The road to a better Craigslist is littered with the bodies of startups that could never make it past the first few mile markers. But iList, which launched today out of stealth mode, thinks it can defy the odds by making classified listings more social. The service includes a standalone site, but every listing can be cross-posted to Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, Pownce, and even Craigslist itself. (See screenshots).
In addition to Craigslist, iList faces competition from Facebook, which runs its own Marketplace app, and other classifieds apps on Facebook such as ShopIt. But iList gets a lot right that other social classifieds don’t.
To start with, it makes each listing very easy to find. When you list an item or service, you start on the iList site which prompts you to fill in standardized data that varies according to the item. If you are listing a car, for instance, it will ask for the year, make, mileage, color, and condition. All of this metadata makes the listings more search-engine friendly than simply putting in a title and description.
But iList is not counting on search engines alone to find your listing. It makes it easy for you to promote your listings to your friends and contacts on Facebook and other social communication services. When you are done publishing a listing, you just click the services where you want the listing to be pushed out to. The listing then appears in your activity stream in those services. You can also automatically create a Craigslist listing.
The Facebook app has some extra bells and whistles. Messages can go back and forth within Facebook, and friends looking at your listing can promote it by re-posting it to their activity feed. Back on iList, you can keep track of who is helping you promote your listings. The more items you list or promote, the more “Karma points” you get, which eventually will be redeemable for rewards.
The San Francisco startup has a 25-year-old CEO, Chris Abad. And one of his co-founders and chief designer, Eston Bond, previously worked at Facebook as a product designer. They raised $1.5 million in August from Veoh founder Dmitry Shapiro, Goowy founder Alex Bard, and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
The screenshots below show how the listing for the Acura on iList above shows up on Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, and Pownce:
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iList?
nice name guys. sheeeesh…
What’s wrong with the name? I think it is actually refreshing to see a startup name that isn’t a made-up word or a combination of meaningless words. And it’s easy to remember.
Its a good name, no doubt. Imagine if “TechCrunch” was named “Fizzle”. Yes its true…………. even MA knows the value of a natural language, common sense, keyphrase domain name.
SellLocator.com
I really hope the tech space doesn’t feel limited to made up words or words that begin with i. Leave the ‘i’s to that ONE company that made them popular.
Now that web 2.0 is over, can we enter a new era of cooler names??
thanks
Is iList a real word?
fizzle.com may be available
ilist is an action like “i list…a car, an event, etc..” It is actually the action that you are taking. i think its a great name but I am biased
Great website idea. I think craigslist has to do something or they will loose this game!
If Craigslist/eBay = America and iList = al qaeda, then iList’s battle-plan/strategy is the equivalent of al qaeda mounting a full-frontal sea-based attack against the coasts of California.
In other words - EPIC FAIL.
Only an idiot nation would wage a campaign against america this way. Sellers don’t create markets, buyers do. The few among us that do in fact sell some of our stuff online don’t keep going back to eBay & Craigslist because of how simple/intelligent/social their listing processes are…. we return because *that’s where all the buyers are*.
Long story short: Neat features - suicidal battle plan.
Think about it this way…if you have no sellers (ie content creators) no buyers will come, and if you have no buyers, then its hard to get sellers…so how do you get around the “empty bar challenge”.
Well you give sellers a tool to promote their listings to their friends, to craigslist (better looking ads) to other areas where people are listening to them…as a bi-product of this that content also gets added to the ilist site creating that elusive content…as the content gets built up, buyers will have more incentive to visit the site, which will then in turn attract more sellers…it is a snowball effect if you can get it right…
Thats the hard part…good luck guys.
you fail at metaphors
I think it’s a great name! Sounds like it will be a successful site whether iList on there or not!
Same old. Same old. Can we move past this web 2.0 crap already?
The company is actually based in San Francisco, not San Diego.
I have wondered if Facebook marketplace stalled because selling to your friends invariably means selling it for less and then having the hassle of unlimited warranty. The other uphill battle is critical mass and that can never be underestimated and that is where I think their link into SN’s is key - it makes it viral so gives it a fighting chance to survive.
iList is a cool idea and a catchy name - I hope they do well.
Congrats guys!
Cheers - Eric
blah blah blah, take an idea that works well already, throw the word ’social’ in front of it, and people will hump your leg for it.
What’s the pain being solved? If I want something, I go to Craigslist, search, find, buy it. Life is good. When I go to Facebook, I want to see what people are up to, not what they’re peddling. And quite honestly, even if someone sees that they’re friend is selling something, you know what most people will do next? Go to Craiglist to see if they can get a better deal.
Usually when friends promote something they’re selling, they offer it up as a better deal before they put it on Craigslist. This may get some traction, but there are no barriers to entry to this. It’s not even remotely a Craigslist killer.
i think its a great idea - the ’social’ aspect of it. I’d rather buy something from a friends social network versus a stranger from Craigslist. That way, if the product i buy is lame, i can track them down via my friends and then kick em in the balls later! Great idea iList!
I’ll chime in with Britt. Posters are going blah blah because the content is essentially craigslist … but the distribution of that content has taken a leap forward by cross pollinating it on the social network platforms AND reposting it on craigslist. I like the idea. Gives the seller the greatest possible promotion for his item and allows him / her to leverage social contacts to help.
Craigslist will lose the game? All this is going to do is annoy people on facebook. If I want to buy something I will go looking for it, I don’t want my friends ADs shoved down my throat.
Craigslist advantage is its use of anonymity. All these guys that come out didn’t take this to heart. I don’t want anyone to know what I’m selling or what I’m buying. All they should know is that I have the item to sell.
This is the problem with facebook marketplace, it doesn’t provide any kind of identity protection. Real name has liability.
I have to agree with ghunda on this. Its not really solving anything. I still think people will go to craigslist even if they see ads on social networks. It kind of goes hand in hand with apps on facebook. How many of them are completely useless and will never do anything? MOST OF THEM. I don’t want a cluttered facebook, I want it for the basic service that made it good.
These guys are delivering ads where they aren’t wanted. Audience + audience purpose = good placement. Anything else is crap. A more interesting placement technique in the social space is adding some function to the ads… http://hourtown.com shows the free time available in a service business’ live schedule. You actually see “hey, Thursday 10 AM I can get a massage”
Its going to be tough to trump craigslist. Maybe Kijiji will pick them up if things go well. The only thing I worry about is theiir differentiator, which is the social plugs. Often times, the people in your close network aren’t the ones that will purchase something from you, not to mention status updates only stay up for as long as you wait to update again (I update on facebook frequently) Craigslist is just tough to beat. People love using shitty looking things that just get the job done. A common mistake many startups make. “We could make this look so much better”. As Philippe Starck says, ‘Design is Dead’
Craigslist is a flawless system. I don’t need to know if some one is in a relationship or what they had for dinner to buy a car. Craigslisters can post a free ad for a used condom with total anonyminity…and I like it. Web 1.0 Version 2 has to end.
My biggest problem with these services is the typical limitation regarding area - IE metros. I want to be able to limit my search to a zip code radius, town radius, or even just “in town” options, because I may not want to travel 50 miles to pick up some junker that doesn’t even run just so I can get some spare parts from it. That’s the advantage of community/newspaper-based classifieds - especially those with online listings.
WFL, couldn’t agree more regarding “locality” being the key.
The classifieds functionality I want is to be able to punch in my street address and see a single map of everything for sale around me. Little “ticket” icons on the map for people selling tickets. Bikes for sale get a “bike” icon. A “car” icon for people selling cars. Free stuff being given a way gets a smiley face.
That way, in 15 seconds, you get an easy visual check of things being bought, sold, and given away *right near you*. That would be awesome. And make it work via GPS-enabled mobile phones so that you can get this view wherever you are …
IMO, *that* will be the game changer.
Great to see iList up and running and to know a bit of San Diego is in it!!
The only thing that I wonder is how will the general population take this? Most still aren’t on Twitter, Pownce, or FriendFeed…so where will the general population find value? Sure it’s great to post to all networks but if you’re not on those social networks wouldn’t you just continue to use Craigslist?
no cars found in New York/NJ area….why would I use a site that has 0 results?
And they are starting out with 9 people? WTF for?
also whats stopping someone from just reposting their stuff on twitter themselves?
@ghunda,
The pain that is being solved is that fact that some people would rather deal with people they know rather than people they don’t. It’s a fairly simple concept to understand. If you have spent any time online, you would see numerous forum posts about “has anyone been scammed by so-and-so on craigslist?” or some variant of that.
Beyond that, you may actually have a higher probability of selling the item that you have (possibly quicker and at a fair price) within your circle of friends because chances are, you are friends with these people because you have similar interests and needs.
Also, it looks like the listing will still show up on craigslist anyway if you want it to. So why limit your options just to craigslist or ebay or whatever? Anyone knows the way to get the best price for something is get the listing infront of as many people as possible and create a market around the item. The more people who see the item, friends or not, the more likely you are to sell the item at the price you were looking for. Seems like a great system to distribute listings to all the places I need them to be, and the ones I dont.
So, how long have you been working at ilist? How much longer is it going to last? 5 months?
Well, I dont work there but I’ve been lucky enough to be able to use it for a bit with one of their earlier beta keys. Im obviously a bit biased since ive had some time to play around with it, but at the same time I’m a little puzzled why anyone would see this as a bad thing.
Ive actually had conversations with people prior to even knowing about this why there isnt a system that could display things I have for sale/trade within facebook and these other social sites i tend to frequent. Maybe it’s already been attempted and I just wasnt aware of these apps.
My only issue with the site is how the main page is laid out. I feel the art work above the fold should go somewhere else below the fold or removed completely. Right now it just takes up too much real estate. I think searching and also getting started on posting a listing should replace where the art work and registration button is. Seems like there is too much emphasis on registering compared to posting.
I think they should start people off by getting whatever they are trying to sell on the site first, then at the end get all the registration details. Having people register right off the bat may be good later down the line but if they are to compete with similar services, aggregating listings should be priority number one.
We’re engaged in a small project that kind of takes on CraigsList in one particular area - commercial micro-spaces; i.e. desk and small office rentals (11SquareFeet.com). It’s a niche market and it’s all we do, no cars, laptops, puppies or anything else. Our biggest problem so far has been attracting users away from CraigsList. One of the biggest problems we’ve found is that a lot of people just aren’t that tech savvy - they don’t want to register, set up a Facebook account, blah, blah, blah in order to advertise. CraigsList does a good job on making this pretty simple, so I can sympathize with the work these guys are going to have to put in.
We thought about doing something similar on Facebook but essentially our research gave us the same feedback seen here
friends advertising to friends = bad
Anyway, I wish these guys good luck, I do hope it works out for them.
Dale
“One of the biggest problems we’ve found is that a lot of people just aren’t that tech savvy - they don’t want to register, set up a Facebook account, blah, blah, blah in order to advertise.”
Again, Facebook isn’t the only site the listings are displayed on, but with 110 million active users on Facebook its a pretty good start.
If people can understand they only have to sign up with iList to get the maximum exposure for their listings, this thing will really take off.
Yeah, I actually agree, but I was really talking about those who aren’t on Facebook. Our 11SquareFeet market research into this area showed that Facebook people were actually kind of indifferent an idea like this. I guess we’ll see.
Dale
Call me skeptical but this is a pretty poor idea. People HATE ads on Twitter etc. and won’t go for it.
But it is classfieds information like apartments rentals…
iList sounds like a good idea and but faces a huge challenge that many craigslist and ebay competitiors/startup has never found a way out. The chicken or the egg problem.
http://ilist.com/locations/147.....e/listings
uhm..
did these guys not study the common use cases for classified ads?
The social feature is interesting, but isn’t practical, since, I assume the majority of interested ‘buyers’ for ones’ goods aren’t in the nucleus of your social network. In other words, target buyers are typically strangers, outside your social network. And its social functionlity doesn’t resolve this fundamental problem. Furthermore, having your friends push out your listing isn’t practical, since there’s a low likelihood that they will do so. Lastly, the service relies on n-degrees of pushing out for it to connect with the target buyers–with a low push out probability for each edge in the connect chaining, they’ll be a very low success rate. You do the math.
You can spin the service all you want, but it wont’ increase the s/n ratio compared to craigslists.
I agree with ghunda. Good reply.
Nice website you have there Tampa4U
makes us wonder who the hell craiglist has stayed on top for so long …
well i guess first mover adv.
No, they actually do a great job for their audience, many of whom are not tech savvy at all. It’s a lot like Evite, many people think it’s broken, but it’s not, they do a fantastic job of servicing their market (80% American females 30 -38), just ask any number of the start-ups that have tried to compete with them ( know, I was in one). Just because a small number of tech elites say something doesn’t work doesn’t mean that it’s true.
Dale Cook
11SquareFeet.com
I think it is a great idea. No, it isn’t a Craigslist killer, but the automatic posting to Craigslist is smart. So, when a friend sees what your selling and goes to Craigslist to get a better deal, they’ll see your listing again. Plus, the viral nature of it is cool. If I see my friend is selling a car, I can tell another friend about it easily. It is taking the “6 degrees” premise to classifieds…
I also like the name.
yes, because placing an “i” in front of another word is so original and distinctive:
ipod
itunes
iphone
itouch
“Everybody loves Apple and craigslist, let’s mix their naming conventions!”
Step 4 PROFIT!!!
Hey Erick-
Interesting Space that is popping up. Would love to show you what’s coming next for Shopit in the coming months.
Rhett
Craigslist should just start slowing adding new features. I’m a big Craigslist user and its nice that’s is so simple but sometimes I want more.
someone should actually check on shopit, from what i see - they are the largest commerce app on facebook and other networks, moreover, they arent a listing service like craiglist, they are a full transactional store like yahoo or ebay stores within your facebook…. if you want to list something great to use ilist or other stuff, if you want to sell something, use shopit.
SO, you work at shopit huh? Who else knows shopit’s FB stats? Nobody casually coming by this article would bother to check.
You are a shill and an astroturfer.
I am from Shopit Eric. FB post monthly activity of their Apps publically within the respective apps categories
yawn…there is no reason to start another classifieds or affiliated business….cl rules…no need for any other service
wow i really like it. The fact that it allows video upload, connects with all these world renowned websites, AND still gets the benefits of a craigslist posting. I’d rather have an account than to not have one
$9,982 for a 1994 Integra RS? I’m just not buying it.
Craigslist, Oodle, Kiji, Backpage
Sorry my friend but you have entered a very competitive space with a not so great idea.
This looks just like someone trying to jump on the “social network” bandwagon without thinking about whether or not it was a good idea to begin with.
I dont want everyone on my friends sending me alerts when they decide to sell their old junk or sublet their apartment. The percentage of eyeballs that are going to see these ads that are actually looking for the product is going to be very tiny.
Didn’t anyone every tell you not to do business with your friends? I can see it now. I imagine ilife will destroy many a friendship.
oh this is going to make social mediums so messy.
I think the idea is interesting but may have some challenge in getting traction in the US where users have been trained to use eBay and Craigslist. We have just launched an experimental OpenSocial App “AdBhai Classifieds” - A Social Classifieds site for the Indian Market ..http://www.orkut.com/Main#AppInfo.aspx?appId=792334446910
Would love to get some feedback from folks here.
What stops a site like friendfeed or youmeo doing this?
Another CL — yawn… don’t see how it brings anything NEW to the table or solves the basic marketing challenge of finding and targeting the *right* buyers for my product or service.
I don’t think my friends on Facebook would appreciate blatent comericalization. If you have something to sell or give away you would let your friends know about it anyway and give them first crack at it? Right? I do.
But I don’t post ads for my stuff or for my business on Facebook.
The ones that do blatent commercialization on Facebook aren’t real friends cause this is a SOCIAL vehicle not a virtual space to sell an over priced timeshare to people that don’t want it.
iList looks pretty and has some nice graphic components for selling / marketing, but does not solve the fundamental challenge of business. Reaching the target buyer for the product or service.
Show me that and I will be impressed!
http://www.freshroots.net