Bandy
Lets people barter on eBay
Bandy
Lets people barter on eBay
Bandy is an app that lets people barter on eBay. Users that are selling stuff on eBay can now download Bandy, and trade that stuff with other users. If you're looking to trade in your guitar for a bike, your boat for a motorcycle, your dress for a purse, or last season's inventory for something fresh, Bandy finds you what you want, while helping you get rid of what you don't want.
Bandy functions as a discovery and matching platform. We show you items that you may be interested in, and match you up with people interested in your items. Once you both agree to bandy, you buy each other's item(s). You sell your skates, she sells her headphones. Oh yeah, and the app is entirely free.
I'm one of the founders of Bandy. Thank you for checking out the app! We're going to be launching in just about a week on iOS. If you guys have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask :)
So while you may very well find an iPad in exchange for your iPhone, you may instead find an iPad in exchange for your leather jacket. Or for your old bicycle. Or you may not get an iPad for your iPhone, but get something else that it turns out you’d really like. In the end, you decide which bandies you want to complete, and which you don’t. And if you don’t, you can always counter trade offers with your own, negotiating item pairs until you’re both happy.
In the beta, the matching will be simple. However, we do plan on continually tweaking the algorithm. We plan on eventually allowing users to combine items — for example, my two items for your one item — as well as matching users in groups. Group trading greatly increases the probability of trade occurrence. You give me your iPhone. I give Sarah my guitar. She gives you her iPad. The goal is to make the likelihood of trading as probable as possible.
I hope this answers your question… please let me know if you have any others :)
I'm sure you've gotten that comment before though, so I'm curious to hear your response and any benefits to straight up trading I haven't considered yet.
While we believe that people will enjoy having another option, there are other benefits to bartering. Not everyone has cash on hand when they need cash on hand. This goes from Joe down the street trying to figure out a way to buy his girlfriend a birthday present, to Small Business Inc. around the corner trying to figure out a way to get rid of their old inventory, and get new inventory.
Both could first try and sell some stuff/inventory until they can afford to go out and buy something else. So maybe they decide to sell that stuff on eBay. What Bandy does is increase the likelihood of them selling those items. If they make a trade on Bandy, they get rid of the stuff they don't want, and in return get what they need -- all in one step, saving time and money. If they they can't find a match on Bandy, no harm done. Because they just end up selling it on eBay.
Also, bartering -- at this scale -- is in part about discovery. We don't always know what we want, until we see what we want. It really is fun, and comes with a nice feeling of satisfaction. When you make a great trade, it feels like winning.
At least that's the way it feels for us... thoughts?
Thanks again for the question; if there's anything else, please don't hesitate to ask.
Thanks again for the question; if there's anything else, please don't hesitate to ask.