Ask HN: How would you take on eBay?
9 comments
Does anyone have any thoughts on how to make shipping more efficient for the seller? I feel like we can encourage more listings by making shipping dead simple.
Embrace and extend. Wrap ebay with a more usable wrapper, then start to give people who are using your wrapper better usability and more features.
For p2p shopping: Craigslist > eBay
What I would like to fix: Less Spam. Less Scam.
What I would like to fix: Less Spam. Less Scam.
Focus on people (sellers), not products or categories.
I agree. How can I make selling easier? I can think of many ways to make listings, payment, categorizing easier.
But how to make shipping easier?
But how to make shipping easier?
think etsy.
To me etsy was a nichified idea of ebay:
-remove the auctions since these people want just want to sell whenever the item gets sold
-make it super easy for crafts to sell their stuff; make it easier than ebay.
-make the fees more reasonable
-make the first time use - dead easy; unlike the ebay experience - so many options and too confusing. People scared of making a mistake.
What were these crafts people using before etsy: ebay.
To me etsy was a nichified idea of ebay:
-remove the auctions since these people want just want to sell whenever the item gets sold
-make it super easy for crafts to sell their stuff; make it easier than ebay.
-make the fees more reasonable
-make the first time use - dead easy; unlike the ebay experience - so many options and too confusing. People scared of making a mistake.
What were these crafts people using before etsy: ebay.
We rarely actually say this out loud, but we do intend to take on eBay.
I've got this sling and five stones, you see...
I've got this sling and five stones, you see...
Focus. Simplicity. Service. Price.
Swappa is taking on eBay for re-selling Android devices... http://swappa.com
Focus. Only fully functional, ready to activate Android devices are allowed. Anything else is blatant fraud.
Simplicity. Only have one form to fill out to sell a device. No auctions. One price. A device is sold only when the buyer pays.
Service. An actual person checks in and helps on almost every transaction.
Price. Flat fee ($10), paid by buyer, only when a device sells. Sell a $300 device and save about $20 in fees.
Swappa is taking on eBay for re-selling Android devices... http://swappa.com
Focus. Only fully functional, ready to activate Android devices are allowed. Anything else is blatant fraud.
Simplicity. Only have one form to fill out to sell a device. No auctions. One price. A device is sold only when the buyer pays.
Service. An actual person checks in and helps on almost every transaction.
Price. Flat fee ($10), paid by buyer, only when a device sells. Sell a $300 device and save about $20 in fees.
eBay has extraordinarily strong network effects. To beat them, make something designed very well for a particular vertical and build a strong following there. Like StubHub did in event tickets.
Great point.
What would you like to see changed?
Think of this as p2p shopping, not auctions.