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Ask HN: How would you take on eBay?

5 points by twelvedigits 16y ago

Imagine you (or, I) were creating a product designed to take on eBay and improve the peer-to-peer shopping experience. What would you like to see changed? Think of this as p2p shopping, not auctions.

Dnguyen 16y ago
I'd fix the scammer issue.
- amac 16y ago
  The marketplace (like any) is based on trust, there are always untrustworthy people.
benedwards 16y ago
Focus. Simplicity. Service. Price. Swappa is taking on eBay for re-selling Android devices... http://swappa.com 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.
qq66 16y ago
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.
- twelvedigits 16y ago
  Great point.
twelvedigits 16y ago
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.
stray 16y ago
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...
kirpekar 16y ago
For p2p shopping: Craigslist > eBay What I would like to fix: Less Spam. Less Scam.
amac 16y ago
Focus on people (sellers), not products or categories.
- twelvedigits 16y ago
  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?
  - amac 16y ago
    It's hard to comment without seeing your work, is your product public? Do you have a url?
  - Punter 16y ago
    10-20 years down the road-3D printing will start to make shipping look like a lost artform.
triviatise 16y ago
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.
farout 16y ago
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.

5 points by twelvedigits 16y ago

Imagine you (or, I) were creating a product designed to take on eBay and improve the peer-to-peer shopping experience. What would you like to see changed? Think of this as p2p shopping, not auctions.

Dnguyen 16y ago

I'd fix the scammer issue.

amac 16y ago
The marketplace (like any) is based on trust, there are always untrustworthy people.

benedwards 16y ago

Focus. Simplicity. Service. Price. Swappa is taking on eBay for re-selling Android devices... http://swappa.com 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.

qq66 16y ago

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.

twelvedigits 16y ago
Great point.

twelvedigits 16y ago

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.

stray 16y ago

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...

kirpekar 16y ago

For p2p shopping: Craigslist > eBay What I would like to fix: Less Spam. Less Scam.

amac 16y ago

Focus on people (sellers), not products or categories.

twelvedigits 16y ago
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?
- amac 16y ago
  It's hard to comment without seeing your work, is your product public? Do you have a url?
- Punter 16y ago
  10-20 years down the road-3D printing will start to make shipping look like a lost artform.

triviatise 16y ago

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.

farout 16y ago

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.