The saying goes: one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. And a recently launch Dallas startup is aiming to help thrifters and collectors find their hidden gems.
DoUHave, an online secondhand marketplace focused on helping buyers rather than sellers, launched at the beginning of the year. In that time, it’s gathered thousands of users and kicked off a Wefunder crowdfunding campaign to raise $300,000 to become the go-to place to connect collectors across the country.
“This is not e-commerce or selling commerce. It is a social commerce world,” said David Nguyen, DoUHave’s founder and CEO. “People want to connect with you and say, ‘Hey, I know where you can get that.’”
An avid thrifter and collector of all things autosport, Nguyen developed the idea for DoUHave after finding that other marketplaces like Facebook Groups or eBay are often limited by geographic location, or sellers only list items when they know they are worth something. Through his own experience, he also knew that fellow collectors are often more than excited to connect with others to point them in the direction of what they are looking for.
“I think because those groups are kind of exclusive, it divides up all those local markets,” Nguyen said. “If we’re talking about a small asset that can be shipped, you really want a nationwide market.”
Initially, Nguyen said the plan was to become a search engine for thrift finds, collectibles and antiques. However, some site’s APIs are not available. So, DoUHave became a connection tool. Through the marketplace platform, users post items they are looking for, along with their budget. Then, other users can connect and share info on where to find it. The company also acts as a buying consultant, helping users locate where to purchase items from users in the network or through retail partners.
“In general, we would love to connect people who may have these items laying around. You never know who's looking for it,” Nguyen said. “We are the only kind of platform that actually digitizes what you want to let everybody know, so not only does our team help them find help connect them with the right store or small vendor, but anybody could actually go on there and open opportunities for anyone to sell their stuff.”
Through DoUHave’s crowdfunding campaign, it has raised a little more than $10,000 with a $5 million valuation cap. The company said it has seen more than 225 percent month-over-month growth since its launch in January and has attracted around 22,000 active users. Nguyen also noted that DoUHave had brought its cost-per-click on its online ads down from 62 cents to only 6 cents.
“We knew that our users were going to be super users. Regardless of the situation, a thrifter is so innate. It’s a personality thing. It’s a hobbyist thing,” Nguyen said. “We see (users) all over the place. In fact, rural communities are just as good as dense communities because they have more space for assets.”
Currently, Nguyen said one of the biggest barriers to adoption DoUHave faces is getting users familiar with the idea of a buyer-focused marketplace rather than a seller-focused one. He said the platform still gets users asking how to post their items for sale. However, he points to the rise of collectible markets like Pokémon, sports cards and video games and the surge in e-commerce tools during the pandemic as helpful tailwinds.
“I think people are ready for it. There’s no dedicated site out there, and with climate change and having a shortage in new production items, people are really pivoting to the secondhand market,” Nguyen said.
If DoUHave can hit its funding goal, Nguyen said most of it would go towards developing the platform, with some going towards more online ad campaigns. By the end of the year, the company is on track to have more than 100,000 active users on its platform. Over the next five years, Nguyen said DoUHave could hit a potential revenue of about $60 million, including $1 million in B2B ad space on its site. However, Nguyen said the company and the idea is a passion, so with or without funding via Wefunder, he and the five-person team plans to continue building, persistence and stubbornness he attributes to his background in mechanical engineering.
As it looks to grow, DoUHave is planning to roll out more categories on its platform, like Pokémon and sports cards. Current categories on the site include antiques, rare vehicles and vintage home goods.
“We really want to hit the niche markets that sometimes some of these selling platforms are just scattered on,” Nguyen said.
