A new Web site, www.Oodle.com, launched in April 2005, provides consumers with the largest and freshest index of local and national classifieds with more than 17 million active listings.
Oodle provides students with a free combination of features and technologies to help them find what they are looking for, ranging in categories from real estate to pets.
“Students are always looking for great deals,” Faith Sedlin, vice president and co-founder of Oodle, said. “With alerts, mapping and other features, our goal is to make classifieds more useful and more popular with college students.”
Oodle was created to save shoppers time by linking the listings of several classified and auction sites. When an Oodle user clicks on something they like, the browser is taken to the site where the content originated.
Students are able to see listings from the most sources available in their local area, including best deals for off-campus housing. Student users are also able to use “Oodle Alerts,” through which students see listings as soon as they are posted. The users describes what they are searching for, and Oodle emails them relevant listings as soon as listings become available.
“It is a good thing if you look up classifieds a lot, but I, myself, don’t use classifieds, therefore labeling myself as apathetic towards Oodle,” Monica Postage, a sophomore in elementary education, said.
Oodle’s mission is to provide consumers with online tools that make it easier to buy, sell and give locally.
“I was using the newspaper, I was using eBay, I was using Craigslist, and I was astounded at how fragmented the listings were,” Craig Donato,
Oodle’s chief executive officer and cofounder, said. “What we’re doing is making it easier for buyers. You’ve got all these national verticals, but classifieds are an inherently local phenomenon.”
Oodle provides timely access to all the classified listings in a local area, making it convenient for students to quickly search for something particular and see all the listings, as well as be the first to respond to the listings. Oodle covers listings from popular online sites, such as Craigslist, eBay, Monster, VolunteerMatch and local and campus newspapers.
Students can also use maps to browse listings around their campuses. When a map area is selected, listings associated with that particular area are displayed.
Oodle also offers extensive information on local charities, volunteer opportunities and jobs that offer school credit. Student organizations and clubs that want to do volunteer work can search the volunteer listings to find the type of service they prefer.
“I would use it if I needed to look for a job, car, apartment, tickets and volunteer opportunities because it is a helpful tool,” Brandon Spence, a freshman in parks, recreation and tourism management said.
Ali Embry, freshman in business management, said, “Maybe after I graduate I will use it, but as of now, the University pretty much takes care of those kinds of things for you.”
Founders of the site stressed the easy accessibility for users.
“Whether you’re looking for concert tickets or a new apartment, you want to find exactly what you’re looking for and be the first person to jump on great deals when they pop up,” Donato said. “Oodle makes this possible.”
