@dstors Is Not Just An Online Store!!!
Sometimes you get a Holy S**t moment that really throws you for a loop.
Last night, I got that reading the @dstors White Paper. What was originally just an online store based on the Steem blockchain ends up being a lot more.
@dstors is a platform that is being erected on the Steem blockchain that will bring buyers and sellers together. This is very similar to what companies like Amazon or Etsy do.
However, their goal is not to be an ecommerce platform. In fact, their desire is to create the new "dcommerce" platform.
Their goal is two-fold based upon the present market.
Encourage the adoption of cryptocurrency as a means of commerce and not just a store of value.
Create an incentive platform whereby both buyers and sellers are rewarded for conducting business together.
The second one, by the way, is the Holy S**t moment.
@dstors logic is simple: ecommerce went as far as it is going to. There is little room for innovation based upon the existing structure. Something new has to be created and that "new" is cryptocurrency.
The basic essence of cryptocurrency (aka crypto-economics) is to provide incentive to individuals. On their platform, both buyers and sellers will be incentivized AFTER the transaction is complete. Ecommerce cannot do this. Once a transaction is completed, time to move onto the next one.
After the transaction is completed, both parties will be rewarded in STORS based upon a variety of criteria used to determine one's standing on their platform.
Following the flow chart mirrors almost all online transactions right up to the point of "transaction completed". I highlighted the area where @dstors is different in the blue box.
Now we see that area blown up and added to.
There is an immediate market for the STORS. One can opt to cash out using the Bitshares network or the coins can be used to get upvotes on one's posts on either Steem or Whaleshares. The first option means turning the STORS into any currency on the Bitshares network while the second one means converting it, via an upvote, into STEEM.
Holy S**t. Did you see how they included the "upvote economy" in all this?
In the white paper they gave an example of a $250 purchase earning 75 STORS which would be worth an upvote of about $45. Of course, this will depend upon the price of STEEM in USD but I like the example. Even if the upvote is not worth close to 20%, say it is 10%, that is above and beyond the transactions conducted.
Hence, the seller get a 10% bonus on top of whatever profit was in the deal. At the same time, the buyer gets 10% in addition to any discount already received.
And what did that cost @dstors? Nothing since it is all a part of the circulating ecosystem they are creating using the upvote which is part of the content/reward system inherent on Steem.
Can you imagine if Amazon gave 10% to both the buyer and seller on each purchase made? It would not take an advertising genius to promote that. The lack of feasibility shows the limitation that ecommerce has.
It now is time to open up dcommerce.
They are issuing 250M token, 21M which are available in the early stages. The above charts shows it.
There is a delegation program which requires a 6 month, continual commitment. They have different layers spelled out in the white paper which I suggest everyone give a going over.
Here is the link for the white paper.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1czQzc4DrnrsItAwuC0Evrl8iARsGvS9Y/view
This is a really exciting project. After reading the white paper, I delegated some SP to them. I think this is one of those breakthroughs that could really revolutionize the way things are done. I hope all take the time to read the white paper to get a better grasp upon what is planned by this development team.
I think the tagline on the front of the white paper about sums it up.
I have to give them credit, they are thinking big on this one.
If you found this article informative, please given an upvote and resteem.
Pictures taken from @dstors white paper which is linked in article.
I met the creator of Dstores at Steemfest, he seemed to be a good guy. The issue I have is that Ebay is full of well tested scam tactics that have only been remedied by a large and well funded team of support staff monitoring everything and getting involved. From what I gather, the system here relies on perhaps downvoting as a deterrent, which itself relies on large SP levels, so initially the system might be plagued by scams. The classic one is that I set up a puppet account and then sell you a laptop. You pay for it into the escrow system and then I send you a house brick via a courier. Once you open it and discover I have scammed you, we have no way to know/prove who is lying .. So who gets the money?
I'm actually not sure how ebay resolves this - but I do know that when I got caught out by a similar scam a long time ago (before ebay evolved) they basically shut my account down even though I was the victim.
It's a messy problem and I'd love to know of a novel way to fix it using the blockchain.
In India Amazon delivery people needs an OTP after the buyer verifies the item. Only then the delivery is marked as completed. I think now they are also taking the photos of the item delivered. This is applicable only in the case of high value items.
If you get a brick instead of a laptop then you file a report with the police and deliver that to ebay - that's more or less how they deal with such cases. Been working for similar setup - not so big as ebay worldwide but locally much bigger :-)
But there is another much simpler mechanism - paypal. This payment method protects the buyer while sellers are practically uncovered because if you file a claim which is reasonable then they usually either block the funds or just reverse transaction. But you are right that dealing with such messy issues requires a large number of staff to handle all customer service issues and I don't really see how blockchain would tackle that.
Fair enough, though how the police would handle it and prove anything - unless there is a bunch of evidence they can dig up - I don't know. If this had a straightforward solution for a Steem based version of Ebay, I would have probably already created my own version!
The practice: if in doubt you open the package in the presence of a courier or post office clerk. Then you have a proof/third party verification and an option to get signed statement about actual content of the package. That's how it works. But there is also statistics - actually most people are honest - strange but true...
Most of the time we wouldn't really buy anything if we had such a doubt though - so in reality people don't tend to open in the presence of the courier (that's if the courier even meets the recipient at all).
It's good that most people are honest - but in a way that just improves the scope for the 'bad' people to move within - in relative safety and trust.
Hey @ura-soul. While I have thought of measures for damage control, there's something that I believe above all else: most people are good.
@kaliju This project of yours looks interesting. I have an extensive experience with e-commerce so maybe we could discuss this and that. If interested then find me on discord @pibyk#0668
Aloha. Thanks for your response here. There are actually entire regions of the world that Ebay won't allow to use their services - even within otherwise accepted nations. For example, there is a particular region of Mexico that Ebay simply will not deliver to - despite actually allowing the users to transact.. I discovered this last year and it is not public information - they tell you only when you query why the international shipping program won't work properly. My point is that generally thinking that 'people are good' is a huge denial of the reality that there are large and highly organised gangs of fraudsters operating online - they are like locusts in fact!
I will think about solutions, though I imagine there are only so many and Ebay probably has found the optimal ones for a system that doesn't include a blockchain. I imagine a blockchain based improvement would incentivize checking somehow - perhaps paying couriers a bonus for the service or something like that.. but that might be complicated.
Actually, Ebays solution is not good for the seller, which was why I quit selling there many years ago. The buyer is believed every time and will often end up with your item and their money back. The worst (yes, it was the final straw for me) is when after all of that, the crooked buyer leaves you a negative feedback and dings your stars. Many who stayed have to charge more to the honest customers to compensate for the guaranteed theft that Ebay allows from the buyers. I didn't have the temperament for it and minimized sales to face to face.
Has taskmaster ever replied to you btw? I frequently want to comment on these but notice he doesn't seem to acknowledge anyone's existence hence I don't bother.
I guess dstores is just as dependent on trust in ur example.
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PS - I noticed you just got an upvote from Rancherelaxo. Wonder if times are changing there?!?
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After reading one of your earlier pots on @dstors I also have delegate some SP to them... Everyone can do this too.
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Awesome idea, hope @dstors get this up and running soon. Can't wait to make a transaction on dcommerce platform. Thanks for sharing the info.
Very good review of why @dstors is going to rock! This is exactly why I delegated 1000 SP to them. They are going to change the e-commerce game up and help cause explosive growth on the Steem blockchain!
@taskmaster4450 I just Delegated to this because of the things that you pointed out and what is even better is that platforms like eBay may have a tough time competing with the likes of @dstors since like you mentioned neither Amazon nor eBay give their customers anything of Value.
Sounds interesting indeed! More use cases definitely helps the ecosystem expand beyond the blogging platform it orginated from. The continued development toward a more broad community that includes products and services is great for the Steem economy as well as it could provide continued demand for stake!
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this is an interesting new thread on how steem expand to each platform, this innovation will have a new future to maximize the market ecosystem.
which generate new idea on how sellers and buyers benefit on each transaction. Hope this development will continue so that steem coins will rise up.^_^
Thank you for your post @taskmaster4450 I resteemed it and actually viewed it after seeing the resteem by @dstors.
Will @dstors being issuing a Steem-based SMT or are they doing an ICO through Bitshares?
I hope they are going the SMT route with @steem so that we don't experience the same thing we experienced with DLive.
The White Paper says they are doing a SMT once that becomes available. Their goal is to be one of the first ones to use the protocol.
They are using Bitshares, I presume, in the meantime.
Yes, exactly this. Thank you.
I like the concept. A lot of shoppers love the idea of being rewarded with some kind of points for doing business. But what exactly gives value to the STORS tokens? Why would anyone purchase them if they are available for free?
Like anything else, the value lies in the ecosystem that develops. If they have a shopping platform with tens of thousands of stores and hundreds of thousands of transactions a day, that is a lot of commerce. Each transaction, presumably, will have STORS tied to it. This means there will be other uses evolving for it.
Plus, with the upvoting economy, STORS are the path to greater upvotes.
It would be great to have some kind of a vague idea what they could be.
Greater STEEM upvotes? How?
I'm asking because this is important. There has to be an economic model that makes sense for this and other apps to work in generating value.
Thank you @taskmaster4450 for this amazing write up about our project. It is nice to see the excitement building from the community and you are doing an amazing job to show people why they should be excited. We will do our best to keep everyone updated on the progress of @dstors.
It is my pleasure. After reading your white paper, I felt this had to be shared with the community especially with all the FUD that is going around. The community needs to know there are projects they can support right now which have the potential to change how parts of the internet operate in the future.
Going from ecommerce to dcommerce is a big one and can radically change things.
I hope a boatload of delegation follows this article to help you move toward your goals.