In Norway there's a service called Finn (www.finn.no), that translates to "Find"
They were backed by a large news corporation, so that probably helped. The corporation really didn't want to look too much at classifieds on the internet, since they had a paper business to protect. That's why they waited until 2000 before the site was released.
When it comes to real estate, I think they have close to 100% of the market. Only real estate agents are allowed to post ads, and I think they pay a lot to do so.
They are also huge in the motor market. You have to pay 76 USD to add your used car to the listing. There are numerous free alternatives, but people still use Finn because it is the place to go.
When free alternatives can't compete, what can?
But on the positive side, there's not a lot of spam :-)
They were backed by a large news corporation, so that probably helped. The corporation really didn't want to look too much at classifieds on the internet, since they had a paper business to protect. That's why they waited until 2000 before the site was released.
When it comes to real estate, I think they have close to 100% of the market. Only real estate agents are allowed to post ads, and I think they pay a lot to do so.
They are also huge in the motor market. You have to pay 76 USD to add your used car to the listing. There are numerous free alternatives, but people still use Finn because it is the place to go.
When free alternatives can't compete, what can?
But on the positive side, there's not a lot of spam :-)
Examples: http://www.finn.no/finn/car/used/result?CAR_MAKE=749
http://www.finn.no/finn/realestate/homes/result?areaId=20061