Show HN: We Built a Marketplace for Auto Enthusiasts
We're trying to tackle a number of problems that users experience when trying to buy and sell parts on automotive forums or on eBay Motors. Search, and shipping come to mind. Because of the nature of search on either of these sites it's difficult to provide relevant results, sellers have to think like SEO experts and buyers have to try multiple searches over multiple days so they can connect. I'm sure most people don't ship packages every day so figuring out how much to charge for shipping can also be a problem.
There are more problems that we're trying to solve but I'm hoping to get some feedback from HN. We've spent most of our time on some of the things you won't see unless you list a part (If you have something to sell, try us out!) as a result the rest of the site is not perfect (Well, neither is the stuff we spent most of our time on... yet). To avoid a bit of the forrest through the trees problem we're looking for feedback on these things:
1) When you look at the site, does it make sense what we do and how we can help? 2) Can you easily identify why we're better than the rest - I'm guessing that's not the case yet, any suggestions on how we can improve here? 3) Is there anything that just seems like a no-go?
We've also built a plugin for vBulletin - we want to replace/improve their classifieds systems: partners.styckyd.com
If any other feedback comes to mind, please share. We're really driven to make this work so the more we hear, the better.
ps. Are there any other car nuts on HN?
8 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 30.5 ms ] threadMy thoughts:
1. Figuring out how to register without Facebook was way too tough. I had to find two links that were indistinguishable from the rest of the text.
2. What is "Brand". Is that car brand (BMW) or part brand (Bilstein)?
3. Okay, now I've gone to the "What do you want to sell" page, and I see "Brand" is the part brand (this is just because I'm poking around -- as a regular user, I'd never do this). Which makes me wonder, how do I find parts for my particular year/make/model (E46 330i, in my case)?
4. I can't do anything useful from the home page. Show me a list of brands, a search box, anything to start me on my way.
5. What does "forensics" mean in this context? The "Show forensics updates" is neat looking, but useless for someone who is buying or selling (but interesting for wasting time / kicking tires). The pictures should at least tell me what the product is.
Hopefully this hapazard feedback is useful. It looks like promising concept and you've clearly worked hard on it, but I think you need to populate it with products and then observe first-hand how people interact with it.
1) We would prefer it if people register with Facebook but I agree that I've made it a little too discrete to register without it in the new design.
2/3) I'll add the background text examples to the search fields like we've done on the sell pages so that it's more clear what should be in the Brand field. I hope that'll clear up any confusion.
4) The home page definitely needs some work. The key thing that's there doesn't show until there are listings present, unfortunately. Like on the Forensics tab it will show the most recent listings with prices, etc.
5) I suppose we should make that more clear upfront. Part Forensics is our parts wiki. It made more sense on the original release but clearly doesn't anymore.
All feedback is useful. Right now we are talking about ways to build a user base quickly and adding a few products on our own might be a way to make the site a little more useful.
To go back to one of my questions, by looking around could you identify why our service might be better than the others? We have some very real competitive advantages but I don't think we're communicating them very well so I'm interested in hearing what first time users are taking away from it at first glance - so we can make it better.
We're building a marketplace, so if that isn't clear I definitely dropped the ball in communications on the first few pages. (It's more clear when there are active listings, but we don't have any of those yet...)
Which text specifically? The main body text or some of the lighter grey text? I understand there are some issues with some of the lighter grey text and I'm working out a way to keep the contrast while keeping within our design constraints (When integrated with a vBulletin forum the site takes on a user-specified stylesheet).
I've always found that Craigslist and regular forums were the best way to go besides U-Pull-It yards, though if I were buying parts for a wide variety of brands of cars it might be more useful so I didn't have to register on a bunch of different boards. You haven't convinced me that your approach is any better, in fact it seems like more work because I have to fill in your db what a clutch is!
The forums truly are great. They're great because of relevance and quantity/quality of content. We'll probably add a few more parts over the next little while to seed the database so that you're more likely to find some content.
Here's an example of a part page: http://www.styckyd.com/forensics/products/23-hoosier-a6
The usefulness of the database will become more apparent as it grows towards some sort of critical mass. If you were to try and sell the Hoosier A6 listed above your listing would be pre-populated with the description that exists within the database which makes it easier for you to sell (Because you won't have to think as much about describing the benefits of the tire). The real benefit is when buyers are specifically looking for a set of Hoosiers. They'll easily be able to find your listing. We also have a built in "Want to Buy" system. So if you click the "Want to Buy" link on the Hoosier page listed above and someone were to sell a set of Hoosiers at any point in the future our system will e-mail you - so you don't have to constantly browse the forums, just wait for the deal you're looking for.
Obviously, we're doing a terrible job of communicating these, and the other benefits that we provide. We'll fix it up very soon.
May I ask which forums you frequent?