“There is only one way to eat an elephant–a bite at a time.” Desmond Tutu
Creating something new is difficult. Creating something new and really big seems almost impossible at times.
Here at Swampum, we face that difficulty daily as we create a community marketplace platform that allows people to share with their communities in tangible ways, declutter and simplify their lives, save money, and help the environment. And while we feel our site has developed to the point where we can support users, we realize there are many areas where we need to continue improving.
Specifically:
- Group controls: At the moment, new users are added to their first group (based on ZIP code) when registering for an account. Users can also create their own public, private, or hidden groups. We understand we need to add more in this area, from giving moderators greater functionality to giving users more control on which groups see which items they wish to share.
- Transactions: By definition, marketplaces require the ability for users to exchange goods and services. Our functionality in this area is rudimentary at best, and we are working to enhance that.
- Payments: Exchanges of goods and services require some kind of payment between transaction partners (not everything can be free). Whether using cash or points, users must be able to get payment to a trading partner in order to complete the exchange. Currently, for point exchanges, transferring points to another user is part of the transaction. For cash exchanges, we recommend you exchange when meeting to exchange the item, or to use a service like Venmo for shipped items. For both methods, there are many possible improvements.
- Messaging: Communicating with your transaction partners, and other site and group members, is also important. We are working to expand our functionality in this area, including connecting in-site messages to text or email services if a user desires.
Of course, user feedback is incredibly valuable in developing a new product, so please send us your feedback–about bugs, design issues, desired functionality, whatever is on your mind. You can reach us at any time using our contact form, clicking the Hotjar Feedback button visible on each page, or emailing us at support@swampum.com. We’d love to hear from you! And will work your comments and suggestions into our ongoing development process.
