Ideas

what about thrust system ? what would you have in terms of security meassures?

Rizal,
I need some help with the security issues for this service. I know that it’s a key issue for the success of this idea.
One thing that I want to add is a “friendly buyer trust rating” where the community could tell you if you can trust or not this user…
Can you help me? :-)

Isn't this a problem that ebay has already solved? Perhaps you could make this system more like a product requesting service. Ebay users from Greece could go on your site and see what regional items are most requested. They could create a listing for that item and post back with the Ebay number.

I would love to be able to buy something rare from another country but don't really know where to look. Perhaps you could create a product suggestion system?

my partner.. in my hypesphere company actually created a system plattform for thrust. that solves this issue.. he had this company for buying and selling second hand games,dvds and books in sweden. and it worked in case of that the Buyer choose a product and the buyer would send in money to a client on the plattform. the money wouldnt be release to the seller unless the buyer approved that he got the items he bought. so when he aproved that he got the item. the client on plattform would release money to the seller..

but this plattform cost alot to create. so unless you have really good programmers and coders who are willing to work on this for free. it will cost you a great deal of money to buy this plattform.

what about customs laws and import taxes?

i can usually get what i need offshore from eBay - but that's me

I don't shop online, but it seems like it would be more efficient just to convert the money.

I think AndyDoan's comment about a reverse-eBay is right on for a great service. There have been many times that I've seen something while travelling and passed on buying it only to regret it later. I've wished I knew someone local who could go back and pick something up for me. If I could post a detailed description of what I want and where I saw it, someone who is local could earn a handling fee for getting it for me. There would have to be a good escrow system in place to guarantee satisfaction on both ends, but this kind of problem is easily solved with existing models.

Ok, I'm convinced. You really make this idea to evolve. I'll change this to the “reverse-ebay” model. So, users can find a specifically product in local markets and also find someone who could buy/send it to you. We still have the security issues and the taxes/customs question. Here in Brazil we pay all taxes/customs fees at the Postal Office when the product arrives. But I think that in this new model both users could talk about this and find a good way to solve it.

Friendly Buyer: Local Product Community.

What do you think?

Hi JuPolimeno,

I like some part of this idea and can see it evolve to something neat. I am not sure if I like the reverse-ebay concept. But I do like part of the original, "Local buyers for international shoppers". There may be a niche group of customers that can be served here.

One main problem is the style and personal taste of a "local buyer" will greatly influenced how good or bad the products purchased will be. You see, ebay products are mostly uniform, standard, mostly branded stuff. A XYZ brand model 123 MP3 player is the same around the world. Whereas the products purchased under this current idea/system by different buyers may be quite different resulted from personal taste and style. These are speciality stuff.

Neat. Need some refining in the idea.

I agree with Kempton that the local buyer concept has a lot of value. I really like the reverse-ebay model that allows me to buy things I know about and just need a local agent to handle the transaction, but there might also be a big market for selling me things I don't know about yet.

Say I'm going to a foreign city for a month and need a new hat, shoes and jacket for the trip. This site might be able to recommend and sell me local fashions that wouldn't look out of place, so I'm not quite so obviously a tourist. This would also work great for gifts if I know someone who would like something from a particular area but I need some recommendations.

This is a great concept and really suits buyers looking for a specific product that is not available in their home country.

To get around the tax / import issues (other than for products that are essentially illegal in a particular country), treating the exchange as a "gift" can sometimes mean that there is no consideration / $ value associated with the deal and I believe this results in no tax obligations.

Caveate - I am not a lawyer or customs officer.

That could mean that the person sending you the goods should receive something in return as a "gift" of equal or similar value to balance ithe transaction out.

So maybe a website where people list what they'd like and the retail value allows those wanting items of similar value in the countries they live to agree to "exchange" gifts.

Maybe the trust element can be managed by specifying all items are to be sent using a particular parcel company and that both parties exchange details of the parcel company tracking ID's within a certain number of days, so that if either party can't confirm the items have actually shipped (via the parcel company website), the other person can cancel the shipping of their item in-transit. In this case, they would pay a return shipping fee but I am assuming it would be significantly less than the cost of the item they were sending over.

Definitely something to ask the lawyers! :)

Keep the brainstorming going!

I think the idea of treating the transaction as a gift would be more trouble than it's worth. If you have to coordinate an exchange of gifts, it's going to be harder to recruit local buyers than it would be if they're just going to get cost+shipping+commission. I can see a few buyers in popular spots making a job out of supplying people all over the world, and that couldn't happen if it was a gift exchange. Also, we need to plan for this to grow into a huge enterprise, which means it will be under close legal scrutiny. Better to handle everything in a way that avoids even the perception of impropriety.

I don't think the customs issues should be too serious. I believe that if someone ships me something from a foreign county, it is shipped with a customs form affixed and I pay the customs taxes on it when it arrives. Even if the fee has to be paid by the sender, this can just be included in the shipping/handling fees the buyer will already be paying. Since these fees are usually a simple percentage of value, it should be easy for the website to predict these fees and add them automatically as needed.

I really like this idea!

This is a cool idea and very similar to one of my own! Good luck with this!

I like your idea. I'm from SP too. Sometimes I try to buy some products at e-Bay and the seller can't send me...

hows it going with this?

..whats the guarantee that its a wise buy?

Would it cater all other collections that are hard to find items like first issue comics? how about Freight and Handling issues?