I guess you could say they were...
(puts on sunglasses)
Sold?
Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company
51–60 of 81 posts
Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
shameless plug, but check out our startup http://sellsimple.com - we're tackling the same problem.
I looked through the site and watched the video - I think you don't handle the logistics of it? One of the things that most appealed about Sold is that they send you a box, you put the thing in it, and that's it. For me, that's the biggest pain point. Is that something you're looking to do?
We have a different system - but yes, we do help with that.
Instead of sending a box, we automatically purchase a shipping label for your item using the shipment method of your choice (USPS, UPS, FedEx). The shipping label already has the address of the buyer and everything filled out.
All you need to do is drop off the package (we'll show you the closest shipping locations).
From there we automatically track the package and show both the buyer & seller realtime updates of the package location & delivery.
We're calling this service "ShipSimple" and it's bundled into the overarching SellSimple platform.
The ShipSimple feature will be released in version 1.4 (coming very soon).
Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company
#53The opening line follows the boilerplate trend of acquisition posts. Being acqui-hired is not something that you should be celebrating with your users... PERIOD. (On a side note, I'm genuinely happy for you all. Getting paid isn't a negative. It's a huge opportunity, but don't patronise your users). "Yey us. :D We're super excited to announce we got acquired. High-five... too slow... Now go f* yourselves." It's incre…
I think you are wrong here. As I understand it, Sold was a service to help you sell stuff. Services like this are by their very nature used mostly as a once-off thing - someone wants to sell something they don't want anymore. Once it is sold then the "user" has no relationship with the Sold service. So now people who are selling things no longer have the opportunity to use the Sold service anymore. I think it is unfa…
Why would you think this? You seem to imagine that people only sell one thing ever. I buy and sell a fair bit of specialist equipement each year (pro audio stuff) and there's a lot more stuff that I'd like to sell but don't seriously try to because it's a bit of a hassle to research prices etc.
Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company
#54Build popular service, attract loyal user base, sell popular service to bigger company so they can gut it and screw your users; business as usual in the startup world, judging by 5 years of HN and Slashdot.
Every time I suggest this might not be a cool thing, people tell me I just don't understand the business model, or something. Same thing yesterday when Microsoft announced they were ripping out Skype's API. It's weird.
Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company
#55The opening line follows the boilerplate trend of acquisition posts. Being acqui-hired is not something that you should be celebrating with your users... PERIOD. (On a side note, I'm genuinely happy for you all. Getting paid isn't a negative. It's a huge opportunity, but don't patronise your users). "Yey us. :D We're super excited to announce we got acquired. High-five... too slow... Now go f* yourselves." It's incre…
I think you are wrong here. As I understand it, Sold was a service to help you sell stuff. Services like this are by their very nature used mostly as a once-off thing - someone wants to sell something they don't want anymore. Once it is sold then the "user" has no relationship with the Sold service. So now people who are selling things no longer have the opportunity to use the Sold service anymore. I think it is unfa…
> Services like this are by their very nature used mostly as a once-off thing - someone wants to sell something they don't want anymore. Once it is sold then the "user" has no relationship with the Sold service.
There's people who make their entire living selling things online, and have been for at least 10-15 years (how long has eBay been around, again?)
Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you are wrong here. As I understand it, Sold was a service to help you sell stuff. Services like this are by their very nature used mostly as a once-off thing - someone wants to sell something they don't want anymore. Once it is sold then the "user" has no relationship with the Sold service. So now people who are selling things no longer have the opportunity to use the Sold service anymore. I think it is unfa…
> Services like this are by their very nature used mostly as a once-off thing - someone wants to sell something they don't want anymore. Once it is sold then the "user" has no relationship with the Sold service. There's people who make their entire living selling things online, and have been for at least 10-15 years (how long has eBay been around, again?)
Yes, this is true - but we are looking at a very specific case here: Sold, and my understanding is that there marketplace never really took off. That means it is doubtful there are people depending on Sold as a means of support.
Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
shameless plug, but check out our startup http://sellsimple.com - we're tackling the same problem.
I looked through the site and watched the video - I think you don't handle the logistics of it? One of the things that most appealed about Sold is that they send you a box, you put the thing in it, and that's it. For me, that's the biggest pain point. Is that something you're looking to do?
try shyp.com
Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company
#58This is how this letter reads to me: Woohoo, we got acquired. Thanks a lot for bringing our valuation up buy trusting us. We started $service to solve a problem that matters to you. Because of that we're joining $totally_unrelated_product. Thanks for all the fish.
Let me add: " Because of that we're joining $totally_unrelated_product. And damaging the ecosystem that allowed us to get to this point." It bears repeating that every time one of the acquire shutdowns occurs it makes users that much less willing to take a chance on a small startup. Even a shutdown like this that isn't screwing over existing users reminds everyone of the pattern. Hmmm, maybe I should start ending thi…
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Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company
#59First post I've read on HN today and here are the summarized talking points of commenters:
1. Oh noes, they are celebrating their acquisition with users. That jerks!
2. Small startups are like Google products -- prone to be discontinued or acquired and closed. Beware!
3. They failed their users and their business model is a failure. Failue!
4. "What is sold?", "meh", "puns".
I love HN technical discussions but startup or business threads? So much negativity... Thats enogh HN for me for today.
Congratulations to Sold team!
Re: Sold just got acquired by Dropbox and closed their company
#60This is a bit of a shame, Sold seemed like a good idea - I have some stuff I'd like to get rid of, but don't want to spend much time setting up the listing etc.
I didn't actually use them because they hadn't branched out into the product category (PC Hardware) that I would have used them for.