It was just a few months ago when Mark Cuban claimed the Internet as “dead and boring”, but with the recent launch of his new Facebook App, RadicalBuy his story may be starting to change. RadicalBuy basically lets you buy and sell items on Facebook - but it’s more than just that - sellers can offer commissions to users who help sell their items. It’s just like an affiliate advertising based program - commission based referral incentives.
I added the app to my Facebook page, browsed some items for sale (ones that I could make a pretty decent commission off of), and asked permission to help sell them – all within a few minutes. I think one of the most appealing aspects in this app is the user’s ability to see the commission each seller is offering for a particular item. That way there is no ambiguity about the commission you earn from a sale and it helps you pick out which items are worth promoting over others based on the amount you could potentially make.
On another note, another thing to consider about this model is the fact that selling used stuff sucks – especially if you sell your friend (remember somebody who trusts you) a dud item. Or take the more personal route: what would happen if you bought a used TV from your trusted friend and the screen goes out only a week after purchase? Would you hold some sort of animosity toward your friend? Would you ever buy another referred item from your friend in the future? How do you think your friend feels? So there’s this super sensitive fine line between liking to buy items from your trusted circle of friends and thinking of your friend as an untrustworthy seller from a previously bad experience. At least with Craigslist you don’t hold any personal grudges towards somebody if they sell you a crappy product, because you don’t have any further connections with them. It’s easier to forgive and forget in that case.
We’ll see how it all plays out, but hey! I’ll take part in this app and take a commission check any day – so count me in!
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Comments (2 comments)
There is a user feedback portion of this application that this article did not mention. You can leave feedback on each transaction.
So in the scenario outlined above, if I bought a commissioned item from my friend’s facebook profile, but he was listing it for someone I don’t know and he did, and the item turned out to be a dud, I could leave feedback on all parties involved.
My friend could leave feedback as an affiliate on the original seller saying he no longer recommends this person and wouldn’t list their items, I as the buyer could leave feedback on the affiliate and say he/she didn’t know the item was bogus and then leave feedback on the seller flaming them for the bad product.
There is a built-in trust/feedback mechanic in the application that helps to keep things above board.
Johnson / December 1st, 2007, 7:44 pm / #
Thanks for the comment, Johnson.
The feedback mechanism in the application is a great feature and that’s a great point to bring up. I’m just bringing up the point that even if a dud item was totally unforeseeable by the seller, the friend, and the buyer - if the friend recommends a product and it breaks, the buyer will be bummed and maybe hold some sort of resentment towards the friend (whether if they leave feedback or not about the original seller).
It’s like a lot of people say - “I will never sell my used car to a friend. Because if that car has problems a month down the road (that were totally unexpected) your friend will not be happy about spending money on a car you sold them”
At least with Craigslist you aren’t selling friend to friend. So you can stay mad at a total stranger.
Miss Freshie / December 3rd, 2007, 8:37 am / #
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