Hey gulls.
I know this comes up now and then. Lacemarket sucks in many ways but we're all stuck with it.
I decided to make a 2nd hand marketplace as a side project for myself and wanted to make it jfashion/lolita themed. I already have a couple of ideas for it and was wondering what you think about them and what else you would like.
>Data (release year, original price, measurements & pictures) can be automatically fetched from lolibrary (issue here being how unreliable lolibrary's servers are)
>Private or public wardrobe with all of your items. You can upload pictures and other data for these too. Specific items or the whole wardrobe can be set to private.
>If items are in your wardrobe you can sell them with a couple of clicks, the data is already filled in, you just need to put in a price.
>When buying you can chose to automatically add the bought item to your wardrobe
>In addition to a selling area, there is a WTB area where you can post what you are looking for (not sure how the communication and selling process should be here if someone has the item and wants to sell it to you)
>Maybe additionally a dream item area for things you aren't looking for right now, like a wish list
>Set up tags/names/lolibrary links you want to follow so you're automatically alerted when a new WTS/WTB pops up
>Actual Paypal integration (one click buy, no manual invoicing, no adding paypal fees on top)
>Proper offer system (see ebay)
>Price can be specified in any currency, will be displayed in the buyers chosen currency (using paypal exchange rates)
>Some statistics to help you determine item going rates (this could be premium to pay for the servers)
>Items will be automatically bumped to the top results if the price is lowered (or pay a small sum for it)
>Filtering by country
My biggest issue with j-fashion mart in general is: What about replicas? Lolita is plagued with a lot of replica issues, but so are other brands, Liz Lisa being a j-fashion is one that is arguably even worse than the AP replica issues.
What would you labeling something a replica? It's kind of hard, because said real life example was this girl I know who buys dirt cheap taobao all the time. She searched eBay for "thigh high boots" or something similar and ended up buying brown Liz Lisa replicas. When I asked her why she's wearing LL replicas, she had no idea what I was talking about.
How would you also keep out those tacky Etsy-type resellers that just buy something, label it like "cute strawberry sweater" and hike up the price when it's something like a random gyaru brand replica?
But anyway, please keep doing what you're doing for sure. Lacemarket is a great concept, but it's plagued with issues and I'd love to see something a bit more broad. I think this could unite a lot of different comms like gyaru, mori girl, and so on.
If it's gonna be general jfashion themed, how are you gonna keep it from filling up with random crap? Like someone's granny sweater that can totally be worn for fairy kei!! Make it Japanese brands only? Make policies for each jfashion?
I'm not knocking it just wondering how well it will work. It seems like outside of lolita with very strict guidelines, people will try to bend the rules of what constitutes jfashion as much as possible. I think it's a good idea though and I'd love a place for other jfashions since I don't wear lolita.
>>8915974
Let's hear your credentials. You must have no idea how many times this has been posted.
I like this idea a lot, but here's another issue I have: The natures of each j-fashion are radically different.
Lolita is huge on brand name items and basically only brand names. The style is strict, replicas are easy to spot and weed out for a trained eye. This makes the fashion ideal for weeding out random thrifted granny blouses and labeling junk like blue jeans or random sweaters "lolita".
Gyaru is a bit different. It's heavily brand name too, but the style varies wildly and is a lot closer to more normal fashion. Replicas are also a thing, and arguably a bit more difficult to notice and more prominent. (A simple blue gyaru sweater knockoff off taobao is hard to tell vs an AP skirt with bad lacing) Each of it's sub-styles is pretty restrictive in their own ways, so it usually has a much lesser, but healthy market like lolita.
Mori girl is a good example of a market that's harder to fit into a marketplace. It's sort of the antithesis of a lot of j-fashions, not really being about brands as much as it is the "feel" and what you piece together. I'm not apart of the community, but I know there's a big degree of thriftyness in it, so a lot of bargain bin finds, random taobao shops, and the occasional japanese brand.
My question is really how that'd all work on one site. Mori girl and styles like it are great fashions, but I feel it can get muddied easily with a lot of eBay looking trash since it's very subjective. Fashion styles that are very strict and rely strongly on brands, like gyaru and lolita, have always done much better.
The only thing I can think of is having each individual comm kind of regulate a portion of your site. A lolita mod could toss out/point out replicas and so on. Obviously a gyaru isn't going to care at all about the lolita stuff, so you'd need a gyaru mod for that part of the site imo. If you get too lax, it just becomes a weird j-fash flavored eBay.
>>8916065
Concerning what constitutes as a replica I would go by legal definitions. You could also blacklist some common keywords like "replica" or known replica producers. The other issue with lacemarket is that you can report violations such as replicas but apparently no one looks at them ever. So the site would need some active mods to delete replicas and ban users who repeatedly break the rules.
>>8916066
Maybe a similar approach to Grailed (men's 2nd hand marketplace). Basically they have three categories Grailed, Hype and Basics. Grailed is for expensive, highly coveted items, runway fashion etc. Basics is H&M (random crap). Hype is for the streetwear in between. This he system would rely on people using the correct categories or being moderated a little. Something similar could be Lolita/Japanese Brands/Basics. Making a category for every Kei would just split things up too much.
>>8916081
I have a degree in computer science and work as a programmer and web developer? I absolutely know how often this is posted but I unfortunately didn't write things down and can't find everything in the archives.
>>8916168
Front end? Back end?
Have you started? Are you working with anyone else?
I don't know anon, I've heard this so many times and no one has even started.
as far as replicas, you could give every user the ability to flag something as a replica, and then mod users (there could be a lot of mods, like on okcupid for example, just anyone who seems like a legit user who would be able to spot a replica) can vote on whether it is or not. While it's flagged and still up in the air, there could be a warning that mods are still deciding whether it's a replica or not until the vote settles whether it is or not. You can also add a rule that tags (the brand tag and the washing instructions tag) must be posted if you say it's brand, so that replicas are easier to spot.
Also, you could add a blog/social media feature to it if you wanted. It could make it maybe slightly more likely for it to get off the ground, combine a few website ideas that /cgl/ has been talking about for a while now, and also give users a better way of deciding whether some offbrand item is actually a good idea; if you look at the seller's blog and they look awful maybe it's not such a good idea after all.
I also know compsci so if you want a hand I can drop my email, I'd love to work on something like this. I'm working on too many projects right now but could probably hop onto the project in about a month.
>>8916205
A bit of both but mostly backend. I have started and am currently not working with anyone and not yet ready to share access to the repository. I understand your doubt. I'm not asking for money. Just a free user survey I suppose.
Also taking note of everything in this thread even if I'm not answering.
Admittedly the realist side of me is doubtful this will ever come into fruition, but if it did, wouldn't it be nice to have a marketplace that filled in the gaps that Lacemarket is lacking in? I hope OP will do their best to work on this project and find the motivation to get this off the ground. Sending you well-wishes; best of luck!
>>8916469
email is in the name field. Good luck either way!
>Being able to filter results by measurements (be it the garment or your own) would be nice.
>Shoe sizes that go up to US 12-13?
LM only goes up to size 11, iirc.
>A favorite system that actually works.
>"Stricter" categorical searches-- I don't really know how to phrase it. Basically, I don't want to see a JSK or socks pop up if I'm looking through bags. If someone wants to sell a set, maybe there should be a "set" category.
>>8916517
>Being able to filter results by measurements (be it the garment or your own) would be nice.
THIS THIS THIS!! If we could have a field where we fill out the bust/waist/length range of the piece it would be amazing! The "plus size friendly" and "tall friendly" categories on LM are so arbitrary.
Not interested in a mart that is muddled with other jfashes. Only want Lolita or loli-able things, and no print replicas.
I love LM, the only thing it's lacking is strict moderation. I personally would like a site exactly like LM but for certain official j-fash brands only (literally NO offbrand/ handmade allowed- people with that stuff should sell on etsy and eBay)
>>8916560
Since OP wants to implement info fetching from Lolibrary, it's not entirely impossible. I think the biggest barrier to that would be Lolibrary's intermittent downtime.
Get something going first and then come back for feedback, this shit gets posted so many times and nothing ever happens.
>>8916688
The data on lolibrary is really messy. It'd have to be majorly cleaned to be of use. And brands still don't list ranges, so if there's shirring, it may fit a larger size, but you search for greater than Xcm. This could only potentially work for length. So yes, not impossible, but unreliable and not worth the effort.
>>8916735
People do often put these measurement in the description themselves. Having a way to actually search for the information provided by some sellers would be nice.
