Need feedback on new project for ICO (app for instant payments at gas stations)

[alexfap]

Dear experts!

Thank you so much for all your constructive and useful criticism, ideas and advice.
Let me invite you to continue our discussion in a new post about FUELDApp announcing the PRE-ICO for this project here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2324123.msg23614558#msg23614558

Dear experts!

I will be most grateful for your feedback on this idea of a new mobile app that lets you pay for fuel fill-ups at gas stations (using crypto currency or regular money).

Technically speaking, the app has an electronic wallet with your banking cards, e-money, crypto currencies tied to it. When you come to a gas station for some fuel you use your phone to scan a bar-code/QR-code placed on the gas pump, then on the app screen specify the desired amount of fuel and instruct the app to process payment for the purchased fuel. In case there is not enough funds on your balance the system will make it possible to buy fuel on credit (offered by a bank or by the gas station).

The app creates the following advantages for the client:
1.   Saving money: thanks to gas stations sharing 0.5-3% commission with the app operator it makes it possible to share part of that commission with the app user.
2.   Saving time: no need to spend time on interaction with gas station personnel.
3.   Mobility: no need to carry around a number of banking cards or cash. Your e-wallet solves it all. Moreover, you can borrow some funds on credit.

The app creates the following advantages for the gas station operators:
1.   Less personnel required leading to cutting operational costs.
2.   Increasing sales due to conveniences for customers and instant loans;
3.   Cutting marketing costs thanks to the appearance of customer database.
The app creators earn their commission from gas stations AND on offering gas stations the valuable marketing data derived from the app. The volume of the world market for the app is more than 15 billion USD / year. Therefore, even small percentage of this amounts to multi-million profits.

I live in the suburbs and I work in the downtown which is approximately 30 km away. Every morning I have to take my kid to school and I’m always short of time. I am sure millions of families face the same problem. Some time ago as I was on my regular home-school-work route I realized I was running out of fuel. I could do nothing but head over to a gas station immediately. It was raining and there were car queues with drivers walking slowly to and from cash-desk, which irritated me enormously. I lost quite some time and I was sorry I hadn’t filled up the day before. To cap it all, I finally realized I had left my wallet at home. So I had to get back home after having spent 20 minutes at the gas station. It cost me another 15 minutes followed by another 15 minutes back to the gas station and another 20 minutes waiting in the queue again. After all, I spent more than an hour on filling up and I got wet in the rain and I was late everywhere.

So I thought that I would have avoided all that trouble if I had had such a wonderful app tied to my banking card. I could have even paid without getting out of my car! First of all, queues would have shrunk as there would be no need to walk to and from the cash-desk (it usually takes around 3 minutes for each driver). In other words, I would have waited for 5 minutes instead of 20 minutes. Besides, I would have avoided returning home to get my wallet. Finally, I would have stayed dry safely seated in my car.

I did some research and found no real app solutions to this problem, except for a couple of apps working only in limited areas of the world. Now I teamed up with some developers to create a universal app for all gas stations.

Some banks I talked to agreed to enable overdraft payments for the app users. A number of gas station networks liked the idea about the app as it would mean cutting costs on personnel, cutting queues, introducing loyalty programs, getting quick customer feedback via the app and communicating marketing stuff to customers directly. Another efficient tool analyzing fuel sales will be created linked to the app infrastructure, which will allow gas station networks to hold efficient marketing activities.

Dear friends, I will appreciate your thoughts and evaluation of my idea and any useful feedback as I am thinking about running an ICO campaign in relation to this app. Thank you so much!

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[MANCRYPTOS]

Interesting idea, for me isn`t very pleasant to contact with gas station personal and i will be better to refuel my car by myself and pay via my mobilephone. And more -  It means that gas station workers cant steal your or station`s gasoline. I think it will be more interesting for people who drives electro cars. Soon everybody will drive ecars and use bitcoins:)

[sweetdesirez]

I don't find it a viable project. Well if its with regular fiat currency, then its okay, and the system is there in almost all countries, where they can pay through certain apps, sometimes these apps provided by the bank itself.
But think of a scenario of paying with cryptocurrencies. The pump delivers the fuel, you send the cryptos, but will have to wait for the confirmation A rude pump employee may not let your wheels roll unless there is a certain number of confirmations and your gf sitting in the car is getting impatient for her shopping

[alexfap]

I don't find it a viable project. Well if its with regular fiat currency, then its okay, and the system is there in almost all countries, where they can pay through certain apps, sometimes these apps provided by the bank itself.
But think of a scenario of paying with cryptocurrencies. The pump delivers the fuel, you send the cryptos, but will have to wait for the confirmation A rude pump employee may not let your wheels roll unless there is a certain number of confirmations and your gf sitting in the car is getting impatient for her shopping

Thank you for your opinion. Let me try to reply. There is no such system where you scan a QR-code on the pump and pay immediately especially using cryptos. Other apps won't provide the marketing and customer feedback tools we have in place for the gas stations. We are going to introduce special measures against time-lags with confirmations. The system may let you go even if there is still no confirmation, but next time you try to use the app and there had been no confirmation after your last fill-up you will be either charged from your banking card or banned in the system. There are a number of meausures we can think of. So it's not going to be a problem. Finally, even if there are some similar apps out there (and their number and functionality is insignificant) it doesn't prevent any new competitor entering the market with a new and much better tool for the people. Remember, there used to be Myspace before Facebook, but where is Myspace now versus Facebook? Facebook offered something that Myspace couldn't offer. Again, I appreciate your opnion.

[alexfap]

Interesting idea, for me isn`t very pleasant to contact with gas station personal and i will be better to refuel my car by myself and pay via my mobilephone. And more -  It means that gas station workers cant steal your or station`s gasoline. I think it will be more interesting for people who drives electro cars. Soon everybody will drive ecars and use bitcoins:)

Thanks for your opinion!

[medalex]

It's not clear for me what benefits will the bitcoin provide here? What is the usage of a blockchain here? Currently it looks like using crypto currency in the same way as fiat money is used.

[Svelto]

This idea is good but how do you stand out from the crypto currencies debit cards? The crypto debit cards can do most what you mentioned and there is no waiting time for confirmation. And the some debit cards offer “cash back” for spending too.

[andrewjchapin]

Don't want to be a downer, but it seems like a big solution to a small problem - the time and scale you'd need to execute this makes it a project not worth pursuing.

[alexfap]

It's not clear for me what benefits will the bitcoin provide here? What is the usage of a blockchain here? Currently it looks like using crypto currency in the same way as fiat money is used.

First of all, the main benefit is the simplification and speeding up of payment procedure. Secondly, cryptocurrencies are becoming more widely used and so we want to allow anyone to use this means of payment.

[alexfap]

This idea is good but how do you stand out from the crypto currencies debit cards? The crypto debit cards can do most what you mentioned and there is no waiting time for confirmation. And the some debit cards offer “cash back” for spending too.

We're not trying to stand out from any sort of debit cards. We're offering a solution to drivers who want to pay for gas using this app without having to go to cash desk or use any payment terminal equipment. You simply can stay in your car to handle payment.

[alexfap]

Don't want to be a downer, but it seems like a big solution to a small problem - the time and scale you'd need to execute this makes it a project not worth pursuing.

It is an adequate solution to existing problems. The scale and time are okay. We are a team fully capable of delivering the solution. And we believe as long as there are people who need conveniences it is worth pursuing.

[AT101ET]

Not sure how this would be beneficial. I can understand the idea but fail to see what difference implementing blockchain technologies will have. If anything the confirmation delay would make the app slightly ineffective in trying to actualise what you're trying to achieve.
Even if you do pursue it, how would the teller know who has paid? What confirmation method would you put in place?

[Greattoken]

The idea is original, but I'm not sure that it will pay off for you...Not so serious problem and not so strong solution, in my opinion

[Laivine]

I think it's really interesting! But it's all in theory so far...