Steem Shop - buy or sell anything with steem!
For some time now I have been considering how to encourage the use of Steem as a form of payment not only with companies already accepting Bitcoin, but with all the others too.
This is no small task, given the average persons understanding of crytocurrency and its benefits.
The Solution
It seems to me that we need a website dedicated to buying and selling everything you can imagine… with Steem as its method of payment.
Knowing very little about how one goes about designing such a thing, I am clearly not in a position to make this happen.
I am however in a position to start a steemit account with the same functionality.
Steem Shop
The account is called @steemshop
Its primary function will be to enable Steemit users to buy & sell goods of all kinds, using the Steem in their wallets without having to leave Steemit.
I understand Peerhub have done a great job at creating something along these lines already, but unlike them, I am looking to promote Steemit by keeping the marketplace on the platform and use only Steem or Steem Dollars as payment options. None of that pesky Bitcoin allowed here :)
The Process
Users create a post describing their item for sale including the following essential elements:
- clear photographs from multiple angles
- description of item
- age & condition (if second hand)
- asking price in Steem with an indication if you are willing to negotiate
- location of item (in order that delivery costs can be calculated)
- use #steemshop as your first tag
I will then resteem your item for sale on the official @steemshop account where people can check availability and contact you directly if they want to purchase your item.
Should there be any breach of agreement between two parties, a collective of dolphins & whales will flag the guilty party off the platform. The blockchain has no secrets. Deliveries should be recorded and receipts should be kept to avoid any problems if the recipient claims their item didn't arrive.
It will take some time to fill up the @steemshop marketplace with a diverse range of goods so I will need your help to kick start what could potentially be a huge shift towards seeing Steem as a currency of exchange.
What are the key advantages of Steem as a payment method?
- Payments are instant
- There are no fees
- The wallet you need is connected to your shopping site, so no need to involve secondary sites or methods of exchange.
- Every exchange you make is adding to the viability of this new system of shopping, building bridges into the future of Steem dominance.
What can you do now to help get this started?
- You can make a list of all those items you fancy turning into steem
- You can start taking photos of your items and turning them into steemit posts, making sure to list the above required information.
- You can post your article using the #steemshop tag (which I will check on a daily basis to re-post in the @steemshop account)
- You can resteem this post to build awareness
In Conclusion
It is my belief that having a Steem powered shop will act as a further incentive to join the platform and start spending your earned Steem without having to exchange it first to Bitcoin. Which many newbies will naturally still be confused about.
And there is an added advantage to moving the Steem around in this manner. By hoarding it in our wallets, we are not assisting the growth of this platform as much as we might think.
I am particularly excited about this project now that the value of steem is on the rise again, further demonstrating its staying power as a leading cryptocurrency of the future.
I am open to all suggestions as to how we might be able to improve the system I have outlined above.
SteemDollar is created for merchants and for simplicity of transaction.
For posting people are receiving SteemDollars. This is so simple - why people want to use stocks (STEEM) to buy stuff?
Thanks for the thought. You are the second person to point this out to me and it does seem to make sense using steem dollars. I think in the end it will be between the two parties trading to decide which one they want to use.
I'll just leave this here
https://www.peerhub.com
Thanks for this. Peerhub is amazing, but not exclusive to steem or steemit. Lots of items there can only be bought with Bitcoin. My hope was to create something which functions on steemit, thereby promoting it further. I realise I will be hard pushed to compete with peerhub's lovely design and simple functionality, but where there is a will there is a way ;)
It's a wonderful idea! As you may know, I've long been a proponent of someone creating a Steem-based peer-to-peer marketplace as a way to get Steem (the currency) to gain some traction as an actual method of payment, which hopefully will also give us an edge many other alt coins do not: an actual working economy. Which, in turn, should help make Steem an attractive proposition as an actual investment.
I'm a 20-year veteran of trading on eBay-- somewhat shorter on Etsy, Craigslist, Amazon and other markets. eBay used to be really COOL before it became corporatized and all the individual sellers selling everything from collectibles to "weird stuff" were more or less driven out.
Someone already created PeerHub, but it's a bit limited... AND it's not directly integrated into the Steemit user interface. What you're proposing sounds like a great step in the right direction!
Yes, it is an interesting idea ! Perhap it will be implemented soon by other steemians !
The more the merrier! Let's all start trading steem here. Makes perfect sense to extend the functionality of the platform in this way.
Thanks. Let's hope so. It was the best idea I could come up with to keep the marketplace on the platform. I think it will develop further as it gets going. I appreciate your support as always :)
You might want to consider accepting SBD instead, it is pegged to the dollar whereas steem can fluctuate wildly in price.
That is a very good point. I think what I will do is make it optional for people. So they can choose either. Just in case they don't have any steem dollars at that time. I wouldn't want that to prevent them from doing the exchange.
Sounds like a fine plan!!
I've been thinking about a shop co-operative, where the community can work together to develop / design / market products, and a trusted person sells on some personal website / platform like amazon, ebay, etc, and somehow those involved will share the spoils , with Steem the currency being part of the process. But haven't got the time to think bout that.. probably you'd want to take it further along these lines :)
Many thanks for these thoughts. Yes there are a number of roads this could move down. A secondary site showing a live feed of new Steemit creations, presented and categorised in a simple manner does seem to be called for. And I love the idea of a shop co-operative, involving steemit artists & designers.
Time is a bit of a problem for me at the moment too, as I currently have much on my plate! But we will get there in the end :)
Let's keep in touch as this develops...
I am a complete fan of this. Peerhub works but for a steemit growth-plan, we need increased number of these kinds of posts, to expand on steemit's beauty and other capabilities more, to the world of regular internet users out there. Steemit is beyond a place to blog!
Thank you my friend. Yes, my thoughts exactly. What I am enjoying most about the slowly growing marketplace at @steemshop is that people are not just selling things, they are having conversations about what they can sell. I noticed someone from the Ukraine yesterday asking the community if they could think of anything he might be able to sell from his region. And I can see that someone has a good suggestion for him :)
https://steemit.com/steemshop/@artem-sokoloff/what-to-sell-from-ukraine-what-busines-we-need-2017422t2355086z
Hi @samstonehill, I just stopped back to let you know your post was one of my favourite reads and I included it in my Steemit Ramble. You can read what I wrote about your post here.
Well, thank you very much for that! I will check it out now :)
what a great idea @samstonehill. I know you said you want to keep it on the Steemit site but have you considered a separate site/app built on the STEEM platform and integrated with Steemit?
One of the benefits is that it can be promoted, can have a shopping cart, review system and be able to potentially integrate with future STEEM apps.
I personally wouldn't have the technical expertise but I'm sure there are developers on the platform who could either be hired or partnered with.
You are absolutely right. And the ball is already rolling on this one. There will be a secondary site. More info coming soon...
Thanks for the comment :)
That's great to hear. I have a couple of projects in mind that may be suitable for a steemstore setup.
hi! I'm building a steemit shop too, but just for art items. it will be on www steemarket dot com. :)
Sounds like a great idea to me. My initial intention was to keep it on the steemit platform but I think it will have to expand to another website which can display many items in a simple manner. Will your site link back to steemit in some way?
yes. at first my website (that will be online in the next 2 days) will be just a showcase for items from steemit users. buyers will have to contact the sellers and make the sale themselves, on Steemit (the transparency of the wallet is the feature that make it safe). then I'm going to develope a real shop, with some partners.
Sounds excellent. Let us keep in touch. Perhaps there is a way in which we can help each other? And Steemit!
That's exacly what I was thinking about ;)
This is a great idea, and I will help support it any way I can. I've resteemed this post to spread the word.
Thanks very much my friend. Your support is greatly appreciated. In time I am sure I will need the help of others to manage this thing. For now, perhaps you have something you want to sell? :)