New online classifieds site seeks to eclipse others with its local focus

By Megan Ma, Town Crier Staff Writer

For those who haven’t yet found their niche on popular Web sites such as eBay or Craigslist, a relatively new online classifieds site promises to fill a gap. LiveDeal, said its founder and CEO Rajesh Navar, is now connecting locals more easily and effectively with the goods they want.

A member of the original eBay search team and fresh from the MBA program at Stanford, the 37-year-old Navar, who lives in Los Altos, observed a common ritual: Graduates and students leaving campus for the summer were frantically seeking ways to get rid of their furniture, cars and other hard-to-ship items. Incoming students were rushing out to buy such items. His observation stirred an idea in the young entrepreneur: Was there a better way to connect the two groups?

Navar decided an online classifieds site was the solution. While eBay had done well on a national and international platform for hard-to-find items, locals needed a way to find items like furniture and beds in their own town. But newspaper classifieds were too pricey for student budgets, he also reasoned.

LiveDeal connects local buyers and sellers via zip code. Users can scan for goods in their own city - narrowing their searches - instead of wading through dozens of page listings typical of metropolitan-based sites like Craigslist.

Unlike the online auction site eBay, where buyers pay for listings, LiveDeal listings are free. Sellers have the option of setting or negotiating prices and enhance their listings by creating a “storefront” view of their wares.

“It’s very friendly, very e-commerce-centric,” Navar said. “On LiveDeal, we maintain a good, effective control of the site.”

As revenue from newspaper classified ads shrinks because of the popularity of online sites, LiveDeal has sought mutually beneficial relationships with large media companies. Through the LiveDeal Adshare program, newspapers and broadcasting outlets can host their own classifieds platform, complete with photo and e-mail capabilities. The platform comes prepopulated with local listings from LiveDeal’s customer base.

Although more than $3 billion worth of merchandise is listed on LiveDeal, it wasn’t always easy to convince others of his plan. Initially, Navar said, his idea met a wall of skepticism from co-workers. In those days, circa 1998, “no one wanted to touch another dot-com,” he said, referring to the startup bust. “I was a strong believer that the model would come back.”

For more information, visit www.livedeal.com.