Idea validation on online second-hand markets
Hi indiehackers
I'm currently trying to find a side project/idea to start. I'm living in Mexico and I'd some bad experiences in second-hand markets like segundamano.com. People use a stolen identity data to convince you and after that use a security gap in bank transacctions delay to make sell/purchase frauds.
Mostly these operations are face to face (with other people: "sisters" or "cousins" of the buyer) so when they arrive, you look your account with a "valid" transaction and you give them the product. This is a very smart scam and is very hard to find it. After, when the transaction is invalid, obviously you try to contact the buyer but they "dissapears" because doesn't exists (identity fraud/ stolen identity)
My idea is to create a secure channel to avoid frauds centralizing a basic profile score, like a blacklist to check vendor online reputation for second-hand channels. Maybe face recognition or id recognition.
What do you think? Is a good idea to working it?
One thing to consider is "what happens if these marketplaces develop a reputation feature?" Would you be out of business? Would you be willing to risk that?
Another possible model is escrow, where a middleman accepts the object, accepts the payment, and allows the receiver to examine the object. If they take the object, then the payment goes through. Otherwise, everything is returned.
Thanks for your comment. The project could be considered like a second-hand market with escrow as a main functionality. Looks good. Is a good idea?
Honestly, it depends on your possible users. You'd need people on both sides of the transaction to trust you with the money + item, which may be a challenge since the market is already known for scams. Additionally, you'd need to figure out how to get in front of enough people that you can make a living from it. These are the kinds of things you'd need to figure out if you tackled this. It works in some markets, like real estate and domain name sales. It's not clear whether it would work in real life.
Thanks for your comments.