Gooooood Morning Driftworks Sooo, As some of you may have been I've put some bits up for sale to fund my website/business idea and id like to introduce you all to it. I have contacted Driftworks before posting this as I wanted to make sure I don't tread on anyone's toe's as we are a community of enthusiasts with the exception of some snowflakes So barebones of it is I'm currently building a website that will function as an auction site for specifically Car modification and restoration parts. The main reason I've started building this is because Facebook and eBay are good but you will always get timewasters and people who do not commit once they have said they will. so, how am I going to enforce this as such, well initially everyone is going to go through a vetting process, where they will commit to paying 10% of a won auction within 6 hours of winning, this way even if they decide they do not want the item the seller has been "paid" for the hassle it has caused. I want to build a community of people who are trusted and known for selling good quality parts in reasonable timescales that don't mess other people in the community about. it will work on a 3 strike system, you get 1 strike then a warning, 2 strikes and then your restricted to what amount you can buy/bid and on the 3rd strike you are removed from the site and the information that you used to create the account initially will be kept on file should you make another account and try to do the same thing again and again. would you like to see business's products on there so you can buy all from the same place, would you like to earn points every time you shop they're etc etc? If they're is anything you guys can think of as a community you'd like to see on this site let me know below because ultimately this is for you guys and girls to use. any feedback or ideas are appreciated! If any business owners are reading this and don't want they're question public you can pm me if you prefer Cheers Matthew
Just make sure it doesn't get flooded with dickheads from China selling 1000x items all put in the wrong section and making the place a nightmare to navigate.
Yeah, That's one of the things I forgot to mention above, that definitely wont be happening, I will be looking over all the items placed in the early days of the site and if it gets to the point I cannot do it myself then will come the decision to employ someone etc. But yeah I can't stress enough how much I can guarantee it won't be flooded with Chinese crap.
To be fair this forum is really good for buying/selling in my experience. Facebook and ebay can be a nightmare with time wasters but I've never had issues on here, everyone I've purchased from have been pleasant to deal with and honest. Not saying your site isn't a good idea though
I really like this idea. I agree that the fourms are a good place for buying and selling however sometimes adverts go months with no update. I'm not sure if this is down to laziness of the sellers or if they simply forget which sites they have posted on. This might help to weed that out and stop unanswered 'sfs?' messages.
I agree forums are a perfectly good place to buy/sell things but I've noticed a lot of very very old posts being revived with a "sfs" when they're 2+ years old. Thankyou my man Exactly my thoughts dude, and this way people know what is available at a given time etc etc if people still want to sell through forums they can do but this will just be another option which will hopefully in time reach more people as once I've got the site finished and all the policy's written etc ive got plans for getting "ModStop" out there as such Appreciate the feedback guys feeling a lot more positive about it now
so, how am I going to enforce this as such, well initially everyone is going to go through a vetting process, where they will commit to paying 10% of a won auction within 6 hours of winning, this way even if they decide they do not want the item the seller has been "paid" for the hassle it has caused.
So I've don't some digging into this statement I mate at the beginning to see if the software I'm using allows this feature, at the moment I can't see why it wouldn't allow me to do this but untill I have the site 90% complete and start doing some testing on it I won't be able to give a definitive answer. Ideally I would like it to function how I described but will kepe everyone updated as I progress through building the site
The idea is a sound one, administratively it will be a nightmare for a small team never mind an individual - especially if you are asking users to submit payment details and pre-approve a fee because you will be flooded with people demanding money back etc. - regardless how many rules and t&c you stipulate pre purchase for every 8 good sellers/buyers you will have 2 arseholes and someone will have to be able to reply to them. You really need to think how you're going to control the site should it become popular and also what legislation/insurance will be involved and required to protect yourself and your users; the idea and building the site are the smallest pieces of the puzzle bud. You then need to think where your revenue streams coming from and will it be enough to cover your bills, and the maintenance of the site. Your main competition will obviously be ebay and facebook marketplace - the latter has almost depleted the need for online automotive forums which were once a huge thing (not for me, I don't use social media), it's super easy, quick and friendly to use and ruthlessly efficient for selling with facebook taking no cut other than advertising - that's very difficult to beat. Sure there's no buyer protection but you can't compete with free especially as a small startup. Then there's the specific automotive sector ones, jdm garage, newera, funkypower etc come to mind some offering links to yahoo auctions japan and integrating a user-friendly approach to purchasing from the east.. So your key audience already has other options, you need to bring something to the table these guys haven't already done. Not being negative but starting a new business is seriously tough so you need to consider everything before losing any capital you have :-) Best of luck bud
So progress is well under way with this I have been doing work in the background to get the website to a point I am happy with and everything working as it should, with this being a learning curve for me as well I have been checking and double checking every bit of work I've been doing and now its just waiting for the finishing touches and for me to decide on a payment provider which I what I want to ultimately ask you all about as I'm building this for people like us to use. So.… the two option we have at the moment for a payment provider that will work the way it needs to. Stripe & and the usual Paypal (with some tweaks) so... Stripe, is as simple as you sign up to Modstop connect your stripe account and away you go. Paypal is proving a little more difficult since they stopped supporting certain features that come with a business account. Now, I am in talk with Paypal to potentially revive this feature with limited support but if this fails it would have to be a custom built payment gateway which I have got contact that are linked directly to paypal who will be able to advise on this. but ultimately I want to know whether it would make any difference to you guy n girls whether you had to use Stripe or PayPal. Obviously stripe is less "known" than PayPal but I've read mainly good things about them. I'm trying to give the option to have both but paypal are being a little bit of a pain at the moment. I'm fairly certain that I've read that Stripes Fee's are less which would mean ultimately more money for yourself but im not sure how they work if you were to receive a faulty item or damaged etc which I will be looking into tonight.
Personally, I find Paypal quite important for buying online. If I am ever buying from a lesser known site and they don't offer paypal, I'll tend to not buy from them. I guess it is all to do with trust, paypal have been at the front of the game for many years and have become well known enough. I'm sure Stripe is probably fine, but I can't see myself creating a Stripe account any time soon as I just don't know them, or have that level of trust, particularly as it is money related. A good example I had recently is when searching for ITBs, and I found a website selling them for cheap in Malaysia. Normally I would avoid this as it seemed quite suspicious, but Paypal was a payment option so I took the gamble and ended up with a great product for a great price. If they had Stripe as their payment method I would have left it well alone. Just my 2 cents, and I'm the first to admit I'm slow on the uptake of other tech companies (especially as I work in IT as a Sysadmin, so when I see that Stripe is "Developer First" that makes me less likely to consider it!). It might be a great option for many other people.
Hey Man! Appreciate the feedback, this was my thoughts aswell and your response is exactly what I was looking for to be honest. I think I will be pushing to get Paypal "hopefully" on side and be my payment provider, and also offer Stripe so people have the option to do both. But like you say PayPal as a payment option is a signal of trust and gives buyers that added confidence when buying. Thankyou !
Cheers for the feedback man, I'm trying to make it as hassle free for people as possible so in talks with paypal as we speak
Thanks Man! I certainly am doing, hit a few forks in the road at the minute but finding solutions is half the fun haha
Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen, I am in need of an engine pay picture for use on either a product or somewhere across the site. If your happy for me to do this can you please comment it below. Cheers Matthew
