Ask HN: Should I recreate an acquired, shutdown company?

[neil_s]

For a few days, I've been thinking about how painful the process of selling my stuff is. Stuff that is perfectly useful to someone else, but is being wasted in my possession. However, the effort involved in listing that item and dealing with all the logistics is so much that the item just sits there. The part that turns me off, in particular, is how to price the item and include free shipping, without reliably knowing how much shipping will cost.

Turns out the Sold team came up with the same solution to the problem that I did. They were a successful (afaik) marketplace that let you take a picture of the item on your phone, and then handled the rest of the process for you. I really want to use their service, but it got acquired and shut down by Dropbox, and I haven't found a similar service yet.

My question is - why should I not start the same service again? Specifically for this product market fit, as well as the general principle of redoing something others have done. What would be your arguments for and against it?

[avichal]

Find out why the stopped. Did they find something intrinsic in the market that is off or did they just get bored?

The range of possibilities is broad and without that information you may just waste a bunch of time re-learning the same painful lessons they likely learned. Track down as much as you can about Sold (via founders, investors, advisors, friends) before investing a bunch of time in building anything.

[Casseres]

Sounds like a good idea. I don't have much stuff. I've only Craislisted three things in the last 7 years, the rest I just donate to charities because effort to sell > monetary value. Like avichal mentioned though, do some due-diligence.

[Dwolb]

Yes. Also please apply the concept to a farmer's market.

[tehwebguy]

Do it, I hate eBay every day.