Rain City Guide

Craigslist expands

Galen on 06 20, 2006

For those agents that are “paying for the privilege of marginalization,” Craigslist expanded to 100 new cities last week. Only selected agents in New York will actually be paying: in tandem with their expansion, they are charging New York City appartment brokers $10 per listing.

Craigslist is a pretty incredible business – they are so focussed on user experience that fees are only implemented when a section gets too many repeat posts or gets too spammy for Craig, now a full time customer service rep, to keep a lid on. There was a great interview with CEO Jim Buckmaster in the WSJ on Saturday. Here’s a choice quote that sums up their business philosophy:

It’s unrealistic to say, but — imagine our entire U.S. workforce deployed in units of 20. Each unit of 20 is running a business that tens of millions of people are getting enormous amounts of value out of each month. What kind of world would that be?”

About the Author: Galen Ward

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Galen runs Estately.com, a real estate search website with homes for sale from the MLS in Seattle, Portland, and all of California.