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ThemBid.com - “Make them bid” on your requests

ThemBid is a fresh new entrant to the the same space as DoMyStuff.com - allowing you to post requests and have relevant service providers bid on your business.

Requests receive bids, and questions, negotiations, etc. can take place in comments. Here’s a good in action example. Businesses and individuals bidding for business on ThemBid.com have profile pages that include maps, reviews, an Apple-esque star-rating, and links to BBB (Better Business Bureau) search-result pages.

ThemBid also crosses into classifieds, offering a simple way to post things that may not fit into the service marketplace.

First Impressions & Suggestions

ThemBid does a good job of covering off high level functionality, but falls short on detail and usability. Given the new-ness of the site, it doesn’t come as a surprise, and I’d expect it to improve over time. For the moment though, compared to DoMyStuff, ThemBid comes across as more of an after hours effort…

More Structured Data Please: Requests have relatively little structured data associated with them, making the process more complicated than it needs to be (i.e.: for “babysitter needed,” days and hours required should be a structured field). Structured data should ideally be category specific.

Category and Location Browsing: Requests are posted to categories & locations - but browsing by either as a criteria is an awkward process - you can’t tell how many requests or classifieds are in each category or location, making browsing a time consuming, hit-or-miss proposition.

Search: Hmm. There doesn’t appear to be a text/keyword means of searching the site at all. That would be a good thing to include.

Design: A know that design and appearance is fundamentally subjective, and lord only knows, Craigslist is a 100% design-free blockbuster - but I find the appearance of ThemBid to be a little tough on the eyes. Greys & reds just don’t seem to contrast well online, and overall the design - to my eye at least looks dated. Given some of the slick functionality that the sight offers, a more eye-grabbing contemporary design would go a long way to converting visitors into members and speaking to ThemBid’s credibility.

Functional Clarity: Classifieds, Requests, and Companies need to be conceptually separated more clearly. There’s stuff in classifieds that could be a Request, and vice versa. My suggestion would be to drop classifieds entirely and focus on the more unique aspect of the site (requests/bids) better.

Summary

ThemBid is a new entrant to a sparsely populated space that I call “reverse classifieds.” Given the headaches of launching anything new in the Classifieds space (craigslist & ebay are their own barriers to entry), “reversing” the equation provides a unique and attention grabbing angle. ThemBid is new and shows it around the edges, but has early mover advantage. If they can keep iterating the site on a rapid basis, ThemBid could get some traction.

Of course, there’s little in the way of barriers to entry protecting ThemBid, so speed of execution is key. Also, providing a viral angle - for example a “Bid on My Request” widget to embed on blogs or MySpace pages, or Facebook platform integration - would capitalize on their early mover position.

If you want to follow their progress, keep an eye on the ThemBid.com blog.

classifieds, craigslist, domystuff thembid

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DoMyStuff.com - Outsource Your Day-to-Day Annoyances

Note: I have been unable to register at DoMyStuff. That registration confirmation email is up to 10 hours now - perhaps they aren’t accepting Canadian registrations or some such thing - if that is the case, it would be better to post that fact. As it is, its annoying as DoMyStuff claims to add 600 new users a day. So - bottom line - this review isn’t as in-depth as I’d hoped. EDIT: I’m registered at DoMyStuff and the initial sign up issues have been resolved.

The DoMyStuff.com pitch is an interesting one - post things that you want to get done, and let a community of “assistants” bid on the right to do it [found via Ars]. Competing with Craigslist, local forums, and word of mouth, DoMyStuff is essentially the Amazon Mechanical Turk for the offline world: Need your grass cut, dry cleaning picked up, computer fixed, fence painted, or groceries bought? Post it, and DoMyStuff hopes to find someone to do it for you. Similarly, if you’re looking to fill your free time doing any of the above, you can browse and bid on posts. Ultimately, DoMyStuff is a service marketplace for everyday tasks.

Posting Tasks

Employers (those wanting to get things done), can post in a number of categories and sub-categories (list is high-level category with a sub-category example for each):

1. Automotive > Change Oil
2. Creative > Photograph Event
3. Household > Aquarium Cleaning
4. Miscellaneous > Deliver
5. Personal and Family > Play Tooth Fairy on Phone
6. Planning and Preparation > Plan Bar Mitzvah
7. Purchasing > Concert Tickets
8. Research and Recommend > Cellphone Plans
9. Technical > Computer Repair

There’s a reasonable number of granular sub-categories to choose from, any of which prospective Assistants (those looking to do things) can subscribe to via RSS. The sub-categories cover a wide range - from general labour types of work, to specialized professional applications - such as directing films or composing music. There’s some sweet, funny examples too - like hiring someone to be the Tooth Fairy over the phone.

Bidding on Tasks

Assistants bid on posted tasks, specifying time, cost, and relevant details (hashed out via built-in messaging). Assistants can be chosen on the basis of their bid, their reputation (they are rated after completion of tasks), proximity, or “type” - individual or business. Once terms are finalized, payment is arranged: the agreed-upon funds can go into an escrow account until the work is completed to your satisfaction, or other arrangements can be brokered via the site (50% up front, 50% when finished, etc).

Here’s an example of an actual task that’s being actively bid on (click the screengrab to go there, as long as its active):

DoMyStuff seems to be modeled most closely after eBay - the public back and forth discussion and bid history, for instance. Note - this is a good thing. eBay’s layout is purposeful if not elegant, and DoMyStuff has a solid, similar implementation to enable a similar type of transaction.

Business Model

According to Ars Technica, DoMyStuff makes its cut off of the Assistants, charging a “service fee” for each task undertaken via the site. Whether this is a percentage cut, flat fee, or some type of sliding scale is unknown. This appears to be their only revenue stream, as there is no advertising on the site.

From what I can tell from the outside of the site, DoMyStuff is well-conceived, well laid out and well executed - they seem to have anticipated most of the objections people would have with such a service and provided answers (escrow service, for instance).

Challenges

While DoMyStuff.com seems to have put together a solid website, their ability to meet business model and marketing communications challenges will determine their success:

1. To Much Solution for the Problem: Craigslist enables thousands of similar transactions every day, and more all of the time. What Craigslist lacks in structure, it makes up for in simplicity, and free-ness (for both Employers and Assistants). The structure added by DoMyStuff no doubt makes the process of collecting and evaluating bids more straightforward, but is this a need that the market has actually signalled, or a “build it and see if they come” gambit?
2. Informally, This Need is Already Being Met: Fundamentally, DoMyStuff is not enabling any new transactions. Every day-to-day task that can be arranged through the site is currently being arranged elsewhere already - be it Craigslist, local forums, word of mouth, or neighborhood bulletin boards. DoMyStuff offers selection, availability, and reputation - but its competing against the informal networks that have gotten things done as long as people have existed.
3. Formally, This Need is Already Being Met: Bigger tasks (DoMyStuff seems to have a lot of Design/Creative activity, for instance) are already being brokered elsewhere as well - places like eLance.
4. Critical Mass: as with any service of this nature, DoMyStuff needs to get penetration in markets such that there are enough posters and bidders to make using it worthwhile. Without a viral angle, DoMyStuff will be relying on advertising and word of mouth.

Summary

I do believe that DoMyStuff offers value to both sides of a transaction. I could see using it on a personal basis to get day-to-day things done, but more importantly, I could see it evolving into a “core” service for people and businesses as:

1. A recommendation engine (as ratings are accumulated)
2. A “b2c” (how’s that for a blast from the past) marketplace - I’d love to have multiple yard care companies bidding on my business, and be able to choose on the basis of reputation -that’s a powerful value proposition
3. A prospecting tool - for example, for local yard care companies to drum up more business

DoMyStuff needs to communicate their value proposition. From what I can tell, they are on the right track - they have a clear, explanatory business and domain name, a jargon free process that uses real, easy to understand words (Employer, Assistant, Task) instead of a made-up vocabulary, and a very streamlined site layout (from what I can see on the outside). Translate those points into a media campaign or a viral angle, and I think DoMyStuff could grow.

Suggestion: FreshBooks

Final note: One immediate opportunity that jumped out for me would be to integrate DoMyStuff with online accounting package FreshBooks such that Assistants could manage their businesses finances, taxes, etc. To do so would offer utility to Assistants, but more importantly would position DoMyStuff/FreshBooks as a complete accounting/marketing/transaction service - an end-to-end small business solution package.

craigslist, domystuff, ebay freshbooks

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