The idea was to utilize the fact that we had an ever growing number of people visiting our social media site (AVforum) and basically place more bargaining power in the hands of our members.
Our first concept trials were quite successful, programmed in HTML and basically just registering orders on a particular item within a limited period of time.
However, we did run into a major issue as we got mixed into a bad situation where a fraudulent employee with one of the sellers operating over the PowerBuy-system falsified the signature of his boss and gained access to the bank. He transferred all the money from the PowerBuy-customers that was pre-paid and put the entire company at bankruptcy. We actually compensated the buyers ourselves out of our own pocket in order to try to save the rumour, but even still; people were sceptical.
Instead of just giving up we invested some 10.000 hours of work (in India) and made out an entire new platform that featured fully automated processes including a very nice escrow service that made sure the sellers did not get any payment until the goods were actually delivered. The system functioned quite fine, and we managed to sell about 6 mill NOK worth of goods over this service.
However, the system did need some further development to make the process even smoother and the cost of the escrow-service was very high. After a while we simply did not have the resources available to continue development, and in 2010 we stopped working on the service and it slowly died down.
The PowerBuy-label is trademarked in the EU and we still want to give this concept a go! If we do manage to get AVforum.com up and running, the system might do very well in the US. There is still a lot of work left to give the service a sufficiently seamless GUI, and we also need to find a new escrow partner. If you do feel this project is of interest for you, please contact us for further discussions. We will supply our existing platform, the knowhow and administrate the development process alone or in co-operation with our partner. The potential is huge if a system that actually can offer a wide variety of items from sellers from all over the world to buyers all over the world "live", while taking transporting costs into account as well as limitated purchasing windows. Securing the transaction using escrow and making sure that feedback systems stop sellers that behave inappopriate is also important elements to secure the success of such a concept.
The system functioned quite fine, and we managed to sell about 6 mill NOK worth of goods over this service.
This service would basically use the same layout as the "myHomeCinema" and "myHiFi"-services (part of the AVforum-platform) to allow users to present their "cribs" and have them rated. In order to generate income we could try to make out an affiliate deal with airbnb and other rental services, basically working as a community generated marketing platform that would benefit both the members as well as ourselves.
If you believe such a concept might be of interest, pleast contact us for further discussions!
...to allow users to present their "cribs" and have them rated.
DIY home construction is on the ever increase, and our idea is to utilize the platform developed for AVforum to host a community concerning all things related to building a new home, fixing an existing one, redecorating, landscaping and on and on.
If you believe this might be a promising segment for you to invest some time and money into, please do not hesitate to contact us for further discussions.
...all things related to building a new home, fixing an existing one, redecorating, landscaping...
Once upon a time we really wanted to make this service a reality; an online custom tailer service where you do the measurements yourself and have a tailor in Thailand or another low cost country make out the perfect suit - just for you! After a lot of discussions with local tailors and an assessment of what was required to make this a reality we postponed this project until further notice.
We still believe there is a great potential in these kinds of services. Also, modern 3D scanning technology makes it possible to do the required measurements automatically and at a very low cost.
If you do believe this is a concept you could consider investing in, contact us for further discussions!
Also, modern 3D scanning technology makes it possible to do the required measurements automatically and at a very low cost.
my3dcreator.com - upload 3D files, have them printed and drop shipped at your doorstep
minreise.no / reiseforum.no - local Norwegian travel community allowing members to share their experiences, pictures and so on.
