With P2P technology hooking all these people together, it’s
a natural to want to enable them to buy and sell things. Lightshare enables
eCommerce on P2P networks, allowing users to directly negotiate, buy, and sell
without intermediaries and without the hassle of setting up a Web storefront or
auction. The company initially has its sights set on eBay and others who charge
a fee for facilitating person-to-person transactions. Another objective is to
allow owners of digital content to sell it online. However, the company plans
on taking a percentage of each transaction, so users may just be substituting
one middleman for another.
Lightshare’s application does offer more control to the
seller, who hosts the item information on his or her computer. This enables the
seller to adjust price, description, or terms quickly and easily.
Customers describe the items they want to sell by filling
out a Web form, which, when completed, results in a file being saved on their
computer. Prospective buyers can initiate a P2P search or go to Lightshare’s
Web site and do a search. Instead of searching a static index of items, with
fixed terms and asking prices like on eBay, however, the searches are conducted
P2P, in real-time, scouring the participating users’ machines for matches The
results contain the matching items and the seller’s user name. The buyer
contacts the seller, and when they reach an agreement, they consummate the
transaction using Lightshare’s transaction services.
Despite the fact that users can get fresher listings than on
eBay, it’s hard to see the appeal of services like Lightshare for buyers. For
sellers, the increased control over the item listing may make it worthwhile. As
with all eCommerce efforts, liquidity, the availability of buyers and sellers
on the marketplace, will determine whether this type of eCommerce service will
thrive.
There's more on other P2P companies and their applications
in Part 2 of CTOMentor's peer-to-peer white paper:
Peer-to-Peer Computing and Business Networks:
More Than Meets the Ear, Part 2 – How Are Businesses Using P2P? Part 2 is available at
MindCrossing
for a fee of $50. Part 1 - What is P2P? is available for free at
CTOMentor.
.