Summary : I think this is proof that having alot of money to burn is NOT the answer to everything, and whether one has funding is not much of a factor for early success nowadays. The service I am reviewing is an example of how NOT to launch a tech startup.
Nilaam.pk was a “much anticipated” website if the all the press coverage was to be believed and according to nilaam.pk itself was the answer to all the world’s problems…This was supposed to be launched on April 18th but it seems they launched it earlier? either that , or they are testing their “php pro-bid” software out on their production server (a big no no no isn’t it?). Anyhow, here starts my user experience: When i go to their site i find this: (click to maximize)
Then I go , well since I’m a power user, I might want to try the full URL, so I do , and the site pops up (finally). By now 97% of all users have moved onto beliscity, myshop, lootmaar, whatever. I hang on, only to be greeted by a “meet men and women ad” that links to some iffy website on top of the auction pages. HMMMmmmm. Ok enough of this. I switch to another site as well. Game over.
I’m not being mean, these are my comments after cutting them some slack (the splash page earlier was also reminiscent of an experiment gone bad in 1995). By also using the overused slapstick slogan “Pakistan’s 1st auction site”, (akin to saying ‘Pakistans first pink soap’) which frankly is an insult to the Pakistani web surfer’s intelligence, they seemed to have made things worse for themselves. Pakistanis have been using ecommerce and auction sites for awhile now, thank you very much…and the first impression is the last impression. Good bye Nilaam, and good luck. (you also seem to need some engineers and domain experts)
Popularity: 60% [?]
Liked the post? Stumble it!
April 12th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
and it so damn cluttered. and check out their title:
Nilaam - new & used electronics, cars, apparel, collecting good & many more at low prices
sounds familir, huh?
April 12th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
very true mohtashim and haris .. i am very disappointed by nilaam.pk too .. there is so much on their website that its very hard to figure out if there is anything worth to bid at.. also i as a user don’t feel safe enough to actually use nilaam.pk .. where as lootmaar looks much more user friendly, local and what i want ..
April 14th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
That’s classic example of a very good idea, gone to the trash by horrendous implementation & execution.
If kids can code in php, doesn’t mean that they can also make a great product.
April 14th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Badar, I completely agree. Coding is only one aspect of the overall challenge. If good coding solely made great products, then OS/2 and Lotus should have taken over the world by now.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Yes, sure Mohtashim. By the way the website is still displaying the funny phpprobid license activation page.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Oh come on now! We have done enough nilaam-bashing on greennwhite already - stop before the investors get depressed and commit suicide.
April 26th, 2008 at 4:17 am
do you know any information about this subject in other languages?
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:17 am
o man that’s bad..
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:47 am
Dear Baryak Bey, Hayir effendim, I only have it in english, are you looking for info in Turkish?(your site is in Turkish)
May 10th, 2008 at 9:14 am
I used to run baazee.com.pk and want to re-launch it. I used phpprobid for that too. I shut the site due to no revenue and only hosting costs, and it seemed to me that I cannot get sponsors for websites here in Pakistan.
Now, please you all advice me which software to use. Is probid ok ? Other things I should keep in mind ? Any tips ?
May 11th, 2008 at 3:03 am
Dear Adil,
Your challenge will not be in the technology but the business and offline marketing side. The only so far successful bidding site I know of is lootmaar.com . And they have built their own platform now as well for bidding, customized for paksitani needs. nothing comes close to what they have on both the business and technology end. Everyone else has come and failed, funded or otherwise. Talk to Adnan haider, his blog is blog.lootmaar.com He can offer alot of insight on this area.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Thanks Mohtashim for your views.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Mohtashim,
This is not a custom built platform I can bet!
Just give me some time and I will let you know which is it as I remember I have seen this somewhere else before.