Krrb

Krrb Classifieds
Type of business Classifieds, E-commerce
Type of site
 hyperlocal marketplace
Available in English, French, Spanish
Headquarters Brooklyn, New York City, United States
Area served Worldwide
Founder(s) George Eid
Employees 8
Parent AREA 17[1]
Slogan(s) Buy and Sell with Locals
Website "Krrb.com". 
Alexa rank Decrease 124,542 (October 2015)[2]
Registration Required to buy or sell
Users 130,721 (July 2015)[3]
Launched November 18, 2010
Written in Ruby (programming language)

Krrb (pronounced 'curb') is a hyperlocal classified advertising website that allows individuals and businesses to sell vintage, antique, secondhand, handmade or locally sourced items including artisanal foods, art, design and collectables. Members of the website can also list real estate, housing, events, services, jobs and community notices.[4] The website follows in the tradition of a neighborhood garage sale or flea market,[5] prioritizing proximity over categorization[6] so that users can see listings nearest to them.[7] Each seller gets a personal storefronts (A.K.A. 'corners') where all their listings display.

As of October 2014, the company has 31,332 listings from 92,341 members in 3,211 cities and 118 countries.[3]

History

Disenchanted with the state of online classifieds, "Craigslist felt like selling goods in a seedy back alley",[6] founder George Eid decided to create an "online flea market [that] works the way craigslist should".[8]

Krrb.com launched in November 2010 and incorporated as Krrb, Inc. in January 2011. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York City and is privately owned by AREA 17, an interactive agency based in New York City and Paris, France.[1]

AREA 17 founder George Eid founded Krrb.com as part of an incubator program started by the company, which also launched Slash Paris. Luis Lavena, core developer of Ruby (programming language),[9] designed and developed the software and continues to lead the engineering team. Interactive art director Arnaud Mercier[10] (now deceased) designed the logo and user interface. Andrew Wagner, former editor of ReadyMade, American Craft and Dwell Magazine[11] and current columnist for the New York Times,[12] joined the company in 2011 as Director and Editor in Chief. In 2014, Phil Jeffs, Director of Product at AREA 17, joined the team to lead product development.

Press

Touted as a "prettier Craigslist"[13] and a "hyper-local Etsy with vintage, thrift & handmade goods",[14] Krrb was immediately embraced by influencers as a "fantastic new online happy place"[15] to "unload your stuff with no sketchiness".[16] In 2013, The Huffington Post named Krrb one of the "10 best websites for vintage furniture",[17] Mashable listed the Krrb iPhone app as one of "9 excellent apps for discovering new things"[18] and PC World listed Krrb as "our favorite lifestyle websites".[19]

Krrb Classifieds Network

In 2012, Krrb partnered with Apartment Therapy to create the Apartment Therapy Classifieds "dedicated to people who are serious about their home and furniture."[20] This successful partnership[21] lead to the creation of the Krrb Classifieds Network, "a multi-tenant B2B solution that enables any publisher, brand, university or even local government to rapidly deploy and expand their own branded (and curated) classifieds – without the need to worry about technology, security and customer service."[22] The Krrb Classified Network was released in October 2013 with the launch of the Chicago Magazine Classifieds.[23] According to Krrb founder George Eid. “By partnering with authoritative local publications such as Chicago, we can offer people a curated alternative that engages them on a very personal level – within an environment that they already love and trust.”[22]

Conflict with Craigslist

In February 2013, Craigslist sent a Cease and Desist letter [24] demanding that Krrb permanently disable its Krrb It button, a bookmarklet tool that enables a registered user of Krrb to copy factual information from their own Craigslist posts to Krrb, using publicly available information, and displayed in a way that is unique to Krrb.[25] In order to avoid legal fees, Krrb disabled the Krrb It button for Craigslist; however, founder George Eid responded with an open letter[26] to Craigslist founder Craig Newmark that triggered heated discussion on the web.[27]

References

  1. 1 2 "Parent Company for Krrb.com". A17 Group, Inc. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
  2. ↑ "Site Info for Krrb.com". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
  3. 1 2 "Member Info for Krrb.com". Krrb.com. Retrieved 2015-07-30.
  4. ↑ "Buying and Selling on Krrb.com". Krrb.com. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
  5. ↑ "Krrb is Like a Local Flea Market, Online". Earth911.com. Retrieved 2013-04-17.
  6. 1 2 "Krrb: Paris and Brooklyn-designed fleas for fashion". rudebaguette.com.
  7. ↑ "Krrb Finds Who's Selling What Near You". Lifehacker.com. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
  8. ↑ "Online flea market Krrb works the way Craigslist should". technewsdaily.com.
  9. ↑ "Ruby Core Team". http://rubycoreteam.heroku.com. External link in |publisher= (help)
  10. ↑ "Arnaud Mercier Retrospective". arnaud.area17.com.
  11. ↑ "Kick it to the Krrb". austineavesdropper.com.
  12. ↑ Wagner, Andrew (2011-12-14). "What you make of it". nytimes.com.
  13. ↑ "Prettier Craigslist". Mashable.com. Retrieved 2013-02-17.
  14. ↑ "Krrb is like a hyper-local Etsy with vintage, thrift & handmade goods". Thenextweb.com. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  15. ↑ "Krrb". Swissmiss.com. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
  16. ↑ "Krrb Your Enthusiasm - Unloading Your Stuff, No Sketchiness". UrbanDaddy. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
  17. ↑ "10 Best Websites For Vintage Furniture That You Can Browse From Your Living Rooms". Huffingtonpost.com. 2013-08-21. Retrieved 2013-08-21.
  18. ↑ "9 Excellent Apps For Discovering New Things". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
  19. ↑ "Our favorite lifestyle websites". Techhive.com. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  20. ↑ "Apartment Therapy Classifieds". apartmenttherapy.com.
  21. ↑ "Krrb and Apartment Therapy Made Shopping Local Awesome". handmadeology.com.
  22. 1 2 "Chicago Magazine and Krrb launch free local marketplace". aimgroup.com.
  23. ↑ "Tribune launches Chicago Magazine classifieds on Krrb platform". aimgroup.com.
  24. ↑ "Cease and Desist letter from Craigslist" (PDF).
  25. ↑ "A Startup CEO Claims He's Being 'Cyber-Bullied' By The Craigslist CEO".
  26. ↑ "An Open Letter to Craig Newmark". Krrb.com.
  27. ↑ "Hacker News: An Open Letter to Craig Newmark". news.ycombinator.com.

External links

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