Classified Ads Becoming Wildly Popular

Classified Ads Becoming Wildly Popular

A website record was broken on Saturday, Jan 16, 2010. Normally, the new classified ads posted in a day is around 1,500 (for the Utah state area), but on Saturday it was 8,256. That's over 5 times the normal.

What's going on?

A quick poll to some of the user's who posted shows the following reasons:

1. Was too busy during Christmas to post, so catching up now.
2. Got this for Christmas but don't want / need it.
3. Ebay is too expensive and too much of a hassle, so I don't post there anymore. (this was from a business)
4. I need money and want to get rid of the junk I'm not using.

I think reason #4 is the most popular reason. Got to pay off those credit cards built up during Christmas, perhaps. I didn't want to ask and get any more personal.

One person who posted 22 items that day said his wife passed away and he was selling furniture and stuff to downsize and move to a smaller place. That's a lot of items for one person in one day.

Typically Thursdays are the biggest post day of the week, probably because people try to sell stuff by the end of the weekend.

The day after, Sunday, only saw slightly more than normal posts.

I do think classified ad posting is becoming more popular in general. I'll keep watching what happens and let you know here.

The data source used for this blog entry was from http://www.nearbyitems.com/.

Happy Posting...

Selling Items? Why you should tell family and friends.

Selling Items? Why you should tell family and friends.

An informal poll of several friends and family members has concluded the following:
A buyer that knows the seller will pay the asking price without much bargaining, but the seller will often lower the price from what would be posted in a classified ad.

So, the most effective way to sell something is to let family, friends, and neighbors know.

• Nearby, as in relationships, for family and friends.
• Nearby, as in proximity, for neighbors.

How to Let Them Know

1. Word-of-mouth: the most trusted form of marketing. Tell them about your for-sale items.
2. Email: the most convenient since the person receiving can click a link to get to the items of interest. Send them an email with links to online pictures and details.
3. Paper: least efficient, but needed for the super-nontechnical. Print out the pictures and details and deliver after the person has expressed interest.

Making It Easy
NearbyItems.com is designed to facilitate this type of sharing. Try using the “Send to Friend” feature which sends a formatted picture and short description with a link to learn more.

Thanks and Happy Posting.

If it's Alive, Heavy, Moves Fast, and/or Requires Inspection

What kinds of items are best served by a local, classified ad marketplace? Items that are alive, heavy, move fast, and/or require inspection are best served by a local market. Please let me explain.

Alive Items
Dogs are the third post popular selling item on www.NearbyItems.com. Animals are hard to ship so people want to pick them up locally. They have different demeanors. Prospective dog owners want to see the personality of the dog before buying.

Heavy Items
Anvils, couches, washing machines that are used are not worth the shipping costs. An anvil selling for $50 would require $72 in shipping because of postal weight limits. A couch is too bulky and would cost more than $100 just to ship. Same thing for the washing machine.

Fast Moving Items
Cell phones are listed and sold faster than any other item category. Cell phones are lightweight, so they are conducive to low shipping costs, but there are two reasons they are not: first, since it is used, people want to see the condition personally, and second, when you want a cell phone, you want it today. There are enough used cell phones all over so there is no sense in shipping one from two states over.

Requires Inspection
Would you buy a used diamond ring based on the picture alone? How about a car, clothing, a television, a rifle? Even when brand-new you want to inspect these things before buying.

That is why websites such as Ebay, Amazon, Walmart, and Craigslist don't work very well for these items. The items you buy need to be local (and that means a smaller area than a city, but bigger than a zipcode).

A person will go farther for a free item than they will for a blender.

NearbyItems.com was created to support this marketplace need.

Happy Posting.