If we really want better we gotta communicate about it to see how it can be done
Wanted to open this conversation because we could really use an Open Source app that partners with websites and stores so they can display any of their products on the app for people to buy
Suggestion: Would be a 10,000 IQ move if say KDE and KDE Community make one since it can be a passive income in a way from making/hosting the app for people to use. The money gained can be used to fund the devs, their KDE/other projects, and other open source projects. Edit: That way it adds onto the already existing sources of funding, and can lead to growth all over
Maybe one app from KDE. One from GNU/Linux. Etc
Technically that’s what Amazon is in a way no?
Then for USA partner up with FedEx/USPS (Whichever is better). Spitballing here with all this
One way forward I see is the fediverse. If we can create a platform that will be able to host a storefront for specific items, have it connect to other storefronts by some sort of federated search and cart system, allow a single point of transaction for a cart that spans multiple stores, and be able for the host to easily spin up an instance, that to me seems like it could start picking up traction easily and quickly. Think of etsy, consolidated into a specific niche. Expand that to thousands of instances with their own niches, able to connect to one another for a seamless shopping experience for the end user. Small business owners could run an instance of their own if they’d like. Or someone with some small equity could start an instance and focus solely on customer service, returns, overhead of site management, etc (maybe I’m dumb and this etc is bigger than I realize), and basically allow individuals to rent out a virtual booth in a digital flea market.
Have a look at xmrbazaar.com, it’s not open source yet, but it will be after they get out of beta.
i made that image!
had to search a bit but i made it in 2015, debian.org also used it in a timeline post
sorry for being offtopic, just weird to see my stuff 10 years later lol
That’s pretty cool. Sorry to say this but when I looked at it, I immediately thought of a family photo of a proud husband and a happy 6 months pregnant wife.
It must be nice to see your old work floating around and not default to, “Oh fuck, they haven’t touched it since I gave it to them!”
(Web Application Developer.)
IMO there are sufficient search engines to find products in online shops, to check availability, compare prices etc.
I see the main selling point of Amazon in the huge assortment (you can get everything in one place without shipping fees), the user ratings (although the quality massively declined during the last years) and the fast delivery. I’m boycotting them for around one year now and everytime I need to order a strange combination of things I’m getting reminded how convenient it used to be. I don’t intend to order there again, but I definitely need much longer to buy stuff now.
They don’t let you leave reviews anymore unless you’ve bought something within the last 6 months, or let you read all reviews without being logged into an account. Way less useful to me personally than it used to be.
I think the biggest pull (for me at least) is a uniform shopping experience. I go directly to the manufacturer when possible and bypass Amazon but I do notice the rigmarole of how products are laid out differently on each site, some with or without a search feature, most without reviews (ratings are crap but sometimes reviewers can clear up ambiguity), each having their own checkout system (PayPal makes things a bit easier), and each has it’s own return policy which is rarely as good as Amazon.
I think setting up a standard API for finding products, getting their specs, reading their policies at a high level, and ordering with a single login would go a long way towards taking down Amazon. I see the solution more as a federated one where vendors either host their own instance or pay some percentage of sales or flat rate to list products on someone else’s instance.
I fully agree and do the same it is a way better way to buy needed things. Won’t ever go back to Amazon but the news of AWS reminded me how alternatives are needed for Amazon and Amazon Web Services
This post is more so for apps to be made that most people will use and will actually be a boon to the open source community as another way of funding. Can also lead the way to hardware being funded to be made as well from that additional income stream
I just want to set my preferences. I want to say “only show from these countries if nothing else is found and warn me”, set open hardware first, for IOT stuff show homeassistant compatibility, prefer community coops over worker over sole propriter over public over private equity, prefer union over non-union, prefer diy friendly, prefer locally sources, prefer regenerative agriculture, warn of internet requirements, warn of non free software, etc etc
Like the market is made to be absolutely opaque on stuff like that.
Like have them like Blue sky and now Mastadon has with their feed starter packs. Have an optional question are, let me send up or sign up to a boycott channel.
A bazare to eBay to Facebook marketplace bridge would be big too if you had a shipping/oracle support.
