Multilateral exchange

There are: HTC Hero with a buggy bottom of the screen, a shabby Nokia e51, a pair of long-range walkie-talkies, 2 bluetooth headsets, a blue Ikea table, metal and wooden shelving, a system unit, a DECT phone, 30 meters twisted pair cable, the same amount of TV cable , 2 shovels, rake, garden car, LED lamp MR-16 3w 12v, old corner sofa, kitchen 4-burner stove, Samsung laser printer working, but without a cartridge, a lot of children's clothes, the services of cool php programmers.

It is necessary: LED bulbs MR-16 220v, LED strip, paper for printer, colored paper, solar-powered flashlights in the country, knitting wire, edged board.

Does anyone want a change?

Problem

Each of us has things that it is a pity to throw out, but it would be necessary. At the same time, we understand that hardly anyone will agree to pay at least some money for these things. On the other hand, we often need to purchase things that do not have to be new, and for which we also don’t really want to pay. The classic solution to the problem is to advertise the exchange. When resorting to such a decision, we are faced with the fact that even in big cities there are not so many people who have what you need and who need what you have.

Startup idea

Bulletin board. Two types of ads:

• I have
• I need

The user gets access to the contact details of other users only when he places at least one advertisement of each type. It is important. As soon as he does this, the system begins to build a chain (one or several alternatives) of exchange that would satisfy the following conditions:

1. At the ends of the chain should be participants who have what you need and who need what you have
2. The chain should be the minimum length
3. All participants in the chain should be within the reach of each other (in the same city, region)

Where's the money?

Monetization options:

1. Advertising (ingenious, right?)
2. Premium accounts (members with a premium account are included in the chain first)
3. Services of a financial guarantor
4. Exchange Organizer Services

Directions for the development of ideas

• Companies in the chain
• Not only a “clean” exchange is possible, but also with a surcharge, as well as the exchange of several things for one or several
• The search is not only what is clearly needed, but also what, in principle, can come in handy. Fuzzy search terms

Problems

• Inconvenient organization of a meeting of a chain of more than 4 participants
• Many visitors will simply be too lazy to enter information about what is available and what is needed
• A nontrivial (and therefore probably expensive to implement and maintain) chain search algorithm

We would have implemented it by our team, but we won’t last long on enthusiasm, and the project is not fast. Therefore, I make the idea public.