The city is citing fire and safety concerns but there is also a question around taxes.  The Hotel industry in New York City is heavily taxed and short term sublets allow visitors to skip this tax.  Its not clear the popularity of these sites or the size of the short term sublet market.

New York City is set to vote on the issue this week and it will be interesting to see the impact this change has on the classified market.

More details on the change can be found here.

And more details here.

It would appear that Google is going directly to Real Agents for the data including Zoopla, SmartNewHomes, Spicer Haart and Countrywide.  This represent a significant by pass in that Google is not using the data from the local Real Estate board or from any classified media outlets.

At this point its not clear how complete the data set is or how aggressively Google plans to promote or expand the functionality to other regions.

Its with some interest that we’re watching the Glyde.com beta and how it attempts to break this model. Glyde has choose to focus exclusively on the resale of the Books, CD, DVDs and Video games. All of these items can be fairly easily compared, if you have a Home Alone DVD its generally the same as millions of other copies of the movie. All of these items are also fairly easy to ship.

The Glyde system works by allowing a buyer to purchase an item ( unseen ) and receive it from an unknown seller. Once a purchase has been made Glyde will send a self-address envelope to the seller to collect the goods and take them to the buyer. The system also includes a set to transaction rules outlined here. Maybe the most interesting one is the situation where an item is lost in transit and both parties ( buy and seller ) pay for the item, and Glyde only waives its transaction fee.

Glyde.com presents an interesting model for Classifieds and it will be interesting to see if it can get traction.

The Facebook Marketplace had been neglected by Facebook with their focus on developing other areas of the platform.  It seemed like most of the Marketplace listings ( atleast in the Toronto area ) did come through the Marketplace API so it will be interesting to see how the new launch is received.

Oodle has been doing very as the online classified partner of choice for many online communities, including Myspace and AOL.  I was lucky enough to meet Craig Donato a few years ago at an ICMA conference but I’m impressed with the way he’s grown the business.  I’m sure there are many Newspaper executives are also envious of the Oodle growth.

Typically attendees of the Autoshow are consumer that are looking for a new automobile.  Attendence for the week long event typically exceeds 300,000 and the show occupies 800,000 squarefeet in the convention center and the skydome.

This looks like a good partnership for both parties as Autotrader seeks to reach customer looking for an automobile and encourage them to consider a used vehicle as part of their search.  The Autoshow typically benefits from increased exposure on the Autotrader publications and Autotrader.ca.

The relationship seems to be focused exclusively on the Toronto show.  There is no mention of the regional shows in other Canadian markets.

OLX.com is also very popular outside of the US and a great web experience for users.    The sites traffic has been relatively flat over the last year and it would appear that a growth strategy for North America is required.

Overall its great to see a Classified sites still getting funding with Craigslist and Kijiji competing so actively.

A key requirement in the US automotive industry are window stickers which are required in most states and need to be very accurate.  As a result most dealers outsource the inventory management process to third-parties, like Homenet.

Gumiyo provides the ability to view classified information on mobile devices.  Gumiyo users can view small brochures with the classified listings.  Gumiyo can support a variety of classified services but the Homenet service would be focused on the Automotive business.

This looks like a great relationship for both companies, the dealers they service and ultimately classified users.  With increasing pressure from free classified provides its good to see innovative approaches and partnerships.

Autotrader Canada has traditionally been a used car source and the brand took over the automotive classified advertising space in many Canadian markets. Newspapers and other media outlets have been forced focus on New Car advertising revenue, and done fairly well off the automotive manufactures.

The Autotrader.ca New Car offering appears to be positioned at giving automotive manufactures more choice with regards to advising. Currently the New Car search is separated from Used Cars but its not clear that consumers make a hard distinction between New and Used when they start searching. In most cases the price point of new cars puts them out of reach but with some incentive programs the cost for a new car is very close. In the future it new and used advertising may share more of the media outlets.

Disclosure: Colin Smillie worked with Trader Corporation in 2007, which owns Autotrader.ca.