Decentralized marketplace built using smart contracts?

[Abiky]

As far as I'm aware, OpenBazaar is the only decentralized marketplace that's widely accepted in the mainstream world. Unfortunately, the software is a separate solution often relying on P2P technology to work as intended. It's not living on a Blockchain network, neither it's coded using smart contracts. I've been doing some "digging" on the web, but I've been unable to find a decentralized marketplace that's built using smart contracts. That's odd considering that these days it's all about "De-Fi" and NFTs. Ethereum is the most popular smart contract platform in the world, followed by Binance Chain, and TRON. What's stopping developers from creating a decentralized marketplace coded on one of the aforementioned smart contract platforms using IPFS for data storage? We need more decentralized alternatives to OpenBazaar in order to rival traditional marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, and Etsy.

Do you think it's practical to build a decentralized marketplace using smart contracts? If not, why? Is there already a solution that I'm not aware of? Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

[brooksby]

As far as I'm aware, OpenBazaar is the only decentralized marketplace that's widely accepted in the mainstream world. Unfortunately, the software is a separate solution often relying on P2P technology to work as intended. It's not living on a Blockchain network, neither it's coded using smart contracts. I've been doing some "digging" on the web, but I've been unable to find a decentralized marketplace that's built using smart contracts. That's odd considering that these days it's all about "De-Fi" and NFTs. Ethereum is the most popular smart contract platform in the world, followed by Binance Chain, and TRON. What's stopping developers from creating a decentralized marketplace coded on one of the aforementioned smart contract platforms using IPFS for data storage? We need more decentralized alternatives to OpenBazaar in order to rival traditional marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, and Etsy.

Do you think it's practical to build a decentralized marketplace using smart contracts? If not, why? Is there already a solution that I'm not aware of? Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

What precisely are you referring to? Do you want a marketplace where every single piece of information about a transaction is stored on a blockchain eternally or only where the bidding, purchase and administrative process is organized via a smart contract? I don't know how beneficial it is to produce blockchain-based transaction data for every single item that's being traded on a platform like Ebay or Amazon.

[rhomelmabini]

As far as I'm concern this wouldn't be decentralized at all and I think there's some disadvantages if it's on that form. I think OpenBazaar has been here for awhile now but isn't decentralized marketplace still got disadvantages like people easily signing up with fake accounts or even worst with multiple accounts. It will not be moderated as well. I think there's some alternative to OpenBazaar like ModulTrade I guess, I can't recall if it is.

[Abiky]

What precisely are you referring to? Do you want a marketplace where every single piece of information about a transaction is stored on a blockchain eternally or only where the bidding, purchase and administrative process is organized via a smart contract? I don't know how beneficial it is to produce blockchain-based transaction data for every single item that's being traded on a platform like Ebay or Amazon.

I'm referring to a marketplace where bidding, purchase, and administrative process is organized via a smart contract. Storing everything on the Blockchain would not be feasible because it would increase centralization in the long run. The main challenge would be dealing with scalability issues of the underlying blockchain network, as constant smart contract operations could "clog" up the network. I guess a high-performance smart contract platform like Binance Chain or EOS will be most suitable for a decentralized eBay or Amazon contender. At least, the idea is there. Making it a reality is another story. If something like this materializes in the future, traditional marketplace's dominance could decline as we speak. That is if decentralized alternatives become extremely popular in the mainstream world. Just my opinion