Craigslist has the classifieds game all tied up right? Wrong. New classifieds startups are popping up all the time – here we review the top 5 most interesting.
1. DAYPE
According to Quantcast, a well-known audience-insights service used by Digg, MTV Networks, Time, Inc., Bloomberg, WordPress ,and NBC (to name just a few), Daype is at the top of the startup list. Since its beta launched in August 2008, Daype has rapidly expanded, now netting 150,000 page views per month.
With a simple, intuitive user interface, Daype makes buying and selling a snap. Search results that include images and an on-page drop-down category menu make narrowing a search efficient and effective.
Pros
* User-focused, with an easy to use, intuitive interface.
* Registration and user accounts for easy ad management.
* Allows registered users to include Skype details for easy buyer contacts.
* Watchlists to keep track of interesting ads.
* Covers all major US cities.
Cons
* Still gathering momentum in some cities, meaning searches sometimes
return outdated results.
* Some job categories, such as media and publishing, not listed.
2. ILIST
Taking advantage of the power of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, iList helps posts reach like-minded buyers. Linux-based, it’s also a very stable system, making it easy for you to find last minute concert tickets. Complete with a developer’s toolkit and API, iList encourages mashups and sites that work with iList’s data.
It’s also backed by some pretty impressive names, including Dmitry Shapiro, the founder of Veoh Networks, i.e. it’s going places.
Pros
* Takes advantage of your existing social contacts – if you like a certain band and have tickets to sell, chances are someone else in your network likes them, too.
* Ability to cross-post over several social networks means you reach a bigger audience quickly and easily.
* Wide range of well-thought out categories.
* User accounts make it easy for post management and getting in touch
with potential buyers.
* Cell phone or social network confirmation prevents spammers.
Cons
* Posting only to social networks can limit an ad’s reach.
* Limited listings in certain cities.
3. TWEETMART
Born out of what creators Will Kern and Bill Kocik saw as a need for a simple classifieds-Twitter mashup, Tweetmart is, in essence, a classifieds service for Twitter. With a a simple yet powerful user interface, Tweetmart makes posting a breeze. After logging in with your Twitter account, just click on “list an item” and you’re done. Every time an item is listed, Tweetmart automatically tweets the listing. Like iList, Tweetmart lets users re-tweet listings to their hearts content. Interested users can then send a direct message (@joesmith) – or an email, if they’re not a Tweeter – expressing their interest.
Pros
* Easy to use, post from anywhere.
* 140 character limit keeps posts to just the essentials.
* 30 day limit on job listings.
* Allows unlimited re-tweeting of job listings.
Cons
* 140 character limit can make posting difficult.
* 14 day limit to regular listings.
* No image uploads.
Targeting one of the largest classifieds demographics, College Classifieds is exactly what the name implies – a classifieds service dedicated to college listings. Boasting the inclusion of every college across the US – including Alaska and Hawaii – College Classifieds lets users search colleges by state. Categories include college-specific listings, such as textbooks, summer jobs, Greek Life, and financial aid. There’s also a well-written “Protect Yourself” page (scroll to the bottom of the page) with tips on safely listing classifieds online.
Listings with images are free; paid advertising, such as banner ads, is also available.
Pros
* College category listings not found elsewhere.
* National coverage of a large demographic.
* Listings are also promoted via feeds and data exchange.
* RSS feeds are available by state.
* “Protect Yourself” page with information about being safe online.
* A blog with posts relevant to all aspects of college life.
Cons
* Unlike other classifieds sites, College Classifieds requires users set up an account before posting.
* Not clear how long it is between posting an ad and the ads appearance on the site.
5. BUYTHECHANGE
Describing itself as a grassroots movement, BuyTheChange is a classfieds site with a conscience. Developed with the idea of staying local, BuyTheChange lets users buy and sell within their own communities in an effort to build trust, save time, and reduce waste.
Unlike most other classifieds sites, BuyTheChange offers an annual paid membership (there’s a free option for selling only) for promoting businesses and services. Personal memberships are $24, while business memberships are $120; proceeds from the dues go to the non-profit of your choice.
Pros
* Promotes a good cause.
* Local focus means less travel and shipping, decreasing the service’s
environmental impact.
* Helps build a sense of community.
* Users learn more about the goings-on in their neighborhood.
* RSS widget displaying the 20 most recent postings for your area.
Cons
* Services postings are only available with a paid membership.
* Local only focus limits the reach of postings.
* Local only focus may mean fewer results and a limited catalog of available items.
Of course, the above sites are just the tip of the iceberg. As with all things, there are ups and downs, pros and cons to everything in the classifieds game, but each of these sites has a few great pros. Try them out for yourself, and you’ll see.
By Peta Andersen
August 24, 2009
6 Responses to “Top 5 Most Interesting Classifieds Startups”
You may want to take a look at this site: Abacin Classifieds . Both the page rank and traffic are similar to what listed here. We will be greatly appreciated if you can also have pro and con.
I recently used http://www.americanlisted.com/
its free and looks very similar to daype,
but much more local,
I found that particularly helpful since I live in a small town
I prefer not being prompted to register on classifieds sites. Guess I am like most people, wanting everything for free and without hassle. These sites are all quite nice, I agree. I liked the choice of name, americanlisted, they also meet all my requirements.
The buythechange website has a great design, but the interface and workflow is really bad in correlation to how much work they put into the work.
The tesimonial/description on the front page is way too big, there has to be some navigation in the front to push me to where the content is in any classifieds. Most likely, I was pushed to the site because of some affect of marketing or positive information, so it would be redundant to show me information about the site again.
It also has an atrocious tagging system. Ads, events, nonprofits, and businesses. These are very intertwined, and don’t deserve to be competing categories. What if a non-profit wants to have a tag sale?
Where would this go?
Seeing that it is local, it shouldn’t be a problem since most people will be an inner-circle audience using this, but no way could this go national in its form.
As for the twitter-aggregates, Twitter has problems with spamming and controlling its own content, so to aggregate purely from keywords without filtering, your site could conjure up a lot of trash ( I have done some searches, and seem to be correct ). The bad part is they would need to entice and environment to want to post selling/buying stuff on Twitter more from the current audience.
For collegeclassifieds, its good, but it isn’t Uloop, which I think is a lot better.
@abacin & Todd: thanks for the tip. I’ll consider both sites for my next classifieds article.
@Richard: anonymity is one of the things most people like about the internet, and it’s easy to get used to being “unknown”, insofar as anyone is ever unknown on the interwebs. I think registering being a good thing really depends on how much you use the site – for instance, I wouldn’t register for Craigslist because I don’t use it for work often, but I would register for, say Problogger, because I’m there everyday. Make sense?
@RedSoxManiac: some very salient points, and thanks for the tip about Uloop. I’ll definitely be keeping your reviews in mind when writing my next article. Also – great username!
I would defiantly keep an eye on a new college classifieds website called “The Campus List”. It is taking a fresh approach to the design and function of classifieds. It is still in beta…but is quickly expanding across the country.
I think a website like The Campus List is so innovative because they are not simply imitating “Craigslist”. They try to create a new social marketplace that is easy to use, and that ultimately offers students the ability to save money.