Dear everyone,

We have recently launched a new social platform that connects shoppers and travelers. It is a peer-to-peer delivery service: you can ask travelers to buy and bring you stuff in exchange for a financial reward of your choice.

Initially, we were designing this for the tech people: there are always some cool gadgets that are not sold in Lebanon and the online delivery prices are outrageous. However, having launched, we can see that most of the orders that we get are for fashion / kids items, and very rarely do we get orders for gadgets.

Thus, I would really appreciate if you could give your opinion whether our service might prove useful to the tech community or not. Because this is a non-profit hobby project of my friends and me, we would really like to be doing something useful for the tech community out there that is building cool stuff.

Thank you very much for your opinions and please, don't be afraid to be rough: if you think no one would be interested in our platform, it's better if we find it out now.

Cheers!
I've had this idea for a while. Like 10 years already.
The main concern I've had is making sure that drug smugglers don't use this to mule their drugs.
I'm sure it's useful for techies. Things are much cheaper on ebay, outside Lebanon.
They are also good for expats, for example I am not in Lebanon but I want someone to bring kishk baladi to me.
Just make sure nobody uses that to send cocaine!
I am interested. In using it but also being part of creating it.
Hey guys, thanks for getting in touch!

In order to be safe we're only doing buy+bring, not simple deliveries.
Quick question if someone posted a request and someone brought it up for him, but the buyer is no longer there (disappeared) what happens in this case ?
Sure, we tried to secure both sides, so the platform works this way:

1. A shopper posts his request (e.g. iPhone from the US) and waits for the travelers to get in touch via the in-built messenger.
2. Travelers get in touch, the shopper choses one of them and pays for the whole amount of purchase (the price of the iPhone + reward for the traveler).
3.The website keeps this money and transfers the money to the traveler only once we get a confirmation that the goods have been delivered.

So basically, the shopper knows that the traveler cannot run away with his money; and the traveler is sure that even if the shopper changes his mind, he (the traveler) will still get paid from the platform.

This is our logic, please, let me know what you think of it.
3 small notes

1- make a field for an online store link if the item can be bought online
2- check for empty fields when creating an order ( it lets me press next and continue with my order even though I didn't enter anything)
3- why is € the only currency available ?
Hey Aliessayli2, thanks a lot!

Yes, we've still got things to improve, this is the very first release that you're seeing so that's why we did only the minimum needed.

I'd say we have some success with random stuff ordered, but I would still like to try and make the platform useful for to the tech people. Could you help me by naming good tech blogs / media that you follow? Someone that could spread a word about us?
Mane wroteHey Aliessayli2, thanks a lot!

Yes, we've still got things to improve, this is the very first release that you're seeing so that's why we did only the minimum needed.

I'd say we have some success with random stuff ordered, but I would still like to try and make the platform useful for to the tech people. Could you help me by naming good tech blogs / media that you follow? Someone that could spread a word about us?
if you're going international you can spread the word on reddit, there are many subreddits that may be interested in your website
What about goods that ate broken unintentionally by the traveler??
I hope travelers will not ask for big amount of fees or else people will still get with dhl.
What are the shops available? Stores like B&H in Nyc or fnac in Paris? BTW online shopping is most of the time cheaper and with wider choice, you should put an "already paid online"" option, the buyer will pay the item to lets say amazon and the traveler fees on your website.
Mane wrotetransfers the money to the traveler only once we get a confirmation that the goods have been delivered.
Great, one thing i suggest is to split the confirmation to 3 phases if not done this way:
1- Item is purchased, share the invoice.
2- Item/traveler arrived to the buyer home land, send a notification that the item is ready to be delivered upon an approved location to meet.
2.a- if the buyer didn't respond within 3-5 days of arrival, the traveler have the right to get the money and the item.
3- When delivering the item, the buyer should click on some button within the app/website to confirm the delivery is done which requires him to have internet connection, ounce done he cant remove his confirmation and he can let the traveler see the confirmation from his device if he doesnt have an internet connection.

I'm sorry if the confirmation is already done in a better way and already published in your website as im interested to read it.
The idea is that you can ask for anything from any shop, any country (well, anything legal, of course),

Also, it is the shopper that offers the amount he's ready to pay for the delivery and the traveler either agrees to bring it or not. How much does DHL cost now? If you order an iPhone what would you pay as a delivery cost?

The big advantage that the website can bring is that shoppers will no longer need to pay import duties: if the item is delivered by an individual, there are no import duties to be paid.

And yes, the idea of "already paid online" is really good (for some reason it didn't cross my mind), I need to look closer at it.
What happens if the buyer received his item from the traveler but he didn't confirm that he received it? How will the traveler take his money?
There are a lot of bad guys out there!
TheStunMan wrote 3- When delivering the item, the buyer should click on some button within the app/website to confirm the delivery is done which requires him to have internet connection, ounce done he cant remove his confirmation and he can let the traveler see the confirmation from his device if he doesnt have an internet connection.
+1
Hi TheStunMan (cool nickname!)

mm.. no I have to admit that the confirmation is not coded yet, we're working on it now, should be ready by next week.

What we were thinking to do is sending a code to the shopper when he makes a payment. The shopper will give this code to the traveler when they meet and the traveler will send it to us. Once we get this code we'll send the money to the traveler.

We didn't take into account the invoice and the deadline for buyer to reply, we need to do that, thanks for mentioning!
Hey Adlouni,

yes, that's why we thought that the idea with the code would be safer, this way it's up to the traveler to request his money.
I would really appreciate some tips on how to get the word out about our platform? Are there any good tech bloggers that are influential / have many followers? Media? Facebook groups?
Mane wroteHi TheStunMan (cool nickname!)

mm.. no I have to admit that the confirmation is not coded yet, we're working on it now, should be ready by next week.

What we were thinking to do is sending a code to the shopper when he makes a payment. The shopper will give this code to the traveler when they meet and the traveler will send it to us. Once we get this code we'll send the money to the traveler.

We didn't take into account the invoice and the deadline for buyer to reply, we need to do that, thanks for mentioning!

Also, this info is on the FAQ page of our website onyourway io.
Hey thanks, you can always use the code method to be used for sms confirmation instead of visiting the app/website being offline. Just remember you can always set the rules that you think it best suits your website/buyer and traveler.
Mane wroteI would really appreciate some tips on how to get the word out about our platform? Are there any good tech bloggers that are influential / have many followers? Media? Facebook groups?
Lebgeeks is a good start. If you can reach universities it would be nice.
That's gonna be a really amazing thing if done right. Do you think if this reaches more and more people, would the "government" do something about it? Beacause you know how much they love bright people.
I'll be your test subject. I'm coming back to Lebanon on September 2 from Dubai. Anyone want anything?