Will people sell furniture the way they share rides, rent houses and lend money?
A San Diego couple have launched Loveseat, a “virtual furniture market” whose app connects buyers and sellers. They hope their business has results closer to Etsy and eBay than failed networks like Napster and Quakle.
Loveseat is the creation of Jenny and Chris Stanchak — both experienced in peer-to-peer business networks.
“We realized during our move to San Diego from the East Coast that selling and shopping for quality, vintage pieces of furniture is not easy,” said Chris Stanchak, who founded Loveseat along with his wife, Jenny.
“We developed Loveseat to provide people with a reputable, easy-to-use platform that connects retailers and consumers and we’re thrilled to be launching it first in San Diego where the company is headquartered.”
While preparing for a move from Philadelphia to San Diego, they encountered the challenge of selling furniture find nice pieces they could afford, according to their posted biography.
Chris earlier founded TicketLeap, an event-ticketing platform. Jenny was an early engineer at Venmo, a payment platform recently acquired by PayPal.
Jenny is originally from San Diego and Chris hails from Philadelphia. Both received their undergrad degrees from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
On Twitter, Chris Stanchak crowed Thursday after the Phillies beat the Padres 7-3: “As a newly minted San Diegan, I couldn’t be more proud of the @Padres for helping out my @Phillies. Love when my hometown teams play.”
The couple worked together to combine Chris’s background in ecommerce and mobile payments with Jenny’s expertise in software engineering and iOS development.
With Loveseat, buyers can browse items locally based on geographic area, save and share favorite items, bid on items with any major credit card and contact sellers directly through the platform to avoid having to share personal contact information.
Sellers can set a minimum price on listed items, share listings through social media to connect to prospective buyers, and have the option to enable Loveseat delivery to entice new buyers.
The Stanchaks hope to avoid the fate of peer-to-peer businesses such as Quakle, Bigcarrots and Squirrl.com – British-based lending platforms that ran into trouble and shut down.
Buyers and sellers can download the Loveseat App for free through the App Store, or create a free profile online at Loveseat Used Furniture App. There is no fee to list a piece of furniture through Loveseat; sellers are charged 3 percent only once they sell an item, and buyers pay a 10 percent fee on top of the item price.
Loveseat is available only in San Diego, but has plans to expand this year to other “top cities across the U.S.,” the operation says. They also hope to leverage social media via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
Comments are closed.