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Magic

getmagicnow.com

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Re: Magic

#81

Post by avn2109 »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #41

I can already order pizza and flowers and plane tickets myself. However, if you could handle requests like: Call Comcast for me and have them configure my Cisco DPC3939B for bridge mode Go stand in line at the post office and retrieve my package with tracking #xxxxxxxx My iPhone's screen is cracked. Take it to the mall and get somebody to fix or replace it, whichever's cheaper. Bring me some Mongolian BBQ with the fo…

Yeah, if you can wrap shleps like this in a painless interface, it would be incredible.

I would pay _a lot of money_ for that.

Especially for stuff like "Dispatch someone credible-sounding to stand in line and negotiate as my agent with large shitty ossified organization X," where X might be a post office, utility company, embassy, real estate, etc, where their user experience disrepects my time.

The dev who sits next to me has been trying to buy a house for a month, and he spends ~50% of his time on the phone with home inspectors, contractors, the title office and similar, basically telling them trivial facts or participating in silly naggy negotiations where they're basically gambling that he won't push back on the twentieth little crappy line item this week.

This is a super-real pain point.

Re: Magic

#82

Post by michaelmior »

gk1 wrote: post #39
beambot wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right from the site: > It's completely free to chat with Magic. When you order something, we'll let you know the total price so you can confim it before you are billed. There are no hidden fees, and tip is included. You have to confirm the price. It sounds like you can decline if you think it's unfair.

I saw, but it doesn't say how their fee structure works. I would rather not have to compare their quote with the original price every time just to be sure I'm not being dealt a 50% "convenience fee."

My thoughts exactly. I have no idea what the "tip" is and if it perhaps varies depending on what service I'm requesting, time of day, whether my phone number is even or odd, etc. It would be nice if this was more transparent.

Re: Magic

#83

Post by cmikec »

ryanSrich wrote: post #15
cmikec wrote: post #2

Hey everyone - this is insane. My friends and I created Magic a few days ago as a side project and it's completely blown up by accident since then. We're getting stormed with messages and orders. We thought we'd launch it ourselves later if it did well, and other people have been posting it on Product Hunt, Reddit, HN themselves... I'm here to answer any questions, although we've hardly slept!

How do you generate revenue?

By charging a premium on all services and products. For people who just want things completely handled.

Re: Magic

#84

Post by MichaelGG »

cmikec wrote: post #2

Hey everyone - this is insane. My friends and I created Magic a few days ago as a side project and it's completely blown up by accident since then. We're getting stormed with messages and orders. We thought we'd launch it ourselves later if it did well, and other people have been posting it on Product Hunt, Reddit, HN themselves... I'm here to answer any questions, although we've hardly slept!

So I used to use something like this with Amex's concierge service. Like getting a Wii on release day, or getting a gift somewhere.

I stopped using them after this bad experience. I asked them to send about $100 of good chocolate as a gift, and they just sent a $10 bar, 10 times. Duh.

Anyways, I felt a very good sensation looking over this. Probably because it's just such a PITA to do things like order pizza. Gotta talk to people, decline sales questions, etc. What a relief to not have to deal with that day-to-day stuff. Or just going out to the store or grabbing lunch before the place closes. A personal assistant I pay on demand for anything? Sweet.

Re: Magic

#85

Post by zaroth »

I love the idea, and the execution, but just one nit -- you say "no hidden fees", but I think bundling the fee into the total price is the definition of a hidden fee. If your examples itemized the fee it would be a different story. Other comments here express a similar anxiety, e.g. how much [extra] am I actually paying for this?

Also, I know you're busy, but FYI CA state law requires you have a Privacy Policy. I would like to know how long you retain records and who you are sharing them with before doing business with you!

Re: Magic

#86

Post by petercooper »

DarrenMills wrote: post #32

This is a shadow, a hint of what AI and machine learning will bring us.

There seems to be a pattern lately of services that are initially human based but then use that as validation for a human-supported AI model further down the road. https://x.ai/ is one of the recent ones I remember seeing.

Re: Magic

#88

Post by bgvrofg »

alansammarone wrote: post #79

I love the absurdly simple way this works. That said, maybe there should be some form of (appropriately simple) authentication on each request, because what if my phone gets stolen/lost?

You could do this: if you enable passcode confirmation, type your pass anywhere in the text message along with your text confirmation. If you forget, you get a request to do so.

Re: Magic

#89

Post by noblethrasher »

zaroth wrote: post #85

I love the idea, and the execution, but just one nit -- you say "no hidden fees", but I think bundling the fee into the total price is the definition of a hidden fee . If your examples itemized the fee it would be a different story. Other comments here express a similar anxiety, e.g. how much [extra] am I actually paying for this? Also, I know you're busy, but FYI CA state law requires you have a Privacy Policy. I wo…

The price that they quote you is the only fee. It's up to you to decide if it is worth it.
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