RE: Steemit and Other Crypto-Social Venues as Commercial Outlets for Artists
Yes, I hope more brave people open up their own little niche markets here on the blockchain. The more choices and bargains, the more sales, the more customers, the better the economy, and maybe even the steem value will go up.
Last week, I was trying unsuccessfully to buy something on Amazon. Found the item I wanted. It was in stock. There was no buy button. I was very confused, why I could only find links to start a 30-day free Amazon Prime.
After more research, I found out there is a lot of manipulation by Amazon on which customers get the best deals, and which sellers get to have their products available to be sold. It's a very unfair system governed by the corporation. Long story short, I found out the product I wanted was only available to be sold to Prime customers. Screw that! I found it for sale locally, and felt better for saving myself money on shipping and time waiting for delivery, and wasted interaction asking question to a bad customer service department.
Well, I'm certainly going to attempt to carve out my little niche here... and perhaps use the additional "tool" that if you buy something with cryptos, it's actually cheaper than with fiat... thereby upping the incentive.
I don't much care for Amazon, precisely because they use various types of "entrapment" to build their sales. You experience is definitely not unique. As an occasional seller through Amazon handmade, I am also not that impressed... because I am not willing to offer "will ship it YESTERDAY, for FREE" options... I lose visibility. Sorry, if I'm expected to offer free overnight shipping, I might as well flush $20 bills down the toilet.
The other thing that troubles me with places like eBay is their "creeping" return policy. It used to be "a week," then "two weeks," then "a month," and now they are pushing for a "two month" return policy as "standard."
WTF? Why don't we just FORGET about selling things, and instead call it "rent a product for as long as you feel like it, for free, with free shipping!" instead?