Why 3 MIT Grads Want to Send You an Empty Box • Hacker News Board

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

#91

Post by xur17 » Sat, Jun 01, 2013, 5:54 PM UTC

angrydev wrote: post #82

Amazon runs a service like this, I'm surprised it's not better known: http://services.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-amazon/how-it-work...

Sold is handling the pricing, listing, and dealing with customers. I sold a few things through Amazon FBA, and while it was pretty easy, I still had to list the items, and change the price a few times.

This takes it a step further, and deals with all of the headaches associated with selling. You just take a picture, place it in a box, and you're done. I can definitely see a market for this.

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

#92

Post by MichaelApproved » Sat, Jun 01, 2013, 6:28 PM UTC

Duhck wrote: post #88

MichaelApproved wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please find a charity you want to support and donate the laptop and other items in your closet. You'll get a tax write off which will give you the marginal return. You'll get two closets back. You'll support a cause you like. If it's a small charity, you could make a major impact. Do it before things depreciate more. The non-profit will be very thankful and you won't have to keep wondering what to do with those close…

But whats the point of having 2 closets if I cant fill it with all my crap!? Seriously, this is totally a real problem and perhaps if they had an option to donate proceeds to charity people would tick that checkbox..

You don't need to box up anything or tick any boxes.

Call your local charity. They will come and pick up the stuff from your house. Of course, it's nice if you do box up the items but seriously, with many charities, you do not need to do anything more than make a phone call. They will schedule a time to come to your house with a truck and people to load it up.

Please help a non-profit cause you care about.

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

#93

Post by canthonytucci » Sat, Jun 01, 2013, 9:00 PM UTC

You'd think three guys from MIT could come up with a better idea.

The whole point of this is to generate enough press to sell to ebay or amazon right?

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

#94

Post by chockablock » Sun, Jun 02, 2013, 12:49 AM UTC

Domenic_S wrote: post #72

Lewisham wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gotta say that I disagree (yes, yes, it's all anecdotal). I find a great deal of the hassle in selling stuff online is the shipping aspect: how much does it cost? Will I have to travel to the Post Office? How long will I have to be there? Do I have the packing material? Should I insure the box? Going to the Post Office is a huge hassle. Even when I don't have to go to them, but say, FedEx Kinkos, I have to deal with…

> how much does it cost? Will I have to travel to the Post Office? How long will I have to be there? Do I have the packing material? Should I insure the box? Simple solution: use flat rate USPS priority boxes. Order a few of each size for free and stick them in your closet with a roll of packing tape. You know exactly what it will cost, you can get a free next-day pickup from your house, and you can use newspaper for…

This. They deliver the flat packed boxes to you for free.

Plus you can buy USPS priority shipping online (at a discount) when needed, and drop anything that will fit in a USPS mailbox (the 15-ounce rule is for mail bearing only stamps). Or hand it to your (or any) mail carrier out on their rounds if you prefer.

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

#95

Post by jmhain » Sun, Jun 02, 2013, 9:47 AM UTC

dxbydt wrote: post #17

Send me an empty box ? Why not send me a Google Glass. I'll put on the glass, look at the object I want to sell, and say "Glass, Sell!". It will then take a picture of the object, upload to cloud, run a few ML algos to figure out a competitive price point & vendor site ( ebay, amazon, niche ) & list my item on vendor with a auto-generated description ( standard summarization algos ). If it were smart enough, it would…

From watching their videos it looks like they're huge Apple fanboys. I doubt they'll ever support Google anything.

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

#96

Post by jinushaun » Sun, Jun 02, 2013, 2:58 PM UTC

danso wrote: post #13

I think the motivation behind the service is definitely sound...I'm just not sure that the service, as described, solves the most pertinent pain points...and part of the problem is, the pain points are different depending on whether you're a very casual seller, or a regular one (i.e. several products a week). For example, the auto-marketing of the product: > With Sold’s app, you take a picture of the thing you want t…

Sold abstracts that away from you. You take a pic on your phone, send it to Sold and they come back with a price they think they can sell it for. If you agree, they'll send you a box, you ship it to them and you get the money. You're not supposed to know how they sell it.

This is drastically more convenient than dealing with EBay, answering emails, making calls, screening real buyers from non-buyers, or going to Starbucks to make a Craigslist deal.