I was working in eCommerce as a programmer for a few years and I wanted to start my own store. There was nothing that I couldn't do about it; I could program an online shop, I could be doing some marketing, I could rent a stockroom...
My biggest concern was that all of the above is connected with some cost and therefore with some risk.
How to eliminate that risk? That was the question my brain seemed to be stuck on. I couldn't just start a project like an online shop without being sure about what to sell, having a supply chain for that and the space to keep a stock.
A few months ago a friend of mine told me about openbazaar and at first I found it to be a great idea but was not as impressed as I should have been. With openbazaar there are no fees. Even though you could host openbazaar on your local computer, the only thing you probably should pay for is a server to host your store on to make it available to the public even if your computer is off the internet. FYI: there are servers for as little $5/Month that can run an instance of openbazaar using only thier little fingers.
I had the chance to eliminate that risk by hosting on a server that belongs to a friend of mine. We came to an agreement that grants him a kind of commission on the success of the store, which is great for both of us!
So that basically eliminated my concerns about the costs for the distribution channel. That left me with just the problem of what to sell and who to get it from. Well, fortunately I have a lot of friends!
Some friend of mine like to craft little things in their spare time. They like to make dream catchers, bracelets and all kind of things that conveniently could ship in just a letter. That obviously cought my attention and I spoke to a few of them and proposed to upload their crafts to my openbazaar and handle the orders for them. They can offer their product to a larger audience and I get a commission on that. On top of that, if they craft their products, store them until someone orders them and then bring them to the mail, that eliminates completely my need for a stockroom !
Given that I wanted to invest in bitcoin anyway, the fact that openbazaar uses btc as a base currency is perfect for me too. Before I had to buy btc from ATMs with 5% fees on the 24h average price or on platform like bitsquare where you also end up paying a lot if you are not a skilled trader. Having a supply of btc just coming in makes my life as an investor much easier. I can pay my crafter firends with cash and therefore buy btc for exactly the 24h average price.
Right now there is only one test product on my store. I am looking forward to upload a lot more in the near future and just see where it gets me and my friends. I sense it's going to be an interesting journey even if we don't make any money. It's risk free for us after all :D
What do you think about openbazaar? Have you used it or did you even know about it before this article?
Please let me know!
Seeya,
Piscary
I am a bit of a fan of OpenBazaar, really great network, can't wait to see that TOR integration in the coming months as 2.0 is on the way. Is your store down?
Yeah TOR and IPFS! It's going to be awesome :D
My store should be up.. i did't take it down anyway.. :)