the platform
how it works
We understand that there are plenty of free online and offline options for selling your products and services and communicating with the community. What we have experienced in Vilcabamba though is a very disorganized, fragmented and often frustrating experience. Our goal is to organize and improve communication and community commerce efficiency without losing the spontaneous and organic nature that everyone loves about Vilcabamba.
The Vilca Vende platform aims to bring all of the relevant but scattered online and in-person commerce together into one neatly organized place. Our website is an online community bulletin board and we offer free contact cards that we call Communit-E-Cards for everyone to promote what they have to offer under the appropriate category so that people can find them easily. Communit-E-Cards can also be upgraded to include link buttons leading to a full web-page ad with unlimited text and multi-media options or to download files that could include things like menus or weekly flyers.
Our initial version of the Communit-E-Market is simply a place for local product producers, and the tiendas that carry these products to connect with a broader customer base. It is intended to be a centralized place for local producers and craftsmen to introduce their products to the community and also to showcase their products to local tiendas who may wish to carry them in their stores. There is also a Vilca Vende "Community Garage Sale" group in the VilcaVerse WhatsApp community where people can post their personal items items for free. As Vilca Vende grows we will strive to expand the Communit-E-Market to offer a full online shopping experience for locally crafted products with payment processing and eventually an order fulfillment and delivery service.
Community Bulletin Boards
We are not only focusing on online community building. We also intend to feature neat and attractive Vilca Vende branded community bulletin boards scattered throughout the town of Vilcabamba. Advertisers on Vilca Vende can also choose to advertise with full page and half page ads on our real life bulletin boards. Our bulletin boards will feature glass doors to protect ads from vandalism and being torn down or covered up. If you own a business in Vilcabamba and would like to partner with Vilca Vende and allow us to install a bulletin board on the outside of your business please contact us for more details about compensation.
The thing that makes Vilca Vende different is our dispute resolution process. We only allow a limited number of advertisers in each category and all of our vendors and contributors commit to a high level of customer service and quality. We have "feedback forms" all over our website and if there is a dispute between anyone using the Vilca Vende platform the injured party can submit a complaint form and we will take steps to resolve the dispute. If the dispute can't be resolved in a reasonable manner the offending party will not be permitted to use the Vilca Vende platform anymore. This gives users the peace of mind that everyone they deal with on Vilca Vende has no serious complaints against them.
