San Francisco-based vFlyer is a new startup that extends where traditional classified ad services left off, by helping users distribute classified ads and get them wider and more exposure. Ever since the birth of the online classified ad industry, there has been a big boom of people in large and busy cities like New York and Los Angeles who have attentively adapted to such new mediums, and vFlyer looks to cater to that.
Think of vFlyer as a meta of all classified ads services and marketplaces, from including eBay, Craigslist, Oodle, Edgeio, and Google Base. Anyone who needs to make and distribute a classified ad can simply choose to do so using vFlyer. vFlyer creates a ‘flyer’ (example) and submits it to classified ad search engines, marketplaces, and any related sites where potential classified-ad-lookers may exist. What is interesting about vFlyer is that it not only manages the distribution online, but users also gives users copies in other formats like a PDF to have printed and submitted to offline media. Basically, vFlyer pursues to be the center of this classified ad space.
Whether it’s renting a house, selling a car, or simply trading baseball cards, vFlyer is shooting for the average consumer. Their business model is based on ad revenues, which they earn from monetizing the vFlyers, and also on a small cut of the fee they charge for every listing. It’s worth mentioning also that they don’t intend to be in competition with any of the current classified sites, but rather to work with them, send them traffic, split revenues, and so on.
What I love about vFlyer is that their model is clear, precise, and fills a huge gap in this space. It’s clear that they’ve also researched this space well and looked at it from all the sides to end up with such a convincing and authentic business model. Where I may start to doubt their co-existence is how the users might perceive them: do they really want to change the way they’ve been selling things — and more so, if it has been working – pay the extra dollars just to have another company distribute it?
[tags]Craigslist, vFlyer, Classified Ads[/tags]
