We all have our special fish vendor–where we think we get the best deals on the freshest and choicest seafood for our kitchens. But when Chinese New Year came along, you’d have to get into competition with all the other customers of your fish vendor. One enterprising vendor made the most out of the recently-concluded CNY celebrations by holding a fresh seafood auction through a Facebook Live!
In a saved Facebook Live session by Parliament Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin, a fish vendor in Geylang Serai Market was holding an online auction for her fish. In the video is seafood seller Jecc Tan.
Watch it here:
From the video above, you can see the vendor taking a shot of the fish and waiting for bids through the Facebook Live comment system.
She also uses multiple phones so that she can speak to the bidders and give a shot of the item at the same time.
Aside from the two smart phones, she also uses a WiFi dongle for a faster internet connection.
According to the vendor, she had been doing this live auction of her food items since November last year. She said that she started it for her regular customers who cannot leave their homes and trust her to sell fresh seafood and who know what to look for.
Want to bid for seafood, here’s her Facebook profile.
What do netizens think?
Here are some of the reactions from Singaporeans who saw the Parliament Speaker’s video:
Some were concerned about the price. They said that the price of the items may not be worth it. Others argued that the buyer gets convenience and saves time. What do you think?
Some commenters were surprised that this was happening. While others were used to the online bidding system, where you can find more than food are being auctioned off.
While others were asking the right questions all this time.
Auction is fun for everyone
We can understand why the Parliament Speaker took his time to ask the vendor how she went about her business. It was interesting and showed great business sense and powerful leverage of technology to run her enterprise. She provides a great service to her regular customers and at the same time builds her stall by adding delivery methods.
Even if the price is much higher compared to the other prices in the same market or even in the grocery, the fact that you get to see her merchandise firsthand and live is something more than you can say for grocery delivery services. You also get the items delivered to you within the day.
The key to this type of transaction, though, is trust. If you do not know the vendor personally or trust her items, then you may be better off meeting her first or going the usual route.
The fresh seafood delivery and auction business is actually just starting.
Would you buy from her Facebook page? Let us know in the comments!
Header image from Shutterstock.
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I’ve long wondered when live online platforms would enable fishermen to sell more of their catch straight off the docks and for more people to get the freshest seafood out there delivered to them and to know exactly what they’re getting. Here is something similar that just started in the U.S. https://www.fishhousestanleypark.com/