Could this be an overlooked online market?

Teenagers have spending money.... But they can't spend it online. They usually don't have credit cards. And eBay doesn't let you have an account to buy or sell unless you're 18.

It looks to me like teens could be an overlooked market.... If you can make payment easier for them, it could be very lucrative. Perhaps an online web site, where people can buy stuff the old fashioned way - by sending payment through the mail?

I think this could work for teen niche markets - stuff that teens can't get at the local stores, but which they may want because they're "cool".

I've linked to an interesting article related to the difficulties teens have buying stuff online below....

- Dien


Teen market clicks past e-tailers

This could work for "subscriber"-based sites aimed at the teenage market....

When my youngest brother Thomas was a teenager himself, he was a big fan of various bulletin board MUDs (multi-user dungeons). This was before the internet was as big as it is today.... Most of those who played these were other teenagers. They would call up the bulletin board system (BBS) using their modems, and play the games through their computers that way.

I remember him telling me, what one BBS MUD did was it had a voucher system. They had arrangements with various stores to sell their vouchers. Each voucher was good for a certain amount of online time (eg. 10 hours of playing time, etc.). Kids could go to the stores, and buy the vouchers there. Then, once on the BBS, they could key in the "code" on the voucher, and get that number of hours added to their online "account".

(Of course, like other retailed products, the retailer made his percentage of profit too.)

This way, teens could buy online time without needing a credit card, or needing to send things through the mail. This is one way one business got around the problem of teens not having credit cards.

Perhaps this system could be adapted....

I personally believe there are "no" insurmountable problems in business.... Each "problem" is simply a new challenge, with a solution that you just haven't found yet. :)

- Dien Rice