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Why 3 MIT Grads Want to Send You an Empty Box

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Re: Why 3 MIT Grads Want to Send You an Empty Box

#51

Post by kevingibbon »

xur17 wrote: post #35
taylorwc wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can relate to the pain involved of not having a box. Unless I just got something from Amazon, I won't have a usable box. And while the post office may have free boxes, the trip to the post office in and of itself is pain enough to cause breakage [1]. [1] I think I'd rather have my fingers run over by the car than make a trip to the US Post Office. Right up there with the DMV.

I agree. When I was selling online more frequently, I had a collection of Priority Mail boxes to use, and this still didn't cover all of the sizes I needed. As dumb as it sounds, shipping me the properly sized box would be amazing. I'm curious if they provide packing material too - that was the other big issue for me. I typically used newspaper or peanuts from a box I had sitting around, but I still ran into trouble…

This is exactly the business we are starting.

Check out http://shyp.co

We fit the contents into the perfect size box so even though we charge a little more than going directly to USPS, we can more than make up for it in our efficiencies. Plus real-time comparison to UPS, Fedex and Ontrac is in the works.

Re: Why 3 MIT Grads Want to Send You an Empty Box

#52

Post by georgemcbay »

downandout wrote: post #46

The problem they are trying to solve is real. Many people don't know or want to know how to market things they don't want anymore. They just want to sell them. This is the same reason that Google now offers assistance with Adwords campaigns - many businesses don't want to have to become Internet marketing experts, but need customers. I think that without a local presence where items are screened, fraud/product misrep…

"The problem they are trying to solve is real."

It is absolutely real for me. I've got like two closets full of older but perfectly fine stuff (like the laptop I replaced with the laptop I bought this year) that I would feel bad throwing away but I don't want to bother selling through normal means (and none of my immediate friends is interested in having).

I would absolutely use this service to get rid of the stuff even if the offered price were marginal. In my case, I'd even be fine shipping the stuff out for free if the box shipping were pre-paid (but I may be an extreme case).

Having too much stuff is a first world problem, for sure, but sign me up.

Re: Why 3 MIT Grads Want to Send You an Empty Box

#53

Post by capecodcarl »

jarrett wrote: post #12
axxl wrote: post #6

Interesting idea, however I just don't think the issue with selling most items is the box. The post office has plenty of free boxes you can take, and if it's a bit too big you can usually pad it with newspaper. They specifically say they're only supporting small objects so that ruins any argument about something big. When the author says "As someone who hardly ever sells anything online in part because I never have t…

For me, the biggest hurdle to selling my personal items online is flaky and/or malicious buyers. On Craigslist, buyers tend to be extremely flaky. Every time I've sold something there, I've wasted substantial time with people who arrange meeting times and don't show up. This happens many times per item. It's also overrun with scammers, although those are easy to spot if you know the signs. (Bad grammar, being unreali…

What would be nice is a package escrow service for one-off purchases here or there that are not time critical. You sell your item on eBay (or wherever) as normal, but the buyer pays the escrow service. Then when they confirm payment, you ship your item to the escrow service who then unpacks the item, verifies the contents are as described and functional, and then repacks it and ships it on to the buyer. Then they release the payment to you.

If the buyer tries to scam them by saying the item was not as described, the escrow service (presumably insured some way) would deal with them and you're out of the picture.

It would add a few days of delay to purchases, but for casual items already being sent UPS or Fedex Ground that aren't time critical it seems like it could add considerable piece of mind to small time sellers and buyers.

Re: Why 3 MIT Grads Want to Send You an Empty Box

#54

Post by lanstein »

taylorwc wrote: post #8
axxl wrote: post #6

Interesting idea, however I just don't think the issue with selling most items is the box. The post office has plenty of free boxes you can take, and if it's a bit too big you can usually pad it with newspaper. They specifically say they're only supporting small objects so that ruins any argument about something big. When the author says "As someone who hardly ever sells anything online in part because I never have t…

I can relate to the pain involved of not having a box. Unless I just got something from Amazon, I won't have a usable box. And while the post office may have free boxes, the trip to the post office in and of itself is pain enough to cause breakage [1]. [1] I think I'd rather have my fingers run over by the car than make a trip to the US Post Office. Right up there with the DMV.

For those who don't know, in CA, you can do a lot of the DMV stuff that you can't do online at a AAA office. Cash/check and membership required are the only caveats.

Re: Why 3 MIT Grads Want to Send You an Empty Box

#55

Post by J_Darnley »

From the terms: "[You may use us if] You have access to a compatible smartphone, mobile device or other device that is supported by our platform." Isn't a web browser supposed to be all you need these days? This looks to be a greater downside than the fact it is US only.

Re: Why 3 MIT Grads Want to Send You an Empty Box

#57

Post by natemc »

Sounds like a beefed up Glyde. List your games/movies/books and when it sells they send you a SASE and they handle all the money etc. All you have to do is list condition, item, and price (it will suggest based on market value) then just put the item in an envelope when it sells.

Was the only way I was buying/selling PS3 games for quite some time.

Re: Why 3 MIT Grads Want to Send You an Empty Box

#58

Post by quinndupont »

Either I'm missing something (or just struck upon a brilliant idea), but the important point of sending you an empty box isn't that they save you a trip to the postal office (although this is a nice side effect), but that the empty box psychologicaly induces you to sell your items, and Sold takes a cut on the sale. Just as charities figured out long ago, if you send someone a dollar or even a quarter they'll donate, same goes with an empty box. It is just too easy to sell something, and besides, they sent you this nice box! I think the psychology of this strategy is genius.

Re: Why 3 MIT Grads Want to Send You an Empty Box

#59

Post by pseut »

axxl wrote: post #6

Interesting idea, however I just don't think the issue with selling most items is the box. The post office has plenty of free boxes you can take, and if it's a bit too big you can usually pad it with newspaper. They specifically say they're only supporting small objects so that ruins any argument about something big. When the author says "As someone who hardly ever sells anything online in part because I never have t…

I may have read it differently, but I don't think the big pain point was literally the box, but that it was just a stand in for all of the uncertainty that comes with selling something. As someone who doesn't sell stuff online, I'd definitely love to have a service where I knew the effort, time, cost, etc was bounded at ~10 minutes total.

Re: Why 3 MIT Grads Want to Send You an Empty Box

#60

Post by nazgulnarsil »

georgemcbay wrote: post #52
downandout wrote: post #46

The problem they are trying to solve is real. Many people don't know or want to know how to market things they don't want anymore. They just want to sell them. This is the same reason that Google now offers assistance with Adwords campaigns - many businesses don't want to have to become Internet marketing experts, but need customers. I think that without a local presence where items are screened, fraud/product misrep…

"The problem they are trying to solve is real." It is absolutely real for me. I've got like two closets full of older but perfectly fine stuff (like the laptop I replaced with the laptop I bought this year) that I would feel bad throwing away but I don't want to bother selling through normal means (and none of my immediate friends is interested in having). I would absolutely use this service to get rid of the stuff e…

A ship for free option where the proceeds go to charity could be a big win, but abuse could sink it.
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