Buy

Definitely one of the prettiest things I’ve ever made. #blastfrommyflashpast
aurora

Devpreneurs, I have some side projects that I’m no longer able to tend to.

Some of my favorite quotes.

“It’s like Square, but you don’t need an extra device (a Square) — or a credit card. Pretty cool.”

“Obviously, for brands, the value proposition both for Sell Simply’s current offerings and the marketplace features that will be launching by the end of the year could be huge.”

“Just as brands hope that using Facebook as a social commerce platform can help create scale so that a larger audience will see cool products or sales because users post those items on their wall or share them with friends, Teso said that he sees a similar opportunity for eCommerce on Twitter.”

“If one happens to be selling their bike on Twitter through Sell Simply, there’s a good chance that a user’s friends will re-tweet the listing, and their followers may follow suit. If those people then, in turn, re-tweet to their followers, well, you get the point.”

Read the entire article here.

Chirp lets you accept payments quickly and easily from any device. Whether you’re a wedding photographer, store owner, taxi driver or hairdresser, customers can pay you money from anywhere using what they already have in their pocket: their phone. To accept payments you don’t need a single device.

Wow. So Flickr just invited me to give free rights to some of my images for a “weather product” Yahoo! is creating.

You’re Flickr for Zods sake! You cater to photographers! Who make a living off their photos!

Pay the people!

To say that brands are trying to figure out the best way to use Twitter to drive commerce would be an understatement. The massive opportunity the Twitter platform presents for commerce has not been lost on Twitter CEO Dick Costolo.

Currently the extent to which brands drive commerce on Twitter is limited to broadcast advertising. Brands send out Tweet based ads designed to lure consumers from Tweetdeck to the brand storefront. A transaction is then still multiple steps away as consumers must pass through a traditional e-commerce checkout process.

Semil Shah has recently written a lot about discovery based commerce. In his TechCrunch article How Discovery Will Drive Transactions he discusses the changing landscape in social commerce from search to discovery based following. He actually mentions Sell Simply in the article as a payment system. But, we’re much more…

The transition from intent-based search on Google, to discovery based commerce, is absolutely occurring, and is a perfect example of how we take Twitter to another level in the commerce context. Since we enable transactions on Twitter (one can Tweet an item for sale — followers can buy simply by replying), we actually complete the circle from discovery (you’re following a brand selling something) to action (“reply to buy” payment)… all with two Tweets. Consumers do not have to leave the Twitter platform to transact. Brands sales percentage exponentially increases as frictions decrease.

In other words, we not only drive social commerce from a discovery standpoint, we go one step further and close the loop by enabling transactions on the same platform the discovery is taking place. With us, Twitter is no longer confined to just a broadcast platform for brands. When brands Tweet about a sale through Sell Simply their followers can purchase directly from the Tweet. This combination of social commerce with “reply to buy” transaction capability is what makes our platform so powerful.

The transition from search based commerce to social is on. We’re happy to be a part of it.

This weekend I created a Chrome Extension for Sell Simply that allows you to Sell your Etsy, Ebay or Craigslist items directly on Twitter.

The extension let’s you to Tweet your items for sale directly from the item listing wherever it may be. People can then purchase the item just by replying to the Tweet with the word “buy”.

I was recently interviewed by Rick Turoczy about Sell Simply for Meet The Startup.

The interview went super smooth, mostly due to the relaxed nature of Rick, and the obvious benefit of knowing your own startup inside and out. Thanks to Rick, Tom Turbull and Phil Kinjerski for their work promoting startups in Portland. I’m glad to have the opportunity to discuss Sell Simply and the direction it’s taking.

If you have a chance go check out all the Portland talent in the archives of Meet The Startup.