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.