wankers writing untrue comment here. You all expected others to do the work to make your fortune for you.
The staff like the one winging here was a pathetic lying little fat fellow who was overpaid and thought (as a kid) he knew everything.
Webuy stopped because the staff were not up to the crashing problems happening and it wasn’t getting the support it deserved. Father Christmas only comes once a year but Father Christmas supported this site for 3 years hoping the elves would get off their bums and take opportunity. So don’t throw shit at father christmas.
No one was conned. People were well warned about share trading over which l had no control. People make their own decisions as the one realist poster stated. There is nothing for “the police” to look at although they are welcome if some unnamed little noddy makes such a claim. In fact those unnamed people should have the guts to post name and address here when they make such insinuations and defamations.
Yes there were a few people who had cash credits and a lot who had credits that were given and not cashable. I don’t believe any with cash credits remain. So those who claim they are owed money put your name and address on here and lll go back to the records or put the record straight.I’ll post the results here as l’ve nothing to hide.
Sure there were mistakes along the way but that doesnt alter the fact that Webuy gave an unbelieveable opportunity for Kiwis to get behind it and make a lot of money. that was what l tried to do but never realised the lethargy and laziness of Kiwis who then moan their butts off.
l believe a similar project is being launched in Asia. Races that have work ethic and see opportunity to improve their lot instead of whingeing and moaning and throwing anonymous abuse.
l reply to all the critics of webuy.
Eric..youre totally a confused person. the email was explicit. the site fixed or gone. It wasn’t fixed so it went.
Mr K..not worth a comment.
Mr T. Clearly stated on site that annual account available from the company registered office. The accounts were all zeroed as l personally paid the accounts and the company capital was fully paid by me so members had no liabilities.
Kenneth Thompson. thanks Ken you saw the big picture. If we had had 30,000 like you then Webuy would have made a lot of people very happy instead of a few moaners like here.
Captain Col. Youre a liar. We reported share sales in News Letters. NEVER did we contravene the comapnies act and value the shares. If you’d spent a little time on the site you would have been aware company accounts were available at any time.
Richard..you love it don’t you.
Hairydog1. Hairy the man that got 100′s hours pleasure playing trivia on the site, you surprise me. Our records show your $20 was a “gifted site credit” to be offset against selling fees NOT a cash deposit BY YOU to your account. Show me l’m wrong and youll get a cheque.
Angry ex employee. dishonest, sacked employees normally are angry. You show with your comments what a bitter twisted idiot you are.
Chris and Chris. Chrisgin the perpetual moaner who always lined up for the “freebie shares”. You didn’t buy shares but you sure sold a few. Still moaning.
Mad at Webuy…No l’m not fat nor am l a scammer. Tell us more about “your shares” and “your money”. I know you are lying so your username and details of your shares, how you got them and how you were scammed out of your money. I look forward to exposing you as a liar.
me..glad you took advice..you obviously ask for advice from a bigger idiot.
Annoyed…Lets have your username and details. then we will check the records and we will see whether you put any money in or not. l’m calling you a liar, so accept the challenge.
loftyboyd.. Youre a classic idiot. Why would Cyber Police be involved. Not one person lost money but me. All regulations were strictly applied. No one was scammed, ripped off, stolen from or otherwise. No one was ever misled. In fact webuy was intentionally so clean it squeeked.
dman… You show some semblance of intelligence with your question. I personally paid for everything and it wasn’t cheap. Webuy was a wonderful opportunity for everyone. What l overlooked was the Kiwi lethargy and the expectation that everyone look after them but themselves.
Never heard of WeBuy before but it seems like it was a good example of how not to run a company, how not to end a company and how not to act after your company is gone down the drain.
Well Brooke i know i had credit and 40000 + Shares , where is my credit in my account gone even though it was small , Also Brooke was every other failed venture you have been involved in everyone else’s fault … dont expect so, You have wonderful ideas but your execution is not right, i believe it failed because the website was hard to use in comparison to trademe and i often had people (customers) telling me they where confused and hence why i lost excitement about the website. If webuy was launched and configured like Sella.co.nz then it would have been a great success and as manager the demise rests on your shoulders buddy
P.S dont care about the money just don’t believe you have refunded anyone money for the credit they had PROVE IT BUDDY !!!
Hi Brooke
I don’t mind being called a liar if i am. but i’m not a liar, i am soley commenting on the newsletters you sent out, in several you gave impressions of peoples shares being worth a fortune at a later time.
I think the public comments speak volumes, as one person has said something nice, and everyone else has seen and commented on the otherside of the coin.in a democratic society it would be said that 90% of the people can’t be wrong.
you had all good intentions to try and make a good site I’m sure, and there were some failings. but you can’t go round saying everyone who has complained is a LIAR, Classic Idiot, or some other low life. Just because they spoke out.
The newsletters definitely were pumped up to give the impression if impending wealth descending upon anyone who had a good amount of shares.
Any way, we have all had a little say about it. And below is some excerpts out of some of your newsletters:
“14-1-2009
See Referral Share Values
The above shows just how valuable building your share holding could be. Can you imagine just 1 referral being worth $400 to your pocket in 4 -5 years. Imagine if you worked hard and got 100 referrals. That’s a flash new car, deposit on a house, kids education fund. You get shares for your referrals referrals, their referrals and finally their referrals. Unbelievable but true.
7-1-2008
Shares:
We cannot influence the Webuy share value. We stopped reporting to members about share sales which had traded as high as 41 cents each. The last sale went through at 19.5 cents per share. The average has been around 25 cents per share.
Check your shares in “My Webuy”
2-1-2008
This is a huge opportunity for our members to build up Marketing networks of thousands of members who will guarantee you cash everytime they buy on Webuy (when Webuy starts charging fees in the next few months). This is linked to how well you do in the Referral Competition, and referrals after the competition ends. Every referral up to 4 levels will earn you shares! People you refer get you 50 shares, their referrals 20, their referrals 8 and their referrals 2. So if you got 6 referrals and each in turn got the same, you will have 1554 people in a network plus you will have earned 5340 shares.
On average trading of shares, that’s over $1000. When PHASE 3 is introduced the size of your Webuy Network will have a major bearing on income it will generate for you in cash. Trust us
1-11-2007
This is a huge opportunity for our members to build up Marketing networks of thousands of members who will guarantee you cash everytime they buy on Webuy (when Webuy starts charging fees in the next few months). This is linked to how well you do in the Referral Competition, and referrals after the competition ends. Every referral up to 4 levels will earn you shares! People you refer get you 50 shares, their referrals 20, their referrals 8 and their referrals 2. So if you got 6 referrals and each in turn got the same, you will have 1554 people in a network plus you will have earned 5340 shares.
On average trading of shares, that’s over $1000. When PHASE 3 is introduced the size of your Webuy Network will have a major bearing on income it will generate for you in cash. Trust us”
So, Honest Brooke, which is it? Is it “… OUR FUNDER has put us on notice that ‘enough is enough’….given Kiwis a… generous opportunity….for three and a half years”.
Or is it “Webuy was financed out of [Brooke's] pocket for three years. It gave Kiwis the opportunity to own something worthwhile for nothing. It was extreme generosity on [Brooke's] part”.
So, was there a funder or was somebody lying to try and pretend that the business had serious backing when in fact it had nothing of the kind?
Hi members
Sorry to see there are issues with Webuy.co.nz.
I just happen to have a look today and discovered no site.
I did sign up as a member but only to watch the opportunity to see how things went as I am more than interested in member-based opportunities for creating local community-based enterprises.
I see it as a way low-income people can actively participate in the economy something they are unable to do at present.
Actually my new enterprise concept is to create a new caring economics model and culture. Its not a quick fix and there is no money man holding a big bucket of cash. We co-create it together, there is enough of us citizens out there- it’s more a matter of desire and motivation.
I have 10 projects of my own to start with, but I certainly don’t have all the answers. Perhaps some of you are interested and have the knowledge skills and ability to help me create a new enterprise model for building ‘The IDEAL Community of the Future – no poor among us.
What’s Good?
What needs to be done?
Interested?
Phil – Local Citizen
CHRISTCHURCH
localwinners@gmail.com
Hi Brooke. I paid $100 into credit on webuy, not gifted by Webuy or as shares, but cash to cover anticpated sales fees. I have not had a refund from you, despite your claim above. So in response to your sugestion we post information so that you can contact us here it is. Robert, r.douglas@orcon.net.nz or 027 4315 905. (Trader name was r0d0r – taht’s r zero d zero r)
My challenge to you is to do as you say, contact me and refund the cash I put in.
I have no issue with the shares; that’s life and I don’t think I invested any money in them anyway,
PS – Brooke, just read your second post. Suggest you don’t go around calling people liars until you have the facts.
Two weeks, no contact from Brooke. Woudl have been nice if he’s put his contact details in this thread.
@Annoyed Here is Brooke’s number: 03 342 8974.
Use wisely my friend.
Well, it’s been one month and no word from Brooke.
Well, guess what – now two months and no contact from Brooke.
And now three months with no contact
Oh look, five months and no contact
Gidday Brooke, Just came on here today for a look and saw your comment about me playing trivia. I was not the only regular playing trivia and hope you weren’t insinuating that my $20.00 was a charge for playing. Cheers, hairydog1.
This is a definite learning environment for all of us, I believe trademe should be owned by new zealanders not fairfax media, whose with me ? have you checked out the legallities of overseas ownership of a domestic company? mayb they lookin for some new zealand shareholders? if they dont already have them? who does? will get bak to you on that one.
Well, Brooke said he would refund anyone who could prove they were owed monies, called me a liar and challenged me to put up appropriate details which I did eleven months ago. The deafening silence from him is clear testament as to who the liar is.
Brooke you are a bully and a cheat. You do not follow through and think accusation and anger are a substitute for ethics. If anyone is reading this my advice is to stay well away from anything he is involved in.
I liked Webuy and was keen to use it as an alternative to the others. Pity Brooke did not get a business manager and concentrate on what he is good at.
Hi All, i definitely put money into webbuy, actually i credited my accoutn by 500 NDZ, i think i got some shres or something for that much but even still i had thousands of shares. which are all worth nothing now and not to mention my 500 dollar account credit. i would sure as hell like this credit back. Also if thie brooke knew so well what was going on and had so much money to back it for 3 years why the hell did he have kids building his website!!! i mean this is why it had securtiy problems and they couldnt overcome them, its becasuse they had non experienced staff full stop. i did truly believe in the site and did actually decide to use it over trademe even through the site was inferior from usability traffic and basically everyhting. i am gutted to see it gone, but honestly if he had of had the right experienced people onboard it could have really been something.
i would like to hear from brooke about my account credit and see if it is possible to get back or not..brooke you out there??
No response at time of writing this comment.
It’s a shame, 10 months and still no contact.
Bill.
See my post dated 4th October 2010. It is now November 2011.
On July 6 Brooke called me a liar (needlessly) and challenged me to provide details to verify the situation, which I did. Brooke has not contacted me and has not made good on his ‘challenge’.
Brooke, the term is “Libel”. You made a baseless false accusation in a public forum. How about you put it right in a public forum.
Still annoyed.