Hey everyone, I wanted to share some insights from the past year working on a niche e-commerce project — a digital marketplace focused on gaming-related goods like activation keys, accounts, in-game currencies, and services. The project — which I named Allshop — started as a response to frustrations I observed in existing platforms like G2A or gray-market Discord servers. Many sellers (especially smaller ones) were dealing with high fees, poor support, and little control over their listings. Here are a few things I learned while building and scaling it: 1. Niche > General Going super broad with a marketplace (like trying to be the next eBay or Amazon) was a trap. Focusing only on digital gaming goods let us tailor the user experience, categorization, and seller tools in a way that generic platforms can’t. 2. Trust is the currency Gamers are skeptical by default (and rightly so), especially when it comes to key reselling or account trading. Building even a basic feedback/reputation system and allowing direct buyer-seller communication helped increase conversion rates significantly. 3. Don’t underestimate SEO in a niche We assumed paid ads would be the main traffic source, but it turns out long-tail SEO — things like “buy WoW gold EU 2024” or “cheap Valorant account with skins” — drove over 50% of organic signups. Targeted content and structured product pages made a huge difference. 4. Seller experience > buyer aesthetics At first, we focused too much on flashy design for buyers. But it was the dashboard UX, listing speed, and payout control that kept serious sellers coming back. 5. Community > traffic Early traction came not from Google or paid ads — but from active communities (forums, niche Telegram groups, Reddit subs). Engagement and transparency inside those circles gave Allshop more momentum than traditional marketing could. I’m not here to pitch — just wanted to share this for anyone else building in e-commerce, especially in the digital goods space. Would love to hear your experience if you’ve built or scaled similar niche platforms. What worked (or didn’t) for you? – Allshop