- Johanna Abzug wanted to sell her things when moving from Texas to Spain — so she vibe coded a marketplace.
- She tried Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp, but found that buyers were often "uncommitted."
- "I tend to like to do things the hard way," she said. "It's been so satisfying doing this."
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Johanna Abzug, a 38-year-old freelance product designer who lives in Madrid. It's been edited for length and clarity.
We moved for political reasons.
My partner and I had just had a kid, and we lived in Texas. I don't know if it was postpartum rash decision-making, but I decided this would be the best thing for our family. That was my main objective for over a year: getting us all moved.
I had these big items. When it really got down to seeing all the things that are of value, I could donate them, but I need cash. This is something I would like to sell. You keep adding onto that list, and it ended up being over 200 things that I had to sell.
I started doing things on Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp, and realized this is not feasible. I cannot do this. Trying to sell a bed frame and a mattress on Facebook Marketplace, I'd get dozens of messages from people who are uncommitted: "Is this available?" or "Will you take $10 for this $1200 thing?" I don't want to deal with that.
I tend to like to do things the hard way. I searched for something that would meet the needs that I had, but I could not find one. That's why I created one.
I used Bubble, which is a no-code thing, where you basically hook up the logic behind things. I had a working prototype and made a way for me to create an inventory of what I had really quickly, and then made a sale for it.
It was like an online garage sale where people can come and add multiple things, with the idea of selling as much as I can, as quickly as I can, because I want to be done with this task.
I call it a personal pop-up sale. You make a personal inventory of your items, and then, when you're ready, you can put those items into a sale. The sale is a scheduled event, and it lasts for a certain amount of time. The offers also expire after 24 hours, which necessitates more commitment. You share it with your personal network.
Where the transaction differs from Facebook Marketplace or OfferUp is that you don't chat with the buyer until after a price is agreed upon. It's offer-based, back-and-forth to start, and can be on multiple items. The idea is to separate the transactional part of selling items online from the direct message part.
The name was actually inspired by Enya. It's Sale Away.
I ended up making my own sale and posting it on Nextdoor and Craigslist. Under 10 people went to the site, and then I stopped advertising the sale.
This one person bought a lot of my stuff. The offer was over $1,000. I guess someone was moving in, and I was moving out. The transaction went great.
Then I moved. I've always been hesitant to put myself out there, and I was like, "I can just forget about it." But it always really bothered me that I never finished the project and let other people use it. That's why I rebuilt it.
I started the project using ChatGPT, and I switched to Claude. That technology has grown so much in the three years since I created the initial prototype in Bubble. It's been such a great way to carry out the ideas that I have in my head.
Building things scratches a different itch than designing things. To be a designer is usually the second-to-last stop before it goes live. The deadlines get pushed, and it all rolls downhill. I can feel the stress of developers, and that's not something that I want.
It's been so satisfying doing this. I've always had some sort of personal thing going on the side. I am also a mom to a six-year-old, and I'm taking classes to learn Spanish while working.
This is the first thing of utility that I've built, and I definitely would not have been able to do it without vibe coding.
