Craigslist-Style Marketplace on Steemit: Better, Safer, Global...We All Want This

Proposal

We can start designing a marketplace to run on Steemit right now today, that would out-compete Craigslist in just about every area in the long run.

How would it work?

• WTS/WTB posts denominated in SBD with shipping costs included, tagged with “marketplace”.  

“WTS 2010 PRS semi hollow body electric guitar w case, like new $700 SBD shipped”

• An agreement would be met by the buyer and seller agreeing on the terms and then tagging the eligible escrow providers to respond.  

“That’s awesome!  I am 100% sold on this.  @cryptoctopus can you help us out here?”

•  The escrow would review the terms of the exchange and verify it as legitimate to the best of their abilities.  If it checks out, they would direct the two parties to the preferred method of communication for the exchange of shipping details.  In the future we will likely be able to do private messaging right here, but for now we will need to seek other ways via email, slack, twitter, or other social media platforms. 

“Wow, I want one of these.  Ok guys this all looks good, send me the SBD.”

• For their efforts and as an incentive to become an escrow, I propose a flat 1% escrow fee to keep the marketplace as simple and cheap as possible.  I also propose a 10% insurance fee from the seller to cover the buyer for any return shipping costs if there are any issues.

“Buyer sends 707 SBD to @cryptoctopus - Thanks, man!  I can’t wait.”

"Seller sends 70 SBD to @cryptoctopus - I’ll get it out soon!”

• The seller would then be responsible for providing the tracking number in a reasonable amount of time to the other parties.

“UPS XN78089709.  Should get it on Friday!  Perfect timing for the weekend!”

• Upon receipt the buyer would inspect the item and let the parties know if there are any issues within a reasonable amount of time.  If all is good after receiving confirmation from the buyer, the escrow would send 770 SBD to the seller and keep 7 SBD for their efforts.

“Hey man, this guitar has a giant scratch on it, I want a refund.”

• If there is an issue the two parties would bring their dispute to the escrow.  If the escrow sides with the buyer, then they will be responsible for shipping the product back to the seller.  The seller would verify the receipt of the package and if everything checks out with them there, then the escrow would send 770 SBD to the buyer.

“This is bullshit.  This scratch wasn’t there when I shipping it!”

• In the unlikely event that there are further issues at this point, the escrow would once again need to step in and review the situation.  Pictures and evidence from both parties would likely need to be submitted at this point.  After making a determination, the escrow would then decide how to split up the money.

“Well, I’m leaning towards the buyer on this one.  However you guys haven’t produced enough evidence either way, so I’ll send 170 SBD to the seller to help cover any costs to repair to scratch and 600 SB to the buyer.  Do both parties agree?”

• Mediation would occasionally be called in via another trusted escrow.  In order to be called in to mediate, the “appealing” party would need to send a .5% fee (of the original transaction) to the new escrow to review.

“OK.  I looked everything over, and I have to agree with @cryptoctopus on this one.  The ruling stands.”

• The dissenting party could then continue calling in escrows, with the fee increasing by 3 times every time, .5% to 1.5% to 4.5% to 13.5%, etc.  This would discourage a dissenting party from wasting people’s time and help to ensure a relatively quick settlement.

“I’ve been through 3 additional escrows.  This is insane.  I am going to pay more on mediation than I was going to on the unscratched guitar.  This has been awful.”

• While I hope situations like these never happen, they are bound to occur here and there as the platform and marketplace grows.  People will simply need to be responsible for their SBD and the transactions they choose to make with them.  

We can try to have as many safeguards built into something like this as possible, but the biggest safeguard Steemit has built into it is our reputations.  The more we build our reputations and our Steem Power, the more we have a vested interest to be honest participants on the site.  Sure, there will still be scamming to some degree, but the system proposed here and the Steemit platform itself can be the answer we are looking for.

How would one become an eligible escrow?

Escrow providers can theoretically be anyone, but I propose that we compile a list of longtime community members who would consider volunteering for the role to start.  We would start by targeting long-tenured people with loads of Steem Power who are active participants on the site, as they have the most interest in keeping their reputations pristine.  Having a vlog, twitter, facebook, and anything else posted will help their case as we can confirm they’re real, if we couldn’t already.  Once we get to 10 confirmed volunteers, who the community feels can be the faces of this project we can open the markets.

As the markets grows, the demand for escrows will rise.  Every so often we will open up another round of review for new candidates.  After another 10 escrows are confirmed, a post will be made to confirm their status as confirmed eligible escrows alongside all of the previously confirmed eligible escrows.  This process will continue as needed.

Escrows can leave their role at any time and they can also be red-flagged by the community.  If a post by a dissenting consumer is supported by strong community voices, a review process will be initiated by the other 9 escrows.  It will take 66% or more of their votes to revoke the escrow provider’s status as eligible.  A post would be made updating the community of their status, along with the initiation of a another escrow screening process.

Why Even Bother?

We don’t really even know at this point what Steemit will ultimately become.  It has the potential to have many different faces and fill many different niches.  People buy and sell stuff on craigslist all the time.  Sure, a lot of the sales are local, so that disputes can be negotiated on the spot, but Steemit provides us with an opportunity to expand the basic Craigslist model by incorporating Steemit reputations and an emergent trusted escrow system.  This will enable a global market, while simultaneously giving the Steemit community an immediate real world use case for their Steem and SBD.

That would be huge.

Steem on!

PS - I'm not sure of the legal ramifications of all of this.  I am not a lawyer, nor am I giving legal advice.  Please check your local laws and regulations before participating in this experiment.  Thanks!

PSS - I did this post late last night and am copy-pasting-posting it while at work during the day in the hopes it will get more traffic.  I will be back on later tonight after work, to add to the discussion that will hopefully take place.