Ask YC: Feedback on our startup/application

My first impression of the home page was that it's way too busy. The "Use Onista To" type information should be front and center followed by search for products. The social networking stuff is cute, but not the major function (or at least shouldn't be -- I'm not looking to make friends, I just want to buy/sell something).

Agreed with the comments on you need to hit critical mass fast. I may return one more time, but if there's still a bunch of zeros next to all of the categories, I'm not coming back again. Same's true for sellers. I won't bother posting my item for sale here if nobody else is because chances are there's no buyer traffic.

Another idea might be to "lower the bar" for getting started. Yes, you need people to register to buy/sell, but you should take sellers through posting their item before you slap the registration/login form in front of them.

As a minor thing, some of the graphics are poorly executed (the Join Now graphic has a white border around it), and the HTML/coding is a little sloppy (but it was done in Dreamweaver, so that's to be expected). You can probably do better in terms of SEO if you re-structure your pages.

Thanks, I think we need to rework on wording to express the exact message out there.

This post is a bit overly critical, but I'm being honest and hopefully you'll understand what I mean.

Your site design feels very dated, unprofessional and cluttered. Simple things like rollovers are wonky and nothing lines up - it's hideous. The fact that everything is done in tables stands out like a sore thumb and adds to the "this was made in 1998" effect. I'd dismiss your site straight away based on its design.

Your site is too complex and has no single "hook" as to why someone should use your site over the more popular alternatives. You need a core idea that can be summed up in a few words - the fact you needed 7 points to summarise the site is a bad omen and smells of too many half-implemented ideas. Tou need to figure out what the core problem is and what your solution is. Note most successful sites can be summed up in 2 or 3 words to potential users - "Internet Auctions", "Web E-Mail", "Search Engine", etc.

It also badly fails the "Do I have a reason to use it?" test. Basically, a good test is whether /at this moment in time/, irrespective of /any future/ growth, it's useful to people. In this case, the answer is a resounding "no" - for neither buyers or sellers who are all already on eBay and their ilk. It's a /serious/ uphill struggle for a site to take off from that point and is a major problem you need to solve before you can expect anyone to use the site - and, believe me, 'word of mouth' is not the solution.

Another problem is that the site is too big - you don't need so many categories and sub-categories when you have so few items on it so they become a real challenge for anyone using the site. Remove them until they become necessary, and link to your listings on the front page. Having an initially small site fosters community and makes it easier to use, and it's comparatively trivial to split a site into smaller parts if and when it's required.

Honestly? Today it's honestly not something I would even consider using and I can't imagine anyone wanting to use the site. If I were you I'd seriously consider shutting the site down for now, figuring out a simple hook, how you're going to make your site initially popular, and how to take on eBay (these are the huge social problems, not technical problems), and then redesigning with that in mind. Let's not forget you're trying to succeed where bigger names like Yahoo! Auctions have failed.

Yeah, I never thought of that one. Sure we will work on hiding the address.

Thanks a lot for great feedback. Soon I will change the page using all your suggestions as they perfectly make sense. As far as design goes, there are only 3 of us working on this app on part-time basis and work includes design and coding.