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Whenever I read this advice, I can't help but feel it's futile. Do you realize how hard it is to gain people's attention without being on one of the major plat

Whenever I read this advice, I can't help but feel it's futile. Do you realize how hard it is to gain people's attention without being on one of the major platforms? How do you get people to come to your website, to trust your service and give you their credit card details? How do you accept payments? You have to use something like PayPal or Stripe, also platforms which can ban you for any (or no) reason. The economics are unworkable, and platforms are unavoidable. This is our new reality.

dangravell 8y ago
Depends what you mean by "platform", and it might depend on what you are selling, but other channels you might want to look at are SEO, discussion forums, integration marketing etc. Take a look at the book "Traction".
- kaffee 8y ago
  Which "Traction" book is this? There seem to be a few with this title.
  - uxcolumbo 8y ago
    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22091581-traction https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22091581-traction
inapis 8y ago
You might have to use the big platforms to gain traction initially but as soon as you get a decent following and a customer base you should start hedging your risks. Any of these companies can pull the rug from underneath you. Especially critical if the business is your livelihood and not just a side project.
ams6110 8y ago
I prefer buying from individual websites. I've never had a problem doing that. Buying on Amazon, I've gotten misrepresented items several times.
megous 8y ago
> How do you get people to come to your website, to trust your service and give you their credit card details? There are several ecommerce website aggregators and search engines, where you can hook up your website (export product list via XML) and promote your products. You don't need to handle ccard info at all. You can use direct bank-bank money transfer, or use post office to get you the money from the customer on delivery. Post office is regulated and can't refuse you service. > You have to use something like PayPal or Stripe No you don't. There are many other options, individual banks and other third parties offer payment gateways (where you can accept credit cards). I know about at least 6 common ones, and I'm sure there are more. Not US. Economics of this clearly work well enough. It's so weird. I live in a country that's 30x smaller population than US, and we seemingly have more ways (that are workable and widely used), to help sellers sell their stuff in an independent way, deliver it, and accept payments for it, without being dependent on semi-monopolistic unregulated third parties like PayPal or Amazon.
AznHisoka 8y ago
This. Exactly this. This whole “stop relying on third party” is a silly meme that sounds nice and fluffly on the surface, but impractical when you dig into it.

dangravell 8y ago

Depends what you mean by "platform", and it might depend on what you are selling, but other channels you might want to look at are SEO, discussion forums, integration marketing etc. Take a look at the book "Traction".

kaffee 8y ago
Which "Traction" book is this? There seem to be a few with this title.
- uxcolumbo 8y ago
  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22091581-traction https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22091581-traction

inapis 8y ago

You might have to use the big platforms to gain traction initially but as soon as you get a decent following and a customer base you should start hedging your risks. Any of these companies can pull the rug from underneath you. Especially critical if the business is your livelihood and not just a side project.

ams6110 8y ago

I prefer buying from individual websites. I've never had a problem doing that. Buying on Amazon, I've gotten misrepresented items several times.

megous 8y ago

> How do you get people to come to your website, to trust your service and give you their credit card details? There are several ecommerce website aggregators and search engines, where you can hook up your website (export product list via XML) and promote your products. You don't need to handle ccard info at all. You can use direct bank-bank money transfer, or use post office to get you the money from the customer on delivery. Post office is regulated and can't refuse you service. > You have to use something like PayPal or Stripe No you don't. There are many other options, individual banks and other third parties offer payment gateways (where you can accept credit cards). I know about at least 6 common ones, and I'm sure there are more. Not US. Economics of this clearly work well enough. It's so weird. I live in a country that's 30x smaller population than US, and we seemingly have more ways (that are workable and widely used), to help sellers sell their stuff in an independent way, deliver it, and accept payments for it, without being dependent on semi-monopolistic unregulated third parties like PayPal or Amazon.

AznHisoka 8y ago

This. Exactly this. This whole “stop relying on third party” is a silly meme that sounds nice and fluffly on the surface, but impractical when you dig into it.