Whether published for finding potential spouses or selling a car, classified ads have been around much longer than you’d think. The term generally used to refer to advertisements that appeared in periodicals, but as of late, even advertisements on the internet are being referred to as classified ads. People have been using these forms of advertisement for hundreds of years.
The exact origins of classified advertisements are unknown, but one can clearly see public notices carved out in stones in what is now the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Pompeii. Handwritten public notices, or classified ads as we now know them, are first known to have originated in England in the sixteenth century. They were frequently put up in public places to help people locate property which they had lost.
Classified ads came to their most familiar form in Colonial America, when they were published in a number of periodical newspapers and newsletters in the early eighteenth century. People who wanted to get ads published had to pay a small advertising fee. Although the concept of advertising through classified ads took off at this point, people did not start selling things through classified ads until the nineteenth century. Soon, newspapers all over the world caught up and even published dedicated pages for classified ads.
Once classified ads made it to the internet, a number of websites emerged that still allow people to post free classified ads Today, online classified sites such as I-Resell don’t just provide a meeting point for buyers and sellers. They help facilitate transactions and ensure that both buyers and sellers have a safe and positive experience shopping on the internet. Classified ads are even more effective in helping sellers find potential buyers, since those who wish to find a product can simply use the powerful search feature on I-resell.