Show HN: Craft.ly | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Craft.ly

craft.ly

10 pointslevirosol18 comments

We hatched this idea of a Kickstarter + Groupon + Etsy model last week, threw up a super simple landing page that day, then launched a more detailed landing page last night. What do you think of the idea as a whole? The landing page itself?

Since the Etsy / crafting world is so large and diverse, we're really trying to focus on the sharing of our site to get the word out. We are doing some minimal google ads and will be doing various tests to see what brings in the best traffic and converts the best.

Interestingly enough, good old fashioned twitter searching with hand authored tweets has had a super successful conversion rate. Well above 50%.

Anyways, there it is in all it's glory. We are very much interested in ideas for bringing in traffic, and increasing conversions.

Thanks!

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4 pages with various e-mail forms does not a good "Show HN" make :/

edit to not be too snarky: I expected an actually working site, not a web 2.0-style "we're in beta, enter your e-mail address to be included in our private beta!" page

snarkyness aside :)

what do you mean? I'm ultimately looking for feedback / questions on the idea based on the info provided in the site. Should i have named the HN post something different than Show HN? I read HN a lot and it seems there's no 100% right way to put your idea / product in front HN.

but yeah, feedback is what I'm after. Not to show of a launched product.

You have very little to show - this looks more like an attempt to get signups, honestly. If you have any real questions, you might want to add those. (For instance, "what (not) to do when offering your own pseudo-money" might be a good topic.) The business model seems odd to me, too, but I hope you have thought about that already...

I guess it comes down to what people expect from a "ShowHN" style post. I want to say that ShowHN posts have been, for the large part, requests for feedback on completed sites.

If you need responses on the validity of your idea, a simple AskHN with the outline of your idea would probably have yielded better results. I had a similar reaction to Joachim, eg "this looks more like an attempt to get signups"

Thanks for that response, and I think you're right.

live and learn right? :)

Getting paid up front is key for dealing with micro-businesses, so that's good. But I have a hard time believing that "crafty" and "high volume" mesh on any level.

Crafty businesses are homespun, bespoke businesses that rely on charm and a personal touch. Group buying single-handedly destroys that. Crafters are also very protective of their personal brands and would be very averse to doing anything that might lead to angry/disappointed customers.

So, I don't see this taking off. Have you talked to any crafters about this? Can you allay these types of concerns? And what types of handmade products lend themselves to being made in short timelines and high volumes?

Help me understand your definition of "high volume". Based on the conversations we've had with crafters (admittedly, few and people we know at this point) we're talking volume on the scale of 10-20 items. Not 100's or even 1000's.

We will be talking with more crafters before solidifying the model.

Further backing this is the ability that Etsy and other craft selling sites give to their users for indicating a quantity.

As for products, it absolutely depends on the crafter. Items made with a pattern will work great. Knitted items, quilted items, wooden crafts, metal crafts, etc are all good. Even photography. It ultimately boils down to the crafter being able to reproduce an item with consistent quality.

I'm interested, but...not really enough information on the site right now for a detailed critique. Is this going to be like the bastard love-child of Etsy and Groupon? How's it going to work?

See my reply to vyrotek below.

It's really more along the lines of Kickstart than Groupon in that you put a "listing" out to the public that has an end date, and people commit to buying during that time.

Ah, I see. Could be cool, as long as volume is limited to something the crafters can handle (as everyone else has noted already) and the lowest possible price is also something they can live with.

I signed up, for what it's worth, and would interested in it as a buyer.

Here's a problem I foresee: These groupon style sites do their business because these vendors make money due to the volume. Whether its return customers, or small margins adding together, or whatever, the whole reason vendors get involved is volume. So one question: will indy craftsfolk be able to handle the volume? If they get 1000 orders for their handmade leather wallet, seems like people will start to get pissed after month 2 of waiting.

absolutely agree. We not talking volumes of 1000's though. We're on the scale of 10-20. something your average crafter can accomplish (depending on the item of course) in a few days.

I don't know that we will put limits though. I mean, someone could print off 1000 paper bookmarks pretty easily.

In the end, our rating / award system should help drive sellers to not over commit. It's something we will have to deal with.

You're the 2nd or 3rd person to assume we're talking Groupon scale. I think we need to do a better job of indicating the scale we're targeting. :)

seems more like a niche kickstarter than groupon (to me at least)

Is this similar to those social clothing sites where everyone votes on a item that they would be willing to buy and is made available once it gets enough interest?

No. Those sites tend to be mass produced (like 1000's) type things.

The idea behind Craftly is to be a place that allows someone who, say, makes stocking caps by hand. They want to sell them, but don't want to invest a ton of time w/o committed buyers, and don't want to spend a day setting up a "store".

We plan to allow sellers to set tiers for their item. So for example, if 1-3 people want that hat, they pay $10. if 4-6, then the price drops to $9, 7-10 $8 and if more than 10 the price drops to $7.

Everyone who gets in on the deal gets the final price. So if your the 1st or the 15th, you'd get the $7 price in that example.

Does that help clarify?

A lot of the charm with crafts is being hand made and individual. Even if a craft maker can make and sell 1,000 popsicle stick men, there is still the illusion that each is unique and painstakingly made. When you present up front that "we're going to make a bunch of popsicle stick men", it kind of kills that, even if the same amount is being produced.

sure. We're not talking 1000's though. 10-20 is more realistic. Something your average crafter can create in a few days.

design looks nice, it'll be interesting to see how the site progresses

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