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Name: Wisemarkit
Quick Pitch: Wisemarkit lets users earn commission based off sales and referrals from personally curated storefronts. Virtual shop space is entirely free.
Genius Idea: Anyone with a Facebook account can open and curate a virtual store with items from Amazon and ShopSense's partners.
Wisemarkit is an online shopping platform that rewards its members for curating successful online boutiques. If your recommendations drive sales on third-party websites, you'll earn a cut of the revenue.
Wisemarkit is similar to e-commerce startups The Fancy and StyleOwner that are driven by social recommendations. The co-founders of the interactive shopping site, Farris Salah and Oliver Ripley, created the platform to empower individual entrepreneurs.
"We are targeting the individuals to come in and set up their shops," Salah tells Mashable. "All of these small designers are making very small profit margins — five to 15 percent seems to be a success. On Wisemarkit, you could be earning that same level of commission."
Wisemarkit differs from other online marketplaces such as Etsy. Its members can curate and sell products from online retailers without ever owning the items.
"Individuals don't need to own the stock to put it in their shop and make a commission on the sale," Salah says. "Etsy is all user-generated products. So, if I make a desk, I can sell it on Etsy. In Wisemarkit, I can sell the desk without owning the desk."
Currently, Wisemarkit users are limited to 10 Wisemarks — recommendations on the platform. Members can curate products from Amazon and ShopSense, which aggregates products from online retail destinations including NET-A-PORTER, Shopbop and Neiman Marcus. Only 10 products show up in your main shop at a time. Older items remain in your stock room and commission can still be earned on referrals.
"For example, I might have a shop of swimsuits, as the winter approaches I change my shop into a winter coats store. The swimsuits go into my stock room," Salah says. "The following season I might dip back into my stockroom and Wisemark the swimsuits again, and now the winter coats are in my stockroom."
The platform rewards successful users by unlocking additional floors and Wisemarks.
How much can you make on Wisemarkit? Amazon's Affiliate Program lets sellers earn up to four to eight percent commission per sale. Wisemarkit currently splits the commission by 50% with members. For a $10 sale, users should expect as little as $0.20 or as much as $0.75. ShopSense currently rewards users for driving clicks rather than purchases. Per-click rates vary between users. Rates increase with larger sales and more referrals.
For the future, the New York-based Wisemarkit team is working on letting users upload their own products onto the platform. When selling their own products, users can establish their own commission rates.
"In turn, what Wisemarkit aims to become is a mega catalog of products, which has the best demographic filters and search, enabling users to find the right product for them faster and in one place," Salah says. "Our aim is to become the best e-commerce search engine, both in speed and trust."
Would you use Wisemarkit? Tell us why or why not in the comments.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Steven Snodgrass
Series presented by Microsoft BizSpark
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