craigslist type of website

Derek

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Oct 3, 2006
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Does anyone know a website similiar to craigslist.com
craigslist has something for everyone from selling your car to findind a job to personal ads, but they do not list in Dominican Republic. I was wondering if they had a website that is similiar, that Dominicans use .
 

MrMike

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Mar 2, 2003
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www.azconatechnologies.com
Truth is there just aren't very many Dominicans who incorporate the internet into their daily lives and business. There are a few websites like the one you are looking for, but all of them have pretty low traffic and even less legitimate traffic.
 

CFA123

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May 29, 2004
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Mike,
It's going off the original topic... but I can't agree that there aren't very many Dominicans making use of the internet. I'd actually say it's rather commonly used for personal e-mail, online banking, government websites, reading news, paying business taxes, getting your marbete, university studies, purchasing, research, blogging, chat, business applications, etc, etc.

'For sale" sites like lapulga, mundoanuncio, supercarros, etc seem to get a reasonable amount of usage. No, they aren't on EBay's scale but for a potential market of 8 million vs EBay's worldwide market they seem to do okay - and they're beyond the experimental "hey, let's try this idea for a website" stage with a track record of multiple years of being well maintained and active websites with name recognition.

Yes, the use is limited in the countryside & amongst the poor, but to say it's not used by many Dominicans in daily life is mistaken, I think. Many of my friends/acquaintances even use internet services through their phones.
 
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MrMike

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Mike,
It's going off the original topic... but I can't agree that there aren't very many Dominicans making use of the internet. I'd actually say it's rather commonly used for personal e-mail, online banking, government websites, reading news, paying business taxes, getting your marbete, university studies, purchasing, research, blogging, chat, business applications, etc, etc.

'For sale" sites like lapulga, mundoanuncio, supercarros, etc seem to get a reasonable amount of usage. No, they aren't on EBay's scale but for a potential market of 8 million vs EBay's worldwide market they seem to do okay - and they're beyond the experimental "hey, let's try this idea for a website" stage with a track record of multiple years of being well maintained and active websites with name recognition.

Yes, the use is limited in the countryside & amongst the poor, but to say it's not used by many Dominicans in daily life is mistaken, I think. Many of my friends/acquaintances even use internet services through their phones.

Well congratulations on being in the top .01% of Dominicans who care to pay for a phone with a browser AND a data plan.

I do business on the internet every day, and reject job applicants (high school graduates and college students) who cant do basic things like open an email account without coaching, type with more than 2 fingers, etc.

Outside of Santo Domingo, and even in Santiago which is not exactly "the campo" opportunities for basic activities like finding a rental property, hiring employees, and general buying and selling over the internet is so sparse that it is essentially not possible, and where it is, word of mouth and print ads are 100 times more effective.

In Santo Domingo there may be an online community large enough to simulate a bustling online economy well enough to fool a casual observer, but I am sure that print and word of mouth are many times more effective there as well.
 

J D Sauser

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Nov 20, 2004
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www.hispanosuizainvest.com
e-sales of goods (except maybe real estate) will not work in countries where;

  • there is no functioning mail at reasonable prices
  • the majority of people have no access to reasonably funded credit cards.
The US is the biggest e-market place for the trading of merchandise over the Internet, closely followed by Germany, which also fulfills above requisites.
You go to Spain, to give you an example, if you look for something from there, likeliness has it that you will only find offerings in... Argentina (no joke, been there). The Spanish mail system is far superior to ours here, yet deficient as soon as you your mail is to be handled, mail from or to more rural locations (outside the 4, 5 big cities).

Anyway, it's not more wheeling and dealing we need here, it's more manufacturing... for the local market too instead. But that's a completely different subject... aren't you glad you asked ?:cheeky:

... J-D.
 

G5ive

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May 20, 2009
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craigslist has a "Caribbean" section. There are many listings for the DR in the real estate categories, not sure about the other categories.

Craigslist should be multilingual, the Caribbean sections only has DR and PR as spanish speaking countries, the rest are the other english or french speaking islands.
 

CFA123

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May 29, 2004
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Truth is there just aren't very many Dominicans who incorporate the internet into their daily lives and business.

Mike, this 'casual observer' still has disagreement with your original statement that "there just aren't very many Dominicans who incorporate the internet into their daily lives and business'. Looking up some #'s today... 2008 approx 3 million internet users out of 9.5 million population and 340,000+/- internet service accounts (I'd note here that an internet account does not equate to 1 user). The users may not be as sophisticated as you'd like... but the users are out there. sources: Dominican Republic Internet Usage and TelecomReports & http://www.one.gob.do/index.php?module=uploads&func=download&fileId=1162

...basic activities like finding a rental property, hiring employees, and general buying and selling over the internet is so sparse that it is essentially not possible, and where it is, word of mouth and print ads are 100 times more effective... but I am sure that print and word of mouth are many times more effective there...

I agree, though it's possible to do these things to a limited degree in the DR market, there is not widespread use of these internet avenues here & therefore the sites do not provide comprehensive listings.

although... as an example if you look at aldaba.com you'll find 165,000 c.v.'s online for DR... and 1600+ job announcements posted just since February.
 

MrMike

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I've been doing business in the DR for 10 years now. And the internet has been of very limited use. I still try but its got a very long way to go. I do use aldaba.com but the 165,000 c.v's is misleading. Sure there are that many up there, but they are not all useful.

Generally when I post a job opening on Aldaba it goes like this:

I get 200 cv's. 100 or more form Santo Domingo from people who didn't bother to check where the job was, of the remaining 100, 30 more are from far flung areas, another 50 are basically abandoned cv's whose owners don't use that email (or a computer at all anymore) of the remaining 30 only 10 will actually be available to do the job and maybe three will have any of the qualifications they advertised. It's barely worth sifting through the applications.

Meanwhile I get a steady stream of qualified applicants via walk-in (just happened to be passing by and wondered if there were jobs available) and word of mouth referrals.

Renting an apartment or a house is the same: I have moved a good 7 or 8 times in 1o years due to improving financial situation and a growing family, and it usually goes like this:

Check online, find very few listings. All outdated or mis-printed or misleading. Most intended to bag an unsuspecting foreigner who doesn't know the value of anything.

Check print ads, a little better, but still sparse.

Talk to a realtor, get alot of your time wasted looking at stuff that clearly doesn't fit the description you gave of what you want OR your price range. Just thats what shes got, so thats what shes gonna pitch even though you told her not to waste your time.

Drive or Walk around in an area you want to live in, and look for signs, and call the number (have someone with a Dominican voice do this part) get the pricing and the basic info and make an appointment to tour the property.

Bottom line, beating the pavement is still the only way to get anything done in the DR.
 
B

BettyDiamond

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I'm not sure about listing goods on craigs list but I often list other services and have had no problem listing them from here, Ive never had any replies, but no problem listing them
 

Adrian Bye

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Jul 7, 2002
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mike is one of the few on this thread who knows what he is talking about. For those who are defending DR internet use - try doing all your bill payment via online banking (which I was doing in the USA since 1998). Even Banco Popular can only pay a selection of companies, not including some major ones like Edesur.

Mike knows of what he speaks.