Introducing the 'Green Craigslist'

Photo: Ecoflip.org

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EcoFlip is a local classifieds network for eco-friendly people, offering a variety of products from categories like "Green Living," "Household Products" and even "Fuel-Efficient Vehicles" to eco-friendly services (architecture, interior design, and massage and eco tourism, etc.).

Motto: Think Globally, Trade Locally ...
Slogan: People live green.
Mission: Our mission is to make online classifieds cleaner, greener and more fun for everyone.

The response has been awesome! Whether we’re at a convention for new green products/services, a farmer’s marker or simply sitting for coffee in an organic EcoFlip tee, people always seem to ask, "What’s EcoFlip?" I start off by simply stating, it’s the "green craigslist." Those two words seem to resonate instantly with people as they almost always express outward excitement and begin to enthusiastically ask what type of things they can find or post on the site ...

The EcoFlip community is made up largely of people that found us or our blog through specific (green-related) organic searches via Google, Yahoo, etc. EcoFlip could not be where it is today without the feedback our users give us. From the beginning, they made sure we added/narrowed certain posting categories, offered specific search capabilities, etc. EcoFlip is all about community building, and our golden rule is to listen to the people and over-deliver exactly what they want.

EcoFlip has a forward-thinking yet down-to-earth revenue model. Our “donation-basis” model offers users the freedom to decide the value of each and every one of their green advertisements. We strongly believe everyone should be able to reach the rapidly growing eco-friendly population, regardless of economic constraints.

So, we suggest to our users a contribution of $5 per green classified ad listing -- and we let them know that it is not meant as a bottom or top limit. If they cannot afford to contribute, that’s ok too! The response has been extraordinarily positive and the rate of contribution has been surprisingly great. We believe that donations are sacred acts of contribution and we intend to keep this as our primary and sustainable revenue model. (Read more.)

We also use Google Adsense throughout the site, because we believe within our specialized community, sponsored ads are a huge resource rather than a hindrance (i.e. as may be the case with less specialized online classifieds) to the community.

Living and working in the SF Bay area, one of the world’s most eco-conscious societies (as a whole), we realized early on that as more people tuned into recycling, free-cycling and going green that a need for a specialized [green] local classifieds community would be a no-brainer ... We also know that people everywhere, not just in the already-existing hubs are beginning to make the transition towards going green, and more specifically, going green locally.

Then we thought of some analogies demonstrating the importance of markets yielding specialization. Take television for example. A company can advertise on a general network like CBS or NBC and reach millions of people from all demographics. They could also choose to advertise on the Discovery Channel or MTV and reach a more niche audience even though the audience might not be as large. If there wasn’t a demand for a niche, then there would only be one television station. The same holds true for other media such as radio and magazines. EcoFlip may never have the same traffic as craigslist, but due to its specialization, it will always be higher-qualified for both the advertisers and the user searching for green stuff on the site.

Based on the feedback we are getting from our community, they appear to be in agreement with this analogy. Obviously, the more people that hear about EcoFlip the better the experience will become.

EcoFlip.org offers ecopreneurs with green products (retail/wholesale) and/or eco-friendly services a huge community posting board to advertise their services to a growing community that is actively looking for those natural products and enviro-friendly services. Furthermore, ecopreneurs make use of the EcoForums for networking as well as experts sharing a wealth of knowledge with others and indirectly leading users to know find out more about their cause, etc.

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