eSwarm is a new Group Buying application

Read on TechCrunch today, eSwarm is a recently launched application for group buying. As I mentioned in an earlier post, group buying was hype in web 1.0 era (with sites like Mobshop in US or Clust in FR) but not really successful (the bubble burst came in). In web 2.0 era, internet users are more mature, are “more social” (see success of MySpace or Facebook); and group buying could now become successful. Still, I’m skeptical eSwarm could be successful: concept is good, but right now execution looks pretty poor:

• As online experience, it’s not in my habit to have to give personal address and telephone number, in order to register to a site. I would have preferred giving those info if absolutely needed later in the process, i.e. when I actively start playing with the service (Adress “must be accurate so that we can mail you referral fee checks“).
• When you want to join an existing swarm (a group of users that want to buy a good), you are notified “by joining this swarm, you are obligated to purchase this product / service if supplied“. I understand eSwarm wants to be sure the number of potential buyers is accurate, in order to get the best offer from merchants; but as the same time, I don’t expect the desired price given by the creator of the swarm to be the final price. What if the price is ridiculously set too low? I would expect merchants to suggest a slightly higher price, and then accept or not the offer.
• The look&feel / usability of the site is not really appealing (my personal taste :) )
• Very few swarms right now (almost 80 right now, with 2 or 3 max ). I would have preferred a private beta, and a public release with a lot more swarms / users.