We’ve been mulling over adding the ability to search across all of our sites. If you’re in Victoria, you could search Vancouver. If you’re in Vancouver, you could search Calgary. But recently, I’ve been wondering if by doing that, we ruin a good thing.

Here’s my train of thought and I want to know what you think.

The beautiful thing about all of our sites is that at the end of the day, you’re talking face to face with someone. Wether you meet at a coffee shop, or at your front doorstep; Wether you’re buying a bed frame or selling you bike. In the end there is human interaction. If this is the case, why would you care what’s being sold in another city?

I agree that for smaller items, easier to ship across the country, I would be more inclined to be curious to peak around the country and pay half up front to wait for the package to arrive by mail. I would be more inclined to deal with someone over the phone or by email. However, while I’m waiting I would be wondering, will it be exactly like it was in the photo or is “a little scratch on the underside” really a “massive gouge”? When it said “all accessories included” did that also mean the original Beast Man whip? And in these cases, showing up in person to see the item, I could have made that decision immediately, without any need to wait or wonder.

Where did this thought come from?

On Tuesday I was on location at North Island College and one of the appreciated aspects of UsedComoxValley.com was this idea that you’re selling neighbour to neighbour. If we opened up a national search, would it break the human factor?

What do you think about opening our sites to a national search?

_{*creative commons image courtesy of Aidan Jones}