Advice re: how to create a website like 'Pre-loved'?
Discussion
I am a relative web design/ web hosting novice and would appreciate advice on how to quickly create a simpler version of the Pre-loved website?
A free platform where members of the public can upload photos of household items they want to trade or sell (i.e. Consumer to consumer). It will be different to Gumtree or Pre-loved as it will be targeting a very specific market. Possible advertising revenue in the future.
All input appreciated!
A free platform where members of the public can upload photos of household items they want to trade or sell (i.e. Consumer to consumer). It will be different to Gumtree or Pre-loved as it will be targeting a very specific market. Possible advertising revenue in the future.
All input appreciated!
Actually building a site like pre-loved is pretty simple for even an average web developer. In fact I'd be surprised if you couldn't cobble something together with Wordpress and a few plugins as a rough version 1.
The hardest thing would be the marketing side. It's hard enough if you have to bring one type of users to a website (usually buyers), but if you have a website with a two sided market (buyers and sellers) then you've more than double your work. I say more than because you have the paradox of not getting any buyers until you have sellers advertising and you won't get sellers until you have buyers buying stuff.
The hardest thing would be the marketing side. It's hard enough if you have to bring one type of users to a website (usually buyers), but if you have a website with a two sided market (buyers and sellers) then you've more than double your work. I say more than because you have the paradox of not getting any buyers until you have sellers advertising and you won't get sellers until you have buyers buying stuff.
The website is second to the marketing for this project, the site is feasible in one form or another whilst the marketing makes me shiver such a daunting task it would be (for daunting read expensive) the only reasonable way I can think of to get it going is with a thunderclap (or 10) and then that drives traffic will you have anything for the traffic to see / buy / want?
Good luck
Good luck
wax lyrical said:
A free platform where members of the public can upload photos of household items they want to trade or sell (i.e. Consumer to consumer). It will be different to Gumtree or Pre-loved as it will be targeting a very specific market
In what way is this different to the eleventy billion social media buy&sell pages? Monetization aside, what can your putative web platform offer that isn't already available on Facebook for free?jammy-git said:
Actually building a site like pre-loved is pretty simple for even an average web developer. In fact I'd be surprised if you couldn't cobble something together with Wordpress and a few plugins as a rough version 1.
The hardest thing would be the marketing side. It's hard enough if you have to bring one type of users to a website (usually buyers), but if you have a website with a two sided market (buyers and sellers) then you've more than double your work. I say more than because you have the paradox of not getting any buyers until you have sellers advertising and you won't get sellers until you have buyers buying stuff.
this.The hardest thing would be the marketing side. It's hard enough if you have to bring one type of users to a website (usually buyers), but if you have a website with a two sided market (buyers and sellers) then you've more than double your work. I say more than because you have the paradox of not getting any buyers until you have sellers advertising and you won't get sellers until you have buyers buying stuff.
I could build a site like that using wordpress in under an hour. Could be done with other platforms just as easily, or easier.
[wordpress]It's just an ecommerce addon, for which there are many, something like woocommerce would get you all that functionality, which is manly just an item for sale, with many different attirbutes to select so it can appear in various categories.
personally I would use something like magento, as wordpress can be a bit slow, and I always hated trying to find addons that do multiple filters well.
Marketting and SEO will be incredibly difficult. Your direct competitors are not just pre-loved, but ebay and amazon.
wax lyrical said:
Thanks for responses so far, guys. I actually want a website a lot more sophisticated and elegant looking than a standard 'Wordpress' jobby, so I think I might not be able to do it myself?
Or are there any really good web design / plugin packages that will help?
Well Wordpress can do just about anything you want, its the most popular platform in the world for websites. Or are there any really good web design / plugin packages that will help?
and having cobbled it together, you have two scenarios:
- no visitors = website copes = failure with no visitors
- lots of visitors = website success, but website falls over = failure!
i.e. if you want something like pre-loved which scales then it will not be done cheaply!
if you want a commercial end result then build a business plan and look at the real cost of coding it / supporting it / maintaining it / updating it / dealing with users / etc. - and then see whether the numbers stack up (probably not!)
- no visitors = website copes = failure with no visitors
- lots of visitors = website success, but website falls over = failure!
i.e. if you want something like pre-loved which scales then it will not be done cheaply!
if you want a commercial end result then build a business plan and look at the real cost of coding it / supporting it / maintaining it / updating it / dealing with users / etc. - and then see whether the numbers stack up (probably not!)
It's all been covered above, but before you do anything which takes time/money stick up a pre-registration type page "Pre-Owned Coming Soon" with a capture for details of launch etc.
Then get people to go to it. If you can't get them to it you just saved yourself a wad of time/money. If you can, congratulations, the millions are just around the corner. Maybe.
Then get people to go to it. If you can't get them to it you just saved yourself a wad of time/money. If you can, congratulations, the millions are just around the corner. Maybe.
So if I create a website using the Wordpress 'Classified engine', how do I choose the correct hosting site so that it can be scaled up easily when traffic increases?
I think you can tell I'm a bit of a novice at all of this!
But ask me about international corporate taxation and transfer pricing and I'm your man...
I think you can tell I'm a bit of a novice at all of this!
But ask me about international corporate taxation and transfer pricing and I'm your man...
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