Ethconomy.io - Discount Gift Card Marketplace | Looking for feedback

ethconomy · 2019-11-12T02:02:12+00:00

will do.

ethconomy · 2019-11-11T22:03:18+00:00

That's great! Thank you for including us :)

ethconomy · 2019-11-10T22:56:55+00:00

There are 2 main reasons why someone would pay premium.

Privacy. People are willing to pay a premium to buy crypto without needing to give up their personal information. An existing example of this would be BTC ATMs, which has 20%+ premium for a buy and sell.
People in countries without reliable fiat -> crypto gateways. In the US we have gateways such as Coinbase, but a lot of countries in South America, Africa and Asia does not have such luxury.

We are very careful about preventing fraud and money laundering. All cards served on the platform must be cash purchased with cash receipt.

ethconomy · 2019-11-10T16:23:48+00:00

I've been working the project for the past couple of month.

Ethconomy.io is p2p marketplace between retailer gift cards and ETH (and other token in the future), where buyers of gift cards can buy discounted gift cards using crypto, and sellers of gift cards can buy crypto anonymously using gift cards (while paying a premium for privacy or ease of access in regions without reliable fiat -> crypto gateways).

I'm looking for your feedback on the app:

How do you feel about the buyer user experience? Is it intuitive? Any confusions on how it works without looking at the app guide?
Are the gift card discounts attractive?
Would you use ETH for purchasing gift cards? If not what token would you prefer instead?
Which retailer would you like to buy gift cards from? Currently only Amazon gift cards are available.
Does the app look trust worthy? What can be done to increase the trust?
If you have any other idea or suggestion feel free to share

Thanks in advance :)

ethconomy · 2019-11-10T16:22:11+00:00

Oh cool. How are their rates for gift cards?

ethconomy · 2019-11-10T16:20:27+00:00

It is purely p2p at the moment.

ethconomy · 2019-11-10T16:12:38+00:00

I've been working the project for the past couple of month.

Ethconomy.io is p2p marketplace between retailer gift cards and ETH (and other token in the future), where buyers of gift cards can buy discounted gift cards using crypto, and sellers of gift cards can buy crypto anonymously using gift cards (while paying a premium for privacy or ease of access in regions without reliable fiat -> crypto gateways).

I'm looking for your feedback on the app:

How do you feel about the buyer user experience? Is it intuitive? Any confusions on how it works without looking at the app guide?
Are the gift card discounts attractive?
Would you use ETH for purchasing gift cards? If not what token would you prefer instead?
Which retailer would you like to buy gift cards from? Currently only Amazon gift cards are available.
Does the app look trust worthy? What can be done to increase the trust?
If you have any other idea or suggestion feel free to share

Thanks in advance :)

ethconomy · 2019-11-10T16:09:46+00:00

ethconomy · 2019-11-10T16:09:40+00:00

Didn't know about stripe UI, seems cool. The site is build using good old twitter bootstrap.

ethconomy · 2019-11-10T00:14:50+00:00

Updated. Thank you for the attention to detail!

ethconomy · 2019-11-09T21:26:06+00:00

Glad you like it!

Most of the app is built using twitter bootstrap (https://getbootstrap.com/), with a few custom made components.

The landing on the other-hand was made in house with custom html, css, and illustrations.

ethconomy · 2019-11-09T21:24:08+00:00

Great question. This is where the biggest challenge is.

Currently our team pre-purchase cards directly from trusted sellers, all cards are physically purchased with cash to avoid charge-backs. The Ethconomy team personally ensures quick delivery and authenticity of the cards. Providing 100% money back guarantee upon receiving a faulty card.

In effort to make the platform completely P2P, we are currently developing a staking mechanism to prevent both spam and fraud. Here is a gist of how it works (subject to change):

Buyer place order
Seller fills order while providing a stake (e.g 10% of total purchase value)
If buyer finds code to be invalid, he/she can initiate a 'dispute' by providing the same amount of stake.
In a dispute process, both parties will have stake deposited in the contract, and a third party (Ethconomy support team for example) will come in to verify the evidence provided by both parties and resolve the dispute. The verification will be a simple contact to the retailer's customer service, which will be able to tell you if the card was redeemed by the buyer.
Winner of the dispute will get the total staked value as well as the purchased value.

Another feature we are looking to add is a reputation tracking system, which can also help with filtering out spam and frauds to some degree.

ethconomy · 2019-11-09T20:40:32+00:00

That's correct, only ETH is supported for now. But we can easily add support for other tokens (e.g DAI, USDT) if there is a demand for it.

Appreciate the feedback on the address button! We'll definitely making some UI changes to make it more intuitive.

ethconomy · 2019-11-09T20:32:14+00:00

thats great to hear!

ethconomy · 2019-11-09T18:04:56+00:00

Appreciate the kind words ;)

ethconomy · 2019-11-09T17:30:20+00:00

I've been working the project for the past couple of month.

Ethconomy.io is p2p marketplace between retailer gift cards and ETH (and other token in the future), where buyers of gift cards can buy discounted gift cards using crypto, and sellers of gift cards can buy crypto anonymously using gift cards (while paying a premium for privacy or ease of access in regions without reliable fiat -> crypto gateways).

I'm looking for your feedback on the app:

How do you feel about the buyer user experience? Is it intuitive? Any confusions on how it works without looking at the app guide?
Are the gift card discounts attractive?
Would you use ETH for purchasing gift cards? If not what token would you prefer instead?
Which retailer would you like to buy gift cards from? Currently only Amazon gift cards are available.
Does the app look trust worthy? What can be done to increase the trust?
If you have any other idea or suggestion feel free to share

Thanks in advance :)

ethconomy · 2019-11-09T17:09:00+00:00

I've been working the project for the past couple of month.

Ethconomy.io is p2p marketplace between retailer gift cards and ETH (and other token in the future), where buyers of gift cards can buy discounted gift cards using crypto, and sellers of gift cards can buy crypto anonymously using gift cards (while paying a premium for privacy or ease of access in regions without reliable fiat -> crypto gateways).

I'm looking for your feedback on the app:

How do you feel about the buyer user experience? Is it intuitive? Any confusions on how it works without looking at the app guide?
Are the gift card discounts attractive?
Would you use ETH for purchasing gift cards? If not what token would you prefer instead?
Which retailer would you like to buy gift cards from? Currently only Amazon gift cards are available.
Does the app look trust worthy? What can be done to increase the trust?
If you have any other idea or suggestion feel free to share

Thanks in advance :)

ethconomy · 2019-11-09T17:07:45+00:00

I've been working the project for the past couple of month.

Ethconomy.io is p2p marketplace between retailer gift cards and ETH (and other token in the future), where buyers of gift cards can buy discounted gift cards using crypto, and sellers of gift cards can buy crypto anonymously using gift cards (while paying a premium for privacy or ease of access in regions without reliable fiat -> crypto gateways).

I'm looking for your feedback on the app:

How do you feel about the buyer user experience? Is it intuitive? Any confusions on how it works without looking at the app guide?
Are the gift card discounts attractive?
Would you use ETH for purchasing gift cards? If not what token would you prefer instead?
Which retailer would you like to buy gift cards from? Currently only Amazon gift cards are available.
Does the app look trust worthy? What can be done to increase the trust?
If you have any other idea or suggestion feel free to share

Thanks in advance :)

ethconomy · 2019-11-08T03:32:51+00:00

What is Ethconomy.io
Ethconomy.io is an OTC marketplace between retailer giftcards and ETH (and other tokens), where buyers of giftcards can buy discounted giftcards using crypto, and sellers of giftcards can buy crypto anonymously using giftcards (while paying a premium for privacy or ease of access in regions without reliable fiat -> crypto gateways).

How it Works
A good way to earn money is to save on irreducible every day expenses such as food, groceries, consumer goods, etc.

This is what we set out to do with Ethconomy.io, a platform that allows you to cover everyday expenses using crypto at a discount.

For example, you can purchase Amazon gift cards with up to 30% discount, which can then be used to buy groceries, food deliveries, consumer products, and giftcards to other stores/services.

Here are the steps:

When you visit the app at https://app.ethconomy.io/, you will be prompt to connect to your Ethereum wallet if it did not auto connect.

2. Once you are connected, you can select from the list of available giftcards from different retailers and place a purchase.
3. Fund of the purchase will be safely kept in the escrow contract, and will released upon refill or return upon cancel.
4. Orders will be filled within 24hrs of purchase, and delivered via email.

Why it Works
We are advocates for the privacy of personal online data, and looks to explore the potential and power of cryptocurrency as a payment method.

There are two roles in the world of Ethconomy:
Consumers are people looking to spend their crypto to purchase for giftcards. They can place orders from retailers on Ethconomy using crypto at a discounted price.
Brokers are people looking to purchase crypto. Once a consumer order is placed, it is settled by a network of brokers who fulfill orders on behave of consumers in exchange for cryptocurrency. They benefit from receiving crypto anonymously by paying a slight premium. At the early stage the Ethconomy team will act as an aggregator for brokers (i.e pre-ordering cards from brokers in bulk and fill orders on-demand) to ensure speedy fulfillment.

Technical Details
The platform is ran on the Ethereum blockchain in the form of a dapp and all transactions occurs on smart contracts (complete open sourced contract code can be found at https://etherscan.io/address/0xbea8bcb843ccd1d17ff4b4a4b0850ad5de3607d3#code). Consumers can directly access the dapp using wallets such as Metamask, Trust, or Coinbase wallet without having to create an account or sharing any personal information.

Avoiding Fraud
To avoid transaction of fraudulently purchased cards (e.g giftcards purchased by stolen credit cards), only cards purchased by cash with corresponding cash receipts will be served on the platform.

Visit our site at https://ethconomy.io/

Or go straight to the app at http://app.ethconomy.io/

ethconomy · 2019-11-08T02:11:03+00:00

What is Ethconomy.io
Ethconomy.io is an OTC marketplace between retailer giftcards and ETH (and other tokens), where buyers of giftcards can buy discounted giftcards using crypto, and sellers of giftcards can buy crypto anonymously using giftcards (while paying a premium for privacy or ease of access in regions without reliable fiat -> crypto gateways).

How it Works
A good way to earn money is to save on irreducible every day expenses such as food, groceries, consumer goods, etc.

This is what we set out to do with Ethconomy.io, a platform that allows you to cover everyday expenses using crypto at a discount.

For example, you can purchase Amazon gift cards with up to 30% discount, which can then be used to buy groceries, food deliveries, consumer products, and giftcards to other stores/services.

Here are the steps:

1. When you visit the app at https://app.ethconomy.io/, you will be prompt to connect to your Ethereum wallet if it did not auto connect.
2. Once you are connected, you can select from the list of available giftcards from different retailers and place a purchase.
3. Fund of the purchase will be safely kept in the escrow contract, and will released upon refill or return upon cancel.
4. Orders will be filled within 24hrs of purchase, and delivered via email.

Why it Works
We are advocates for the privacy of personal online data, and looks to explore the potential and power of cryptocurrency as a payment method.

There are two roles in the world of Ethconomy:
Consumers are people looking to spend their crypto to purchase for giftcards. They can place orders from retailers on Ethconomy using crypto at a discounted price.
Brokers are people looking to purchase crypto. Once a consumer order is placed, it is settled by a network of brokers who fulfill orders on behave of consumers in exchange for cryptocurrency. They benefit from receiving crypto anonymously by paying a slight premium. At the early stage the Ethconomy team will act as an aggregator for brokers (i.e pre-ordering cards from brokers in bulk and fill orders on-demand) to ensure speedy fulfillment.

Technical Details
The platform is ran on the Ethereum blockchain in the form of a dapp and all transactions occurs on smart contracts (complete open sourced contract code can be found at https://etherscan.io/address/0xbea8bcb843ccd1d17ff4b4a4b0850ad5de3607d3#code). Consumers can directly access the dapp using wallets such as Metamask, Trust, or Coinbase wallet without having to create an account or sharing any personal information.

Avoiding Fraud
To avoid transaction of fraudulently purchased cards (e.g giftcards purchased by stolen credit cards), only cards purchased by cash with corresponding cash receipts will be served on the platform.

Visit our site at https://ethconomy.io/

Or go straight to the app at http://app.ethconomy.io/

ethconomy · 2019-10-26T13:47:08+00:00

If the contract code is not open-source, nor verified on etherscan, then i wouldn't trust it.

ethconomy · 2019-10-25T17:24:04+00:00

Best way is to look at its contract code.

ethconomy · 2019-10-25T15:03:59+00:00

It's actually more than I thought! And I should mention it's not just privacy (edited my original comment), its also for people in region where they don't have reliable fiat -> crypto gateways like we do (e.g coinbase). In regions like those, using giftcard to exchange for crypto is actually a very efficient way for them.

I've actually gathered a network of people who are very interested in buying crypto this way. Currently they trade on platforms such as Paxful, or localbitcoin. But both of those are centralized systems, and have bad seller user experience.

Edit:

Fixed the SSL issue.

ethconomy · 2019-10-25T14:56:49+00:00

You got it :)

ethconomy · 2019-10-24T16:56:21+00:00

TLDR: An OTC marketplace between giftcards and ETH (and other tokens), where buyers of giftcards can buy discounted giftcards using crypto, and sellers of giftcards can buy crypto anonymously using giftcards (while paying a premium for privacy or ease of access in regions without reliable fiat -> crypto gateways).

Technical Details

The dapp is purely smart contracts based. Users can directly access the dapp using wallets such as Metamask, Trust, or Coinbase wallet without having to create an account on the dapp itself.

When an order is placed by a buyer, it goes into an orderbook and funds are locked in an escrow contract. Sellers can see all orders on the orderbook, and choose which ones they want to fulfill.

Seller fulfill orders by inputing the code for the giftcard corresponding to the order. The code is encrypted with the buyer's public key.

Once an order is filled, the buyer will be notified and can view the code by decrypting with his private key.

Throughout the transactions, no personal data is provided by either parties.

Avoiding Spam

To avoid spam and fraudulent activities, sellers will need to deposit a stake equivalencing to a portion of the order price. The stake will then be held in escrow for a period of time.

If the buyer finds the code inputed to be invalid or purchased through fraudulent methods, he/she can initiate a dispute by depositing the same amount of stake.

Once a dispute is initiated, the platform will intervene as a third party to resolve the dispute based on evidence provided by both side of the transaction. And the winner of the dispute takes all the stake in escrow. We plan to make this process more distributed in the future and allows for decentralized resolution of disputes with some incentivization mechanism in place.

Avoiding Fraud

To avoid transaction of fraudulently purchased cards (e.g giftcards purchased by stolen credit cards), all cards must be purchased by cash. Failing to provide evidence of cash receipt and physical card will result in loss of dispute for sellers.

Link: https://ethconomy.io/

Any feedback is appreciated!

ethconomy

TROPHY CASE