Goshi, a marketplace that aims to disrupt Craigslist by adding a local and mobile component to buying and selling items in your community, is debuting its service in Chicago today.
Basically, Goshi’s iPhone app allows you to take a photo of an item you want to sell, describe the item, put a price on it and then post it to the marketplace. Instead of picking up items at people’s homes or workplace, Goshi has created “hubs” at local coffee shops where transactions take place.
For now, Goshi, which was incubated in Excelerate Labs, is mobile focused and has no plans to create a web presence. The startup says that the convenience of being able to post an item for sale wherever you are make the service distinct from Craigslist. And another differentiator, says Goshi, is the safety of completing transactions in public places or “hubs” and the buyer protection of seeing the item in person before you have to pay money for it.
The company is also working with local artisans and art fairs to provide a selling channel for Etsy-like products.
Goshi isn’t the first company to try to add a mobile, local component to Craigslist. Mobubble and Sidesell are also adding similar functionality to the local marketplace.