Ask HN: What novel features would lend a new marketplace a competitive edge?

[chrishaum]

In the process of creating a new marketplace, I'm trying to think of novel features that would give the marketplace an advantage over existing ones.

One example I have considered is to be able to choose an arbitrary "basket" of services, and find the optimal set of providers of those services, for the customer's desired price and quality ranges.

I would greatly appreciate any other ideas!

Perhaps the following question will stir up your thinking: What annoyances have you experienced with online marketplaces, that could be fixed with novel features?

Thanks!

[DanielStraight]

What kind of marketplace? Like Ebay, Amazon, Etsy, app store, etc.?

[chrishaum → DanielStraight]

Niche-oriented marketplaces. Etsy is a good example, along with Flippa and the Envato marketplaces.

[DanielStraight → chrishaum]

As an initial impression: None of these example seems even remotely conducive to your idea of an optimal provider search. There can be no optimal provider of unique goods.

But, that gives enough information that I can think on your initial question, so I'll post a separate reply when something comes to mind.