

Show HN: We Built a New Kind of Marketplace - kerryfalk
http://www.styckyd.com

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debacle
There are a lot of companies offering this right now. How is styckyd going to
stand out?

Right now, there are services that provide meta-listings to all of the other
services that how to be the core classified system of the Internet. While auto
dealers have picked up technology much faster than realtors, it seems like the
systems are much more fragmented than the MLS.

~~~
kerryfalk
I don't actually see anyone offering what we are, can you point out a few?

Here's the key things that make us different than other marketplaces:

\- We control the flow of funds. When a buyer purchases a part we place it in
a holding account until the package has arrived successfully. This is designed
to eliminate a lot of the seller fraud that occurs.

\- We handle the shipping. Sellers need only identify the box they're going to
place the part in. We then calculate the shipping costs, collect those funds
from the buyer, and send shipping labels to the seller. At the moment, all
they need to do is drop it off at the drop-off location. In the future we'll
send the carrier to their house to pick up the package.

\- We integrate with message boards, and provide them with a new revenue
stream.

There are a number of other things that are unique to our segment and revolve
around product categorization but other marketplaces do indeed do those things
for their markets. The above three things I believe are unique to Styckyd.

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TylerE
Aren't you going to have a really hard time being at all price-competitive
with all that middleman-ness?

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kerryfalk
I haven't seen evidence of that. Also note that this model opens up many
potential revenue streams for us and our partnered forums.

For reference, to list a part on eBay Motors at the average value of a part in
this market without any of their upgrades, and including PayPal fees it costs
a seller about 13% to sell on eBay.

For buyers products purchased on Styckyd may end up being lower cost than on
other sites. This is because we handle and pay for the shipping. When volume
increases we will have the advantages of economies of scale and can pass
savings in shipping costs to the end user. So selling on Styckyd would make it
cheaper to the buyer than selling anywhere else (assuming the same sale value
of the part).

With that said, we're not aiming to be the lowest priced.

Edit for clarity.

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tgrass
I look forward to a site that integrates most forums/networks.

I don't see the value of the visual based browsing though. I drive a '90
Montero. When I need a part, I'm searching by word.

Would love to see digitized diagrams from service manuals. I was ordering a
heater hose last week, but there are so many on my model the dealer wanted me
to come in to verify the part on the diagram (sadly the closest dealer is 120
miles away).

What's your marketing plan for "integrating the forums"?

~~~
kerryfalk
I have improving the search interface high up on my list of things to improve.
You can search by word and an advantage of our system over other more general
marketplaces is that you can specify your vehicle which returns results that
are only applicable to your vehicle so you're not browsing through hundreds of
parts for Civics.

The digitized diagrams can be done, and I've seen it from a few dealers. But I
believe the diagrams themselves come from the manufacturers, I'm unsure if
it's available to third parties. I'd like to look into this in the future
though.

My marketing plan for integrating with the forums is mostly a direct selling
process at the moment. I'm talking with a few forum owners, have relationships
with a few others and I am attending ForumCon next week to learn more about
the community. I posted the link below but here it is again, this explains the
integration itself a little better: <http://partners.styckyd.com>

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kerryfalk
Our aim is to integrate with forums and replace their classifieds and offer a
full-service solution:

<http://partners.styckyd.com>

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estel
Some of the text on that front page is very low contrast against its
background. It might be aesthetically pleasing, but it sure isn't easy to
read...

~~~
kerryfalk
Thanks for pointing that out. I'll work on it to make it better.

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pajju
You guys should show off the real product and its potential without the
signups. Work hard on the landing page!

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coryl
Hmm, you really should show off a listing on the main page and the ability to
browse without sign up.

~~~
kerryfalk
I sense that you're right about the listing. I'm going to keep working on the
homepage until I find something that works well.

You can browse without signing up at the moment. It's more obvious on every
page that's not the homepage. I will make it more prominent in the future once
there are more listings to display (we're just getting going and getting
listings is a key challenge) and I've improved the search interface more.

Thanks for checking it out.

