Oodle Tracking Pricing Data for Online Classifieds

Oodle will today announce the launch of the Oodle Index, a real-time pricing guide for online classified listings.

When Oodle launched back in April of 2005, their goal was to consolidate the widely scattered classifieds space and provide users with a central location for searching and shopping for online classifieds. Almost two years later, Oodle has collected data from hundreds of millions of online listings and has launched the Oodle Index as a means to help shoppers better understand pricing trends and find those hidden classifieds bargains.

I had a chance to speak to Oodle CEO and founder, Craig Donato, earlier this week and he walked me through the various features the Oodle Index will offer at launch. Hoping to become the “Kelly Blue Book of Classifieds”, the Oodle Index will be integrated with Oodle’s search results and utilized by clicking the “Pricing” link. Users will have access to some neat interactive charts which will show pricing and inventory trends, tailored to their geographic location.

By clicking on the pricing charts, users will be able to instantly view listings available in a specific price range and get real time data on availability. For example, searching for a 2004 Honda Accord, with less than 30,000 miles on the clock, shows 281 listings in the New York area, with an average price of $18,205. Using the Oodle Index charts, users making this search will see that for an average of just $300 more, they can peruse more than 180 Accords built in 2005. It’s this type of transparency in the online classifieds space that Oodle is hoping to bring with the Oodle Index.

“Pricing in classifieds is very inefficient,” says Craig Donato. “Our vision is to be the shopping tool for classifieds.” Indeed, Oodle has access to a multitude of data points, including demographics of buyers – even able to understand car buying preferences of Republicans in California compared to Democrats in New England.

The Oodle Index is available in all geographic areas served by Oodle and will initially provide pricing data for cars, real estate and apartment rentals.

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Andy Beal is an internet marketing consultant and considered one of the world’s most respected and interactive search engine marketing experts. Andy has worked with many Fortune 1000 companies such as Motorola, CitiFinancial, Lowes, Alaska Air, DeWALT, NBC and Experian.

You can read his internet marketing blog at Marketing Pilgrim and reach him at andy.beal@gmail.com.