Two things this needs before it's the thing I'd want to use:
- Let me pick a specific gift. I don't want to give a $35 gift card. I want to give a remote control helicopter. Let me pick it out from Amazon and send it to somebody via email.
- Don't require Facebook. I want to send helicopters to everybody on my team the day we ship. I know their email addresses and that should be enough (it's enough to be able to send them money via paypal, so why not gifts through your thing?) I'm not going to friend them on Facebook[1], so at the moment there's no way to send them anything.
Fix that and you've got me. I've been looking for exactly this all week, so if you could do the things above I'd spend $500 through your site today.
[1] The important point here is that the people who you friend on Facebook are a different (though possibly overlapping) set of people from the people you give gifts too. I'm not going to add my Mother as a Facebook friend, but I'll send her gifts on her birthday.
Yes, there do exist people who add everybody they've ever met as friends on Facebook. But there are also people who don't. If you make it impossible for those people to send gifts through your thing, you're losing business.
This is Charlie from the GiftDish team. I'm locked out of comments from the GiftDish account.
Thanks for the feedback.
1) We're currently evaluating product gifting. Currently, all gifts are "instant" and we're worried about the complexities around shipping/returns/etc that come with products. It's a great use case and we're trying to figure out the best way to do it.
2) We currently working to enable other sign-in options besides Facebook. As stated below, without automatic events, the site is very empty. Additionally, we're soon going to allow invites via email, so you can send gifts and collaborate with non facebook friends.
I agree on your first point, however I find your second comment an issue, with Facebook your friends personal details are already entered. With Paypal, you send money to people who already have an account, Well that is my understanding of this. But again the data is already inputted. Since this is such a new website building up a user base from sign up would require you to invite all your friends to register so they have the details neeed in the system to send such a gift. Correct me if I am wrong.
Great looking site and clear focus, but your Facebook Connect permission requirements caused me to give up before trying your product!
Getting past the home page requires connecting with facebook and providing the following info:
Your basic info
Your e-mail address
Your birthday
Your relationship status
Your photos
Friends' birthdays
Photos shared with you
This app may post on your behalf, including status updates, photos and more.
I suggest you allow me to browse more of your site while not logged in, limit the initial permission request to just my basic info + email, and/or provide alternate login method.
I'm not quite sure why so many people are complaining about Facebook Connect... I know it is the hot thing to do, but this product is actually using the data from Facebook, not just requiring an account to login for sake of ease. The entire point of this project seems to be to hook into Facebook, grab the numerous events/birthdays, and then track those for you, so that you can respond. If you don't have a Facebook account, I don't think you are the target audience.
You nailed why we're using Facebook connect, without it the site is very empty, since we can't automatically pull events in. We need to communicate that better.
If the only way to sign in is with Facebook, then I guess I'm not signing in.
Edit: I realize you may have done this because it makes it easy to just quickly slurp in your friends' birthdays through the Facebook API. But I am willing to do more legwork on my behalf because I have other special dates I might want to give gifts for, and I am willing to manually key those in myself along with my friends' birthdays.
This is the kind of business where your competition really doesn't matter. They can't take away from your business very easily, as in they can't make deals with certain partners to cut you out and being first to market or having lots of leverage doesn't matter.
Focus in the product. The site is great, although it's hard to know what a gift is at first glance. It almost has the look of an eCard site, which lead me to believe it was those annoying virtual gifts. The first three lines don't mention gift cards, just gifts.
There's a difference, I like the idea of sending someone a gift card with this slick product but not virtual or physical gifts. For me this makes all the difference.
The idea of giving something with physical value but digitally makes a lot of sense. I think this model could be taken further if after some traction you made deals with certain partners to offer more or make it even more unique.
Agreed, we need to clarify what types of gifts you can give. Digital (e)Gift Cards are one of the types you can give, they're delivered instantly but have physical value, as they can be redeemed online or printed out and redeemed in-store.
Looking through a couple of the comments, I see one of the most immediate reactions is disinterest in the product because it requires a Facebook sign-in. I think that attitude is a bit silly. Facebook has 845 million users. That's a pretty big potential user-base.
As for the site itself, it does look really nice. I agree with brackin's comment about it being a bit difficult to tell what a "gift" is at first glance. It took too much reading for me to figure out that this is different from all of those free Facebook "gift" apps.
I like the idea. I logged in, and was immediately impressed with how nice the site looks. The layout of events is really well done. Good luck guys, I think this could be really useful and fun.
845 million users is a lot, but it's not the entire internet. I still manage to have friends despite not having digitized them with a Facebook account, and I could still use help keeping track of their birthdays and what to get them--if that's what this site lets you do.
I don't have an account, so I basically just closed the tab
First impressions, your product allows me to give people e-gifts that are actually worth something instead of pixels
But, the whacking great "Facebook" button makes me kinda close the tab
Give me the ability to import my iPhone's contact book (Protip: iCloud is a single page app backed by some client-side MVC framework, so basically a free JSON API once you've got the login stuff worked out), then overlay reminders x days in advance on my iCalendar to go to your service and buy a gift, then you can handle everything from there
We wanted to end the boring Facebook "happy birthday" post, so we built GiftDish.
GiftDish is a social gifting site, helping users manage important gifting events and makes giving personal gifts simple and social.
After months of off-hours work, we convinced our employer to let us spend some "official" time working on this. In that time, numerous competitors have launched or are close, including startups backed by Greylock, Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia. Still, onward we go...
The site is still very much in beta - All thoughts and feedback would be much appreciated.
For the record, I don't find it meaningless when someone wishes me happy birthday on facebook (or using any other medium). For me, saying the actual words "Happy Birthday" is my preferred method of being wished a happy birthday...
You may want to re-word the first line of your post.
The hackerati clearly doesn't like this because of facebook connect. Remember that the average consumer has a totally different relationship to the 'net & facebook (if they use it) than the HN set. I saw your app requires access to friends' photos: it appears that this is to put a photo with the date in a nice little reminders display. Tinfoil hats notwithstanding, I expect many people will love this interface.
I use ghostery & abp & avoid facebook connect apps myself, but I recognize that I'm not an average consumer. I think many people will really like your application. In any event, keep in mind that the sample group here is tiny and not representative before overhaul the interface based on our advice. ;)
I might suggest making it clear what you do more quickly: "Automatically send gifts to Facebook friends on their birthday" or something. "Remember friends' special occasions and give personal gifts" is a bit vague, imo. am I supposed to remember them? Do I send the gift? What does this service do?
Thanks for the feedback. Agreed on the clarified messaging, we're working on that now. HN skews against Facebook, so I was expecting most of this feedback, we will start opening it up, but won't rush it.
I really like this idea, but dont have a facebook.
Its frustrating that I can't get into see all the gift options without logging in. You should make that "... and may more" reveal the full list of GC options.
I do appreciate the short walk-through near the bottom though.
This looks great, and one of the apps where social will continue to win over mobile.
I wish there were a way to do group buys of gift cards. There are a lot of people I'd buy a $1-5 item for, but not a $25 gift card. A $1 gift card is less than useless to he recipient. If you could do group contributions to a single gift card, a lot of the marginal $1 people could become $100 gift card.
As mirrored by a few people already, I would be interested in this product but I don't have a Facebook account.
Could you not provide options of where to pull event data from? iCal or a phonebook for example? This would give many of the users here a route into your application and you would still have the option of using the facebook api.
The first thing that put me off was "Begin here <Facebook login button>". I don't use Facebook, I don't even have a Facebook account, and I am not sure how I feel about having something as personal as a Facebook account instantly connected and associated with another service, even just to try it out.
To state the obvious I have nothing further to say about your service, as the mere login procedure scared me away.
[+] [-] jasonkester|14 years ago|reply
- Let me pick a specific gift. I don't want to give a $35 gift card. I want to give a remote control helicopter. Let me pick it out from Amazon and send it to somebody via email.
- Don't require Facebook. I want to send helicopters to everybody on my team the day we ship. I know their email addresses and that should be enough (it's enough to be able to send them money via paypal, so why not gifts through your thing?) I'm not going to friend them on Facebook[1], so at the moment there's no way to send them anything.
Fix that and you've got me. I've been looking for exactly this all week, so if you could do the things above I'd spend $500 through your site today.
[1] The important point here is that the people who you friend on Facebook are a different (though possibly overlapping) set of people from the people you give gifts too. I'm not going to add my Mother as a Facebook friend, but I'll send her gifts on her birthday.
Yes, there do exist people who add everybody they've ever met as friends on Facebook. But there are also people who don't. If you make it impossible for those people to send gifts through your thing, you're losing business.
[+] [-] Cantdog|14 years ago|reply
This is Charlie from the GiftDish team. I'm locked out of comments from the GiftDish account.
Thanks for the feedback.
1) We're currently evaluating product gifting. Currently, all gifts are "instant" and we're worried about the complexities around shipping/returns/etc that come with products. It's a great use case and we're trying to figure out the best way to do it.
2) We currently working to enable other sign-in options besides Facebook. As stated below, without automatic events, the site is very empty. Additionally, we're soon going to allow invites via email, so you can send gifts and collaborate with non facebook friends.
[+] [-] duqee|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ccollins|14 years ago|reply
Getting past the home page requires connecting with facebook and providing the following info:
Your basic info
Your e-mail address
Your birthday
Your relationship status
Your photos
Friends' birthdays
Photos shared with you
This app may post on your behalf, including status updates, photos and more.
I suggest you allow me to browse more of your site while not logged in, limit the initial permission request to just my basic info + email, and/or provide alternate login method.
[+] [-] giftdish|14 years ago|reply
Good points, we know people will be turned off by Facebook connect (as evidenced by comments...), and we're working hard to add more login options.
We definitely should not require "extended permissions" at login, we should wait until the posting is needed.
[+] [-] nik_0_0|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] giftdish|14 years ago|reply
You nailed why we're using Facebook connect, without it the site is very empty, since we can't automatically pull events in. We need to communicate that better.
[+] [-] ben1040|14 years ago|reply
Edit: I realize you may have done this because it makes it easy to just quickly slurp in your friends' birthdays through the Facebook API. But I am willing to do more legwork on my behalf because I have other special dates I might want to give gifts for, and I am willing to manually key those in myself along with my friends' birthdays.
[+] [-] brackin|14 years ago|reply
Focus in the product. The site is great, although it's hard to know what a gift is at first glance. It almost has the look of an eCard site, which lead me to believe it was those annoying virtual gifts. The first three lines don't mention gift cards, just gifts.
There's a difference, I like the idea of sending someone a gift card with this slick product but not virtual or physical gifts. For me this makes all the difference.
The idea of giving something with physical value but digitally makes a lot of sense. I think this model could be taken further if after some traction you made deals with certain partners to offer more or make it even more unique.
[+] [-] giftdish|14 years ago|reply
Agreed, we need to clarify what types of gifts you can give. Digital (e)Gift Cards are one of the types you can give, they're delivered instantly but have physical value, as they can be redeemed online or printed out and redeemed in-store.
[+] [-] king_magic|14 years ago|reply
As for the site itself, it does look really nice. I agree with brackin's comment about it being a bit difficult to tell what a "gift" is at first glance. It took too much reading for me to figure out that this is different from all of those free Facebook "gift" apps.
I like the idea. I logged in, and was immediately impressed with how nice the site looks. The layout of events is really well done. Good luck guys, I think this could be really useful and fun.
[+] [-] fusiongyro|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rubynerd|14 years ago|reply
I don't have an account, so I basically just closed the tab
First impressions, your product allows me to give people e-gifts that are actually worth something instead of pixels
But, the whacking great "Facebook" button makes me kinda close the tab
Give me the ability to import my iPhone's contact book (Protip: iCloud is a single page app backed by some client-side MVC framework, so basically a free JSON API once you've got the login stuff worked out), then overlay reminders x days in advance on my iCalendar to go to your service and buy a gift, then you can handle everything from there
But, I'm always an edge case :)
Good luck, I hope you work everything out OK
[+] [-] giftdish|14 years ago|reply
GiftDish is a social gifting site, helping users manage important gifting events and makes giving personal gifts simple and social.
After months of off-hours work, we convinced our employer to let us spend some "official" time working on this. In that time, numerous competitors have launched or are close, including startups backed by Greylock, Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia. Still, onward we go...
The site is still very much in beta - All thoughts and feedback would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
[+] [-] nanijoe|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frankdenbow|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sequoia|14 years ago|reply
I use ghostery & abp & avoid facebook connect apps myself, but I recognize that I'm not an average consumer. I think many people will really like your application. In any event, keep in mind that the sample group here is tiny and not representative before overhaul the interface based on our advice. ;)
I might suggest making it clear what you do more quickly: "Automatically send gifts to Facebook friends on their birthday" or something. "Remember friends' special occasions and give personal gifts" is a bit vague, imo. am I supposed to remember them? Do I send the gift? What does this service do?
[+] [-] giftdish|14 years ago|reply
Thanks for the feedback. Agreed on the clarified messaging, we're working on that now. HN skews against Facebook, so I was expecting most of this feedback, we will start opening it up, but won't rush it.
[+] [-] empire29|14 years ago|reply
Its frustrating that I can't get into see all the gift options without logging in. You should make that "... and may more" reveal the full list of GC options.
I do appreciate the short walk-through near the bottom though.
[+] [-] rdl|14 years ago|reply
I wish there were a way to do group buys of gift cards. There are a lot of people I'd buy a $1-5 item for, but not a $25 gift card. A $1 gift card is less than useless to he recipient. If you could do group contributions to a single gift card, a lot of the marginal $1 people could become $100 gift card.
Also, please add amazon.
[+] [-] giftdish|14 years ago|reply
You actually can give "group gifts", we haven't played up that point yet until we're sure the messaging is clear.
If you send a gift card, you can invite friends to contribute. The recipient will get one card from all of you, for the summed amount.
edit: Lot's more brands, including Amazon are coming soon.
[+] [-] martswite|14 years ago|reply
Could you not provide options of where to pull event data from? iCal or a phonebook for example? This would give many of the users here a route into your application and you would still have the option of using the facebook api.
[+] [-] k33n|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] giftdish|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sb1752|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] prezjordan|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Cantdog|14 years ago|reply
We're based up in cold Portland, Maine.
[+] [-] true_religion|14 years ago|reply
I'm a customer, not an investor, so please use traditional English.
[+] [-] rwillystyle|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LukeHoersten|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] janlukacs|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hackermom|14 years ago|reply
To state the obvious I have nothing further to say about your service, as the mere login procedure scared me away.