Paid.co

Sell anything. Pocket everything.

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Inspiration

With a growing number of Web3 tools and trustless digital currencies, it’s now more possible than ever to remove middlemen who have become increasingly “evil” and enable participants to transact directly. By removing intermediaries, all participants benefit and a much healthier / balanced ecosystem emerges. Paid.co gives a glimpse of what is possible with blockchain based platforms like Blockstack coupled with Bitcoin for payments.

What it does

A marketplace where sellers can sell anything (both digital and physical products) and pocket everything. Buyers purchase offers directly from the seller through Bitcoin or Lightning Network.

How I built it

Using Create React App and Twitter Bootstrap. Everything happens on the client-side and transactions are directly between the buyer and seller. #Serverless

Challenges I ran into

Learning to code in React and interfacing with the Blockstack API. Thankfully there is an abundance of help and support from the community.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Creating a platform where participants can transact without middlemen and simplifying the process of listing both digital and physical items. A neat feature is how buyer details are never stored on servers but rather sent directly to a seller’s email. This keeps private information more secure than traditional means where personal information might be stored in a database and broadcast out via emails and/or notifications.

What I learned

Besides learning to code in React, I got a taste of what’s possible with emerging Web3 tools like Blockstack. I believe it’s crucial for more peer-to-peer platforms to emerge and take market share away from gig economy/marketplace platforms that are taking a disproportionate share from participants and becoming Goliaths in the space. This needs to change if we want a healthy and balanced ecosystem to emerge, especially as the gig economy continues to expand. The recent strikes from workers of ride-sharing apps is just the tip of the iceberg.

What's next for Paid.co

Community and connecting participants will be a big piece for Paid.co. In this initial MVP phase, the idea is that sellers would interact with their existing fans by posting offers on their social media accounts. Eventually, they will be able to connect and grow their audience within Paid.co. A reputation tool will be crucial for this to work. On-demand services, localized markets, and face-to-face sales could also be addressed with Paid.co (ie. Paid Go, Paid Eats, Paid Get…). In closing, this project was built as a way to contribute back to the community. It would be great to be able to eventually open-source the project and have it run by the community.

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