rant EBay seller fees!

[stevie_b]

Heres an idea...

 

The problem:

. Ebay is offensive and expensive

. A startup will struggle because Ebay have the "moat" and the adverts.

. Loot and gumtree are still going but are unpopular because a. Theyre crap websites and b. The stuff on them is generally crap

. Any free service will attract the poor items and the cheap sellers, Ebay avoids this because it charges a fee to advertise in the first place

 

The solution:

. Use the forum API to tap into all the for sale threads in all the forums - see Tapatalk as an example

. The for sale threads provide thousands of adverts from the off, no marketing advertising needed, a head start

. Ebay gave us the feedback functionality, that will help keep the dross from the site

. Forums are self regulating and poor sellers get banned, so support already exists

. Forums will benefit because users will now come across the forums and join up, whereas they may never have known they existed

. Most forums are based on the same software, so the integration is minimised

 

Someone mentioned the cost of hardware, to start with 4 or 5 web servers and 2 or 3 DB servers will suffice to start, shouldnt be more than a few thousand a year to rent.

 

If someone wants to be an "Angel Investor" then i have a company that could build the web and mobile sites to get this off the ground (free plug for myself )

 

What do people think?

 

I like the entrepreneurial thinking. Some questions:

 

- Would the interface allow the buyer to see all of the For Sale threads in one go, or would they have to use the interface to skip between For Sale sections of multiple (dozens/hundereds) of forums? Different forums will present their For Sale threads in different ways, with different-titled sections.

 

- Would the buyer need to have an account on the forums? Some forums require you to log in before letting you browse their threads.

 

- Could it be converted to auction format? Forums almost always have non-auction For sale sections. Auctions are good because 1) the seller knows he'll almost always shift his stuff if he starts at a low starting price, and 2) buyers tend to get a better deal than with non-auction formats: a lot of people over-estimate the value of what they're selling.

 

- Which forums would be members? It could be dominated by things that people have specific interests in (cars is an obvious example for us). Although most things I could think of just now could well have several forums associated with them, so this wouldn't be a problem if a decent cross-section is obtained.

[neilp9876]

I'll be honest I was really just thinking aloud but the idea might have legs.

 

I think the problem with any new site is getting both sides of the transaction, I.e. buyers and sellers. No items for sale then buyers will go elsewhere, no buyers then no one will sell.

 

Using the forums fills the seller side instantly, buyers can be attracted in by offering a decent search, auctions and item alerts.

 

Using the api's available you should be able to extract the items (with the forums permission). I think the categories would be messy to start with but a decent search would help.

 

I thin the sale site would be separate to the forums so no need to sign up to buy. You would also be able to sell independently of the forum. Auctions would be direct sales only.

 

Maybe the forums would integrate more closely later.

 

Get a big forum like avforums and mumsnet involved and you would have a lot of content from the off.

[neilp9876]

I think the point I'm trying to get across which may be obvious, is that the forums give you a head start. From then on it becomes a more independent EBay site with all the features - feedback, alerts, auctions etc.