alt Hacker NewsI sell onions on the Internet (2019)
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The internet was originally promised as a way to disintermediate these kinds of supply chains, yet we often ignore these "boring" businesses for hype trains. The fact that he added a phone number and it sometimes out-sells the website is the cherry on top.
author here : ) happy to answer questions if you have any. We also have a twitter account here if you want to follow along: https://x.com/vidaliaonions
> but for kicks & giggles, I dropped in a bid around $2,200 ’cause I was confident I’d be outbid
Boy do I wish I could just drop 2k on a whim for a vanity project
Absolutely insane way to start a business. “Let me blow 2 grand on a domain name. Not sure what it’s for, yet.”
This feels like a relevant wiki page to mention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_Futures_Act
I love this post. I read it a few years ago and tried the same thing. I bought and then built riverreports.com (https://www.riverreports.com/).
What a cool story. Not tech for tech's sake, but tech that grows into something simpler, more efficient, and more world-opening for something as wonderful as the Vidalia onion
Peter appears to still be at it.[1] Very impressed by his commitment to the bit.
[1] https://xcancel.com/searchbound/status/1996247844080996549#m
Got these many years back after having been posted here. Very happy with the purchase, but wouldn’t order again as my wife hated the smell. Highly recommended everyone order these at least once.
> Them: We leverage automated machine learning to enhance your existing BI visualizations with more proactive insights
> Me: I sell onions on the internet
That's exactly how I feel about AI! Instead of all that useless nonsense, just keeping it real, doing something that's actually useful for individuals and for society.
Sometimes you start a business. Sometimes a business starts you. Awesome that the author saw this as an opportunity and not a down side to owning a name he never really wanted to begin with.
Sometimes the right business just finds you and you’re at the right place at the right time to see it.
This is the kind of thing I’d like to do. I have so many ideas, but I’m not sure how to actually make them happen.
How much money does it take to start something like this?
> Some folks can eat them like an apple. Most of my customers do.
My grandfather and my cousin, who he pretty much raised were eating regular red or yellow onions like apples like that. I had never seen anyone else do that. They would make an onion "salad" which was just cut up onion with olive oil and salt.
I love onions, but never tried a Vidalia. We have Walla Walla sweet onions out here and I suspect they’re pretty similar.
Great advertising for vidalias. I simply have to try one now.
That's very interesting. My domain purchased in 2015, finally seems to make some meaning due to recent tech advacnes. Time to do something with it.
(2019)
I love this guy's marketing honest and compelling
I love how I came into this thread going “it would be fun if this was actually about onions, but it is probably something about Tor” but was wrong!
233 points and 89 comments back in 2022 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32053044
It's kind of funny this guy doesn't understand his own business.
It's not onions. It's lead generation.
> The way Faulkner treats his characters, I treat domain name projects. I buy them with an intention to develop. And I let them take the lead. They’re the inspiration for the business itself. They guide me towards what they need to become. I’m just the dude behind the keyboard (sorta).
I feel the same way about personal projects and blogs. A good idea tends to be self-reinforcing. It just needs someone to uncover it. Selling onions on the internet seems unusual but to the right person that idea is gold.