Worldstock.com: Friend or Foe?
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03. 8.06
There is a good post (and resulting comment discussion) over at WorldChanging about Worldstock, a division of Overstock.com that sells mostly sustainable, artisanal crafts and products from around the globe. In "The Worldstock Story," the CEO has this to say, "We pride ourselves on being honest brokers: we don’t gouge producers with our clout, nor consumers with mark-ups, thereby allowing the artisans to receive an average of 60 - 70 percent of the money you spend in Worldstock. Our goal in Worldstock is not to make money, but to create tens of thousands (and someday millions) of jobs in the poorest regions of the world, while bringing customers unique products of which they can be proud – hand-crafted clothing, jewelry, ceramics, furniture, and much more."
Sounds great, right? Shop for furniture, jewelry, rugs and more, with a good bit of your money going where it's really needed. By all appearances, Worldstock is attempting to be a transparent, fair-trade proponent for local economies in the developing world; big brother Overstock is not a particularly well-revered corporate citizen, so why develop this co-brand? Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne usually doesn't sugarcoat or mince words when it comes to his company, (whether spouting off about his own subpar holiday sales or espousing that his company is the victim of a Wall Street conspiracy intended to drive down its stock), so we're sort of inclined to believe that his vision for Worldstock isn't a wholly nefarious one. It's an odd juxtaposition, but more jobs and money for developing nations is a good thing, so we'll give it a hesitant thumbs up for now. ::Worldstock via ::WorldChanging
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I agree that Patrick Byrne is a bit eccentric, but I think the more important question is whether the benefit to the third-world craftsmen who sell their stuff on Worldstock outweighs the damage done by burning oil to transport it around the world.
Wonder if this is the rebirth of eZiba.com, which Overstock.com bought in January?
from Business 2.0's 100 Dumbest List:
98. Call it a merger of equals.
A few weeks after eZiba.com sends out its winter catalog, the call center's pin-drop silence begins to worry execs. As it turns out, a bug in a program designed to identify the best prospects on eZiba's mailing list led to the catalog instead being sent to those deemed least likely to respond. "Sadly, our probability estimates were correct," says eZiba founder Dick Sabot. On Jan. 14, eZiba suspends operations while seeking new investors to cover its cash shortfall. Overstock.com later buys the retailer's assets for $500,000.
This is very good idea