Advertising is not the problem. The current ad system is to blame. A different ad model is needed. One that is built using privacy, choice and rewards. User data and activity is not collected. Users have the choice to engage or ignore. And, if they choose to engage, they are compensated. Money flows directly from the seller to the buyer. We built this solution and call it Sellff Offers. It’s an alternative model that works the opposite of AdTech. Although just launched, we think Sellff Offers is the future of digital advertising. https://sellff.com/offers
Blocking ads in your browser is responsible behavior. It is the same as putting a lock on the door to your house. There are people in the world who will think nothing of taking advantage of you if it means they can put money in their pocket. That said, the OP is referencing malicious ads, which are not designed to sell a product or service. Instead, they are designed to infect your device. From which they can collect/extract data about you.
The current ad-tech model needs to change and is due for disruption. Advertising is everywhere and it’s out of control. There seem to be more ads than ever, in every medium and in every square inch of surface area. In most cases, the ads are unwanted and not even relevant.
Our attention is being stolen and massive amounts of money are being wasted by companies with a legitimate interest to make sales. The bottom-line is that consumers are being victimized by the constant bombardment of advertising. And the companies that sell products/services, who need to build awareness and grow sales, are being taken advantage of by the ad-tech giants.
A new model is needed and we are actively working on a solution called Sellff Offers. This solution allows sellers and buyers to connect directly, without the middleman. Sellff Offers inverts the current ad-tech model in three significant ways: [1] Opt-in, [2] Privacy friendly, and [3] Pays cash rewards.
Here is an example Offer [ https://sellff.com/$/ron.michel/offer/ewVkr ]. You choose whether to view the Offer. Your data and activity is not collected/shared/sold if you view the Offer. And, you are compensated for your time if you decide to participate in the Offer.
Complaining about the current broken ad-tech model does not help to fix it. You need to take action to bring about the change you want to see. If you have an interest in building a new digital marketing/promotions solution, we would like to speak with you. Regardless, we are very excited to see the growing consumer awareness of the dangers of ad-tech and the interest in alternatives ways to connect buyers and sellers.
Looking for collaborators to help build the future of digital advertising. Working on a solution that offers benefits to sellers of products/services, while buyers can choose which ads to view [opt-in], respects user privacy [no tracking or collection/resale of user data] and compensates people for their time and attention [earn cash rewards]. More information here:
Thank you for your comment. Would you prefer to be rated by an authoritative source using inputs that are closed and unknown? Or, would you rather have your peers provide a rating in an open and transparent manner?
[I think] Crowdsourced opinions are an excellent way to make informed decisions about products/services. A great example is using Amazon.com for competing products:
Product A: 5.0 star rating | 32 reviews
Product B: 4.5 star rating | 5,264 reviews
Which product would you weigh more heavily when making a buying decision?
Keep in mind that SELLFF is positioned as a Professional Network. Any response or feedback will be relative to you, in a professional capacity. This might include the quality of the service you provide, your communication skills, did you finish the job on time, etc.
Also, any reputation you earn as a seller works in your benefit when you consult with others as a buyer. People want to work with other people who they have confidence in. This is true on Uber,Lyft and AirBnB, where both parties "rate" each other.
I think a digital reputation is a vital part of a healthy marketplace.
Allow me to be more clear on my original response. When I used the word "influence" I should have instead stated "manipulate." I believe honesty and integrity is what people care about in a score or rating system.
So, there is no direct way for a member to "manipulate" the TRU Score:
- Your activities on the site contribute to your TRU Score
- The community reaction to your activities will contribute to your TRU Score
- If a member invests the time to develop their profile and is active on the site, those activties [if viewed positively by the community] will contribute to an increased value for the TRU Score
I believe this is a fair, appropriate and transparent way to derive a score. My belief is that our members will not only rely on the TRU Score in making decisions. Instead, they will also review other parts of the member profile. In the same way you might look at a Yelp or Amazon review.
Guessing that you do not make decisions based solely on the star ratings when buying a product or choosing a service. But that you might also read some of the reviews and look at images of the product/service. Thank you for taking the time to comment and share your thoughts.
Right...JavaScript is required at this time. Thx for you comment. We will post a notice on the landing page that JS is required. Also, can work on a non-JS version of the site.
Not entirely the right person to answer this question, but we went with a .Net solution using SQL Server and React. We decided on the website first that would work OK on mobile devices. Faster and less cost to get into the market.
Thanks to HN "Who wants to be hired" I was able to connect with 3x amazing devs in Croatia who built the solution. I have learned so much from HN over the last couple of years. Lots of value in this community and grateful to be a small part of it.
That is an accurate comment. Your SELLFF profile can help you to connect with new business opportunities, from which you can save and/or earn $$. It's a new/different alternative to the megacorp solutions that does not track you or sell your personal information.
I do not agree that we are building a social credit system. There are some similarities to what is happening in China, but SELLFF is fundamentally different in almost every way.
To anyone who is interested in comparing the differences, you can find 100's of links from your favorite search engine.
If we step back a moment and look at this objectively, we are only focused on matching buyers and sellers. It's a marketplace for people who sell/offer services and people who buy/need services. For a marketplace to function, there needs to be access to information so that both parties [buyers and sellers] are on an equal footing. Else, one party would have an advantage over the other.
Everything we are doing is focused on making the buyer/seller interaction easier and more efficient. It seems the TRU Score is a concern evident in many of the comments. Yet, how is this different [or worse] than star ratings on Yelp, Amazon or any other rating service. Other than the initial calculations that comprise the score, all changes in the scores are based on the community of members.
I believe many members of SELLFF can obtain significant value if all they do is post "services offered" and "services needed." The application will "match" the parties so they can interact and decide if working together makes sense.
Is SELLFF different? Yes, in some ways [Ex. trading shares of people]. But isn't that part of the opportunity when creating something new? Why do the same thing as everyone else is doing? Do you really feel fulfilled when you follow or like someone? Does the opportunity to "invest" in someone appeal to you? Do you see any advantage?
Is SELLFF better than existing solutions? Maybe? Can SELLFF to iterate to meet the needs of buyers and sellers. For sure! Is SELLFF a social credit system. No, not even close.
Thank you for your comments. We have similar thoughts it seems and both see the larger opportunity to provide value to professionals. Are you interested to discuss offline? Thx.
Valid point and I understand the concern. However [at least in the USA] we are all scored in many different ways. This includes: credit scores, insurance scores, criminal scores, employer/employee scores, education scores, etc. Yes, these examples are private and only visible to certain people [unless hacked]. Whereas the SELLFF TRU Score is public and visible to everyone. We have been transparent about how the value is determined and what it means. It is an indicator of trust and reputation, not an absolute value.
For many of the reasons you stated, we chose a much larger range of values. So, instead of 1-10 or 1-100, we selected 100 - 1,000 with a starting value of 400.
In anything we do, there is the starting point from which you determine if adjustments are needed. If the TRU Score is deemed to be in error or unfair or inaccurate, we will make the needed changes.
It is also worth noting that people who are selling services and trying to reach new customers are looking for new/better ways to connect. It is our belief that SELLFF can become an additional, valuable option for these providers. Instead of having a reliance on the mega platforms that might have already lost out trust.
As designed, there is no direct way to influence the TRU Score in any meaningful way. A person could theoretically make 100's of trades every day and post dozens of messages, reviews, etc. This would have some impact on the TRU Score, but nothing significant over a time period of less than 6 - 12 months.
As is true in the real world, when making decisions about the people to work with, we all use a variety of inputs.
We would consider SELLFF to be successful if it helps you to discover and connect with trustworthy people who meet your criteria for the person/people you want to meet. From there, the decision is yours. Use the TRU Score as an additional data point in your decision making, not as the final determination.
I would consider this to be accurate whether you are promoting/selling your services or if you are a buyer and looking to hire a service provider.
Hello...thanks for your comment. We seem to be experiencing issues with new account registrations and email confirmations. We are working to resolve now. Thank you for your interest in the service and your patience. -Ron
With all due respect, there are additional options to choose from. We are still very early in this, but I will "take the bait" since monetization seems to be an issue that people care about.
A percentage of revenue is I think a fair option. I am not referring to the previous comment about 30% [or even 10%]. I hate fees as much as the next person and taking a giant cut of your customers income is not the way to grow a business.
Also, as it relates to zero-cost, using your Visa card is free to you, but not the merchant. However, those fees are being included in the price you pay for the products/services.
A question for you: If you are making $100 per month from a service, what is a "fair" price for you to pay to continue having usage of that service?
- Are you OK to look at ads, so long as your cost is zero?
- Are you OK to pay $5.00 per month, so you do not have to look at ads?
- Or, do you prefer to have no ads and pay a % of your monthly income that you generate from using the service?
Agree, that the messaging can be improved. However, for now it's easier to state "zero cost" than to use "revenue sharing."
Also, at this time, the service is zero cost. We are launching so that people might interact with the service and provide the type of feedback you are giving us. Any startup is, in many ways, a giant experiment.
We are looking at many different revenue models. However, we will not go with the traditional model we see today, where "we" are the product. We feel just as strongly about that as you do.
We are confident that better revenue models exist, that can support our service, without spying on our members, selling out their personal information or placing arbitrary monthly fees that are inconsistent with the value provided.
Not to "hate" on LinkedIn, but we are interested to explore other ways to build a marketplace that makes it easy for buyers and sellers to interact.