Built By Kids Launches Classifieds for Babies, Kids and Families
Timothy and Laura Dahl of Built By Kids are helping to lighten the financial load associated with raising a family by introducing a new and safe classifieds site powered by Krrb. Parents, caregivers and educators are now invited to buy, sell and trade gently used items for babies, kids and family.
The Built by Kids Classifieds is an extension of the family-focused lifestyle brand and website, which encourages families to interact with one another by engaging in family friendly projects. With children quickly growing out of many expensive items (from strollers to shoes), there is now a safely monitored platform to buy and sell items both locally and globally.
"We believe that toys and loved items deserve to live beyond their first families and be passed onto others. It is in this spirit that we're proud to offer a community platform where gently used pieces and those begging to be upcycled can find a new home," says Laura Dahl.
This latest platform serves as a safe and friendly place where families can pass on the items they grow out of and pick up the gear that suits the next phase of their children's lives. All types of items are welcomed including: clothing, toys, gear, furniture, books and bikes.
Art should be available to everyone, not just the privileged. Cheap Art Classifieds allows this to happen while simultaneously celebrating its availability in our everyday lives.
Cheap Art acts as a platform for art creators and owners alike to sell directly to interested buyers, and for buyers to purchase straight from the source. You can find original, one of a kind pieces right in your community—even if you’re on a budget!
Cheap Art Classifieds is inspired by the Cheap Art Parties in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Themed after the Why Cheap Art? Manifesto by the Bread and Puppet Theater, these annual events hosted hundreds of artists for a one night exhibition/party in which all works were sold under $100.
Art of all forms are welcomed on the site—whether it is sold by the creator or by someone is looking to sell their artwork secondhand. In the past, purchasing art has had a reputation of being nerve wrecking, but now it can be looked at as both a fun and accessible experience.
Cheap Art Classifieds is powered by Krrb which also powers Apartment Therapy Classifieds and Chicago Magazine Classifieds.
Buy and sell art for cheap! Visit BuyCheapArt.com now!
In an effort to pull together all online services out there that are modern alternatives to classifieds, we've created a listing website pulling them all together by category.
We'll be adding new ones on a regular basis. If you have suggests, please don't hesitate to submit your favs!
In recent years, concepts such as peer-to-peer, collaborative consumption and the sharing economy have become mainstream. All these concepts have one idea in common – excess capacity, a situation in which something or someone is utilized less than its (or their) full potential.
An example is a car that you own. The time that you don't use your car is considered "excess capacity" and from a business perspective that is lost opportunity. Meaning, when you buy a car, the less you use it, the more it costs you per hour to use it (monthly payment divided by hours of use).
According to Robin Chase (founder of Zipcar and Buzzcar), "People who own cars, and use them rarely (well, that is everyone – cars are in use only 5% of the time) can rent them out to their friends and neighbors who would like to use them." In this way, you are monetizing your excess capacity and reducing your overall cost per hour of usage.
Other examples include:
Unemployment or under-employment
Tools and appliances that are infrequently used by its owner
Attics full of perfectly good stuff not in use
People's talents or skills not in practice
One taxi per person from an airport to town
An empty guest room
Your home or apartment while on vacation
An office space with empty desks
The list goes on and the more we explore our own excess capacity, the more we realize how much waste we are generating through under utilization. And in these times of economic hardship, those pennies most definitely add up.
The idea of excess capacity is an old one, but the new movement of the Sharing Economy has its roots in Cloud computing and Amazon played a key role in its development. With one of the largest computer networks in the world, Amazon found that they were using as little as 10% of their server capacity at any given time, but needed the other 90% for the occasional spikes in traffic. In 2006 Amazon created a new product offer called Amazon Web Services (AWS) which allowed them to "sell off" their excess capacity to web developers. In turn, created the "cloud" revolution (most websites you visit probably use AWS in one way or another).
Other developers in silicon valley and around the world took notice and realized that this model could be applied to other things in life that we buy but rarely use such as a car (or even that ladder that you bought for $200 and only used once in the past year). It has also expanded into other areas, with people monetizing their excess work capacity (e.g. Taskrabbit), living space (e.g. Airbnb), knowledge (e.g. General Assembly) or even sharing a dinner with strangers (e.g. Cookening).
It is important to note that this isn't strictly about business (or making money) but about less waste. When we think about waste reduction, the first thing that comes to mind is recycling, reusing or extended use. However excess capacity is waste too and by selling it off, you are in turn reducing the number of cars on the road or the number of ladders needed in a single neighborhood.
The sharing economy helps change our consumption habits by reminding us that borrowing, sharing and trading is good for everyone and makes business sense too!
Unlike buying a commodity such as books, buying furniture online can be difficult. With big ticket items such as furniture, most often it is important to see it in person as there are so many questions ... will it fit the dimensions I need? Is the condition as advertised? Does it have bugs? Is it really antique, vintage, etc.?
Beyond the many questions you may ask yourself, the biggest problem is how will I get it home? Most sellers (and buyers) are not willing to ship a credenza cross-country as the shipping cost may be more than the item itself. Buying furniture locally is by far the best solution but until today, there were few options (beyond Craigslist) that offered a viable solution.
Here are some of my favorite places to buy and sell furniture:
Etsy – Home & Living
New York City, New York – We all know Etsy as that place for handmade stuff. However they do have a vibrant vintage and secondhand furniture community with a "Shop Local" feature.
Krrb Classifieds – Buy, Sell, Rent, Trade and Be Neighborly
New York City, New York – Krrb (pronounced 'curb') is a hyper-local classifieds for secondhand, handmade and just about anything local. The hyper-local aspect makes it a great platform for buying and selling furniture.
Payments: Arrange with Seller
Delivery options: In-person, Local Delivery, Shipping
Seller Fees: No Transaction Fee, First 60 Listings Free (50¢ after)
Mobile: iPhone
Krrb.com
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Fleapop - The Hunt Is On!
Santa Monica, California – Fleapop is a relative newcomer. It is a marketplace for buying and selling home decor, furniture and antiques – old and new.
Payments: Paypal
Delivery options: Shipping, Local Pickup
Seller Fees: No listing fee, 6% transaction fee
Mobile app: iPhone
Fleapop.com
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Furnishly – Local Furniture Exchange
Chicago, Illinois – Furnishly is dedicated exclusively to the sale of secondhand furniture. Started in Chicago, it has now spread to many other cities.
Payments: Arrange with seller
Delivery options: Arrange with seller
Seller Fees: Not sure, couldn't figure it out.
Furnishly.com
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CustomMade – Imagine. Collaborate. Create.
Boston, Massachusetts – CustomMade connects local makers with buyers. Although they are not exclusively for furniture, hiring a maker to create your perfect piece can be a good option (and wonderful experience).
Payments: Visa, MasterCard, Discover, AMEX, Bank Transfers
Delivery options: Shipping Only
Seller Fees: No Listing Fee, 10% Transaction Fee, US Sellers Only
CustomMade.com
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Have a suggestion to add to this list? Lemme know! Have you used any of these websites? Share your experience!
Sorry Craigslist, But We Simply Don't Recognize You Anymore
Whether it be a source of humor, the subject of a film, outrage towards human trafficking and violence against pets or headlines about the so-called Craigslist Killer – Craigslist has become a household name.
Generally speaking, companies don't aim for infamy but in the case of Craigslist, it is a rare moment that I come across a reference that actually points to what the website is actually for: community, jobs, services, stuff for sale, housing, etc.
In the early days of Craigslist, it was a revolution – enabling local communities to interact and do business with one another. It was a goldmine and most often the easy answer to so many of our needs. It caught on like wildfire and single-handedly put almost every local newspaper classifieds out of business.
The website was ugly and had no pictures. Sure, but at the time, the Internet was ugly as a whole and most paper classifieds didn't have pictures anyhow. Basically, it was normal and perfectly acceptable.
The fact that it was anonymous also made sense. When Craigslist first started, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and the like didn't exist. The idea of online social networking was far from mainstream. And why in the heck would I want to expose my identity online to sell my couch?
The anonymity gave us a false sense of security and gave way to an entire industry of spam and fraudulent activity. For a while, we told ourselves that we simply needed to be more prudent ... that's just the way things are.
The year 2014 is almost upon us and we've come a long way baby. Whether you are happy with these advancements or not, there are a few points that we can all agree on in regards to local classifieds:
Websites don't have to be ugly
Photos are absolutely necessary to make buying decisions
Spam sucks
Frauds, scams, rape and murder shouldn't be top of mind when using my local classifieds.
Businesses have a social responsibility towards human trafficking, animal violence and the like.
And yet, Craigslist remains the same. As a market leader, Craigslist has had the opportunity to grow with the times, to respond to their users needs and take on their social responsibility. But they haven't.
As other online businesses try to build a better way for people to exchange with people, instead of improving their service, Craigslist has become more and more anticompetitive. Using their dominance, Craigslist has taken on a litigious strategy with the aim of shutting down their competitors with legal threats.
This blog aims to document all the websites, businesses, organizations, people and initiatives that are attempting (and succeeding) at realizing the full potential of peer-to-peer exchange. Whether it be for social, political or financial reasons, we all have a vested interest in the subject.
Sorry Craigslist, but I simply don't recognize you anymore.
