Product design question

Build a product to buy and sell antiques.

Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.

What this question tests

Tests product design on a niche marketplace where trust, authentication, and condition disputes matter more than typical e-commerce.

Clarify the target user: casual sellers clearing out inherited items versus serious collectors and dealers, since their needs diverge sharply.
Identify the core pain point: buyers can't verify authenticity or condition remotely, which kills trust more than in typical retail.
Design around trust: require detailed condition photos, optional third-party authentication for high-value items, and an escrow-style payment hold until delivery confirmation.
Add discovery features suited to collectors: search by era, maker, or provenance, and saved searches for rare finds.
Define success: transaction completion rate on listed items and post-purchase dispute rate, since low disputes prove the trust layer works.

Centers the design on authentication and condition trust, the real differentiator for antiques versus generic e-commerce.
Segments sellers into casual and professional/dealer tiers, since a dealer needs bulk listing tools a casual seller doesn't.
Proposes an escrow or buyer-protection payment flow, which is standard in high-value, low-frequency marketplaces like this one.
Picks dispute rate as a key success metric alongside GMV, since trust failures are the biggest churn risk here.

Designing a generic e-commerce app without addressing the unique authenticity problem of antiques.
Ignoring payment protection, which buyers of expensive, unverifiable items will demand.

Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.