7 ms·

I stopped selling things like this on eBay a long time ago because I do not sell things frequently enough to keep up with the scams du jour. My local craigslis

by brk 14y ago

I stopped selling things like this on eBay a long time ago because I do not sell things frequently enough to keep up with the scams du jour. My local craigslist is where my for-sale items now go. Sure, I may get a little less than top-dollar for an item, or it might take a little longer to sell, but I'm never left with some after-the-fact dispute where I have no control (note: I'll only accept cash). eBay was fun while it lasted, but then it became a giant flea market with basically semi-pro retailers looking to sell things, and a whole bunch of random scammers. Intermixed in all that was the occasional legitimate "amateur" seller. For the very few times I've purchased something on Ebay in the last few years, it's always been from "pro" sellers with storefront type setups. The hassles of dealing with amateurs selling poorly described items, taking too long to ship, etc. was also not worth the "deal" I was getting. A true "amateur to amateur" auction type sales website is an area begging for competition...

kerryfalk 14y ago
Shameless plug; we've built one for automotive enthusiasts: https://www.styckyd.com https://www.styckyd.com Our target is to serve the C2C market and make shipping less painless as well as eliminate some of the risk on the buyer's side. With the current climate for buying goods online companies serving the space are at risk for opening themselves up to scams like this one by buyers. The reality for anyone accepting credit cards is that you're at the mercy of the buyer.
- JoblessWonder 14y ago
  Secure Tading? Is that a typo or something I'm not familiar with?
- jaredsohn 14y ago
  What's the value prop for "make shipping less painless"? :)
  - kerryfalk 14y ago
    Because we're targeting consumers, they're less familiar with shipping than businesses. Our system provides buyers with accurate shipping costs and prepares labels for sellers when their parts have been purchased. All they have to do is put it in a box and drop the package off. This also means that we can eventually grow each seller's addressable market within our system as we'll handle cross-border shipping on their behalf.
    - throwaway54-762 14y ago
      I think grandfather comment is poking fun at your (presumed) typo: your earlier comment should probably say "making shipping less painful" rather than "making shipping less painless."
      - kerryfalk 14y ago
        Oh my. You are correct. Long day.
- cinemaguy23 14y ago
  Small UI gripe, why do I have to click a button that says "Engine Start" just to realize its a registration link? No idea what that context is supposed to mean.
- sukuriant 14y ago
  How do you pronounce that?
  - adrianm 14y ago
    My mind read it as "stickied".
    - WiseWeasel 14y ago
      I had read it as "Sticky-D", which didn't evoke the best imagery. Yours is much better.
      - Amadou 14y ago
        I think "Sticky-D" is a much better interpretation. It is got "swag" or "je ne sais quoi" for the more literate crowd. But "stickied" makes me think of old ladies and post-it notes.
    - kerryfalk 14y ago
      Correct. We built it to integrate with vBulletin forums: https://partners.styckyd.com https://partners.styckyd.com Our brand name is taken from "stickying" a post on a forum.
      - pydave 14y ago
        To me, it looks like Stuck Kyd (kid). The link underlinining combined with the lack of other vowels is messing with my brain. (Also, I tend to read things from the last syllable to first when learning how to pronounce.)
      - unreal37 14y ago
        You need to get a proper domain name if you are serious about this as a business. Go get $10,000 and buy stickypost.com if you still like the name. Look at the comments in this thread discussing what it means.
- plaguuuuuu 14y ago
  Dude, why can't I just browse a bunch of products for sale? That's all I want to do, I don't want to sign up to your site. I just want to see what's listed and possibly buy some parts. I'll probably check back again tomorrow if I see a few interesting things, probably in my lunch break at work. I've been thinking about getting a Garrett 3071 turbo kit but haven't given into the temptation yet -- but probably after seeing one listed for a few days I might cave in and buy it on impulse. But I won't, because I don't want to sign up to be able to window shop... and I stopped looking at your site after about 15 seconds as a result.
  - kerryfalk 14y ago
    https://www.styckyd.com/search https://www.styckyd.com/search
    - plaguuuuuu 14y ago
      Being terse in this post bc I'm working atm and don't have much time. a) Link either doesn't exist on main page or isn't immediately apparent enough. b) Consider this page - http://www.boostclassifieds.com.au http://www.boostclassifieds.com.au. Today is the first time I've seen it - visually it looks horrible and potentially untrustworthy. If I may say so, your site looks freakin' incredible. But on their site, the first thing my eyes land on is a gigantic list of categories. It takes me FIVE seconds to find the link to "turbos and superchargers" and one click later I'm where I want to be, looking at what I want to buy. Which I guarantee I'm doing right now - in fact I've spotted a couple of GT280RS that look pretty good to me. I had to navigate through so much shit to find the search page and look for turbos on your site that I didn't actually want to bother.
      - kerryfalk 14y ago
        Thanks for that feedback. Not terse at all. I'm having trouble with the balancing act. I definitely need to improve the searchability of the site. At the same time if I put everything front and center it'll become pretty apparent that we don't have many listings yet. Will that just turn people away? I'm not sure yet, I don't have the data to say. I'll think more on this.
ZoFreX 14y ago
> A true "amateur to amateur" auction type sales website is an area begging for competition... Really? Because this is the area eBay started in, and they pivoted to more "online retail" than "online yard sale" because (surprise!) there is a lot more money in retail. Really, eBay is more today's Viaweb than an evolution of either p2p sales or auctions.
- _delirium 14y ago
  While it's true that eBay pivoted to a more profitable niche, their original niche was still quite profitable: they were a successful IPO and pulling down cash back in the days when most sellers were regular people. So if they're abandoning that market to focus on a more lucrative one, it might [1] leave an opening for someone else to focus on it, and make good, even if not eBay-sized, profits. [1] With all sorts of uncertainties I haven't properly investigated, such as whether there's been a significant shift that would make old-ebay-style auctions much less profitable today than they were 10 years ago.
  - wisty 14y ago
    Since this is meant to be HN: There's a lesson to be learnt. If you want to build a niche, build one that anyone can access. Better still, build a niche which stops people being locked out. Later on, you can screw the unwashed masses, and turn it into a B2C channel. See - Youtube, eBay, the iApp stores, the internet in general.
- brk 14y ago
  Yes, really. Keep in mind a LOT has changed since the beginning. When eBay did that pivot, there were far less options for small retails sellers to put their products online easily and efficiently. Ultimately, I think it would be near impossible to serve both markets well. eBay certainly serves the amateurs poorly, so that area is ripe for competition (IMO). Maybe serving the "pro" market would be bigger overall, and maybe even more profitable, but an "amateur eBay" executed properly would make someone a metric fuckton of dollars.
kamjam 14y ago
I'm the same, just don't want the hassle of eBay/Paypal scams. Unless it is a very specialist item for which I need to reach a large audience, which I have very little of worth any value anyway. You may say you get less for your money than through Craigslist(/Kijiji/Gumtree) but after eBay and Paypal have both taken their cut I often find it is not a huge amount of difference!
sixothree 14y ago
I think a marketplace that you could plug into an existing website would be incredible. Eg. If you have a website / forum devoted to say knitting, being able to simply plug in an auction commerce application would be quite nice.
zanny 14y ago
Does anyone know of such a site? I recently came into possession of a deceased relatives various stuffs, and have a bunch of semi-recent semi-old computer parts to sell off, but have been hesitant to use ebay for this reason, but I don't live anywhere a local Craigslist would work (yay for rural).
arikrak 14y ago
Last time I checked, I don't think craigslist was the place to go to avoid scams. eBay has a fairly reliable system in place, even if there's occasional issues. craigslist is filled with scammers.

by brk 14y ago

kerryfalk 14y ago

Shameless plug; we've built one for automotive enthusiasts: https://www.styckyd.com https://www.styckyd.com Our target is to serve the C2C market and make shipping less painless as well as eliminate some of the risk on the buyer's side. With the current climate for buying goods online companies serving the space are at risk for opening themselves up to scams like this one by buyers. The reality for anyone accepting credit cards is that you're at the mercy of the buyer.

JoblessWonder 14y ago
Secure Tading? Is that a typo or something I'm not familiar with?
jaredsohn 14y ago
What's the value prop for "make shipping less painless"? :)
- kerryfalk 14y ago
  Because we're targeting consumers, they're less familiar with shipping than businesses. Our system provides buyers with accurate shipping costs and prepares labels for sellers when their parts have been purchased. All they have to do is put it in a box and drop the package off. This also means that we can eventually grow each seller's addressable market within our system as we'll handle cross-border shipping on their behalf.
  - throwaway54-762 14y ago
    I think grandfather comment is poking fun at your (presumed) typo: your earlier comment should probably say "making shipping less painful" rather than "making shipping less painless."
    - kerryfalk 14y ago
      Oh my. You are correct. Long day.
cinemaguy23 14y ago
Small UI gripe, why do I have to click a button that says "Engine Start" just to realize its a registration link? No idea what that context is supposed to mean.
sukuriant 14y ago
How do you pronounce that?
- adrianm 14y ago
  My mind read it as "stickied".
  - WiseWeasel 14y ago
    I had read it as "Sticky-D", which didn't evoke the best imagery. Yours is much better.
    - Amadou 14y ago
      I think "Sticky-D" is a much better interpretation. It is got "swag" or "je ne sais quoi" for the more literate crowd. But "stickied" makes me think of old ladies and post-it notes.
  - kerryfalk 14y ago
    Correct. We built it to integrate with vBulletin forums: https://partners.styckyd.com https://partners.styckyd.com Our brand name is taken from "stickying" a post on a forum.
    - pydave 14y ago
      To me, it looks like Stuck Kyd (kid). The link underlinining combined with the lack of other vowels is messing with my brain. (Also, I tend to read things from the last syllable to first when learning how to pronounce.)
    - unreal37 14y ago
      You need to get a proper domain name if you are serious about this as a business. Go get $10,000 and buy stickypost.com if you still like the name. Look at the comments in this thread discussing what it means.
plaguuuuuu 14y ago
Dude, why can't I just browse a bunch of products for sale? That's all I want to do, I don't want to sign up to your site. I just want to see what's listed and possibly buy some parts. I'll probably check back again tomorrow if I see a few interesting things, probably in my lunch break at work. I've been thinking about getting a Garrett 3071 turbo kit but haven't given into the temptation yet -- but probably after seeing one listed for a few days I might cave in and buy it on impulse. But I won't, because I don't want to sign up to be able to window shop... and I stopped looking at your site after about 15 seconds as a result.
- kerryfalk 14y ago
  https://www.styckyd.com/search https://www.styckyd.com/search
  - plaguuuuuu 14y ago
    Being terse in this post bc I'm working atm and don't have much time. a) Link either doesn't exist on main page or isn't immediately apparent enough. b) Consider this page - http://www.boostclassifieds.com.au http://www.boostclassifieds.com.au. Today is the first time I've seen it - visually it looks horrible and potentially untrustworthy. If I may say so, your site looks freakin' incredible. But on their site, the first thing my eyes land on is a gigantic list of categories. It takes me FIVE seconds to find the link to "turbos and superchargers" and one click later I'm where I want to be, looking at what I want to buy. Which I guarantee I'm doing right now - in fact I've spotted a couple of GT280RS that look pretty good to me. I had to navigate through so much shit to find the search page and look for turbos on your site that I didn't actually want to bother.
    - kerryfalk 14y ago
      Thanks for that feedback. Not terse at all. I'm having trouble with the balancing act. I definitely need to improve the searchability of the site. At the same time if I put everything front and center it'll become pretty apparent that we don't have many listings yet. Will that just turn people away? I'm not sure yet, I don't have the data to say. I'll think more on this.

ZoFreX 14y ago

> A true "amateur to amateur" auction type sales website is an area begging for competition... Really? Because this is the area eBay started in, and they pivoted to more "online retail" than "online yard sale" because (surprise!) there is a lot more money in retail. Really, eBay is more today's Viaweb than an evolution of either p2p sales or auctions.

_delirium 14y ago
While it's true that eBay pivoted to a more profitable niche, their original niche was still quite profitable: they were a successful IPO and pulling down cash back in the days when most sellers were regular people. So if they're abandoning that market to focus on a more lucrative one, it might [1] leave an opening for someone else to focus on it, and make good, even if not eBay-sized, profits. [1] With all sorts of uncertainties I haven't properly investigated, such as whether there's been a significant shift that would make old-ebay-style auctions much less profitable today than they were 10 years ago.
- wisty 14y ago
  Since this is meant to be HN: There's a lesson to be learnt. If you want to build a niche, build one that anyone can access. Better still, build a niche which stops people being locked out. Later on, you can screw the unwashed masses, and turn it into a B2C channel. See - Youtube, eBay, the iApp stores, the internet in general.
brk 14y ago
Yes, really. Keep in mind a LOT has changed since the beginning. When eBay did that pivot, there were far less options for small retails sellers to put their products online easily and efficiently. Ultimately, I think it would be near impossible to serve both markets well. eBay certainly serves the amateurs poorly, so that area is ripe for competition (IMO). Maybe serving the "pro" market would be bigger overall, and maybe even more profitable, but an "amateur eBay" executed properly would make someone a metric fuckton of dollars.

kamjam 14y ago

I'm the same, just don't want the hassle of eBay/Paypal scams. Unless it is a very specialist item for which I need to reach a large audience, which I have very little of worth any value anyway. You may say you get less for your money than through Craigslist(/Kijiji/Gumtree) but after eBay and Paypal have both taken their cut I often find it is not a huge amount of difference!

sixothree 14y ago

I think a marketplace that you could plug into an existing website would be incredible. Eg. If you have a website / forum devoted to say knitting, being able to simply plug in an auction commerce application would be quite nice.

zanny 14y ago

Does anyone know of such a site? I recently came into possession of a deceased relatives various stuffs, and have a bunch of semi-recent semi-old computer parts to sell off, but have been hesitant to use ebay for this reason, but I don't live anywhere a local Craigslist would work (yay for rural).

arikrak 14y ago

Last time I checked, I don't think craigslist was the place to go to avoid scams. eBay has a fairly reliable system in place, even if there's occasional issues. craigslist is filled with scammers.