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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

#21

Post by HarryHirsch »

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.

What if they didn't want to? What if someone, most everyone in fact, who buys anything Chanel/Hermes/Vulgari on Ebay actually wants to buy a knock-off? That would explain why these things are so cheap over there.

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

#22

Post by saosebastiao »

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.

To some extent, they are right...if only by accident. Marketplaces are terribly tough businesses to start quickly. They either need a TON of venture capital to be able to build a userbase quickly...or they need none at all and build their userbase slowly (and profitably).

Lollipuff can do it, but it is an uphill battle with dim revenue prospects in the short and mid term.

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

#23

Post by saosebastiao »

redact207 wrote: post #18

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…

There are many reasons to buy and enjoy luxury goods. You have only found one possible reason.

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

#24

Post by redact207 »

saosebastiao wrote: post #23
redact207 wrote: post #18

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…

There are many reasons to buy and enjoy luxury goods. You have only found one possible reason.

do enlighten us

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

#25

Post by eurleif »

bebefuzz wrote: post #4
eurleif wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>fake $2000 Chanel (often learning that it's fake years later) If the fake is so similar to the real thing that it's possible to be fooled by it for years, who cares? Who is harmed besides Chanel?

As someone who is familiar with Chanel, the difference is night and day. However, for someone new to the brand, it's not. A fake Chanel bag is made with the most inferior materials and craftmanship. It's usually the newbies that don't know off the bat. And, those who are knowledgeable deal with stress and loss of money once they get the item in their hands.

>A fake Chanel bag is made with the most inferior materials and craftmanship.

But apparently the bags are durable enough to last for years, so the materials and craftsmanship can't be that bad.

>And, those who are knowledgeable deal with stress and loss of money once they get the item in their hands.

The stress is caused by attachment to status symbols, and could be better solved by letting go of such bullshit. And they would have lost the same money by buying a genuine Chanel bag, which is only considered to be worth that much money because of the brand.

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

#26

Post by rjb »

redact207 wrote: post #18

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…

Wouldn't the opposite be just as bewildering then? There really is no difference between buying a Hermes dress and buying Dickies overalls, right? Each item makes a statement and each person is well aware of the statement it makes. Both can be bought for practical reasons. Both make comments on social placement. Both help people identify themselves. Both help find/identify suitable mates.

I too find it so hard to believe people spend so much on apparel, but that thought is no different than people finding it odd that I spend so little. Of course, some items are easy to liquidate and others are not.

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

#27

Post by eurleif »

rjb wrote: post #26
redact207 wrote: post #18

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…

Wouldn't the opposite be just as bewildering then? There really is no difference between buying a Hermes dress and buying Dickies overalls, right? Each item makes a statement and each person is well aware of the statement it makes. Both can be bought for practical reasons. Both make comments on social placement. Both help people identify themselves. Both help find/identify suitable mates. I too find it so hard to bel…

>There really is no difference between buying a Hermes dress and buying Dickies overalls, right?

There would be an aesthetic difference. But status symbols are about more than just aesthetics. It's not like you need to buy overpriced brands just to get things that look good. In fact, the existence of the fake goods this site is trying to weed out proves that.

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

#28

Post by nedwin »

bebefuzz wrote: post #20
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 b…

I definitely agree it's part art and part science.

"The higher the growth needed, the lower the fees need to be."

I don't think that's strictly true. If you had two companies and one had three times the margin of the other, this gives them three times the revenue of the other to acquire and service new customers.

Without the margin you need to go the massive VC route, which is what eBay pursued. Depends on how you want to build the business I guess.

I run a marketplace too, good luck! :)

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

#29

Post by redact207 »

rjb wrote: post #26
redact207 wrote: post #18

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…

Wouldn't the opposite be just as bewildering then? There really is no difference between buying a Hermes dress and buying Dickies overalls, right? Each item makes a statement and each person is well aware of the statement it makes. Both can be bought for practical reasons. Both make comments on social placement. Both help people identify themselves. Both help find/identify suitable mates. I too find it so hard to bel…

I'd put it another way and say that generic quality brands merely inherit their social placement, whereas luxury brands actively seek it. The latter is a bandaid for a character flaw.

One of my friends has two kids - 4 and 7 - who live with their grandparents in Malaysia as they "can't afford schooling in Singapore." The truth is that it allows them to maintain their image with an LV shoe-rack and a Gucci bag cupboard. He recently changed his Whatsapp image to a photo of his new $1K Hermes belt - they see their children twice a year.

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

#30

Post by rjb »

eurleif wrote: post #27
rjb wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't the opposite be just as bewildering then? There really is no difference between buying a Hermes dress and buying Dickies overalls, right? Each item makes a statement and each person is well aware of the statement it makes. Both can be bought for practical reasons. Both make comments on social placement. Both help people identify themselves. Both help find/identify suitable mates. I too find it so hard to bel…

>There really is no difference between buying a Hermes dress and buying Dickies overalls, right? There would be an aesthetic difference. But status symbols are about more than just aesthetics. It's not like you need to buy overpriced brands just to get things that look good. In fact, the existence of the fake goods this site is trying to weed out proves that.

>There would be an aesthetic difference.

This is my point. People have value systems and brands and styles can be a part of that. An inability to identify with someone buying overpriced goods does not make the judgement process any different that their inability to identify with the practicality of buying things at a fair price that look good.

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