Local marketplace Hipswap sells, delivers your secondhand stuff

Hipswap, a Craigslist-like marketplace for local items, has launched its service in several cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta.

Craigslist has long been the go-to place to buy and sell stuff locally, but the web site isn’t the least bit visually pleasing.

Hipswap hopes to capture some of Craiglist’s market by offering a website full of pictures of items you can by from people around you. Every item listed on the site has a picture attached, so you can see what you’re buying and avoid surprises. Like oh-so-many sites these days, it’s design looks a lot like Pinterest, and people can create collections of their listings with a certain theme such as woman’s heels or coffee tables.

Hipswap also offers local delivery and shipping over longer distances for those who are nervous about meeting up with a complete stranger to sell or buy an item. Local delivery is limited to Los Angeles now, and your stuff arrives in a cutesy pink vehicle with a moustache on the side.

Instead of paying with cash only, or hoping the guy you’re buying from has Square, Hipswap uses PayPal to process payments and charges a three and a half percent transaction fee to make money.

Hipswap faces competition from Craigslist as well as Etsy, because it presents item listings in a similar way and offers second-hand and vintage items for sale. Etsy also uses PayPal for payments, but shipping is up to the seller.

The company is based in Santa Monica, Calif. and is currently seeking funding.

Garage sale cat figurine image via Flickr user megaul