The collectibles market has long been shaped by centralized marketplaces. Platforms like eBay transformed the industry in the late 1990s by making rare and niche items accessible to buyers worldwide. Over time, however, these platforms introduced increasing seller fees, stricter controls, and limited flexibility—creating growing dissatisfaction among power sellers.

As fees rose and trust in centralized platforms eroded, sellers began experimenting with alternative channels. Social platforms such as Instagram and Facebook became informal marketplaces, allowing sellers to connect directly with buyers. These environments enabled creativity and community, but lacked structure, safeguards, and consistency.

One format that emerged organically within these communities was raffling. Sellers offered high-value collectibles while buyers purchased low-cost entries for a chance to win. The format lowered barriers to participation and created excitement—but it also raised fundamental concerns around fairness, transparency, payment security, and legitimacy.

dRaffels was conceived as a response to these tensions: a decentralized application designed to preserve the accessibility and excitement of raffling while addressing trust, verification, and automation through blockchain technology.

The Challenge

The challenge was not simply to validate a new product idea—it was to understand whether decentralization meaningfully solved real user problems.

Key questions needed to be answered before any product decisions could be made:

• Why were sellers leaving traditional marketplaces?

• How did buyers and sellers evaluate trust in informal transactions?

• Which parts of the raffling experience were most fragile?

• Where did blockchain add tangible value—and where would it introduce unnecessary complexity?

• What behaviors mattered more than stated preferences?

Without rigorous research, there was a significant risk of building a technically sophisticated product that failed to align with how buyers and sellers actually behaved in real-world transactions.

Our Role

Parallel² partnered with the founding team to lead early-stage market and user research. Our role was to uncover behavioral insights, clarify the opportunity space, and inform product strategy before significant engineering investment.

Rather than validating assumptions, the goal was to challenge them—ensuring that any future product decisions were grounded in evidence, not enthusiasm.

Approach

The research combined qualitative and quantitative methods, with an emphasis on observing real behavior rather than relying solely on self-reported preferences.

Competitive & Landscape Analysis

We evaluated:

• Centralized marketplaces (e.g., eBay)

• Social-media-driven selling and raffling ecosystems

• Adjacent peer-to-peer platforms

This analysis focused on fee structures, trust mechanisms, user control, and friction points.

User Research & Surveys

Hundreds of active buyers and sellers were recruited directly from live raffling activity on Instagram and Facebook. Participants were offered early access to the dRaffels beta in exchange for completing a detailed survey.

This approach ensured:

• Participants were actively transacting, not hypothetical users

• Insights reflected real workflows and constraints

Responses captured both motivations and contradictions

Key Insights

The research surfaced several insights that fundamentally shaped the product direction:

1. Speed and simplicity are non-negotiable

Creating a raffle needed to be fast and intuitive. Any complexity in setup or participation significantly reduced engagement.

2. Seller fees were a primary pain point

Sellers strongly preferred fee-free models, even if costs were indirectly distributed across buyers.

3. Mobile-first was mandatory

Phones and tablets were the dominant devices for both creating and entering raffles. Desktop experiences were secondary.

4. Lower barriers drive participation

Users favored systems without traditional checkout flows. Pre-funded balances or simplified payment models were preferred.

5. Trust is emotional, not technical

Users wanted to feel secure without needing to understand security mechanisms. Transparency mattered more than education.

6. Visibility creates confidence

Clear transaction histories and verifiable drawings were essential to buyer trust.

7. The platform should enable, not control

Users preferred peer-to-peer interaction. The platform’s role was to facilitate—not mediate—every interaction.

8. Reputation is currency

Sellers wanted to build recognizable brands and credibility over time.

9. Cryptocurrency was not the primary driver

While blockchain enabled automation and verification, most users were indifferent to transacting directly in crypto.

10. Scale matters more than features

A large audience was essential. Sellers attracted buyers; buyers followed sellers.

11. Security is stated—but behavior contradicts it

Buyers consistently ranked security as important, yet routinely used insecure payment methods—highlighting a gap between perception and action.

Outcome

The research reframed dRaffels’ value proposition.

Rather than positioning blockchain as a feature, the product strategy shifted toward trust without friction—using decentralization as an invisible enabler rather than a visible selling point.

Key outcomes included:

• A mobile-first product strategy

• Simplified raffle creation flows

• Fee structures aligned with seller incentives

• Emphasis on transparency over technical exposure

• Clear positioning as a peer-to-peer facilitator

These decisions reduced complexity, increased alignment with user behavior, and allowed the team to focus engineering effort where it created real value.

What We Learned

Technology should quietly enable better systems—not demand attention.

By prioritizing behavior over ideology, the team avoided over-engineering and built a strategy grounded in how people actually buy, sell, and trust online.