Unofficial Craigslist Book Blog:
It’s an open marketplace; people come to sell their products/services while others hope to find the best deal on something they want to buy.
As Craigslist becomes even larger and busier, connecting buyer and seller can be difficult. Hence the emergence of a new business online, the Craigslist broker.
This person’s sole purpose is to connect buyers who post seeking items with sellers who have them and are reputable. In a sea of choices, brokers help buyers find the best deal and not get burned by scams.
They are facilitators of commerce online, but they are not a new beast. Rather the idea of the broker is about as old as commerce itself.
In every bunch of businesses one is focused on finding and referring customers, but they do not actually sell or manufacturer anything.
This is a great relationship for the actual manufacturer or business owner. Since the broker’s overhead is low, they are better able to focus on providing ancillary services – like support.
In the future, Craigslist will require more brokers to keep things moving. This is especially true as Craigslist itself has no plans to create a rating system for sellers. It’s a golden opportunity for entrepreneurs.
Photo by sureight.
Noel McKinney on October 30th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
Virtually everyone on craigslist checks the box for “no — it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests.” How are we supposed to contact them to offer broker services without violating this? I regularly see matches on craigslist that could be made, but one or both parties have said it’s not okay to contact them. I supposed if I emailed them and said “here’s this other poster looking for what you are selling” and didn’t charge a fee they would be happy. However, if I asked for a fee to make the connection they’d be up in arms and report me for certain.