Show HN: Feedback on app/website http://zapaang.com

[NeoMtx]

I am looking for feedback from the community to see if this is something you would use. Zapaang arose out of a personal need where we had items lying around that we dont necessarily want to sell but would give it to friends or neighbors if we knew they were looking for something similar. We werent keen on posting about it on Facebook and spam our friends with things that we have for sale as our work friends might not be so interested in my used diaper genie for sale. Neither did we want to post on craigslist and having to deal with people we dont trust. Zapaang explores the idea of what if you had a way to list, share and invite people to view things that you know will be relevant to them. Zapaang banks on the trust factor by building on top of a user’s existing social circle on Facebook. Facebook groups is a logical extension to that group where a group of people with similar interests post messages relevant to that its members. We started off with a version of Zapaang where you can list, discover and interact with items posted by your facebook friends or shared with facebook groups you belong to. The app is available on the iPhone store and the Windows Phone marketplace. For more information you can visit http://zapaang.com

[wareagle920]

Why did you choose to support Windows Phone instead of Android? With limited resources it seems like a waste of time for such a small percentage of market share.

That being said, I don't think the concept is as bad as others are making it out to be. As a college student, I know TONS of people who sell everything from textbooks to notes (might be a good pivot). Problem is, with the introduction of groups for universities, we have preset groups for stuff like this.

One thing I am worried about is a potential spam to groups that I'm in, which would only make me resent your project.

Good luck!

[NeoMtx]

Students and moms are the exact focus group for this app. We decided to support Windows Phone for couple of reasons. - Prevalence of Windows Phones. Dont laugh but I am in Seattle and with tons of Microsoft employees most of our beta user base had them. - Android dev cost. Between screen resolutions, ramp up on environment etc I decided on punting this for now. We are planning on outsourcing this app to a vendor (the API's and UX would be very comparable to iPhone so that part is covered)

Since you are a student, would you mind if I contacted you for testing this among your friends? When you say a group exists, does that mean a groups outside of facebook?

[wareagle920]

Sorry for the late response! I don't really sell anything among my friends, but I may be able to find some beta testers!

And the student groups link: http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/facebook-refocuses...

Sorry for the crappy article, it's what Google brought up!

[NeoMtx]

Can you shoot me your email address to support at zapaang dot com?

[shail]

Its a difficult market to crack I guess. Selling stuff which you don't use is a task which requires lots of discipline (its like keeping your backyard clean). You're trying to build a business on top of people's habit of avoiding to do such things. Kind of dangerous.

Though I m curious about few things. You have a webapp, an iphone and a windows app. Thats a lot of development (correct me if I am wrong). How much effort did it take (team size and timeframe) to get this done. If you are fine sharing.

[NeoMtx]

we are a team of 2 with me doing most of the tech work in addition to use case. Working on this on weekends and evenings its been almost 8 months worth of effort.

[koopajah]

What about the YCS11 company Yardsale https://www.getyardsale.com/ ? What are your main differences compared to what they offer?

[NeoMtx]

YardSale came up while we were in progress and I take it as a validation of the problem space we are trying to address. YardSale makes craigslist posting easier by virtue of an app and adds viral component by sharing with facebook friends and twitter. But thats a wall post to all your friends and like one comment mentioned not all my friends are interested in all my items.

[NeoMtx]

Clickable. http://zapaang.com

[rorrr]

If somebody wants to sell something used, why do you think they would choose facebook? Craigslist or Ebay are infinitely more likely.

[NeoMtx]

Fair question and the answer to that is trust/convenience. There are people who dont want the hassle of dealing with strangers by posting to Craigslist. The trust factor is just not there. I have personal things that I will not put on ebay at all because its not that high price of an item to sell. I am part of a sport club where we routinely give off old equipment or sell things if we bought extra or bought the wrong size. We think what if you had a convenient place to list and share such items. next time someone joins a club looking for used gear or new family moves in to the neighbor hood, one can point them to Zapaang app where items shared with the community fb group or club fb group is visible.

[rorrr]

I'm not buying your answer. I've never heard of any of my friends selling or buying anything on Facebook. Craigslist is their #1 choice. I buy a shit ton of random stuff on Ebay. I bought pretty much all of my sports equipment on Craigslist.

I don't even understand the idea of selling to friends - what are the chances of them wanting to buy it? It's such a small demographic compared to what you get on CL or Ebay.

I think you're solving a problem that doesn't exist, and you've convinced yourself that you are solving a problem.

[NeoMtx]

Facebook friends is a small part of the social graph. There is a graph of people who are not your direct friends but share similar interests by virtue of belonging to a group. This aims to tap in to that graph. Thanks for providing your opinion and to be fair we have considered those points. We will never compete with Ebay and Craigslist and for the target market that are successful in selling/buying items there this definitely will not be appealing. Is there a pool of people who would rather put stuff on a virtual garage sale as opposed to a craigslist post? if such a pool exists then this idea would sound appealing. We might be targeting a super niche market and valuable feedback like yours helps us understand how niche that is.

[NeoMtx]

Another target audience is kids buying text books. If a freshman had a place to see all books shared with a study/dorm/sorority facebook group, wouldnt that be more beneficial/cheaper than buying off Craigslist or Ebay? Would he choose to check in that place before looking at the other sites? If the answer is a "maybe" or "yes" then we would love to explore that.