Buy, sell, donate and transact on Twitter

Maybe this is just my inner angry nerd speaking, but I don't understand this at all. Why would I want to buy stuff via a public broadcast channel? Plus, you still have to setup your credit card, shipping, etc. So in the initial transaction, you're not buying so much as saying "I'd like to buy this, please send me instructions on how to do so." Wouldn't tweeting a link work better?<p>Aside from the fact (as others have pointed out) that this has been tried and failed, how is this genuinely useful and not the kind of thing that a social media guru would dream up, but normal people would never use?<p>Why not a platform to let people buy stuff by posting on their blog? When I post "BUY PRODUCT_NAME", their google alert can pick up the mention and then they can leave a comment on my blog telling me how to setup my billing and shipping info. Amazing!<p>EDIT: To boil all the above down, what problem is this solving?

Sorry but IMHO, this is the classic "product looking for a problem" example. There are several things I believe make products like this tough to succeed, most important of which is this: for a transaction-based model to work there needs to be buyers and sellers who go to a marketplace to buy or sell. Without this focused ecosystem, its really tough to make it work. I understand that one could argue that sellers can broadcast across all channels (twitter, facebook etc.) and create a buyer ecosystem in a distributed fashion. But I feel it is merely good theory and cannot work at scale in practice (barring few examples of flash sales, deals etc which have short shelf life and apt for viral / social spread).

A good idea would be to have slightly friendlier tweets i.e. instead of 'Buy!' have users say 'I just bought X from @y'. That way it makes sense when someone checks their timeline, instead of a cryptic one-word tweet.

This looks similar to what Tipjoy (ex-YC) tried a couple years ago, before they deadpooled: <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2009/04/08/micro-blogging-meets-micro-payments-courtesy-of-tipjoys-api/" rel="nofollow">http://techcrunch.com/2009/04/08/micro-blogging-meets-micro-...</a><p>In line with the post that @avichal wrote the other day (<a href="http://avichal.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/build-something-people-want-is-not-enough/" rel="nofollow">http://avichal.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/build-something-peop...</a>): why now?

1-click-payment for anything... Could be a square card-case competitor. Image a café that has tweeted the menu. You go in, reply to what you want, you get it. Could be huge on mobile payments.

I think the "ability" to do this is cool... but I can't imagine that I'd ever feel the need to actually do this.<p>Novelty, sure, but practical? Not in my mind.

I read the site but I still cannot figure out, if you're a vendor, what is necessary for buyers to activate their account.

How will you handle chargebacks? If my Twitter account gets hacked, will I be responsible for the cost or will you be?

I've been looking for this... pay through twitter. Imagine the possibilities!

This is exactly half of my idea previously posted on HN.<p><a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2900514" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2900514</a>

It sounds cool. Then you use it, and it becomes even cooler!

This rules. Incredibly easy.