I sell stuff on eBay and FB marketplace. In the vein of platforms that you love to hate. What would it take to build software on the fediverse for the purpose of selling things?

  • TheOtherJake@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I imagine the biggest challenge is some kind of central payment authority and dispute management. I won’t touch anything to do with Meta, and as a former 6 figure a year eBay seller, the total percentages and final margin for the seller are just not viable. Between tax, shipping, and fees I averaged 35% overhead with a 100% positive feedback. With a keystone product, that just doesn’t work. This should be more like 20% to make a sustainable business. I have no clue how anyone would build a more effective dispute and payment system but from my experience on eBay, around 5% of all customers are scammers.

        • shortwavesurfer@monero.townEnglish
          0·
          1 year ago

          Crypto itself isnt the problem. The problem is people trying to trust 3rd parties as we must in the current banking system. Tbf, i do think most crypto is a scam and only use a very limited subset. monero, Ethereum, and bitcoin are the only ones i will seriously touch.

          • SkepticElliptic@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
            0·
            1 year ago

            The issue then becomes conflict resolution.

            Let’s set aside the ocean of scammers out there and look at issues buyers and sellers often have.

            I’m guilty of missing an issue with an item that I did not disclose. If I sent that to the buyer and I wasn’t included to give them a refund, what recourse would they have other than a bad review?

              • SkepticElliptic@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
                1·
                1 year ago

                I’ve actually had a package delivered light.

                I ordered two gas struts for my car, the corner of the package had clearly gotten damaged during handling and I only had one gas strut.

                I have a friend who works at a distribution center for one of the big private carriers. He says that packages get ripped open on the automated conveyors and lose their contents all the time.

                In that case I would accept the return and file an insurance claim. If that buyer is doing that enough then the insurance underwriter will come after them and you definitely don’t want an insurance company on your ass.