buycycle

One inbox for buying and selling

Product Design Lead · 2025

As buycycle expanded into components and sports equipment, more users were both buying and selling. Their conversations shared an inbox, but it was hard to tell at a glance which ones related to buying and which to selling.

The disagreement

The Lead PM preferred separate, collapsible sections for buying and selling, each with its own scroll area. I recommended one list that kept both types of conversation visible by default, with filters to narrow the view. That followed a pattern we already used elsewhere in the product. I was also concerned that separate scroll areas would leave too little room on small screens and make conversations easier to miss. The Lead PM had the final call and chose the sections.

Why I kept the alternative ready

I had made my objections clear and accepted the decision. I expected the trade-off to become easier to judge in a working build, especially on a small screen with several conversations in each section. I kept the filtered version ready so the team could switch quickly if those concerns surfaced in pre-production.

What reopened the decision

Less than two weeks before release, the CTO flagged how little room the sections left on small screens in the pre-production build. The Lead PM acknowledged that the sections could hide conversations from buyers. The team voted to switch to filters, and the version I’d kept ready went live a few days later.

What shipped

The filters launched in the app in September 2025 and on the web in October. In 2026, Orders and Archived filters were added within the same structure.