FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GALLUP, NM — Residents of the rural Navajo Nation have a new tool to sell products and services through online classified advertisements. The new online marketplace, rezlist.org, creates a space where the public can post new or used items for sale, services, and job openings, as well as events and public information.
A safe way to do business online
Rezlist founder Edward Chato-Seaton, who is Navajo, created the platform for residents living on the reservation to sell products and services, similar to an online yardsale, in a safe and effective manner. Posting is free.
“The Navajo Nation is rural and revenue flows through every day, yet there’s no online space for selling used products, services, or even listing job openings,” says Chato-Seaton. “On the Rez, a lot of people use Facebook when they have items to sell, but that’s not a safe way to conduct business online because your Facebook profile can reveal personal information. The Rezlist.org platform allows sellers to protect their private information and remain somewhat anonymous.”
Marketplaces for all 110 Chapters of the Navajo Nation
Rezlist.org is organized similarly to Craigslist. Anyone can go to the website rezlist.org and choose a community from three states: Arizona, New Mexico, or Utah. All 110 Navajo Nation chapters are represented on the site so searching for items for sale, events, and services that are local and within a few miles is simple and easy.
Filling a gap
“Communities on the reservation often rely on flyers posted on a board at local chapter houses and word of mouth to sell products or services,” said Jessica Stago of the Native American Business Incubator Network. “Rezlist.org saw a gap and filled it, offering people in rural Native communities a new way to post events, services, and important public information.”
BACKGROUND
Edward Chato-Seaton’s rezlist.org was one of six finalists in the 2017 Innovation Challenge, a competition hosted by the Native American Business Incubator Network and Catapult Design, Inc. to foster new business ideas that would benefit reservation communities.
