Thursday, March 10, 2011

Zaarly App

     "Zaarly is a proximity based, real-time buyer powered market. Buyers make an offer for an immediate need and sellers cash in on an infinite marketplace for items and services they never knew were for sale."



     As a buyer you can make offers for a service you want, anything you can think of (only if it is legal of course). What the service is how much you're willing to pay, and depending on the service, where you are. You can post a request to have your clothes cleaned for you, have a soda delivered to you while you're in the movies and you don't want to miss any of it, or set up a party at a dinning hall. Instead of hiring an over price assistent you can set your own price and find people willing to do the job.

     If you want you can sell your services as well. If you were to be going grocery shopping one day and see that someone that lives close by would like some milk brought to them why not pick up some extra cash for doing something you pretty much already are. You could even make a living from simply helping out others that are otherwise to busy, or physically disabled who can't do things for them selves.

     Zaarly has some pretty good features. It uses the location feature of your phone to determine proximity of your phone to determine proximity of other the users. You can talk to the person you've accepted via an anonymous phone number (A Twilio powered service). Later you'll be able to anonymously text back and forth also. Soon both sides of the transaction will be able to rate the other person.

     Cofounder Bo Fishback says he came up with the idea on an airplane. He is tall and has trouble in most economy class seats. When he flies he would often ask people in the exit row if they'll take his seat for $50. "100% of the time the person says yes, or just changes without the payment." Zaarly is a better way to do these type of things, he says.

     Look for it to launch at SXSW in a few days. Until then, sign up for early notification at Zaarly.

4 comments:

  1. wow this is pretty cool. i might have to try it out for some side jobs I need help with!

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  2. I hope he sits next to me on a plane some time.

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  3. ha! I'm curious to see if this goes anywhere. I like the concept, even if its exploitable for some nefarious deeds. Interesting!

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  4. Hmm, this has some potential. It's a very interesting idea at the least. I'll be sure to check it out. Thanks for sharing.

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