Business Concept

[bigmack]

Appreciate your thoughts/suggestions on a business idea a couple of techies approached me with.

The idea is a localized version of Ebay. Think of it as Craigslist & any local classified advert on steroids.

The popularity of Craigslist in larger cities has significantly diminished the chance of selling an item. Ads posted are buried in the mix within minutes of appearing, giving little chance for Flo to sell her dining set. Point being, it's a captive world of motivated sellers. One of my favorites.

Unlike Ebay: Local means products are tactile. (Folk like what they see online? – They go and touch it)
Like Ebay: Categories are searched, detailed info is rendered. Ads are uniform & rich in content.
Unlike Ebay: Shipping prohibitive items become viable.
Unlike Ebay: Sellers only pay after sale.
Unlike Ebay: Communities are set-up city by city, ala Craigslist.
Unlike Ebay: Offer turn-on/off advertising to local merchants. (Store A has X number of product they want to get rid of. Post ad, send confirmation Email to the initial ad respondents, close ad. Encouraging hits, rewarding regulars and bringing a timed & measured local retail offering, without the bluelight)
Unlike Craigslist: Aunt Margie can't list her couch pillow for $5. Ads will be accepted, not simply posted.

Q: Collect seller fees on honor system?

[Dave Schwartz]

Sounds interesting.

Honor system won't work.

Question: What is the difference between your idea and (say) a local newspaper that sells online classifieds?

[bigmack]

What is the difference between your idea and (say) a local newspaper that sells online classifieds?
Classified ads, the cash cow for many city papers, has soured years ago. The fringe offerings still charge as in larger markets they hold neighborhood readership. Large city, primary papers of record have resorted to offering free ads.

The difference is in the presentation of a tired looking ad in a newspaper and the rich content of a well produced ad. People can upload, pictures/videos alongwith full descriptions without line limitations.

Q: Honor system pay for the first 6 months to encourage market splash?

[kenwoodallpromos]

Local is good if the bidder can see and get a better description of the product.

[chickenhead]

I think the main attract would be centered around antique dealers and professional hawksters selling large pieces, and used car boat and rv market.

What do you buy by limiting Aunt Margies couch pillow? It's clutter, but I suspect its a big part of the success of Ebay and Craigslist. The smallest sellers are the buyer pool as well.

Fees are primary importance for sellers, especially on low margin items. I'd suggest a sliding scale, starting a 0.25c for the lower cost items, increasing as item value goes up, at the high end perhaps matching Ebay equivalent.

[Dave Schwartz]

Okay. I get it now.

So, you would charge for each listing, features, postioning, etc. like eBay does.

I like it!

Q: Honor system pay for the first 6 months to encourage market splash?

I'd say make it free for some period of time but limit it. Something like "While we build the business, your first 10 ads are free."



In order to capture income from sales (i.e. commission) you'd have to handle payments, etc. I just do not see how the "honor system" will ever fly.

[chickenhead]

I think listing fees would be his only option.

Real Estate
Apartments
Cars/Boats/RVs
Business Industrial
Yard Sales/Estate Sales/Auction Houses
Home Furnishings
Professional Services (Accounting, Insurance, etc)
Job Listings
Jobs Wanted
Misc.

no one has captured the real estate market, if you could offer custom back end services, where the ads for agents are automatically generated on custom forms, populated by MLS info, all the agent has to do is throw pictures in a folder and add some text if they wish, you might get them to put more online as a virtual storefront.

Offer package deals for higher volume.

One stop shopping for all that is local. I think it could fly.

[bigmack]

One stop shopping for all that is local. I think it could fly.
That's my feeling. I also share your views concerning real estate for both sales and rentals.

I can appreciate Aunt Margie wanting to sell her pillow but accepting an ad of that type would create the quagmire Craigslist users find.

The suggestion of antique dealers is excellent. So too, consignment shops and the like.

What are your feelings about the retail "virtual bluelight specials"? A computer store has 65 DVD burners and wants to sell them near cost. To place an ad in the paper is very costly and they only have a certain amount. It's more active advertising than passive. QVCish, if you will.

We charge x amount for them to list in the "bluelight" until the number of customers has been matched. The fee could be negotiated on how many they sell or a pre-determined amount.

Dave - I think I like free for a spell to create some activity & buzz. Thanks

I'm fairly experienced in booking morning news guests around the country and know that I could easily book a spokeperson to go on regularly to highlight various ads/specials available to the public. Folk like deals.

[chickenhead]

I think that makes sense, the special deals area.

In that vein you might think about push advertising, or maybe you're already thinking that is part of it. I have a set-up where I'm emailed all house listing in my area that meet certain requirements. It is very convenient for me.

I think that would be a useful feature for users and something the sellers/advertisers would like also. I want emails of: all x type houses, I want all apartments under $1500, I want any 2000-2003 Honda Accords, I want all Estate Sales within 20 miles of my house, etc etc.

or a user homepage a la My Ebay, where these actively are kept updated and organized, and emails sent as a heads up to a change in status.

[chickenhead]

one last idea....as a variant on listing fees...something like Google AdWords, whereby listers/sellers/advertisers are paying for unique "clicks" onto their item.

[bigmack]

one last idea....as a variant on listing fees...something like Google AdWords, whereby listers/sellers/advertisers are paying for unique "clicks" onto their item.
Much obliged for your sug's. As the transactions are handled in person, the collection of fees is going to require some thinking. Middleman is all well and good until the sides don't need the middle.

One of the guys is a wiz in Flash and he wants each ad to enlarge on mouse hover and open full with a splat.

Domainwise, does AdSplats.com do anything for ya? I'm leaning towards something more vauge, in the Google, Woot, Ziyya types.

[ddog]

fees>

If you want to keep Margie's pillow off the site, maybe set a high fee on the first X amount of goods and then lower in increments as the listed or sold dollars go up?

small extra fee to have stuff pushed to subscribers , maybe by targeted demo as well over time.

newspapers,etc. are terrible for ads in my opinion, most don't read them or take them and I don't see that turning ever.

Sounds interesting.

[sammy the sage]

Hate to bust any-one's bubble...would it be better than this?

http://www.traderonline.com/

[bigmack]

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