In our "old lives" in the United States, one of my favorite things in the world was to sit down with a big book of classified ads.  Most areas in the USA have a dedicated, inexpensive book of classified listings, about the size "TV Guide" used to be, chock full of stuff for sale by the community. In Maine, it's "Uncle Henry's," a book so full of weird, inexpensive junk from other people's lives, that you can easily burn a Sunday afternoon just browsing through it.

The birth of the Internet carried with it the opportunity for a yard sale on a global scale. Of course, there's eBay, which started off as a little website for nerds to trade comic books, and the dead-simple Craigslist, which eschews pretty graphics for direct user-to-user transactions.

Unfortunately, while those are all great options for English speakers in the US or Canada, there has been no single "killer app" for classified listings here in Yucatan.

Craigslist deemed Yucatan worthy of a spinoff, which you can find at http://yucatan.en.craigslist.com.mx/. The trouble is, no one uses it, and most of the listings are from people in the States looking for housing swaps, or overseas scammers promising cheap electronics.

Ebay entered the fray with its acquisition of Mercado Libre (http://www.mercadolibre.com.mx/), a site that, unlike offering an auction format, seems to just offer a glorified message board for buyers and sellers to try and get in touch with each other. Not only is navigating Mercado Libre difficult for non-native Spanish speakers, but its national reach means few listings based here in Yucatan.

Even the otherwise-great Merida Insider (http://www.meridainsider.com/), with its incredibly active community, can't seem to get it together when it comes to classified listings. Their version is crammed into the site almost as an afterthought, and again, no one uses it, choosing instead to do their buying and selling via the forums.

Ever since we have lived in Yucatan, where it can be difficult to find a lot of things, and where sometimes business transactions in Spanish are just too complicated, it has been clear to me that a dedicated place for expatriates to buy and sell their old stuff would be welcome. In fact, that's why we started the original incarnation of Yolisto, which was, in essence, a clone of Craigslist. It didn't work, either; very few people listed items for sale, and then the spammers and hackers found it, making it even harder to use.

With the relaunch of the new Yolisto, we have again included our hope for what will become a vibrant, active place for buyers and sellers to meet to share their stuff. We've tightened it up to make it harder for spammers to crack, but still, there just isn't a lot of action on that part of the site. It's likely because our classified ads just aren't very easy or fun to use...check them out at http://www.yolisto.com/listing/ to see what I mean.

I have been giving this problem a lot of thought, motivated by the fact that I am sure all of us have something to sell (and I need furniture). I am thinking right now, of turning the classified listings into more of an auction format...kind of an "eBay Light" dedicated to expatriates here in the Yucatan. Users with something to sell would choose the length of their auction, their minimum reserve prices, and their "Buy it Now" price for each item they would like to sell.

The problem is...is this a good idea? Wouldn't a classified system of this type require a lot more users to be successful, since listings would expire and not get as much exposure on the site? Or would the existence of such a system bring in even MORE users? Would the urgency created by an auction format make buying and selling more exciting? Or more annoying?

As you know, we started Yolisto with the goal of building a website that the community would flat-out love to use. It's a lot to think about, and I want to hear your ideas. How can we make a classified advertising system that people will actually USE? What features should we include? eBay-auction style or Craigslist-listing style? Basically, what would make YOU list items to sell on Yolisto?

Tags: Classified