The Holy Trinity of the Internet
The holy trinity of goods and services. Well, maybe there are others, but these are just great in my book…
1. Ebay.com
Everyone knows about ebay. Most of the stuff is overpriced (but great for sellers as stuff sells for more than it should :-) But the wonderful part about ebay is the ability to find things you could NEVER find elsewhere. Today I bought just the clickwheel for my 2nd generation iPod mini which died. Apple would never sell me a part like that….they would charge me at least $100 to fix it. But for $25 some guy in Hong Kong is going to send me a new click wheel. Cool.
2. Craigslist.org
This is the ebay for locals. This is where I buy and sell things that might be cost prohibitive to sell on Ebay…like dumbbells/weights (shipping costs) for example. I also use Craigslist to advertise my photography to local readers. Much better targeting than ebay which is read by billions of people around the globe. And it is totally free.
3. Freecycle.org
Many people may not know about freecycle. I found out about it from my old neighbor, Alvaro Castillo. Its a Yahoo! group which you sign up to be a part of. Its VERY local…Reston is different than Fairfax is different than Sterling. The idea is the members of the Reston freecycle group clean out their garage or basement and give away things for free. Other members see stuff they would like/want and ask for it. The “seller” selects the person they want to give it to and they arrange for the “buyer” to pick the item up (remember, its very local, just around the corner). Today I picked up a perfectly good digital camera, a Canon G1 (3.3MP) from someone. Its missing the battery which I found (on ebay) for $15. Now my 9 year old son has a digital camera and I won’t care too much if it gets handled a bit.
Isn’t that “American Online” thing pretty cool :-)
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Freecycle is a GREAT way to get rid of furniture you don’t want. You don’t have to lug it down to Goodwill or anything. Just post on Freecycle and someone will come get it. Just make sure you sign up for the “localest” possible one.
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