Goes to show you never know what & how people think. Sprees shouldn't work, but they do (or did before US & China shopping companies took over.).
The idea of sprees shouldn't work because basically people pay first to a stranger without a product. Yet the idea worked for many years.
The potato idea shouldn't work, but it does (or did) for 3 months, earning the man US$33,000 & more. Frankly, I don't know why he wants to sell the site. It's so hard (close to impossible) to come up with a workable idea that will earn that amount of money in so short time. I've tried & have been stumped for months trawling the web for even a smidgen of an idea like that. And he just hit upon it so easily. Not even the mailman whom he got the idea from, thought of it.
Even a similar site started in 2014, didn't think of it. They mailed potatoes but with no messages. What a pity. Even so, they say, "We love the business we are in... no plans to sell... Even if we were offered 10 times what the numbers say it should sell for we still wouldn't budge.".
The potato man says he's selling the site because "my life has just become potatoes, potatoes, potatoes". Frankly, if it were me, I don't mind. Why sell a site that's making money right at its peak? Because revenue has fallen.
After selling the site, will he be able to come up with another "genius" idea next? What's next? If nothing else like this potato idea comes up again, he might regret selling the site.
Highest bid for the site is "currently US$10,000". These days, a price like US$85,000 for one website isn't enough. Money is easily spent. US$10,000 or US$85,000 is not a lot.
The live auction is still ongoing. Bidding started at US$1. As of now, 73 bids at US$10,000. When I was telling bro about the auction and talking about the potato idea, I didn't know the price. But just before he left to go out just now, he said, "Why don't you buy it?".
Now looking at the US$10,000 price tag... Buy it??
Even if I could, I wouldn't want to buy someone's site or idea. I want my own.
Now the potato site, for some reason, suddenly has oranges. It's not yet sold, so it can't be a change by a new owner. Previously, he had said that including other food would make the idea trite. So, why oranges? Also, the potatoes have changed. Why?
What's amazing is that the US postal service sends potatoes even without envelopes. In Singapore, I don't know if Singpost will still mail it but if a potato is brought to the counter, the staff will say to put it in an envelope.
Actually, the potato idea works because it's in the US. You need a quirky & creative sense of humor to be able to see the value in paying someone to send a potato with a message. Asians just don't have it in them to see anything beyond anything.
Potato man didn't even use Google Adsense or any direct advertising. Just plain old word of mouth (Instagram, Twitter posted by people who received potatoes). One potato leads to another.
I find it very interesting. It's very different from what I thought had to be done in order to launch a business. But here, he's not even using any kind of advertising.
I know Google Adsense don't work unless you pump in a lot of money somehow. I've tried it & nothing happened, except that the ads don't show because supposedly the key words aren't correct & a lot of keywords are thrown out. Adsense takes money but does nothing.
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