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This was submitted on another thread, but this one seems to be getting more traction, so I'm reposting my comment here to add to this discussion: "The app is s

by timjahn 14y ago

This was submitted on another thread, but this one seems to be getting more traction, so I'm reposting my comment here to add to this discussion: "The app is set up so you can easily cross-post your item on Craigslist, too." I find that statement extremely interesting. The problem with apps like this is they're only as good the volume of people that use them. YardSale sounds to me like a more beautiful, mobile centered Craigslist. But YardSale is only as good as the number of people who have it installed an use it. I'm in the process of moving and we're getting rid of a bunch of random furniture. Where did we post it? Craigslist of course. Because when you need to find something, you go to Craigslist. I don't envy YardSale. Craigslist has a not-so-pretty interface and it's not exactly the most intuitive. But when it comes to selling/buying things, Craigslist simply works. Really well.

kprobst 14y ago
> YardSale sounds to me like a more beautiful, mobile centered Craigslist This emphasis on aesthetics gets banded around a lot every time someone releases a competitor to something else ("but look, it's more beautiful!"). However in this case I don't think it matters. eBay is cluttered and ugly to the point of being painful to use, yet people use it. Craiglist isn't winning any UI design prizes any time soon. But people use it in droves. Perhaps in this case time and money would have been better spent on effective viral or traditional marketing rather than on making the app pretty, because as some people are already pointing out, without that first minimum viable critical mass of buyers and sellers, this will get nowhere. Also, mobile only... seems really weird to me.
jasonshen 14y ago
Big things have small beginnings. I know these guys and they're doing a very good job of tackling a tough problem - creating a market in an area where CL has critical mass. They are doing it by both expanding the market by making it super simple to snap a few photos on your phone (something you can't do on CL) and by creating such an awesome experience that eventually people will switch over. As we've learned with Yahoo, Microsoft and MySpace a market leader that doesn't innovate is eventually going to get toppled.

by timjahn 14y ago

kprobst 14y ago

> YardSale sounds to me like a more beautiful, mobile centered Craigslist This emphasis on aesthetics gets banded around a lot every time someone releases a competitor to something else ("but look, it's more beautiful!"). However in this case I don't think it matters. eBay is cluttered and ugly to the point of being painful to use, yet people use it. Craiglist isn't winning any UI design prizes any time soon. But people use it in droves. Perhaps in this case time and money would have been better spent on effective viral or traditional marketing rather than on making the app pretty, because as some people are already pointing out, without that first minimum viable critical mass of buyers and sellers, this will get nowhere. Also, mobile only... seems really weird to me.

jasonshen 14y ago

Big things have small beginnings. I know these guys and they're doing a very good job of tackling a tough problem - creating a market in an area where CL has critical mass. They are doing it by both expanding the market by making it super simple to snap a few photos on your phone (something you can't do on CL) and by creating such an awesome experience that eventually people will switch over. As we've learned with Yahoo, Microsoft and MySpace a market leader that doesn't innovate is eventually going to get toppled.