classified

Lately I've been really impressed by some of eBay's latest Web gizmos, including their auction-sharing widget that's got both a standalone embed, and even their less-than-stellar Facebook app. There's also their Adobe AIR application that's both beautiful and useful at the same time. The one thing that I think needed some work was their search tool, which the folks at GetItNext seem to agree with. Their eBay search tool helps sort through results before you even see them. In essence, it's trying to overcome the inherent clutter that's come of eBay since the service became immensely popular.

If you had used eBay in its early days, the search experience was completely different, and searching for a cell phone would often actually give you handsets as the top results instead of faceplates, phone chargers, stick-on crystals, etc.

The best way to really see the difference between the two search tools is stacking them up against each other with a smattering of identical queries. All in all, I was pretty impressed with GetItNext, as it managed to come up with fairly similar results, but often the GetItNext results had less junk. Even better, GetItNext will include the shipping price in each result to help you avoid some of those great deals that have a less than great, or ridiculously high shipping price.

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I'm a big fan of selling things through Craigslist, which is why a pitch from a service called Zilok piqued my interest. The premise of the site is that you can make money by renting stuff you've got laying around the house instead of parting with it once and for all. For folks who have something like a $500 Dyson vacuum that you bought and use once every six months, this service could theoretically help take a chunk out of the original purchase price by letting you rent it out to people who live near you.

The service … Read more

UPDATE: The Craigslist post in question has been flagged for removal.

A Craigslist ad for an available room in a two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan's pricey West Village claimed that the asking price was $1 per month--and a fresh batch of cookies every day. (As of Wednesday morning, the ad was flagged for removal and is no longer available on Craigslist.)

Yeah, it's tongue-in-cheek. As Gotham gossip blog Jossip put it, "There's no way someone would really rent out a room in the West Village for $1 a month and daily fresh baked cookies. In the West … Read more

One of the largest classified ad spaces on the Web is now available on your iPhone. Whether you're looking for a used car, a job, real estate, or other items, EPage offers easy navigation and photos of items for sale. The interface for browsing classified listings is excellent and a search feature makes it easy to find what you want quickly.

iPhone link: http://epage.com/js/iphone/index.jsp

Web site link: http://epage.com

As a Facebook user, I've recently begun to enjoy one of the side effects of its growing user base: selling stuff. Historically, I've often flocked to Craigslist to fence off my aging electronics. I live near a college town, and lately I've noticed it's become a whole lot easier to find buyers since the launch of the Facebook marketplace and the f8 apps platform. Here are five really solid applications on Facebook to get rid of your unwanted goods and maybe even make a buck on the side.

Facebook Marketplace. This is my personal favorite, since … Read more

Auction giant eBay has launched an online classifieds service that will compete with market pioneer, Craigslist.

Kijiji, a site eBay has operated overseas for two years, is now available in about 220 cities across the United States, spokesman Hani Durzy, said Tuesday.

"We're targeting young people and young families looking for bargains locally," Durzy said. "For now it's a free service and our focus is on building the user experience."

Reached by phone, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark sounded less than worried about competing against a powerhouse like eBay.

"My take is that anything … Read more

A San Francisco Craigslist posting is offering to supply "diversions" that will allow buyers to cut in line for the iPhone, and sadly, we're afraid he might not be joking.

"Why pay someone else big $$$ to wait in line if the only thing between you and the front of the line is a good diversion?" the post asks, claiming to come from a trademarked company called "Over Here, Jerks." "Our tactics are guaranteed to be safe, effective and even humorous!"

Photos accompanying the posting include a giant clown bicycle, a scary-looking … Read more

Whenever something's a legitimate social phenomenon these days, you can typically follow the zeitgeist on Craigslist. The impending Apple iPhone is no exception.

I was inspired by a recent Cult of Mac post to hunt on Craigslist for some of my favorite "Buy me an iPhone!" or "I'll buy you an iPhone!" ads, which I've detailed below. Interestingly enough, they were restricted to the biggest of big cities, as far as I could tell (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston) and I could track down only one that promised a genuinely … Read more

There's a new Web site called Real People Real Stuff where anyone can post a classified video. As expected, there are plenty of bad-quality clips and boring infomercial-type stuff, selling real estate, cars and even Shih Tzu puppies. But there are also some hidden gems.

For instance, some guy in Alexandria, Va., wrote a song about his company's "Dog Guard" invisible pet fence. "We keep your hound aroundddd. We keep your hound aroundddd," he croons as he strums his guitar.

In another charming and informative video, a Canadian woman illustrates the "lack of … Read more