I created a feature-rich Grailed alternative to buy and sell men’s fashion clothing.
I’ve used Grailed since its inception and have loved it for what it has provided the men’s fashion community. There has always been a few things I thought could be improved about it but I thought it was just me. It was when I joined a fashion discord channel that I noticed many others had the same gripes. Intrigued and genuinely interested, I did a quick search on their subreddit using https://snew.notabug.io/r/grailed and noticed that half, if not more, disgruntled posts had been deleted.
Surprised, I did further research through individual subreddit posts and by asking others in the discord channel what those gripes were. There seemed to be repeated requests, here are the top six.
- Vacation Mode
- Android app unusable/crashing
- Unable to send images in chat
- Dark Mode
- Unfair fees
- Transparency and communication
Some of these requests seemed quite simple, and I was unsure why they were not implemented or at least considered. Over a year, these requests were asked for repeatedly, so to me, it seemed there was no interest in developing them. Perhaps there’s a need for another men’s fashion marketplace then?
So over a few months I created the core of a marketplace. I had people use it and give feedback and suggestions which I then provided solutions. I’ve already provided solutions to the top 6 requests and am now looking to get feedback to improve it further.
As of today (12 May), there has been a total of 119 transactions and $45,984 in sales, saving users at least $2759 in fees!
Ideally it’s best there is just one platform to avoid having to search and/or sell twice. However one counter point I believe is it makes for friendly competition rather than one monopoly. Each platform can constantly strive to innovate to stay relevant. In a similar way to how both Nike and Adidas co-exist.
New Features unique to JawnFlip:
Using feedback provided to Grailed, I decided to implement the following features to provide a solution for those who requested it.
- Vacation mode
Especially in this current situation with COVID19, I am unable to ship out currently. It’s not viable to update every single listing each time these dates change. So you can set your vacation dates easily in a few clicks, and your vacation message will be visible on all of your listings for everyone to see. When the world gets back to normal and travel is a thing again, this will be more useful. - Support multiple Currencies
PayPal currency conversions can sting, so having the option to sell the item and offer in your preferred currency makes sense. The currency dropdown also makes it easy to convert all listings to your preferred currency. - Multi-buy
Why not offer a better deal if a buyer is interested in two or more items. Even better, combine shipping and have the items separated on the PayPal invoice.
- Inbox
After a while, it gets hard to tell who you have dealt with previously, so it made sense to have one conversation between each user. If you have talked or dealt with them before, why not offer them a better a deal for being a loyal customer. Oh yea, you can attach images. - WTB (want to buy)
I’ve seen a few people list what they want to buy as a sell listing on Grailed. I’ve created a dedicated section for this so you can list and search for specific pieces you are in search of. This feature can also be useful to search for items you are considering selling and see if there is market appetite. - Sizing feature
The most common question asked by users is for item measurements. I’ve added a dedicated system so you can easily add dimensions to any listing. Potential buyers can then check these on the listing. You can also easily switch between inches/cm depending on whether you are down with the metric or the imperial system. - Reddit export function
Many users list their items on reddit posts as well. Instead of typing it out, you can click one button that copies a formatted table ready to be pasted into any reddit post. - Dark mode
Self-explanatory. If I had a dollar for time I’ve seen this request.
Future Pricing:
The section most people will care about, what will JawnFlip cost to use down the track? Currently, there is no fee to use the platform. Buyers do not incur fees, and sellers pay only standard PayPal rates.
And as not many resources are needed to run the platform, I pass on low fees for users. Sellers and buyers are still protected in the same way as all payments go through PayPal.
However, I have several pricing considerations for the future when usage levels increase; these include:
- Pay to promote your listings
- Subscription-based service ($2/month, $10/year)
- Free 5 active listings at any one given time. Any additional active listing/s incurs a cost — aimed to impact only large businesses/sellers
- Advertisements on the site
- % based success fee
After speaking to people about these options, the preference was a % success based fee. If JawnFlip was to go down this route, I believe a 1–2% platform fee would be reasonable. Also adding a maximum fee cap, so you don’t get stung on those big $$$ sales.
What’s next?
I’m currently planning to progress JawnFlip in another direction, not seen yet on any existing platform. The idea is to focus on a collection of fashion pieces, where users can not only buy and sell but get more insight into the piece itself. The first iteration is the Catalog menu which is currently live now. I plan to develop this further, so stay tuned 👀
Conclusion
I’m sure others have thought about creating an alternative in the past, but I decided to make it happen. I’d appreciate anyone who trials JawnFlip and provides feedback. From the feedback I’ll continue to improve the experience and create a viable and enjoyable alternative for people to buy and sell their jawns.
Click the relevant link below to view it on your preferred platform
If this new platform has the features you have been looking for you can help expose it to others by listing an item, sharing this article or clapping below. We will be having a competition soon with awesome prizes for the release of our new feature so be sure to sign up to not miss out.
And to those that have already started using the platform, thank you!
