I haven't tried shopping on any online stores before but there is one thing that made me curious.
Since Purse was made last April 2014 and OpenBazaar (on its full launch) last 2016, was OpenBazaar made to be better than Purse?
Purse (Summary)
It works in two ways.
1st: Lightning fast savings
When you set your discount to 5% you can expect the fastest order and delivery times possible. Purse will directly fill and manage these orders.
2nd: Name your own discount
Ready to reach for a deeper deal? Take control and set your discount according to the speed and savings you’d like to see!
Purse can be used in three ways
Shop and Save
Search for items or browse our curated categories. Add to Cart and Set Your Discount at checkout.
Import your Wishlist
Import your Amazon Wish List to quickly checkout. The purse team will keep track of items you add for easy reuse.
Earn Crypto
Not shopping? Earn Bitcoin by fulfilling Shoppers' Amazon orders. It will quite need a small amount of fund (sometimes big). Some of the orders requires huge amount of money but after fulfilling their orders, you will also earn crypto.
Talking about Support
You can always get support from them if you have any questions. I have tried emailing them and only after 3 minutes I already got an answer. Very fast!
So far, purse have reached more than 317K users, 300K orders, with an average discount of 18% and have saved $6.1 million. It is gradually growing.
OpenBazaar
OpenBazaar connects people directly via a peer to peer network. Data is distributed across the network instead of storing it in a central database. It’s a peer to peer application that doesn’t require middlemen, which means no fees & no restrictions.
You can create your own store, display your products, reach new audience and earn crypto.
You can also enjoy benefits like
✓No Platform Fees
✓No Monthly Fees
✓No Listing Fees
✓No Bank / CC Required
✓Live Chat with Customers
✓Customize Your Store
✓Peer to Peer (no middleman)
OpenBazaar support more than 30 countries and so far is good for small businesses. In OpenBazaar, you can sell anything but buying anything is somewhat impossible. Not all items are available, it is only limited maybe because there were only a few sellers and what they are selling is not what you are looking for. If OpenBazaaar has many sellers, soon it will be like Amazon.
I don't have any idea if how many users such as sellers and buyers for OpenBazaar since they don't have any updates. But last February 2019, they have 120K users.
Advantages
Purse
I think purse is more reliable, fast, secure and you can save more when compared to OpenBazaar. You can set discount at your own :)
OpenBazaar
You are the boss. You can chat with your customers and you can sell your products at any price. Some could take advantage of gaining more profit from their products which is really good.
Disadvantages
Purse
There isn't any. I couldn't think of one.
OpenBazaar
As what have been discussed above, the OpenBazaar is a peer to peer network wherein there is no middlemen involved. Which on the other side, it means you will likely encounter problems on how to deliver your products to your buyer or the seller will have difficulties sending your order (location is an issue).
Although the shipping fees is added, somehow it will cause your buyer more money and at some point you will encounter problems like delays or worse. It happened to my cousin, she ordered a dress and the seller promised that she will receive her order in 1 week. Now, was delayed for 1 week and my cousin received an underwear instead of dress. There could be some people there who will likely fool others (quite not secure).
Now, was OpenBazaar made to be better than Purse?
The answer is NO!
OpenBazaar so far was just made to enjoy the freedom of selling and buying, bringing easier connection between buyers and sellers and so far will not surpass purse.
Conclusion
Both projects are good, they are unique and right now, it's your choice to choose where to buy. You choose your own risk.
For now, let's still promote OpenBazaar and Purse.io
Thanks
Sources
FYI there's also Haven app which makes OpenBazaar more user-friendly