Right now, there are services that provide meta-listings to all of the other services that how to be the core classified system of the Internet. While auto dealers have picked up technology much faster than realtors, it seems like the systems are much more fragmented than the MLS.
Here's the key things that make us different than other marketplaces:
- We control the flow of funds. When a buyer purchases a part we place it in a holding account until the package has arrived successfully. This is designed to eliminate a lot of the seller fraud that occurs.
- We handle the shipping. Sellers need only identify the box they're going to place the part in. We then calculate the shipping costs, collect those funds from the buyer, and send shipping labels to the seller. At the moment, all they need to do is drop it off at the drop-off location. In the future we'll send the carrier to their house to pick up the package.
- We integrate with message boards, and provide them with a new revenue stream.
There are a number of other things that are unique to our segment and revolve around product categorization but other marketplaces do indeed do those things for their markets. The above three things I believe are unique to Styckyd.
For reference, to list a part on eBay Motors at the average value of a part in this market without any of their upgrades, and including PayPal fees it costs a seller about 13% to sell on eBay.
For buyers products purchased on Styckyd may end up being lower cost than on other sites. This is because we handle and pay for the shipping. When volume increases we will have the advantages of economies of scale and can pass savings in shipping costs to the end user. So selling on Styckyd would make it cheaper to the buyer than selling anywhere else (assuming the same sale value of the part).
With that said, we're not aiming to be the lowest priced.
Edit for clarity.