@chameleon54 wrote:I suppose it gets down to what you classify as a business. If it is simply an entity that buys stuff to onsell and make a profit, many of these platforms could sustain a business.
If the intention is to buy stuff to sell at a profit which MAKES REASONABLE $$$$ PER HOUR, then it is very difficult to run viable businesses on these other platforms. The huge advantage ebay has over notice board style sites is the inbuilt efficiency. In the majority of sales, buyers purchase items and pay for them without any communication at all. This is highly efficient and results in productive use of a sellers time.
I was actually thinking in slightly different terms, although when I referenced business, I was pretty much just thinking of a business like mine - list / sell items, often little to no direct communication with a buyer needed (size / profit margins were irrelevant to that). There are set-ups that will facilitate that kind of selling on FB, but they are third-party extensions (or apps, or whatever you want to call them) and usually cost $$
.... But, efficiency is kind of in the eye of the beholder business - Facebook would have the potential to be extremely efficient for service-based businesses, think freelance graphic designer as one example, since a page can be set up as the point of contact, network, advertising centre and portfolio.
I'm a little more hesitant than some when thinking about the future potential of FB as a marketplace though, particularly if they introduced a fully integrated listing and onsite purchase/payment system. Namely, because people didn't really join Facebook to buy stuff. I know while it's predominantly peer-to-peer, the popularity is pretty high, but if it became a genuine competitor to eBay (in terms of a fully-fledged marketplace), I suspect Facebook itself could lose some of its appeal, depending on how it's implemented.
eg People do join eBay to buy things, and still get annoyed at all the spam and advertising from a site where you can pretty much only buy or sell things. They get annoyed at having to wade through countless listings for the same things and so on, so FB would need to work out how to maximise the marketplace without allowing it to intrude on the site's main or original purpose (JMHO). I know I very much dislike the targeted advertising that appears in my newsfeed, and the fact that I can't turn it off and so on, so I think they (Facebook) have a finer line to walk than a site that was always dedicated to ecommerce.
That's also why I think if Pinterest play their cards right, they could seriously be the better option - there is a social aspect, for sure, but it's by and large a visual site, and has become the place where people share photos of the things they love, things they made (and tutorials for them), and link to things they want to buy... For a business like mine, where I could integrate all of those things with what I sell, I'm pretty much just sitting here waiting for the day Pinterest agrees with me about their potential. 
@digital*ghost wrote:
@chameleon54 wrote:I suppose it gets down to what you classify as a business. If it is simply an entity that buys stuff to onsell and make a profit, many of these platforms could sustain a business.
If the intention is to buy stuff to sell at a profit which MAKES REASONABLE $$$$ PER HOUR, then it is very difficult to run viable businesses on these other platforms. The huge advantage ebay has over notice board style sites is the inbuilt efficiency. In the majority of sales, buyers purchase items and pay for them without any communication at all. This is highly efficient and results in productive use of a sellers time.
I was actually thinking in slightly different terms, although when I referenced business, I was pretty much just thinking of a business like mine - list / sell items, often little to no direct communication with a buyer needed (size / profit margins were irrelevant to that). There are set-ups that will facilitate that kind of selling on FB, but they are third-party extensions (or apps, or whatever you want to call them) and usually cost $$
.... But, efficiency is kind of in the eye of the
beholderbusiness - Facebook would have the potential to be extremely efficient for service-based businesses, think freelance graphic designer as one example, since a page can be set up as the point of contact, network, advertising centre and portfolio.
I'm a little more hesitant than some when thinking about the future potential of FB as a marketplace though, particularly if they introduced a fully integrated listing and onsite purchase/payment system. Namely, because people didn't really join Facebook to buy stuff. I know while it's predominantly peer-to-peer, the popularity is pretty high, but if it became a genuine competitor to eBay (in terms of a fully-fledged marketplace), I suspect Facebook itself could lose some of its appeal, depending on how it's implemented.
eg People do join eBay to buy things, and still get annoyed at all the spam and advertising from a site where you can pretty much only buy or sell things. They get annoyed at having to wade through countless listings for the same things and so on, so FB would need to work out how to maximise the marketplace without allowing it to intrude on the site's main or original purpose (JMHO). I know I very much dislike the targeted advertising that appears in my newsfeed, and the fact that I can't turn it off and so on, so I think they (Facebook) have a finer line to walk than a site that was always dedicated to ecommerce.
That's also why I think if Pinterest play their cards right, they could seriously be the better option - there is a social aspect, for sure, but it's by and large a visual site, and has become the place where people share photos of the things they love, things they made (and tutorials for them), and link to things they want to buy... For a business like mine, where I could integrate all of those things with what I sell, I'm pretty much just sitting here waiting for the day Pinterest agrees with me about their potential.
I agree 100% about Pinterest. My products are fun to look at, and each one is different. I also pride myself on my photos, so I recently set up a Pinterest account for my business, and made some boards. I'm amazed at the amount of people who are saving my pins. This hasn't translated into sales, and I don't know if it will, but I figured that it couldn't hurt to put photos of my products out there for as many people as possible to see.
