Ask HN: Just launched our beta, tell us what you think

http://www.jobpic.com

by breck • 17 years ago

14 29 17 years ago

benz and I just launched our beta to friends and family (http://www.jobpic.com). The idea is anyone can auction off their time and services.

I did freelance programming for a while and hated the experience of the existing sites(like elance, guru, etc.). I think they are good sites for the buyer, but aren't good for the provider. That's what we're trying to do.

I think there are a lot of freelancers on HN so it would be great if people could try it out and let us know what they like and don't like.

We have a todo list 100 items long right now but we're moving pretty fast at improving the product and hope in a few weeks time it will be really helpful to freelancers(and all people that have passions they want to share).

Thanks!

breck12• 17 years ago

benz and I just launched our beta to friends and family (http://www.jobpic.com). The idea is anyone can auction off their time and services.

I think there are a lot of freelancers on HN so it would be great if people could try it out and let us know what they like and don't like.

Thanks!

synnik• 17 years ago

I went there, wasn't sure what the site was about, nor why I should use it. Then I saw your explanation...

But if you need to explain it here, then your site doesn't work. Put this explanation on your site. Make it brief, make it clear.

breck12• 17 years ago

Good point. "Service made simple" doesn't really explain it anymore. We're doing a new homepage now and hopefully it will be much clearer.

Thanks!

noodle2• 17 years ago

design reminds me a lot of airbnb.

i think you need some sort of mechanism to inform new users as to whats happening. also, important information like, are you guys going to take a cut? how are payments made? etc.

breck12• 17 years ago

> design reminds me a lot of airbnb.

(It was influenced a lot by airbnb :).

Yes we need to add a lot more to the FAQ and general instructions throughout the site.

How are payments made is definitely a key thing to make clearer. On the completed auctions we've had a lot of questions about that.

Thanks for the feedback!

noodle2• 17 years ago

no prob. payment and fees are a major issue, at least to me. it would be the thing to make or break the service for me.

don't want to start using it and find out that i owe the site 20%.

ohlol• 17 years ago

took me too long to figure out what the site is for. closed tab.

joshuarr4• 17 years ago

Took me two seconds to figure it out. Ignored comment.

foulmouthboy2• 17 years ago

Really? I understand the idea of bidding on these people to do some sort of work for me, but beyond that, it's not clear how any of it is supposed to work.

What does it take to bid on somebody? Do I need a credit card? If somebody has a city listed, does that mean they can only perform their task within that city? Within 50 miles of the city? Do I go to them? Can I cancel a bid? Etc. etc.

I know that some of these questions are answered, because I happened to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and click on FAQ, which appeared in very faint green letters in what's typically a blind spot anyway.

Barnabas• 17 years ago

I don't know why this is, but personally I think making friendly URLs is a mark of attention to detail. So, with a little htaccess kung foo, you could make links that look like this: http://www.jobpic.com/auction/35 and http://www.jobpic.com/profile/38 instead of http://www.jobpic.com/auction.php?id=35 and http://www.jobpic.com/profile.php?id=38. Better to do this sooner than later.

I like the JS load category, but it should at least be linkable. See: http://plugins.jquery.com/project/history

breck12• 17 years ago

> I like the JS load category, but it should at least be linkable. See: http://plugins.jquery.com/project/history

Wow thanks! Didn't know this plugin existed. I will add that.

As for the friendly urls, we're doing short urls for everything(just profiles right now, about to roll out for every page), as opposed to the /auction/35 style.

I am not sure where I stand on friendly urls(unless you are going for SEO in which they are key). Facebook, for instance, does .php?id style urls.

huhtenberg• 17 years ago

It is a good concept, but the site really needs some sort of a reputation system. Or at the very least a way to look at people's previous work.

Take this entry for example - http://www.jobpic.com/auction.php?id=99 - $25 for a business card design is like 1c for a hotdog. Makes me suspicious what it was made of :) Also I suspect that if I win the auction, these $25 won't motivate this person to actually do a decent job. So unless I can look at the track record of the submitter, I will not even bother entering the auction.

breck12• 17 years ago

Great points. Reviews and reputation is one of the very next things to roll out(will be pushed live very soon).

dimarco• 17 years ago

Searching by City would be pretty clutch. Nice site, though.

breck12• 17 years ago

Agreed. That's one of the most requested featured. We're redesigning the homepage now with that up front. Thanks!

proee• 17 years ago

Change the sort order of the "End Date" for listings. Since it's an auction style site, let me see the listing that is "about to end" at the very top, not waaaaay down at the bottom.

Looks good!

breck12• 17 years ago

Changing now. We had it list auctions by newest listed but by ending soon seems to make more sense. Thanks!

jakecarpenter• 17 years ago

I think your concept is sound, but I'll second the addition of a reputation system. Also, you're front page needs to let me know whats going on. If you cut down the number of auctions on the front page (maybe by only show the most active, which might also allow you to show just the best auctions), you'll have some room for a brief description of the site.

breck12• 17 years ago

Looks like we're getting a lot of requests for a better frontpage with a clearer description and better navigation. We'll move that up the priority list.

Thanks Jake!

joshuarr4• 17 years ago

I like it, but already think of it as elance for people without marketable skills. That's probably just because the user population is low, but when the front page is littered with auctions like 'learn how to bake a cake' or 'make a cornhole toss board' I have to wonder about the usability here. I'm hardly interested in scrolling through a random list of services provided by amateurs.

I think a better method would be to put emphasis on the different types of services, and build some competition among the providers in different niches.

The site design is pretty decent, but there are some usability issues that could be improved. For instance, the Polaroid panel on the profile pages is not working for me. The persons auctions should be front and center somewhere on the profile - not parenthetically hidden behind the portfolios. Moreover, the large red button floating all alone by itself that says BID... when you click on it you are shown the auctions, not bidding. Did you not have enough room to make the button say, 'view this user's auctions'? Probably not. Also, when you click bid, the title of the page reads 'Bid on <username>'. Technically I'm not bidding on a user, I'm biding on one of their auctions. All this could be fixed by placing multiple bid buttons after the auction description.

All in all, it's got potential, but there are a lot of loose ends.

breck12• 17 years ago

thanks Josh. this is really, really good feedback. we definitely need to get more service providers on there and we are pounding the pavement now to do it.

joshuarr4• 17 years ago

To reiterate, I don't think it being a matter of not-enough-services. I think its a matter of organization. Put the cake teaching lesson under cooking or something.

I would probably focus the home page on 6 or 8 primary categories with four or five providers underneath and/or current trending auctions. So under Creative I'd see a few different people or auctions, and would be able to go into the creative section. The random list of everything isn't helping me. Basically copy (by which I mean improve upon) eBay and eLance - focus your first hit on the categories, since the categories represent broader needs.

(Also, I'm sure this is just not finished, but the auctions are only sortable by end time. But clicking on end time doesn't resort the list.)

benatkin• 17 years ago

I don't think that photos are the best way to choose who to hire, unless their appearance has something directly to do with their jobs. I would rather be pitched first, and then see the extraneous information, or not find out the extraneous information at all until I contact someone.

UpFromTheGut• 17 years ago

I like the design. I knew immediately what it was. It might be nice to be able to list a job that I need done as well, instead of hunting for a someone that I think could do it.

Ask HN: Just launched our beta, tell us what you think

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