Although each collectibles category tend to create diehard fans and a thriving community of like-minded enthusiasts, the subculture that emerged as a result tend to grow and hit a plateau. Perhaps this is due to the hobbyist nature of each collectibles rather than the galvanizing monetary opportunities. Once a category of interests are able to evidently generate monetization opportunities, it tends to naturally attracts the mass. This was manifested in the cryptocurrency market as well as the sneaker reselling market. During the bull run of the alt coins in the Q3 and Q4 of 2017, people became diehard fans of each alt coin company brands, and tried persuading their peers and strangers online to buy the cryptocurrencies that they advocated. Most of these people, I believe don't even truly know what the companies that they ecstatically raved about were trying to build. In comparison, the sneaker subculture truly went mainstream, when Kanye West's Yeezy boost 350 line became the highly coveted, most desirable sneaker worldwide. With the endorsement of celebrities, coupled with its' comfortable boost technology and extremely limited supply, the Yeezy boost 350s resell prices skyrocketed to as much as $2000 per pair, and even higher in Asian countries. Ridiculous prices created newfound materialistic value, which in turn elevates one's social image once obtained a pair. Entrepreneurs and resellers rushed into the market, creating a hidden, tiered subculture (covered in another article). As mentioned above, the nature of subcultures, and collectibles communities are often complex and nuanced, so it is difficult to acquire the mainstream recognition.
My vision for Sasom as a platform is to become a launchpad that empowers collectibles enthusiasts, by unveiling the charismatic nature of each subculture in the form that is appealing to the mass through monetization. The bid/ask model that we adopted will create a data-oriented, price transparency that will turn Sasom into an easily accessible, organic marketplace/database for each category of collectibles. After a few minutes of browsing on the categories and items on Sasom, consumers will get a virtual understanding of that particular subculture. By looking at the price history, and data for each collectibles subculture, whether its' sneakers, watches, handbags, or bearbricks, one would be able to easily understand the values behind them.
The current nature of the collectible reselling marketplace is deeply flawed, even with Ebay. First, items are scattered everywhere throughout the internet with extremely fluctuating prices. This causes confusion and creates a barrier of entry for new consumers to be involved within the culture. Sasom solves this by creating a single page for each model of the item for every transaction to be conducted. In doing so, the prices for each items will be transparently displayed on the Sasom platform without any fluctuation. Another problem that the current marketplace has is fake products. Current marketplace platforms like Ebay and even social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are littered with fake products. People often get scammed and have to go through time-consuming processes to get their money back (if they are lucky). Sasom aims to solve this problem by building a trustworthy authentication infrastructure. When a transaction between a buyer and seller occurs, the seller must first send their items to our authentication facilities for us to authenticate. Once we concurred that the sent item is up to our standards, we then pay the seller, and ship that item to the buyer, creating a seamless experience. The buyers and sellers remain anonymous and do not have to interact with one another, which solves another problem. Buying and selling in the current marketplace requires an accumulation of seller credits in order to create trustworthiness for buyers. This process advocates a hierarchical model, which denies newer sellers from completing a sale. Moreover, Sasom's bid/ask model over time will ultimately lower the resell prices for each item by disrupting the hierarchy created by the big players in each industries, making it more attractive for the mass consumers to enter the market/subculture.
The current nature of the collectible reselling marketplace is deeply flawed, even with Ebay. First, items are scattered everywhere throughout the internet with extremely fluctuating prices. This causes confusion and creates a barrier of entry for new consumers to be involved within the culture. Sasom solves this by creating a single page for each model of the item for every transaction to be conducted. In doing so, the prices for each items will be transparently displayed on the Sasom platform without any fluctuation. Another problem that the current marketplace has is fake products. Current marketplace platforms like Ebay and even social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are littered with fake products. People often get scammed and have to go through time-consuming processes to get their money back (if they are lucky). Sasom aims to solve this problem by building a trustworthy authentication infrastructure. When a transaction between a buyer and seller occurs, the seller must first send their items to our authentication facilities for us to authenticate. Once we concurred that the sent item is up to our standards, we then pay the seller, and ship that item to the buyer, creating a seamless experience. The buyers and sellers remain anonymous and do not have to interact with one another, which solves another problem. Buying and selling in the current marketplace requires an accumulation of seller credits in order to create trustworthiness for buyers. This process advocates a hierarchical model, which denies newer sellers from completing a sale. Moreover, Sasom's bid/ask model over time will ultimately lower the resell prices for each item by disrupting the hierarchy created by the big players in each industries, making it more attractive for the mass consumers to enter the market/subculture.
Truth is, the reselling markets have always existed in various segments, they just did not have the necessary funnels to appeal to the mass. With the right execution, Sasom will become the natural evolution of online marketplace for collectibles that will both create price transparency as well as an easier accessible funnel for each collectibles subculture.