Whether you’re a brand reseller, boutique owner, or someone who sells items online to generate extra income—you’ll likely find the selling process both time consuming and expensive (not to mention the hassle of high upfront promotion costs and fees).
Deals in real time; new iBuySell app puts twist on reverse auction
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For bargain hunters looking to shop their favorite designer fashion, apparel, jewelry, home or tech gadgets, the experience essentially mimics catalog shopping. There aren’t exactly tons of fun, engaging shopping platforms for buyers to find deals. The same goes for sellers who’d like to move inventory quickly and at a lower cost.
A new mobile marketplace called iBuySell is shaking things up a bit. Sites likes eBay, for example, kick off bidding with a low reserve price. From there, buyers bid their way higher and higher until the item is sold.
With iBuySell, the starting price falls every second, beginning the moment the sale goes live. The suspense builds until the fastest buyer snatches it up, with the price never dipping below the secret minimum price set by the seller.
In other words, there’s no bidding—instead, it’s the quickest buyer who snags the reward. Once they do, the item is considered sold.
“iBuySell combines shopping for incredible deals with a little fun and suspense, making it a more engaging experience,” says founder and CEO Kaustuva Mukherjee. “The buyer is always intrigued as to whether or not they’ll be the first one to get the item. Here, there are no hassles of bidding, and the entire live auction lasts for less than 90 seconds.”
Shoppers not only get to choose the price they’re willing to pay; they also experience a fun and engaging new way to shop.
The approach also helps sellers prominently showcase their products and move their inventory at a brisk pace—all while setting their own prices. With most online marketplaces, products get lost in a sea of competitors. Instead of establishing their brand to stand out, sellers are often cornered into paying high upfront promotion costs.
With iBuySell, sellers have the option of paying a flexible monthly fee that starts as low as $49. Alternatively, they can opt for a per-transaction fee that ranges anywhere from 10 to 15 percent. (It isn’t uncommon for competitors to charge 20 to 25 percent.).
All products are displayed in the seller’s closet. They can easily share their listings on social media with our easy-to-use app, helping them reach an even wider network of potential shoppers.
Shipping is easy with labels printed right from the app. And buyers can interact with sellers socially with ratings, comments and messages, making it a fun, social experience.
“There are no fees for listing an item and we encourage sellers to include their e-commerce website details in their profile to drive traffic to their existing business,” says Mukherjee. “Sellers are the backbone of our marketplace, and supporting them would also translate to benefits being passed on to the buyers.”
For brands, retailers and entrepreneurs, the platform represents an out-of-the-box way to build their businesses faster. And by driving sales and actively engaging their customers, the iBuySell model allows sellers to keep more of their profits without being slammed with outrageous upfront costs.
The beta version of the iBuySell app is slated to be released at the end of November, with free early access available to all users who sign up. To take it to the next level, Mukherjee and his team are hosting a crowdfunding campaign to help complete the app’s development.
Ready to get started with no-bidding, rapid-fire selling? Click here to get plugged into the marketplace and be entered to win $500 in shopping credits.
To learn more about iBuySell click here.
Support their crowdfunding campaign here.
