Competition is Heating Up for Garage Sales

Competition is Welcome

In the search for viral patterns that can sustain and nourish rapid growth for our budding web business I came across a few other yard sale search sites. One had a well designed iPhone app and site (Garage Sales Tracker, Rich contacted me representing their site so the least I could do was link back), another was a stand alone web site that’s been around a while but neither is positioned quite the same way as garagedollar.

It may sound a little bizarre that such a narrow offering has attracted attention, but I believe dedicated web apps are a trend that will continue to show up in niche markets. A perfect example is Stack Overflow which is a specialized software question and answer site. It was proven for a topic, and then released as a platform (Stack Exchange) and has recently been funded by Union Square Ventures to grow far larger.

Strategic Positioning

Other garage sale web/app tools are specialized search engines, going up against Google and more importantly Craigslist. Garagedollar is a dedicated alert service that is location aware. Users of Garagedollar are past the topical search step, and the remaining functional challenge is location and timely alerts which we provide.

We understand the advantages of having an app presence, but have decided to strengthen the stand alone web core utility and prove the model first. Almost all garage sale buyers and sellers have web access, but the penetration of smart phones, and specific brands of phones is still a fraction of the whole. Mobile apps have nifty features, but the root architecture is a potent web server backend. Without strong roots, the greatest tree topples in the slightest breeze. Web apps like Google Buzz with it’s built in map access, show how far browser apps have come. With widespread adoption of html5 and canvas, web apps will become even more capable and engaging.

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  • eli

    Hmm, I'd imagine that the mobile application would be a great asset for garage sale seekers. People out and about might think to go to a garage sale if they had some time to kill, or, they might consult the map to the sale on their way. Maybe they set aside time to go to one, but it had a poor inventory, so they decide to search for another.

    Sure, the smart phone can go to the web site… but I now can't think of a reason for apps at all :)

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    There are still some local functions not shared to web apps, but yeah long term web apps are the place to be.

    Time to host chocobo wakeup on the appengine? Or Tyler hacked out a google extension with updates so your alarm could work anywhere browser extensions do (don't think iPhone supports them yet, would need an app there to make a system call)

  • http://www.orrinxu.com Orrin Xu

    I think a lot of garage sale hunters aren't ridiculously tech savvy. Most of them will still write stuff down after searching on the web, so I think your decision was definitely right

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Thanks Orrin, that's my instinct as well.

    I prefer the blend of metrics with personal style for app development. I'm working to get solid data to back up our decision on this topic (ads and page stats as well as user/customer feedback).

  • Leland

    To start with, just a quick comment about garagedollar … there are too many exclamation marks on that page. :)

    And for any garage sale locator I have to say that having mobile apps for it may actually be very very profitable. Think about it… i'm walking around and all of a sudden I see “garage sale, 200m away” pop up on my phone. That's all the pull I need to get me to come to a garage sale that I might not have even known about.

    Garage sales are based in large part on impulse buyers who happen to see the garage sale sign, no? So a virtual sign would be good if you could somehow pull people in with it. :)

    One last thing… this is a niche market, but you have to consider how many millions of web designers/programmers are out there. Odds are, for any idea that comes into your head, at least a thousand people have already thought about it. It's all down to execution.

    I can't really comment about how useful a website vs mobile is for garage sale tracking because I honestly have never cared about garage sales. :)

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Thanks Leland, appreciate all the feedback.

    As to it being down to execution, everything we do is subject to that clause :D

  • http://www.yardsalesearch.com/ Junkiedude

    In order for an app to work, it has to have data. Yard Sale Search seems to be the most comprehensive listing source besides craigslist out there.

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    Thanks for stopping by Junkiedude. I agree that the app requires something more to work, but data isn't the only answer.

    If you like to actively keep searching repeatedly for an event/topic you're interested in, just craigslist it or use your service – no problem.

    What if you prefer a one stop shopping for local garage sales without any need to specify location in a search. Just sign up and we'll push garage sales in your area to you, for as long as you like. It's just another option for event updating, and it's not limited to just garage sales.

    We can just as easily scrape craigslist updates and push them as well to get the system flowing.