Hip Swap - new site to sell on!

Has anyone sold on Hipswap.com? I had some stuff posted on Craigslist and got a response saying I should list my items on Hip Swap. I checked it out and it seemed like a great idea. Cross between eBay, Craigslist and Pinterest or Twitter, where you have followers. I downloaded their iPhone app and started listing. The app is super easy and quick to get an item posted. Essentially you snap a pic and load it with your price and description and people can ask questions or purchase it through Hip Swap and then Hip Swap keeps their fee and deposits the rest to your PayPal. The buyer can be local and you can meet to deliver or you can set a ship price and they pay for shipping. I guess in some areas Hip Swap will pick your item up and deliver it for you. Each seller has their own page showing all their items and you can "follow" that person and see when they post new stuff on your activity wall.

I love the concept and ease of use, other than from the app you can't post a shipping fee or input a lengthy description (but when at the computer you can update your listing with that), however it just seems too new and few people are aware of it. I haven't sold anything from there yet.

Anyone else checked them out? If not, do so.

New venues are always a mixed blessing. None will ever have the buyer "gravity" that eBay does -- it's a mature market, and all the early players retain dominance no matter how much they suck -- but on the other hand, it's easier to stand out at a smaller venue, to be a big fish in a small pond so to speak.

As far as HipSwap goes, I have to say I love the layout and general setup (aside from the infinity scroll, which I despise everywhere and wish the person who came up with the idea would get herpes; but that's a minor design issue.) Reading your review, the only automatic deal killer for me is the idea that HipSwap takes the buyer's money and remits it to the seller after their cut -- however, looking at HS' own description of their service, this does not appear to be the case.

Unlike most other little sites trying to compete with eBay, I notice that HipSwap Link hidden: Login to view, having been funded by Greycroft and other notable venture capital funds. While that doesn't assure success, it at least means that the people running it are not total idiots and/or serial thieves, since most VCs will not drop millions of dollars into somebody's basement-based pipe dream site. It's also had a good bit of positive press and online buzz.

And people are definitely starting to notice it -- look at Google Trends' search volume chart for them:



And they're spending next to zero on advertising (at least, on AdWords and other online stuff I can look up) which means most of that buzz and traffic is coming in from actual user interest.

I dunno, I usually crap all over sites like these when I hear about them, but HipSwap really seems to have a lot going for it. As with many other sites that have no listing fees, it can't hurt to try them.


Frank

Heh. The Google chart is just a little too wide -- click on "View Image" and you'll see that, way over on the far right of the chart, there's an almost vertical upswing in search volume around the holidays.

Thanks for the input. I looked around and saw some reviews as well but didn't look into the financial aspect, which is certainly important.

In the app store they get some good reviews but there are quite a few bad ones because of how they are "advertising". So many people are complaining about the same thing that led me to them. They respond to your Craigslist ad saying "you should post this item on Hip Swap". Personally I think it's a creative way to market without spending money, but others seem to get pissy about it.

Maybe eventually they will do a bit of advertising and bring traffic or utilize social media to get the word spread. I like the free listing and that you can have your own page with all your stuff and again, it's free. I'm going to try to post a link to my stuff on Hip Swap when I post items to Craigslist and try to get traffic that way. And maybe start "following" others in hopes they "follow me" back.

Too bad about the eBay thing. They used to be super fun to sell thru but now, like most, I just don't care for it. Great for stuff around the house and a few select items, but for the most part, someone always has the same thing cheaper.

Looks promising! Love the touch of pink to the site too :)

@stuckeytabitha: Thanks for sharing this Link hidden: Login to view with our community! I'm sure many will be interested in checking them out. Let us know how it turns out for you!

@Frank: Reading your review and how you seems genuinely interested is a bit reassuring and I'm sure many of the members you've helped will definitely count n your opinion :)

Cheers