Ask HN: Review my startup - GiftBait.com

5 points by bakhlawa 14 years ago | 5 comments

http://www.giftbait.com

I have built GiftBait to help party planners / hosts get gift suggestions from their friends.

This is akin to a traditional gift registry but instead of the host specifying what they WANT, friends specify what they want to GIVE. The host just has to vote yes/no on each gift and the friend knows what to get.

Likely use cases: wedding, bridal/baby shower, house warming, birthday, etc.

This is my first product and feedback would help me refine the offering.

Thanks, bakhlawa

thorie 14 years ago |

I would like a button on the front page that says "Tour" that explains what happens.

I tried using it, but I didn't want to create an account. I want to see what it does and how it works. Maybe an example of it or a video demo.

Also I recommend not putting pricing or fees until you've gotten a lot of people who love using the service. Unless you're dying for a few bucks to keep you sustainable.

Otherwise seems like a good idea. I'd like to try it some more to give you better feedback.

bakhlawa 14 years ago | |

Thks thorie, I've been thinking about adding a Tour and I agree it's required. The most challenging part is explaining the concept, and a tour would do the trick.

I'll think about making it free to get some critical mass. Not desparate for the $ but I figured one free credit at signup would give users enough to try it out for one event. But perhaps that's keeping people from trying it out.

I would love for you to try it some more. Your profile didn't have an email address but I'd love to set you up with a free unlimited account so you can try the full feature set. Can you contact me through the website with your email address so I can follow up with you?

EricR23 14 years ago |

Personally, I wouldn't want to use this. The whole idea of my friends submitting gift ideas to me feels like I'm asking for a little much. It feels unfair. I'd rather my friends get me whatever they feel is right without my say, this way it's a real gift.

bakhlawa 14 years ago | |

Thanks for the feedback. The target audience comprises of people that actively create gift registries or wish lists today. E,g. it's common in US/Canada for the bride and groom to create a gift registry for their wedding ASKING for gifts they want. GiftBait solves this by letting friends decide what they want to get...so in effect it's quite a bit better than being told what to get. If the friend's gift gets selected, they know what to buy, or they can submit more gift ideas for the host to consider. And as a bonus: it lets the friend suggest gifts they can afford/would like to get vs. the host saying what they want.

<TL;DR> This is targeted at people that use gift registries today. If you don't, you admittedly won't see much use for it.

bakhlawa 14 years ago |

No one? I'll even take critical feedback...!