
Apply HN: Wantobuy – Post items you want so sellers can sell them to you - ryderj
Demo: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wantobuythat.com&#x2F;demo.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wantobuythat.com&#x2F;demo.html</a><p>Problem: Within online trading forums, including Facebook Groups, users post what they want in the hope that sellers will get in touch and make the sale. Yet, these &#x27;want to buy&#x27; posts aren&#x27;t standardised or searchable so it&#x27;s impossible for sellers to see your post and for you to get the items you need.<p>This issue is bigger than just online communities too, there&#x27;s currently no central hub for people to post what they want to buy which is viewable to sellers.<p>Wantobuy: We&#x27;re standardising &#x27;want to buy&#x27; posts so that if you&#x27;re selling something you can see who wants to buy it, how much they&#x27;re willing to pay and then sell for the highest price. We&#x27;re taking this one step further and once users post something they want we&#x27;ll search top retail platforms (Amazon, eBay etc.) to see if it&#x27;s already available online and show the user &#x27;wheretobuy&#x27; it.<p>About us: Jack (21) and Sam (22) who have known each other for 11+ yrs and built stuff together in the past (Check out Spaces, which we got to 30th on the App Store without spending any money - <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;needa.space" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;needa.space</a>).  We&#x27;re big on sneaker and streetwear Facebook groups (yes, we have camped out for sneakers a few times..) and so will target these first before scaling to further product categories. We&#x27;re applying because we&#x27;re determined to learn from the YC network, plus we&#x27;re about to graduate so the money would massively help us survive whilst we build Wantobuy.<p>So far: Over the past few months, we&#x27;ve interviewed Facebook Group admins, given them a demo of the app to play with and received extremely useful feedback.<p>Any feedback, questions or comments would be super useful too!
======
kuisch
This approach makes sense. I also think that sneakers (or streetwear in
general) would make for a pretty compelling initial market. You'll obviously
encounter the chicken-and-egg problem with this platform, so it would probably
be good to try and hack one side of the market. In that light, definitely keep
working together with the admins of these huge Facebook groups (I reckon
you're in Basement, Supreme Talk, Palace Talk?!). These 40k+ groups make for
an incredible opportunity to engage with your target audience. Hell, to get
initial traction just raffle a pair of Yeezy's, Air Mags, or that new Gosha
among the people that sign-up.

One thing I'd do differently though is start out with a website (vs. an app).
It's very true that Facebook doesn't have any form of domain-specific search
fields. But it's very accessible. I realize that n = 1 here, but the friction
in having to download another separate app to my phone would be too high for
me to switch from using the different Facebook groups. I think you'd want to
make it as easy as possible to access your solution (or at least submit WTB
requests) in order for this to take off. In that light, a website would be
much better I think.

On another note, here's a really good read on why Facebook may help you out a
lot, but would also most likely be your biggest competitor:
[http://alexmuir.com/facebook-is-the-new-excel](http://alexmuir.com/facebook-
is-the-new-excel)

Anyway, very cool. Happy to chat more if you like -- I'm at
aron@wanderlust.ly.

~~~
ryderj
Cheers for the feedback Aron!

Yeah, we're both in so many Facebook groups our newsfeeds are purely
streetwear posts! As you say, the challenge comes when we want to get people
onboard. The great thing is that these WTB posts already exist within the
groups so I'm sure we can find a way of getting these on our platform in the
beginning so we at least have the supply side of things covered. Yeah you're
right, raffling a pair of Yeezy's would get everyone and their mum to download
the app - something we'll look at down the line for sure.

I hear what you're saying about the website and we are looking to get
something decent up before too long, however from talking to members, a
growing number of people are using the Facebook Groups app to get their 'fix'
of streetwear throughout the day, so an app would seem like the natural
progression there. I do understand what you're saying and we'll certainly look
into the desktop presence asap.

Great stuff, thanks again - I'll ping you an invite to test the app so far if
you're interested?

------
tobydylan
This concept is really solid. There’s a massive gap in the market to help
standardise the 'want to buy' posts. I'm constantly manually searching across
multiple selling platforms when i want to pick an item up for that best
possible price - usually just scrolling away..! That and checking prices for
items i already own & could be tempted to sell, I even got pm'd with a
ridiculous offer on some old beaters i posted on a group as a joke!

Price is really key! For myself, a lot of the time i tend to try and avoid the
hype / overlook resellers looking a mad price for highly in demand shoes or
products. These posts and groups stand out for me within the second hand
market. Individuals looking to trade/sell the items they own second hand with
around (8/10) wear & a dropped price in mind. Someone buys, doesn't wear as
much as they thought they would, sees something they might wear more?, sells
on to someone else on a budget they can afford.

Everyones fashion taste is evolving and this idea of the 'two lunch tables'
working together, buying, wearing, selling on, especially with high end
products is enabling more and more people to get into the GAME! Focusing on
this second hand market would be ridiculously useful and really pushing for an
organised 'want to buy' community would be a game changer. Just got to have an
influx of sellers onboard who aren't looking to resell for retail (or higher)

~~~
ryderj
Thanks for the feedback Toby! Yeah for sure we're looking to control how much
people purchase things for so people can actually follow through with their
WTB requests - by not allowing silly 'want to buy' amounts for example.

Cheers!

------
vit05
This is cool. I tried to do something when Groupon was hot. I had a site that
was a Groupon just for travelers.

As we already had all the tools, we thought it would be easy. The idea was to
bring together many people who wanted to buy something and then try to
negotiate a better price with the dealer. Neither worked. Do something with
big scale is very complicated.

I think only two people negotiating could work. As proven by facebook groups
that are horrible =). If you do something with a better UX, than the Facebook,
and guarantees for both, I think will work.

~~~
ryderj
We were thinking of expanding into something similar eventually related to
group buying. Were you focused B2C? We were considering looking into B2B but
as you say, I can imagine the complications involved!

~~~
vit05
B2C and small organizations. The problem is that some people don't like to
pay, or change their mind. And some people promise things that they can't
deliver. Similar to problems that Kickstart has.

~~~
ryderj
Good to know, cheers for that.

Perhaps taking payment before an order is placed so that as soon as the target
amount is hit the order is automatically placed.

Amazon has 1 click, we're talking zero clicks!

------
fitzwatermellow
I like it too! Streetware, fashion: its like the new liquid asset right now.
The part where buyers can "bid" on price is particularly compelling. I'd also
like to see the "sell" side of the interface: in other words the data you are
going to present to retailers and brands since ultimately they are the ones
you will be selling this product to ;)

~~~
ryderj
Thanks! Controlling the price 'want to buy' requests will be important.
Currently, on Facebook Groups people advertise that they would pay a much
larger figure than they intend to which is extremely frustrating for sellers
as well as other interested buyers.

I agree, with scale a catalog of what people want to buy and how much they
want to pay for it turns us into a market research company of sorts!

------
merterdir
This is pretty cool. I've seen some startups try to tackle this (sorry don't
remember the names) but I haven't seen someone actually make the search
standardised.

My recommendation would be to make sure people are not giving custom names to
stuff but rather choose from a list. This would make the whole searching thing
much easier.

Good luck!

~~~
ryderj
Great shout, you're right. I think it's about finding a balance between
standardising the listing as much as possible but allowing for people to post
any item they're after.

Cheers!

------
fiatjaf
For me, this only makes sense if applied to local businesses.

I want to buy some items (let's say some kind of food) and I'm ready to do it
on a regular basis, but no store near me has the items. This app would make a
win-win for me and the store.

~~~
ryderj
Local businesses are definitely important! We want to satisfy the casual
sellers and the smaller businesses too.

Ideally, we'll sync up with the stock these businesses are currently holding
and then be able to let them know who wants to buy their products. Win-win
since businesses are accessing new customers that didn't previously know about
them and the buyers are getting what they need.

I like the locality aspect though and I agree that should play a big role in
this side of things.

Cheers!

------
kyfallon
Hey guys, this is a really interesting idea! One question - i'm new to the wtb
concept, and i'm not a member of any facebook groups so i'm curious as to why
someone would post a wtb instead of shopping around online?

~~~
samhowarth13
It's Sam here...there are 2 main types of wtb post:

1\. Items you cant find anywhere - they may be rare or in limited quantities
such as a pair of Nike Air Mag sneakers. In this case you'll be better placed
to find your ideal product.

2\. When you don't know exactly what product you want - people create 'want to
buys' for generic items e.g. 'a black trucker hat'. This way, wtb posts can
actually aid product discovery and make the whole shopping experience easier
and less effort since sellers are coming to you and not the other way round!

Thanks!

~~~
vr3690
For the 2nd point, is googling not helpful? As in, can't the user just Google
for that stuff and buy it from eBay or whatever?

~~~
ryderj
Googling is certainly an option if you've got the time/effort.

But in these Facebook Groups, general 'want to buy' posts are created since
there may be a brand/item that you don't know about - someone else may have
found something that fits the criteria in the past.

This is a way for people to recommend items to you, tapping into their
experiences & learnings and a great way for you to discover new products
without the effort of trawling google/eBay/Amazon etc.

------
zbuf
Brit here. When you say "Post" to me that means "Mail".

I couldn't work out why I would want to mail an item to someone else, so they
could mail it back to me :)

~~~
ryderj
Hey, we're from Britain too, Newcastle originally!

To clear that up, when we talk about 'posting' we mean creating a Facebook
post in a Fb Group.

The only time something would be sent in the mail is the same as conventional
selling, when something has been purchased.

------
brudgers
What do you see as your strategy for handling unsatisfactory transactions
passing through the platform?

For example, items not as advertised, credit card chargebacks, or out right
fraud?

~~~
ryderj
Like any marketplace we're employing a feedback system where users can
rate/report transactions to combat dissatisfaction.

On top of that, when a user sells an item they must take a photo on the spot,
not choose from their photo library. The photo is tagged with their username
and date so the buyer is confident the item they're purchasing belongs to that
particular seller.

Payments can only be sent/received using PayPal to start with since this is
standard practise with our beachhead segment - Facebook Groups.

Authentication service - for items over a certain price we're looking to offer
an authentication service where we can act as the middleman for the
transaction. This way we can ensure premium goods are legitimate before
sending them onto the buyer.

Of course, with marketplaces there's risk, however, we feel these steps will
help to minimise this risk.

------
glougheed
So you are thinking of a number of sellers competing for the buyer?

~~~
ryderj
Yes, almost the reverse of current retailers. Instead of multiple buyers
trying to purchase from one seller, we're looking at one buyer having multiple
product options from other users.

This would help with product discoverability since other users can suggest
products the buyer had not originally thought of as well as helping the buyer
to get the exact product they want.

Cheers

~~~
glougheed
So are these qualified leads? My concern would be people fishing and wasting
other people's time. Or someone that currently owns the product and is looking
for ideas on how to price. Thoughts?

~~~
ryderj
Because sellers are able to see what people are wanting to pay for their item
(its included in the listing), they can easily identify the going-rate for
items and use that to decide whether they want to sell or not.

Like any marketplace there'll be time wasters - I don't sell on eBay anymore
because of them - but in my experience, most of the time its the buyers that
are time wasters.

In our case - since buyers have gone to the effort of creating a WTB listing,
you could argue they're less inclined to waste sellers' time. Of course, the
feedback system/reporting users would help us to identify repeat offenders and
take action.

Check out our demo which should help explain things:
[http://www.wantobuythat.com/demo.html](http://www.wantobuythat.com/demo.html)

------
ryporter
eBay tried this feature (which they called "Want it now"), but they shut it
down. Why will your service fare better?

~~~
ryderj
Great question!

Process - Although I never got a chance to use it, we have looked into this
and it seemed like eBay's service was hard work for buyers. The whole process
of creating a 'wanted item' listing and then eventually purchasing that item
seemed to be fairly ugly and involved entering auctionId's or setting up new
auctions to complete the purchase... not fun!

Fees - eBay fees are sky high at 10% + listing fees. Instead of charging fees
we're looking to generate revenue through referral, not charge the
buyers/sellers directly.

Product discoverability - We're not bound to one platform. From scraping top
retailers such as Amazon, Etsy, Alibaba and eBay we've got a wider search area
to find exactly what buyers want.

Community - We're building this for the Facebook Group community because we
would love to have something like this ourselves - it would make our lives
buying/selling so much easier. As a result, the ability to chat with sellers
within the app (not email) and share WTB listings to Facebook Groups gives our
users much more power to find what they want, fast!

------
chris2chris
Trust issues

~~~
ryderj
Hey Chris, which part are you referring to?

We're only using PayPayl to handle payments, employing a feedback system to
combat untrustworthy users and in the beginning only allowing Log In with
Facebook so users are authenticated to some degree.

Happy to explain any aspects in further detail!

