Ask HN: Why isn't there a locally focused personal auction based website?

2 points by j2bax ↗ HN
Like eBay but for specific cities/regions. I'm sure there are various sites like this out there, but it doesn't seem there is anything with any uptake.

2 comments

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Probably because craigslist approximates this but gives more power to the sellers to choose customers, which is probably perceived as essential when meeting with people in real life.
Within my small social exposure, I've seen a shift from craigslist to local "swap shop" groups on Facebook. The lack of anonymity (lowers likelihood of creeps) plus locality improves two aspects of the CL experience.

The margin of this comment is too small (and I'm too tired) for the proof of how to monetize that, so I'll leave the exercise to the readers. It may simply be an efficiency and disruption inadvertently enabled by the Facebook platform...