Sella - Githubissues

ETH ADDRESS: 0x694914dca68beb572c27319cdb052cf2217d4bdf

Sella powered by Aventus

Purpose

Provides a platform for peer-to-peer trading of goods in both the digital and local regional market, bringing a level of trust back to risk filled services.

Problem

Its no secret that services such as Craigslist, LetGo, Kijiji, even classified ads have a large use in today's economy, with people looking to make a fast profit or sell off clutter. There are also those actively selling digital goods on marketplaces such as Ebay, using services such as Paypal, with little to no protection for buyers.

Major issues arising in peer-to-peer purchases in both online and physical markets are the susceptibilities to less than honest users, resulting in fraudulent sales.

Cash-only transactions have been traditionally the acceptable and safe method of paying for goods & services in physical markets mainly to avoid theft and to ensure payment. Sellers can be blindsided by fraudulent credit cards, counterfeit bills, and even fake checks. [1]

Chargeback on payment methods is another growing concern with peer-to-peer transactions between individuals, especially when it comes to digital goods, such as ebooks, audio files, video game items, software codes, etc. Failure of the seller to transfer the digital assets is another problem found in the sale of digital goods, with little to no recourse.

Despite best efforts, there are still loads of scams being concocted every day. [3] With an increasing number of users experiencing such scams and frauds in both online and local markets, there is an inherent need to use credit cards or cryptocurrency in these transactions.

Solution

Sella will provide a platform and gateway to create listings for items in both a local/regional based marketplace as well as the sale of digital goods. With Aventus protocol and Aventus services [2], Sella will have the tools to provide the missing link in the peer-to-peer sale of physical and digital property in an incentivized and secure environment.

Users of the Sella platform will be able to buy and sell items in either a regional (local) based marketplace (similar to a Craigslist or classified ad) as well as in an online-only market for digital goods.

Sellers will be able to create free listings for items in the markets, and offer items to users who may be seeking an item (want to buy).

Buyers will be able to search for items in local and digital markets and generate a purchase, which will then follow a simplified set of steps to complete the sale.

By acting as a sort of middle-man, Sella provides a platform to ensure that payment methods are legitimate and that goods and services are actually rendered.

Sella incentivizes users for completing transactions, and also for rating users or receiving favorable ratings from other users. This ensures and promotes legitimate trading within the platform.

A tiered verification process will provide a way of gaining a trusted reputation within the community (ie, the more levels of verification, the more a rating would hurt for a negative experience).

How Does It Work

Sella is an application in which a user can create or find listings to buy or sell things. These things can be something in the real world, or something in the digital world. Very simply put, the system works like a classified ad with a middle-man and a reliable digital currency.

A seller posts a listing for sale, a user finds and accepts the offer, and a sale is made. Utilizing Aventus services, a streamlined method of paying for goods and services is presented to the purchaser, as well as a chargeback/fraud resistant form of payment to give confidence to the seller. This provides a traditionally cash-dominated market to evolve into accepting credit card and other forms of payment, while still providing a fast method of sale through cryptocurrency. No more waiting days for Paypal or Checks to clear; no more scams with payment because of scummy humans.

Utilization of the Aventus Services/Protocol: Similar to creating an Event in the Aventus system, a ‘Listing’ will use the same framework/structure. A Listing can contain description of the good or service being sold and media assets involved with that item or service which can be stored within IPFS.
Sales of items will make use of the Aventus services layer to provide fiat/credit based payment method to users unfamiliar with crypto. Will also provide a method of transferring/buying AVT for advanced users (wallet access). Incentivisation program using the same technology presented by the Aventus ticketing system to promote fair play/trustful sellers and buyers.

Ratings and Verification System: Users can promote their trustworthiness by both earning ratings from other users (by rating succesful trades, etc) as well as gaining a higher tier of verification. By providing further information such as Name, Address, Phone number, Passport, SSN, a users verification level can be raised to a higher level and thus ratings can be uniquely tied to a person’s identity (which is not public) which promotes further honest trading within the platform. For example, a Gold-verified seller would be much more favorable than a Copper-verified seller. Similarily a seller with a large amount of positive ratings would be much more favorable than a seller with large amounts of negative ratings.

Incentivisation: Users of Sella are rewarded for participating in successful trades and providing feedback to one another through the utilization of the Aventus incentivisation system. This is accomplished through a portion of the fees collected in each sale.

Example of a LOCAL Sale:

Seller Lists item with an asking price and optionally a ‘buy out’ price Media assets are stored within IPFS

Buyer Searches for item in region, (ie. 10 miles from me, 50 miles from me, etc.), and locates an item he/she wants to buy. Makes offer or ‘buys out’ the item, generating a ‘Sale.’

Once a Sale is generated, the buyer sends funds into a Sale wallet- NOTE: this is generated by Aventus services, and is not the Sellers wallet. Here, Aventus services may also be used to provide an interface to non-crypto users who need to simply pay by credit card.

The users are then instructed to meet to exchange the goods or services and in return the Seller & Buyer both accept the trade through the Sella platform. This can be done in person by using a QR code in the application, or online by both marking the Sale as accepted.

Once the sale is accepted, the funds are then sent to the Seller’s wallet.

Example of a DIGITAL Sale: Seller Lists digital asset or service to be rendered or transferred in digital marketplace Media assets are stored within IPFS Buyer Searches for item in digital marketplace he/she wants to buy Makes an offer or ‘buys out’ the item, generating a ‘Sale’ Once a Sale is generated, the buyer sends funds into a Sale wallet, using the Aventus services layer as mentioned previously.
The Seller is then alerted to transfer or render goods and services dictated by the trade. Once both parties have marked the transfer accepted, the funds are sent to the Seller’s wallet

Other features include (but are not limited to) Want to Buy listing wherein users can request items to purchase, and potential sellers can place offers to Buyers which can generate a Sale. Secure messaging system within the platform user-to-user without the need to release personal information. This is facilitated by the verification tier & rating system which, while keeping personal information as safe as possible, provides a confidence to Buyers and Sellers within the platform. Accept payment in both credit card/fiat and AVT Ability to send/receive AVT (wallet access) Top-up/fill up AVT using Aventus services to purchase AVT View and Export a full history of past trades/sales/listings (they're all on IPFS after all).

Monetization:

While there is no fee to create a listing, each Sale generated within the Sella platform will carry a 2% fee to the Buyer of the good or service. A portion of this fee is placed in incentivization pool for providing incentives to users of the service.

Customer Acquisition & Marketing Strategy:

Social media campaigns on Twitter, Facebook, as well as Google Ads and Reddit Ads to promote an incentivized pre-launch beta version. Getting paid AVT to sell or buy items in the pre-launch beta will drive more users into the platform and generate mouth to mouth awareness of the platform.

Other possibilities include rewards to Beta users who have completed sales once launch occurs (in AVT of course).

References:

[1] "https://www.dailydot.com/crime/craigslist-crime-map/" https://www.dailydot.com/crime/craigslist-crime-map/ [2] "Aventus Whitepaper" https://aventus.io/doc/whitepaper.pdf [3] “Scammers Are Getting Way Too Clever” http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/costs/scammers-are-getting-way-too-clever/news-story/a784579dca686c877203e9a3254ae04e

Aventus-Network-Services / aventus-dapp-proposals

Sella #21