this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2025

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Federated classifieds marketplace (codeberg.org)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by avidamoeba@lemmy.ca to c/main@lemmy.ca

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Every time I post something for sale on Craigslist/Kijiji/FB I get reminded that this is a use case we should be able to handle. We could also offer a non-profit alternative for wider audiences instead of generating revenue for Meta. It could also serve as another channel for new users to our Fediverse, people not necessarily interested in social media alternatives. The American corporate services won't be getting any better over time so an alternative is likely to be needed.

This project seems to be implementing a federated marketplace. If a Fedecaner finds themselves with even more time to donate than they already have and a similar desire, maybe that could be the next service to standup. :D

Thoughts?

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[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I've played around with flohmarket before, and I think it's a great idea. I'm willing to casually set up an instance if there's real interest in using it. People in Vancouver love to give away and get stuff on classified ads sites, so if enough people know, I think it would work. The version I fiddled around with was the one before CAPTCHA was implemented, I need that to avoid spam.

Main thing is interest in people using it. Get my comment 100 upvotes by Sunday and I'll start working on it.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)

@AvidAmoeba@lemmy.ca Follow up: It doesn't seem like this post gained a lot of traction (25 upvotes as of midday Sunday and 18 on my comment) but I see there is a little bit of interest. I won't start immediately, but I'll think about it on and off over the next several months, maybe I'll set it up trying the latest version, maybe I'll go check to see if there's interest with UBC students, but I can't promise anything on specific timelines.

I'm terminally on Lemmy, so if I spot more discussion of flohmarkt with clear expressions of interest, I might press on with more urgency, we'll see.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I think it's one of those infrastructure things where the availability of it creates demand. Let us know if you decide to do it. We can discuss and research names, etc. I think we have a chance to target laypeople looking for a nicer, ad-free, perhaps moderated (provided volunteer labour exist) alternative to the existing platforms. Imagine if we can offer a place where there's clear delineation between personal and store listings. That on its own would be significant draw. If there's usage and popularity long-term, we could charge some cheap, flat sub fee to cover the costs. E.g. a toonie or two per year, or some cents per listing, perhaps on voluntary basis.

[–] archipherous@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It can take a long time for good ideas to propagate widely enough for a lot of people to become aware of it. Mastodon was around for years before people started jumping on the activitypub bandwagon.

I have no programming skills and wouldn't be able to help. But I hate using eBay and Kijiji and something federated would be mighty cool.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago

Are you in Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto, or somewhere else in Canada and would want to try it out and put some listings if I started it?

Whenever I get to it, I will need "completely unskilled" people to try it to see where the pain points of using the site could be.

[–] lightrush@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago

I'll buy the domain/s if you decide to start a trial.

[–] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 months ago

I would love a non-enshittified alternative for Craigslist/Kijiji/FB.

I would trade a kingdom for it, except I'd have to post it for trade on Craigslist/Kijiji/FB and I'm certainly not doing that.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

Some available .ca domains:

canbuyandsell
canclassifieds
canmarketplace
cheapmarket
decentmarketplace
decentmarket
decentvalue
dontfeedmeta
fleamarkeplace
goodmarketplace
kirfmarketplace
marketcan
marketplacecan
onlinemarketplace
ourclassifieds
thingsmarketplace

[–] twopi@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

I like onlinemarketplace.ca and canbuyandsell.ca

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I'm actually surprised onlinemarketplace.ca is available. Seconding that.

What about just flohmarkt.ca?

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I'm thinking wide auidence and therefore something without spelling errors and not tied to the software name in case usage grows but we need to change to different software. Otherwise I like it. We could of course buy multiple domains too and forward. I'd like to be able to recommend this to my dad when he wants to sell some bike part.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago

I think we can do a poll with a set of domains if @Rentlar takes the grenade.

[–] psycotica0@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago

I personally feel like "canSOMETHING.ca" is redundant and bugs me for some reason. You don't have to care about how I feel, but if you do then I'd avoid the "can" ones.

I like "ourclassifieds" most and "fleamarketplace" second, personally.

[–] archipherous@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

Looks like openmarket.ca is available...