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Comment by shmatt | Hacker News Reader

So, craigslist?

Airbnbs biggest problem I see complained about online is the lack of customer service when your host cancels/you find a spy cam/the place looks nothing like in the photos

Im assuming in this case no income equals no paid customer support? Hard pass. People need support when traveling, and lots of it. I think what would attract more consumers next is some sort of marketplace that promises a human response ready to help you within X minutes

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We will charge fees in the future perhaps but it would still be less than airbnb.

Then it's "no fees for now". Which is different from "no fees".

Exactly, but funding can mean no fees to help onboard new customers for the first few years. As I get closer to Series C in 5-6 years, then yes low fees maybe likely but still less than airbnb.

> We will charge fees in the future perhaps

Hope you're going to be clear and upfront about this to your users, not hide it in the small print.

Because otherwise you're going to have lots of justifiably pissed off people posting severely negative reviews everywhere the day the paywall goes up.

Bait and switch is never a good look. You might get away with it if you are excruciatingly clear and upfront about it, I still wouldn't encourage it though.

Of course, this is early days, its only been a week, and this is only a demo to show investors for a seed round

Why do you believe you'll be able to charge less in fees? At this point you lack the economy of scale, which at least seems to suggest your fees could be higher for a period of time.

Could you share more of your thinking into costs & profitability?

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