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Show HN: I'm building an open-source Amazon

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Re: Show HN: I'm building an open-source Amazon

#301

Post by popcalc »

droidist2 wrote: post #289
ItsTooMuch wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are special payment processors catering to porn/etc, but the problem is that they require extremely large collateral and have other unusual requirements that are untenable to new businesses. Most probably they won't even talk to a startup (I tried, didn't get a reply). There's a reason why startups like OnlyFans used normal payment processors and tried to convince them they're not porn instead of beginning with…

So we should pivot to building an open source payment processor for porn?

A payment processor is an entity that handles bureaucracy. It's not a piece of software you can run and forget about. It is many people working around the clock taking phone calls.

Re: Show HN: I'm building an open-source Amazon

#302

Post by yellowapple »

jameshart wrote: post #292
yellowapple wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Any business that uses AGOL software needs to be able to provide the source code of that AGPL software to people who use their services Step 1: add GitHub link to footer on website ...that's it, you have achieved compliance. This "wah the AGPL is too viral" argument is the same FUDdy duddy nonsense Microsoft was whining about back in the early 2000's about the original GPL - and it's even less of a valid argument n…

Step 2: take responsibility for all the content of that GitHub link being free of copyright infingements, patent violations, etc. And you missed step 0: convince the boss there’s a good reason why your e-commerce storefront needs to have a link to a GitHub page on it.

> Step 2: take responsibility for all the content of that GitHub link being free of copyright infingements, patent violations, etc.

You already do this when using any open-source software (because your legal right to use it depends on upstream's legal right to distribute it to you), so if any other FOSS license is okay then so is AGPL by this metric.

> And you missed step 0: convince the boss there’s a good reason why your e-commerce storefront needs to have a link to a GitHub page on it.

You already do this for license text / copyright info when using software under nearly any other FOSS license (unless you thought those attribution requirements in the MIT/ISC/BSD/etc. licenses were mere suggestions?).

Re: Show HN: I'm building an open-source Amazon

#303

Post by quickthrower2 »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #114
rocket_surgeron wrote: post #44

Those efforts look impressive but no service will be a version (open source or otherwise) of Amazon until it can place a single tube of toothpaste in my garage 18 hours after I ordered it, which it just did thirty minutes ago. Amazon’s “tech” stack, both consumer- and seller-facing is horrible and borderline irrelevant. Their fleet of trucks and aircraft is not.

18 hours is a pretty stupid selling point IMO. You either need something immediately or you can wait. Rarely do I need anything 18 hours from now. I think many sellers would love to not be locked into Amazon and at least use something like this as an additional alternative. I'm on the other side of the table where I avoid buying from Amazon as much as possible.

A next day thing can save a trip to the shops, and more importantly one less thing on the todo list. You don’t need to remember to buy it.

2+ days is a world away from tomorrow. If it is that it needs to wait until the next shopping trip.

For “now” I would just have to go to the shops. Although Uber could deliver it from a petrol station for three times the price if desperate and lazy.

I have got embarrassing small orders on uber before :)

Re: Show HN: I'm building an open-source Amazon

#305

Post by droidist2 »

popcalc wrote: post #301
droidist2 wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So we should pivot to building an open source payment processor for porn?

A payment processor is an entity that handles bureaucracy. It's not a piece of software you can run and forget about. It is many people working around the clock taking phone calls.

I should have been clearer and said "software to aid in running a payment processor" but I used "payment processor" as a shorthand. Just as "open-source Amazon" is shorthand for "software to aid in running an entity like Amazon."

Re: Show HN: I'm building an open-source Amazon

#306

Post by hk__2 »

rocket_surgeron wrote: post #157
hk__2 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m pretty happy to live in world where it’s difficult to build a business where you move trucks around cities to deliver a single tube of toothpaste to someone who ordered it the day before. Yes, it’s hard to do this as fast as Amazon does. But should we really go that way, anyway?

>But should we really go that way, anyway? Yes. It is more efficient from an energy, carbon, land usage, and labor perspective. The bluish-grey van that delivered my toothpaste had several hundred other deliveries on it, and the warehouse it came from stocks the products of hundreds of stores (if not more). How do you think a tube of toothpaste gets to "Ye Olde Mum and Pop's Auntie Emma's Down Home Crunchy Granola Au…

> How do you think a tube of toothpaste gets to "Ye Olde Mum and Pop's Auntie Emma's Down Home Crunchy Granola Authentic and Real Indie Small Business"? Trucks.

With one truck every two weeks that deliver toothpastes as boxes of 1000s. That’s one truck for all the customers that will go in that shop over two weeks.

Compare that to 2-3 trucks to directly deliver all these people one package per toothpaste. The only way to lower the delivery times is to increase the number of trucks.

Think of a tree where leaves are customers and the root is the producer. Each other node is an intermediary. In the worst case, if all customers go by foot in one shop that gets direct deliveries from the producer, you use only one truck (producer->shop). If all N customers are delivered by the producer, in the worst case, you use N trucks (producer->customer).

Re: Show HN: I'm building an open-source Amazon

#307

Post by archon810 »

imtringued wrote: post #300
rocket_surgeron wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

18 hours is overnight. Last night "Hmm. Toothpaste almost gone. Let me check the linen closet. Nope. Excuse me while I whip this out. (gasp) Swipe, tap, tap, t-o-o-t-h (autocomplete), scroll, tap, tap, tap. Done." Used the last this morning, new toothpaste delivered at noon. I shop online exclusively because one of my first jobs was in retail and it is my solemn duty to do everything I can to annihilate the brick and…

My local brick and mortar store is less than five minutes away. Why the hell do I have to replace it with an even more expensive alternative store that increases the waiting time by a factor of 216?

It's almost never 5 minutes though, is it? You have to get there, park if you are using a car, possibly pay for parking, depending on the location, go look for the things that you want all over the store, possibly not find some of them, wait in line which could be quite long, get to the car, drive back. All this time will add up.

Instead, I can do some of that shopping on my computer or phone, then quickly reference it again or even set up auto deliveries. A lot of times it'll be cheaper too because I can comparison shop.

For me, it's about convenience and saving time and money. It won't be the same for everyone, of course. The location where you live will dictate whether this shopping experience is similar to yours or not.

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