Flea Markets always fascinate me as I drive down the highway and look out my window at the tables filled with piles of colorful widgets and whatcha-ma-call-its. I’ve never stopped at a flea market though because the probability that I’ll stumbleupon an original painting or ancient piece of pottery to pawn-off on Ebay seems slim to none.  I have the same attitude towards StumbleUpon, a glorified digital flee market of ideas, pictures, and articles.

7 million  users are currently clicking, sifting, and surfing through endless web pages to find that treasure of an image, article, or tibit that will revolutionize their lives.  It has to be there among the piles of junk like Aunt Mildred’s recipe for cooking artichoke hearts or Bobby Boy’s cat cartoon.  Is it worth it?  Maybe one day I will slow down my car and wander down the isles of a flea market.  Who knows, maybe I’ll even get lucky and find a diamond in the rough.  For now though, I maintain that StumbleUpon is not worth the time or the effort. I’m going to pass this one by.

oh…I spent about half an hour clicking through the website.  Here is what I found.  They say time is money. I think I paid too much for this picture.

Something I "Stumbled Upon"

I personally think that craigslist is much easier to use than eBay. I experience craigslist sell tool, because I had to sell a lots of staff for my boss, and I have found that listing my items through craigslist have gave better results. One of the features that I like in craigslist is that you can post or list your items within your state, which makes more sense fore me. With this feature the customer can find an item within the distance that he or she is willing to travel, and that’s one of the things that eBay does not offer to the customer. Another advantage of using craigslist is that sellers do not have to pay a fee to post the item, however, this has a downfall because craigslist does not offer protection for buyers of sellers. But unlike eBay the costumer has the option to go and pick up the item the same day. In my own experience this have not been a problem yet, and is easier for me to list something on craigslist without worrying to pay a fee, which is good because I am a college student who does not have much money. I think this two selling engines offer the costumer different tools to sell or buy, but in my opinion I will pick craigslist, because offers you a free service and amazing bargains.

Both of these websites can be used to sell possessions on-line, but the important question is which one is better to use for the seller of goods? The reason most people sell items on the Internet is because it is often easier than selling something to a consignment store and there are more opportunities to find people who will demand your product, raising the price, and generating more profit to the seller. People want to sell their items on a website that is either free or doesn’t cost them a lot of time to sell something. E-bay.com allows your item for sale to be viewed by millions of people everyday. You can decide how long to leave the item up for sale and transaction costs are relatively easy because once an item is sold all you need to do is collect the money from the buyer and ship them the item. If you have a lot of items to sell you can open an E-bay store but this costs money. If money is tight craigslist.org seems to be a wiser choice. You can open up a free account anytime. After you have an account you simply enter in what geographic location you are from and categorize what your item falls under. While you may have to do a little more marketing with your ad, it is worth it in the long run. You can post your classified ad URL in the bottom of your emails, message boards, or pass it along in your email lists to friends and family. Also if your item is near enough to somebody, they might even come pick up the item without you having to take care of shipping responsibilities. Craigslist.org is thus becoming more locally centered while E-bay is more international.

10 years ago, the idea of ebay would have sounded absurd to most people. Who in his right mind would buy something from a random stranger over the internet? Anonymity, one of the internet’s biggest strengths, is also one of its biggest weaknesses. Ebay has successfully harnessed the power of the individual on the web while constraining the uncertainty his anonymity brings. User-controlled feedback has created an online community where anonymous pseudonyms are held accountable for their actions, allowing for a sense of certainty and creating the trust necessary to spend money online. Paypal also plays an important part in this process. It acts as a third party to hold the buyer’s money as the seller ships the auctioned item and completes the payment when the item arrives. This means that, even if there is fraud, the buyer is insured.

The way I see it, EBay’s greatest success is the seamless integration it has with Paypal. It’s so easy that senior citizens, who are usually either apathetic to or scared of the internet, can buy and sell online. (Getting them used to the idea of interacting with an anonymous person online is a different story, though. Some perceptions just take some time to change!)

• Ebay
  • What principles did we learn from eBay?
    • User driven content
    • They’ve made it really easy to buy and sell
      • PayPal
  • What makes eBay successful
    • A global audience
    • Empowers the average person to buy and sell
    • They’ve created an environment where you feel like you can safely buy and sell across the globe
      • Buyer confidence in a realm of anonymity
    • The one place where you can find almost anything
    • People can research and shop at the same time
    • You don’t just buy, you WIN
  • What is eBay?
    • A facilitator
    • An aggregator site
      • A sandbox for internet commerce

• Kiva
  • What can we learn from Kiva?
    • Up to the minute transaction info is vital
  • Why loan and not give?
    • Creates accountability
    • Removes some of the temptation of the gift
    • Creates self sustainability
    • Self-perpetuating
    • Helps them build their own economy
    • Gives a sense of dignity
  • Decentralization of transaction
  • What are the needs that it taps into for 3rd world entrepreneurs?
    • The need for dignity
  • What are the needs that it taps into for donors?
    • Gives meaning to their money
  • What is meant by “lending is connecting”?
    • You know you’ve benefited the lives and the community
    • Kiva creates and avenue of relation
  • Explore the power of connectional applications.
    • Fulfills the fundamental need to connect in meaningful ways
      • The degree to which you can successfully make that connection is how successful the site will be
  • Other sites to look at
    • Microplace
    • Domini.com
    • Lohas.com
  • What kind of modeling are we seing
    • Is it a new way of making doing good more accessible