Free and open source ideas (#FOSI)

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It happens to us all to have good ideas but unfortunately we don't always have the time or the ability to realize them...

Instead of these ideas getting lost or dying we can share them and maybe they will be heard by someone in the free software community who is in need of inspiration but has the time and ability to realize them. 🤞

You can also share your idea and ask if people in the community are interested in helping you make it happen.

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Federated Shopping Platform (self.fosi)

submitted 4 days ago by BrianTheeBiscuiteer to c/[email protected]

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One of the biggest benefits of Amazon IMO is it's homogeny. That is, It's ability to let you buy products from dozens of different categories, among thousands of vendors, with a unified shopping experience. For any competitor to replicate this would be a monumental task and it would probably take years to see profit. I think most of us want to see decentralization of retail and increased competition and the best way might be a decentralized shopping platform.

While not something that can easily be shoehorned into the Fediverse I think it's worth the effort to try. Sensitive info like addresses, order history, and payments would still have to be managed outside of the Fediverse, but I think it is feasible to have a federated platform that makes it easier to connect consumers with retailers.

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[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Expanding on this idea, retailers could share an instance or each maybe having their own. They fully control the descriptions and images and pricing. The open and federated nature should make it easier for watchdogs to detect shady practices like surge pricing or changing product specifics on existing SKUs.

[–] miak 1 points 1 day ago

I like this. I imagine a federated store front instance that a store could run. It would need to be highly customizable as far as how it looks, but have standardized tags for data (like Brand, Price, Discount, etc) so that information could be organized consistently. Then you have apps/websites you use to aggregate the federated store fronts into a digital mall. You have one shopping cart provided by the aggregator app/site, and the aggregator app/site could store your shipping/billing info to automatically feed to each store front you select items from when you go to check out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It fills the eBay niche more than Amazon's, but Flohmarkt (https://wedistribute.org/2024/08/flohmarkt-federated-market/) might be a good start in this direction.

[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Now that I think about it the idea is closer to eBay. I just had it in mind to disrupt the biggest online retailer without simply reimplementing their model. Also, the centralized nature of both means they have much more influence. If instances are federated it should be easier, for retailers and consumers, to switch if one guy to be too influential or charged too many fees (I assume instances would get some kind of kickback). Like someone else said, you can think of it like a mall but imagine if you could relocate your shop from one mall to another in a matter of days or even hours.