Ask HN: Business case for a trusted, privacy-respecting webshop 'proxy' company
In a world where online privacy is next to non-existing and your shopping habits are sold all over the place, I wonder if there is a business model for 'anonymous proxy' companies, where you do the shopping at your favourite online webshops, but handle actual ordering, payment and final delivery to your home via the proxy company, who guarantee your privacy for a small additional fee, or subscription charge.
Maybe this exists already. The difficulty would be in offering a good usability (how do you get that Amazon product you want in your local shopping basket).
Such a company would have the same due-dilligence requirements as any webshop and validate your payment method (which could be any method, like iDeal, and even credit card, where the payment processor doesn't get to see the exact order details, but a 'proxied order').
When I first asked on the thread there were concerns about the privacy guarantee, but there is the issue of trust in any business transaction. Why am I using ProtonMail/VPN? Because they have privacy + security as their primary USP and it is reflected in their business (transparency, privacy policies, compliance, certification, etc.). They work hard to earn and keep my trust, and I pay them to do just that.
This case would be no different. The proxy webshop would act as a VPN, but now for online shopping.
I am no expert but probably you can let your company be audited by some trusted party on adherence to privacy promises and prove that you comply.
Having that they can keep my data in storage for as long my government requires by law.
Maybe this idea is entirely naive, but I'd greatly value your input and thoughts on the matter.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17881157