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Ask YC: Feedback on our startup/application

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Ask YC: Feedback on our startup/application

#31

Post by LPTS »

prashantdesale wrote: post #26
vaksel wrote: post #8

I dunno about anyone else, but to me it seems like the whole process is actually more complicated than it is with craigslist ebay. Also if you aren't charging anyone, how do you plan to make money?

We are charging 3% of the closing value for each product that is sold. We also offer optional premium services (like eBay) that enhances look of the listing. There is some charge for showing product in "featured products". In future we also plan get some ads but nothing decided on that yet. Hope that explains,

If you use ads, either the ads are unrelated and the advertisers will be uninterested, or your sellers are unhappy because your advertising competes with them.

Re: Ask YC: Feedback on our startup/application

#32

Post by siong1987 »

Put the demo video on the main page. Let people can play it immediately because I really don't understand the whole point of the website.

Auction with price negotiation? Sell things in non-auction way? Sell things in Alibaba.com way? Negotiate price in Alibaba.com way? And, how to buy without searching? So, I have to click every category one by one? And, "looking" through all the items instead of "searching" through all the items?

Re: Ask YC: Feedback on our startup/application

#33

Post by LPTS »

prashantdesale wrote: post #17
thorax wrote: post #10

I'm sad to bring this up. We looked into creating an innovative auction site some time ago. Unfortunately there are a lot of software patents in this area, and Priceline (and its founders) have some that you need to look into before going too crazy with this site. Unless you've done some heavy analysis here, I recommend you do so and maybe talk to an attorney. The biggest danger here is that: any auction site has to…

We did talk to attorney and I think we need to do more research to be absolutely sure

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Se...

"1.) A computer-implemented method for facilitating an exchange of items, comprising:receiving from a remote computing system information about an item offered for sale by a seller, the received information including an indication of the item and an indication of the seller;determining item listing criteria for the item by analyzing transactions associated with the third-party item exchange, the transactions including sales of other items that relate to the item offered for sale by the seller; andfacilitating sale of the item in the third-party item exchange by electronically providing an item listing to the third-party item exchange, the item listing based on at least the received information and determined item listing criteria.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the received information includes at least one of an address associated with the seller, a customer identifier associated with the seller, or payment information associated with the seller.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the received information includes at least one of a textual description of the item, an image of the item, an indication of a category that includes the item, or a product identifier associated with the item."

"The method of claim 1 wherein the facilitating the sale of the item includes at least one of notifying the seller that the item has been sold, providing shipping materials for the item to the seller, or providing payment to the seller."

"40. The method of claim 30 further comprising, initiating a payment to the seller based on a price paid by the buyer and a commission."

You're going to need to pay at least 10,000 (and probably more for such a confusing area) for a patent search, and another 10,000 to develop your innovations on this kind of marketplace into your own IP if you want to attract investors.

You may already be infringing (although this is not a patent that has been granted yet).

If you left that lawyers office feeling at all optimistic, and asked at all the right questions, that lawyer probably wasn't good.

Re: Ask YC: Feedback on our startup/application

#34

Post by DabAsteroid »

LPTS wrote: post #33
prashantdesale wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We did talk to attorney and I think we need to do more research to be absolutely sure

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Se... "1.) A computer-implemented method for facilitating an exchange of items, comprising:receiving from a remote computing system information about an item offered for sale by a seller, the received information including an indication of the item and an indication of the seller;determining item listing criteria for the item by analyzing transactions associated w…

You're going to need to pay at least 10,000 ... for a patent search

From where does that information derive?

http://robertplattbell.blogspot.com/2007/10/i-cant-afford-pa...

If you do not want to perform your own search, or want a more in-depth search performed, many attorneys and professional searchers can do a Prior Art Search for you. We do offer this service at the present time. Our fee for a basic Prior Art search is $500.

Re: Ask YC: Feedback on our startup/application

#35

Post by okeumeni »

prashantdesale wrote: post #27
halo wrote: post #16

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.…

Thanks for the honest feedback. About the design, yes all points taken. Actually we are programmers and tried to do as better job at design as we could. May be we need to get professional designer and I surely hope to generate enough business to be able to afford that. You are right, we need to reword lot of content to express the exact message. I did 4-5 rounds of user-testing from usertesting.com and redesigned, bu…

I know the hard work behind such a project; I strongly recommend that you take all criticism easy, focus more on getting the best out of them.

You may not build the next eBay but your idea can evolve around a better niche if you remain focus, don’t weight the first impressions against your hard work, and don’t let your feelings get in your way. Make it your mission to build something that people can actually use.

Re: Ask YC: Feedback on our startup/application

#36

Post by ashr »

prashantdesale wrote: post #18
vaksel wrote: post #9

also you shouldn't list the person's address publicly keep that private to be shared between buyer/seller

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

Really? Make sure that is the first thing you do, otherwise people other than your friends would balk at signing up.

Re: Ask YC: Feedback on our startup/application

#37

Post by ashr »

thorax wrote: post #7

Here's an interesting/free feature idea for an auction site. Maybe it won't work as well for yours, but here you go anyway: Offer visitors a cut of the selling fee if they correctly predict what price the item will sell for. (Maybe closest without going over?) This brings people over to a "I'm not looking, but I'll make a guess" site, but also might get you some users, friend invites, etc. In addition, it might also…

This is a great idea. Just need to make sure this feature doesn't get spammed.

Re: Ask YC: Feedback on our startup/application

#38

Post by vaksel »

LPTS wrote: post #33
prashantdesale wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We did talk to attorney and I think we need to do more research to be absolutely sure

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Se... "1.) A computer-implemented method for facilitating an exchange of items, comprising:receiving from a remote computing system information about an item offered for sale by a seller, the received information including an indication of the item and an indication of the seller;determining item listing criteria for the item by analyzing transactions associated w…

if people followed patents there wouldn't be internet as we know it. No Google since they weren't the first search engine, not eBay, since they weren't the first auction site, not Facebook since they weren't the first social site.

I say go all in. Noone is going to bother you about patents until you are successful, and at that point you'll have enough $$$ to fight back. Or the whole patent system might get reevaluated. I mean if you look chances are some asshole has a patent on a "reply" button that "facilitates the transmission of your reply to database servers"

Re: Ask YC: Feedback on our startup/application

#39

Post by prashantdesale »

okeumeni wrote: post #35
prashantdesale wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the honest feedback. About the design, yes all points taken. Actually we are programmers and tried to do as better job at design as we could. May be we need to get professional designer and I surely hope to generate enough business to be able to afford that. You are right, we need to reword lot of content to express the exact message. I did 4-5 rounds of user-testing from usertesting.com and redesigned, bu…

I know the hard work behind such a project; I strongly recommend that you take all criticism easy, focus more on getting the best out of them. You may not build the next eBay but your idea can evolve around a better niche if you remain focus, don’t weight the first impressions against your hard work, and don’t let your feelings get in your way. Make it your mission to build something that people can actually use.

Thank you so much. Exactly what I was thinking. The great thing about hacker news is the feedback and wisdom that we can get from other like minded and smart folks.

We are pretty flexible in changing ideas to make sure we build something that people will like and use.

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