I am excited to propose the creation of Dashop.io - a Dash-only online shopping marketplace which aims to bring mass adoption of users and merchants into the Dash Economy and Evolution Platform.Dashop.io will be one of the first user-friendly off-ramps from the legacy fiat-based economy, with the goal of enabling merchants and Dash users to survive and thrive exclusively with Dash. Dashop will incorporate existing merchants on discoverdash.com and will leverage the Treasury to promote to and recruit new merchants and users through social media and discount campaigns similar to BitCart and Alt36. The objective is to aggregate and acquire Dash-accepting merchants into one easy-to-use shopping marketplace where users can go to use Dash for its primary intended purpose - as a digital cash currency.The second stage of this Proposal will be to promote and provide incentives for users and merchants to participate in this marketplace and adopt it as their “go to” for “legal” crypto purchases. The incentive plan includes 20% Dash back on all sales for merchants for the first 3 months (to cover costs of setting up and establishing a web store presence) and a 20% discount for users for the first 3 months of operation. The funds will be requested for this stage in this proposal to begin the marketing blitz and build awareness before the project nears completion for maximized acceleration and growth upon release.The third stage of this Proposal will be to build the Dashop App on the Evolution Platform using DAPI. Dashop.io has a goal of being one of the first major apps on the Evolution Platform and will be a champion to promote the Platform. Dashop will raise awareness and lower the psychological barrier to entry for businesses to build apps on top of Evolution. This will be a separate proposal with an ETA of July 2018.The reason we are starting with an http website to begin with is because we are unsure of the release of Evolution, and at what rate it will scale. Tentative “Summer 2018” is a long time to not have an online marketplace. There is already competition in this space with spendabit.co and openbazaar.com, etc. Therefore, in order to build a userbase and create awareness of Dash as a cryptocurrency with utility, we are starting with a traditional website. The users of Dashop.io will then make a seamless transition to Dashop’s Evolution App when the time comes.After weeks of interviews with various web design firms, I am ecstatic to have recruited a local, specialist web design company in my city. This will make managing the project much simpler and provide a more cost and time-efficient result for the Dash Treasury. The Web Design Company has many years of experience in online shopping integrations and will design, develop and build Dashop.io. To provide the best ROI for the Dash Treasury, we will be using WooCommerce Dash API (thanks to @nmarley – Core Dev) and the GoUrl.io Crypto-Currency Payment Gateway. A unique aspect of this Web Design Company is that they are already well-versed in cryptocurrency and are excited to accept Dash as payment!The site will serve as: a global directory of merchants (online and storefront) who accept Dash for payment an integrated merchant portal for online shoppers who prefer to use Dash a Dash-only or Dash-alternative e-commerce site for individual merchants a promotional tool for the Dash cryptocurrency and merchants who use itVisual and functional objectives include: professional and trustworthy perception a clean, modern design easy merchant setup, operation and maintenanceo application and approval processo merchant pages setup and maintenance (e.g. add/remove products and change prices/availability)3 Methods for Merchants to Maintain Product Catalogs:- manually add products through a login,- allow vendors to upload products with a CSV file- through a custom API.o pricing markup to add dashop.io feeso shipment options, selection and paymento merchant order receipt and paymento merchant policies and contact info for consumer product/service search integration unobtrusive but transparent merchant integration, similar to amazon.com easy to use for shoppers with merchant ratings and reviews built in to WooCommerce AppWe estimate a timeline of approximately 20 weeks from project start-up to site publication.As part of my commitment to this project, and to show that the Dashop team is capable of completing this project, I have funded out of pocket to get the dynamic concept website built. Please view at dashoppe.iias.host -All-In Cost to Build Website: 200 Dash.Completion Timeline: 5 months.Paid in 2-week increments and milestone-based-Monthly Maintenance/Hosting/Management Costs for 6 months: 15 Dash x 6 = 90 Dash-Monthly Promotional/Incentive Budget for first 3 months of Operation: 50 Dash/mo. X 3 = 150 DashTotal: 440 DashThe reason for the high promotional budget is to provide a mega marketing blitz with Facebook, Google and Youtube Ads. All of the Dash will be spent, regardless of the fiat value.My goal for Dashop.io is to become a sustainable business that doesn’t require a monthly stipend from the Treasury to operate. This is why Dashop is only requesting the first 6 months of operation expenses. After the 3 month promotional period, Dashop will institute a maximum of 10% markup (compared to ~15% for amazon) on products in order to cover expenses, which will provide users and merchants with a price advantage over other online marketplaces.I would be happy to engage GreenCandle.io for escrow services, as well as to sign an MOU with regards to the fees.Dashop is comprised of myself and a local Web Design Team with decades of experience in designing web stores. You may know me as “Nate” on discord, or previously “DJCrypt0” on slack, a long-time MNO, former DashForce MVP, and a large contributor to the Foundation in 2015. Check my "Joined" date. I donated to fund the majority of Bit To Byte (August and Jakub’s) expenses for their trip to London and through my escrow/incubator InstantKarmaFund.org have sponsored many successful proposals, including: Dash Serbia, Dash4Nigeria, Team Morocco and Bit To Byte. I want nothing more than for Dash to become mainstream and usable as a decentralized payments platform and economy!I am excited to make this concept a reality and am looking forward to making an off-ramp from the legacy economy to the new Dash economy! Please leave all the feedback so I can address your concerns prior to submitting the Proposal this month.