What Do Hookah Smokers Want?

[Eddie_H]

Hey everyone :)

 

So I've been wondering what hookah smokers want to do more of online? I posted a topic on the hookah section on Reddit about possibly expanding the buy/trade/used hookah market where users could submit their products to an online store to be sold. Seller's would have profiles with their info and reviews while buyers would be able to easily search used/new/unwanted gear. It would be more invloved than many of the other forums current method of buy/sell/trade. Similar to eBay but just hookah and lower fees to sellers. However, a few people on Reddit have told me that the idea is completely stupid and would never work. Any thoughts from the members on here? Possible or not? and if not, would there be any way to help make it work?

 

Another idea is a price comparison site where people can search for a hookah product and compare the price among different online vendors. Would allow people to easily see which sites are running deals on certain products and which site is currently offering the lowest price. There's a few of these sites for other products, but none for hookah that I'm aware of. Again, would this idea catch on with the community?

 

Any other ideas? Things that can be done more effectively or better? Thanks :)

[Stuie]

Too specialized of an auction site, it would end up costing you, the host, a bloody fortune for all the security needed for auctions and payment. You might break even the first month, but that's it.

 

Price Comparision site sounds interesting but price changes so fast, You would also have to consider, discounts, and shipping costs, and shipping time. There are some vendors that have cheaper prices but GOUGE on shipping costs. I buy the majority of what I get based first on price, second on shipping time. I am not a patient person. And if you post discounts some vendors will see it's abuse and cancel the discount codes Seen it on several sites when forum discounts got posted to RetailMeNot.com

[Eddie_H]

Thanks for your suggestions Stuie. I've also asked the same question on a few other forums, but haven't received much engagement (as your the only person who chimed in here after a few days).

 

I've been running my site for about 6 months which has been to this point, a hookah review site. I've been having a hard time getting engagement or comments on the site. Even offering money to people who participated or to comment on postings, which still sparks little engagement. I cannot openly do paid advertising on traditional platforms such as Adwords, Bing, or Facebook because of hookah being a tobacco product. Many of the hookah forums are also not keen on promoting or are owned by the retailers themselves (after weeks of emailing HP to advertise on the forum I have yet to hear back). I do have the option to become a paid vendor here. However, as a hookah fan site I don't actually sell products and have been having a difficult time making any revenue (as an affiliate mainly).

 

A few people seem to think that I'm just trying to make money. Which I am but they don't understand that to run a site there are huge costs (I run it solely by myself). I've already invested hundreds of dollars and 6 months of my time to try to provide something unique to the community. However, with no one offering ideas to help me improve the site or participating in reviewing products, and it's become very frustrating.

 

I love hookah and have been smoking for several years, which is why I started the site. However, with it being a small niche (with active members online at least), difficult to advertise for, and with the forums being deeply controlled (not so much this forum but others) I feel that hookah smokers are simply "ok" with how everything is currently being run. 

 

I'm a college marketing student, so while I may not be the smartest or most knowledgeable. I believe that I have tried my best, I'm either not good enough or have failed to properly execute a site that is sustainable.

[Chreees]

You may not sell anything, but you are still trying to have traffic redirected to your site. That's why I offered for you to become a vendor here. Advertising isn't free. Say you get great advice from the members here on HF, then you build your site up, and we lose traffic because of it... How does that seem fair? It's up to you to make your site great. You can't rely on others to do it for you. If it's mainly reviews on your site, then the forums already have that covered. What it sounds like to me is that you're ultimately trying to build the "next big hookah forum," which is not what the community needs, let me assure you. The community is already split enough between 3 major forums as it is, leaving it harder to engage in hookah discussion. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cloud-Hookah]

In my experience hookah shoppers are more loyal to their same old vendors then caring about price. The price hunters search for hookahs on Amazon for the cut throat deals

[thehelios]

Too specialized of an auction site, it would end up costing you, the host, a bloody fortune for all the security needed for auctions and payment. You might break even the first month, but that's it.

 

Price Comparision site sounds interesting but price changes so fast, You would also have to consider, discounts, and shipping costs, and shipping time. There are some vendors that have cheaper prices but GOUGE on shipping costs. I buy the majority of what I get based first on price, second on shipping time. I am not a patient person. And if you post discounts some vendors will see it's abuse and cancel the discount codes Seen it on several sites when forum discounts got posted to RetailMeNot.com

 

Auction Site: No

Listings Site (i.e. Craigslist): Yes

 

What you could do is charge people a flat rate ($2) per posting.  This would prevent spam, get you your funds for hosting/profit, and reduce your costs for major security since you could use the MF API for posting fees and let the users figure out transactions themselves.  Price comparison doesn't really work as Stuie has stated.  If you want to do a CamelCamelCamel sort of thing, you could, but I don't see a business being made of it.

 

I'm very much a fan of Buy/Sell/Trade sections of hookah sites but am tired of having to check numerous places for it and Craigslist has become a wasteland for "e-hookah" crap.

[wek-sos]

 

Too specialized of an auction site, it would end up costing you, the host, a bloody fortune for all the security needed for auctions and payment. You might break even the first month, but that's it.

 

Price Comparision site sounds interesting but price changes so fast, You would also have to consider, discounts, and shipping costs, and shipping time. There are some vendors that have cheaper prices but GOUGE on shipping costs. I buy the majority of what I get based first on price, second on shipping time. I am not a patient person. And if you post discounts some vendors will see it's abuse and cancel the discount codes Seen it on several sites when forum discounts got posted to RetailMeNot.com

 

Auction Site: No

Listings Site (i.e. Craigslist): Yes

 

What you could do is charge people a flat rate ($2) per posting.  This would prevent spam, get you your funds for hosting/profit, and reduce your costs for major security since you could use the MF API for posting fees and let the users figure out transactions themselves.  Price comparison doesn't really work as Stuie has stated.  If you want to do a CamelCamelCamel sort of thing, you could, but I don't see a business being made of it.

 

I'm very much a fan of Buy/Sell/Trade sections of hookah sites but am tired of having to check numerous places for it and Craigslist has become a wasteland for "e-hookah" crap.

 

Same with eBay, but part of the fun lurking the hookah sales there is finding something the owner has no idea about. That's how I got a few really nice pipes for dirt cheap. Also, it would require everyone making a new account, starting over from scratch and whatnot. I know the people on HF are legit based on the seller reviews, but for the first few months on a new website, how am I sure that some random guy didn't just make the account "thehelios" with the same location, avatar, etc... as you have, to scam people? 

[thehelios]

 

 

Too specialized of an auction site, it would end up costing you, the host, a bloody fortune for all the security needed for auctions and payment. You might break even the first month, but that's it.

 

Price Comparision site sounds interesting but price changes so fast, You would also have to consider, discounts, and shipping costs, and shipping time. There are some vendors that have cheaper prices but GOUGE on shipping costs. I buy the majority of what I get based first on price, second on shipping time. I am not a patient person. And if you post discounts some vendors will see it's abuse and cancel the discount codes Seen it on several sites when forum discounts got posted to RetailMeNot.com

 

Auction Site: No

Listings Site (i.e. Craigslist): Yes

 

What you could do is charge people a flat rate ($2) per posting.  This would prevent spam, get you your funds for hosting/profit, and reduce your costs for major security since you could use the MF API for posting fees and let the users figure out transactions themselves.  Price comparison doesn't really work as Stuie has stated.  If you want to do a CamelCamelCamel sort of thing, you could, but I don't see a business being made of it.

 

I'm very much a fan of Buy/Sell/Trade sections of hookah sites but am tired of having to check numerous places for it and Craigslist has become a wasteland for "e-hookah" crap.

 

Same with eBay, but part of the fun lurking the hookah sales there is finding something the owner has no idea about. That's how I got a few really nice pipes for dirt cheap. Also, it would require everyone making a new account, starting over from scratch and whatnot. I know the people on HF are legit based on the seller reviews, but for the first few months on a new website, how am I sure that some random guy didn't just make the account "thehelios" with the same location, avatar, etc... as you have, to scam people? 

 

 

Same thing applies for any forum.  I could have 200+ posts and that somehow and arbitrarily makes me a "trusted" member but I could just be posting away to better my chances at a large scam.  As with anything internet based that's done directly between two people, you are always tempting your chances.

 

There are many things people can do to accept money with some sort of protection e.g. use Square, MF, or some other easily accessible credit card transaction medium to transfer payment but w/ buyer/seller protection fees.  Let the users pay the credit card charges but that only helps w/ their own protection. The idea of the site is just for listings.

 

In the end, a hookah listings site seems pretty simple and helpful for finding hookah related items IMO.  I don't go to B/T/S sections for "steals" but for used items that aren't going to be stupidly overpriced and potentially rare. 

[wek-sos]

True, true. Trades are risky but MF has great buyer protection - not to say I have never been scammed by someone who was unhappy with the product and unwilling to ship it back to me at my cost, but still. If the website somehow offered buyer and seller protection, could monitor PM's during arguments and could take action when things go bad, I would feel comfortable on a specific hookah buy/sell/trade website. But until then, it's just relying on each forum's review section and trusting my gut feeling about the transaction.