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Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes

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Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes

#11

Post by niggler »

beambot wrote: post #8
niggler wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"According to our experts, greater than 60% of the Herve dresses sold on eBay were fake [1]. Heh, that means eBay profited more on counterfeit Herve Leger than authentic ones." How is eBay compensated? If they are compensated on a flat-transaction-fee then sure. But I thought they took a percentage of the sales price (in which case your assertion would not be true if the fakes sold for a tenth of the price of the ori…

This is the problem... regular users (that aren't brand experts) cannot tell the difference. So on eBay, the counterfeits sell for about the same price as authentic items.

I'm not really familiar with eBay's practices, but what happens if the product is counterfeit but advertised as original?

Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes

#12

Post by beambot »

niggler wrote: post #11
beambot wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the problem... regular users (that aren't brand experts) cannot tell the difference. So on eBay, the counterfeits sell for about the same price as authentic items.

I'm not really familiar with eBay's practices, but what happens if the product is counterfeit but advertised as original?

Unfortunately, getting money back after receiving a counterfeit from eBay is not trivial. A third party authenticator must be paid by the buyer to fax a thorough formal document for PayPal to review. The process can be long and expensive. Even then, it's not guaranteed that the buyer will receive their money back as a result. Buying and selling designer items through auction sites such as eBay is fraught with risk. Mind you, a seller of authentic items can get hit with a fake claim as well.

Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes

#13

Post by beambot »

cm2012 wrote: post #7

My company sells fine jewelry on amazon, eBay, buy.com marketplace, Newegg marketplace, shop.com and more. We connect to all of them automatically through Channel Advisor, as do many large fashion companies. If you connect to CA, you will have a world of sellers you can select from who wouldn't bother with your small site otherwise. We all pay $10000 or more a year to use it so it's serious businesses.

Thanks for the pointer! We'll definitely look into Channel Advisor as we start taking on more power sellers.

Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes

#15

Post by bebefuzz »

minouye wrote: post #14

Cool idea. One question: why focus on Chanel? Since Chanel has been using holograms for years, isn't there more opportunity in focusing on brands that aren't as easy to authenticate (e.g. LV which does insane volume on eBay)?

Chanel is still very difficult to authenticate for most Chanel admirers. We wanted to start off with the hottest most recognizable bags, shoes and dresses.

Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes

#16

Post by illuminate »

beambot wrote: post #12
niggler wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really familiar with eBay's practices, but what happens if the product is counterfeit but advertised as original?

Unfortunately, getting money back after receiving a counterfeit from eBay is not trivial. A third party authenticator must be paid by the buyer to fax a thorough formal document for PayPal to review. The process can be long and expensive. Even then, it's not guaranteed that the buyer will receive their money back as a result. Buying and selling designer items through auction sites such as eBay is fraught with risk. M…

This wasn't the case for me last month, I bought a guitar pedal that turned out to be a fake, I filed the complaint and sent in evidence, received a full refund from eBay/Paypal.

Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes

#17

Post by bebefuzz »

illuminate wrote: post #16
beambot wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, getting money back after receiving a counterfeit from eBay is not trivial. A third party authenticator must be paid by the buyer to fax a thorough formal document for PayPal to review. The process can be long and expensive. Even then, it's not guaranteed that the buyer will receive their money back as a result. Buying and selling designer items through auction sites such as eBay is fraught with risk. M…

This wasn't the case for me last month, I bought a guitar pedal that turned out to be a fake, I filed the complaint and sent in evidence, received a full refund from eBay/Paypal.

Not all eBay cases have the same outcome. There are even online sites dedicated to putting together counterfeit claim documents for Chanel, Hermes, etc for eBay. They usually charge around $100 for a document.

Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes

#18

Post by redact207 »

The concept of luxury brands still completely bewilders me. Living in Asia where literally every girl clutches an LV, Chanel or Gucci bag, the abundance of what ultimately is a social ranking tool serves to cancel itself out. The fact that you're required to line up outside the store is downright insulting.

Apologies for the side-rant, the site itself fills a very real need and kudos for that. I just feel some people would feel more validated carrying around a bank statement instead of a handbag.

Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes

#19

Post by nedwin »

TechCrunch yesterday: "If you think 10% is a good transaction fee for your marketplace, then you will struggle" http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/16/marketplaces-businesses-are... TechCrunch today: Check out this startup taking on an encumbent with a sub-10% (7%) transaction fee.

Re: Lollipuff (YC W13) eBay-like Fashion Marketplace without the Fakes

#20

Post by bebefuzz »

nedwin wrote: post #19

TechCrunch yesterday: "If you think 10% is a good transaction fee for your marketplace, then you will struggle" http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/16/marketplaces-businesses-are... TechCrunch today: Check out this startup taking on an encumbent with a sub-10% (7%) transaction fee.

:) Yep. We read this too, and we loved this comment:

Steven Cox 22 hours ago- The amount of margin a company can extract from the marketplace depends on a couple factors: (1) Amount of competition within the category, (2) the amount of value the company is providing that market participants are willing to pay for (example: a listing site vs. a listing site plus scheduling and billing tools), (3) the virality of the business (lower CAC = ability to charge lower fees), and (4) the presence of a recurring revenue stream (allows for lower margin per transaction).

No matter what margin the business decides on, the strategic decision each company must ask is how much adoption is needed today vs. the expeted margin. The higher the growth needed, the lower the fees need to be.

Once, I heard an early eBay Executive explain how eBay's initial low fees allowed them to run away from other early auction sites. They were priced low enough to where no one could undercut them and priced where the market contributors deemed the fees reasonable. The other sites had two options: charge less and go out of business or charge more per transaction to get the same revenue output - which caused the market contributors to seek out a lower cost solution (eBay). Game over.

Part art, part science... and a tank load of work.

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