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Ask HN: Just launched our beta, tell us what you think (jobpic.com)

14 points by breck ↗ HN
benz and I just launched our beta to friends and family (http://www.jobpic.com). The idea is anyone can auction off their time and services.

I did freelance programming for a while and hated the experience of the existing sites(like elance, guru, etc.). I think they are good sites for the buyer, but aren't good for the provider. That's what we're trying to do.

I think there are a lot of freelancers on HN so it would be great if people could try it out and let us know what they like and don't like.

We have a todo list 100 items long right now but we're moving pretty fast at improving the product and hope in a few weeks time it will be really helpful to freelancers(and all people that have passions they want to share).

Thanks!

29 comments

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breck
benz and I just launched our beta to friends and family (http://www.jobpic.com). The idea is anyone can auction off their time and services.

I did freelance programming for a while and hated the experience of the existing sites(like elance, guru, etc.). I think they are good sites for the buyer, but aren't good for the provider. That's what we're trying to do.

I think there are a lot of freelancers on HN so it would be great if people could try it out and let us know what they like and don't like.

We have a todo list 100 items long right now but we're moving pretty fast at improving the product and hope in a few weeks time it will be really helpful to freelancers(and all people that have passions they want to share).

Thanks!

synnik
I went there, wasn't sure what the site was about, nor why I should use it. Then I saw your explanation...

But if you need to explain it here, then your site doesn't work. Put this explanation on your site. Make it brief, make it clear.

breck
Good point. "Service made simple" doesn't really explain it anymore. We're doing a new homepage now and hopefully it will be much clearer.

Thanks!

noodle
design reminds me a lot of airbnb.

i think you need some sort of mechanism to inform new users as to whats happening. also, important information like, are you guys going to take a cut? how are payments made? etc.

breck
> design reminds me a lot of airbnb.

(It was influenced a lot by airbnb :).

Yes we need to add a lot more to the FAQ and general instructions throughout the site.

How are payments made is definitely a key thing to make clearer. On the completed auctions we've had a lot of questions about that.

Thanks for the feedback!

noodle
no prob. payment and fees are a major issue, at least to me. it would be the thing to make or break the service for me.

don't want to start using it and find out that i owe the site 20%.

breck
Right on. Currently we charge the provider a $2 fee per completed auction plus 2% of the auction price. The buyer doesn't get any charges from us.

In beta right now obviously the completed auctions are going for low bids, and we're handling things on a case by case basis, but we think once we get going prices will rise to market rates.

ohlol
took me too long to figure out what the site is for. closed tab.
joshuarr
Took me two seconds to figure it out. Ignored comment.
foulmouthboy
Really? I understand the idea of bidding on these people to do some sort of work for me, but beyond that, it's not clear how any of it is supposed to work.

What does it take to bid on somebody? Do I need a credit card? If somebody has a city listed, does that mean they can only perform their task within that city? Within 50 miles of the city? Do I go to them? Can I cancel a bid? Etc. etc.

I know that some of these questions are answered, because I happened to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and click on FAQ, which appeared in very faint green letters in what's typically a blind spot anyway.

joshuarr
I think all you can do as a designer is get the basic idea across in a 5 second read. Beyond that, it is a partnership between the end user and the site content to answer those questions.

Personally, I don't want all your questions answered on the first page. If your issue is that you couldn't find the FAQ then you are nit-picking.

foulmouthboy
Fair enough. As far as a main issue, what I should have articulated before is that the calls to action are poorly defined. I don't think it's nitpicking to say that most users aren't going to bother to scroll down or to control-F to find a FAQ if their personal 5 second read isn't as informative as someone else's.

It's not immediately obvious what you're supposed to do when you want somebody's service. When you click through, it's not obvious what you're getting when you click the bid button. A moment of panic sets in when I push the button and give some random price expecting some extra verification step and instead I suddenly think I might be on the hook for a $100 haircut.

breck
good points. we may add a better FAQ at the top of the page.

What does it take to bid on somebody?

just an account. we manually monitor any questionable bids and will definitely have issues here with fake bids etc. but will improve this as we run into them.

Do I need a credit card?

No. However, many providers allow you to pay them online using a CC.

If somebody has a city listed, does that mean they can only perform their task within that city? Within 50 miles of the city? Do I go to them?

We need to do a better job at this but in some cases yes, in some cases no. We'll try and get providers to list better details on the location of service field.

Can I cancel a bid? Etc. etc.

Hmm, not yet, but we'll develop this policy tonight.

Thanks!

Barnabas
I don't know why this is, but personally I think making friendly URLs is a mark of attention to detail. So, with a little htaccess kung foo, you could make links that look like this: http://www.jobpic.com/auction/35 and http://www.jobpic.com/profile/38 instead of http://www.jobpic.com/auction.php?id=35 and http://www.jobpic.com/profile.php?id=38. Better to do this sooner than later.

I like the JS load category, but it should at least be linkable. See: http://plugins.jquery.com/project/history

breck
> I like the JS load category, but it should at least be linkable. See: http://plugins.jquery.com/project/history

Wow thanks! Didn't know this plugin existed. I will add that.

As for the friendly urls, we're doing short urls for everything(just profiles right now, about to roll out for every page), as opposed to the /auction/35 style.

I am not sure where I stand on friendly urls(unless you are going for SEO in which they are key). Facebook, for instance, does .php?id style urls.

huhtenberg
It is a good concept, but the site really needs some sort of a reputation system. Or at the very least a way to look at people's previous work.

Take this entry for example - http://www.jobpic.com/auction.php?id=99 - $25 for a business card design is like 1c for a hotdog. Makes me suspicious what it was made of :) Also I suspect that if I win the auction, these $25 won't motivate this person to actually do a decent job. So unless I can look at the track record of the submitter, I will not even bother entering the auction.

breck
Great points. Reviews and reputation is one of the very next things to roll out(will be pushed live very soon).
dimarco
Searching by City would be pretty clutch. Nice site, though.
breck
Agreed. That's one of the most requested featured. We're redesigning the homepage now with that up front. Thanks!
proee
Change the sort order of the "End Date" for listings. Since it's an auction style site, let me see the listing that is "about to end" at the very top, not waaaaay down at the bottom.

Looks good!

breck
Changing now. We had it list auctions by newest listed but by ending soon seems to make more sense. Thanks!
jakecarpenter
I think your concept is sound, but I'll second the addition of a reputation system. Also, you're front page needs to let me know whats going on. If you cut down the number of auctions on the front page (maybe by only show the most active, which might also allow you to show just the best auctions), you'll have some room for a brief description of the site.
breck
Looks like we're getting a lot of requests for a better frontpage with a clearer description and better navigation. We'll move that up the priority list.

Thanks Jake!

joshuarr
I like it, but already think of it as elance for people without marketable skills. That's probably just because the user population is low, but when the front page is littered with auctions like 'learn how to bake a cake' or 'make a cornhole toss board' I have to wonder about the usability here. I'm hardly interested in scrolling through a random list of services provided by amateurs.

I think a better method would be to put emphasis on the different types of services, and build some competition among the providers in different niches.

The site design is pretty decent, but there are some usability issues that could be improved. For instance, the Polaroid panel on the profile pages is not working for me. The persons auctions should be front and center somewhere on the profile - not parenthetically hidden behind the portfolios. Moreover, the large red button floating all alone by itself that says BID... when you click on it you are shown the auctions, not bidding. Did you not have enough room to make the button say, 'view this user's auctions'? Probably not. Also, when you click bid, the title of the page reads 'Bid on <username>'. Technically I'm not bidding on a user, I'm biding on one of their auctions. All this could be fixed by placing multiple bid buttons after the auction description.

All in all, it's got potential, but there are a lot of loose ends.

breck
thanks Josh. this is really, really good feedback. we definitely need to get more service providers on there and we are pounding the pavement now to do it.
joshuarr
To reiterate, I don't think it being a matter of not-enough-services. I think its a matter of organization. Put the cake teaching lesson under cooking or something.

I would probably focus the home page on 6 or 8 primary categories with four or five providers underneath and/or current trending auctions. So under Creative I'd see a few different people or auctions, and would be able to go into the creative section. The random list of everything isn't helping me. Basically copy (by which I mean improve upon) eBay and eLance - focus your first hit on the categories, since the categories represent broader needs.

(Also, I'm sure this is just not finished, but the auctions are only sortable by end time. But clicking on end time doesn't resort the list.)

breck
Got it. Great, thanks! We have to go do our Demo Day pitch right now but we'll get on this stuff asap.

Thanks!

benatkin
I don't think that photos are the best way to choose who to hire, unless their appearance has something directly to do with their jobs. I would rather be pitched first, and then see the extraneous information, or not find out the extraneous information at all until I contact someone.
UpFromTheGut
I like the design. I knew immediately what it was. It might be nice to be able to list a job that I need done as well, instead of hunting for a someone that I think could do it.