I want to build a trading site...?

Question

I want to build a trading site for a specific video game so members can trade their items and money in their game in an organized manner. Any advice?

here is a good example: www.nookbay.com

Answer 1

Hi,

I have a little bit of advice. The technical aspects of this should be fairly easy. I have seen several free php auction/trade community templates online. Just do a search for that, and have fun implementing it.

That being said, the real issue is going to be building a user base. Basically Metcalfes' law states:

"The value of a network is proportional to the number of people in it".

The biggest hurdle will not be technical, but rather getting people to use the site. If there is only one person on the site, he would have 0 people to trade with. He would receive no value in joining the site. The second person will create one trading link.
The third person will make 3 possible trading pairs, and if you can get 10 active traders on your site there will be 55 possible trading pairs.

Once you get the site up and established, it will take off because the Nth person adds N new trading links to your network.

Good Luck,