Quirkly is an online marketplace that helps buyers and sellers enjoy a friendly atmosphere to connect and interact. Users who join Quirkly can post items as available. The item pages consist primarily of a photo the user uploads of the item. Users can see other items posted by the person selling the item as well as comments left by users on the item page. Quirkly currently only offers items in Washington, D.C. but it appears that this is intended to change to include additional locations sometime in the future. Quirkly gives users two market options: the independent market which includes items sold by individuals not associated with a company and the eastern market which includes items from the historic Eastern Market in Washington, D.C. Many categories are available, ranging from Nike shoes to instruments, antiques and hand made goods. Unfortunately the site seems to be extremely limited in what it has to offer, with most categories remaining completely empty so far.

Quirkly was created to give users another way to buy and sell online. The creators wanted to build a more welcoming atmosphere that could help close geographic gaps between buyer and seller. Through Quirkly, users can experience online shopping that more closely resembles an actual market. Quirkly.com was shut down in 2011.

Quirkly provides users with an online resource to access Washington, D.C.’s Eastern Market. The site is intended to recreate a real life market online. Unfortunately this “unique” factor seems to have watered down the site’s capabilities a bit. The item pages are lacking in information, most do not have even a price listed let alone item details.

The Quirkly website features a plain white background that works well against the color images of items. The colorful logo has a cheerful effect on the overall appearance of the website. It’s very well organized, but then again there are not many items currently available to clutter up the place. Users can find a search feature and city drop down box at the top of the page. The drop down box currently includes only one option, but it is a start.

New users can join Quirkly by clicking on the blue “Register” link in the top, right hand corner of the homepage. The plain registration form is kept nice and short, requiring a full name, username, password, email address and city. The user must also type in a verification code at the bottom of the form to prove that they are a real human. After clicking the blue “Submit” button at the bottom of the form, the user is advised that a verification message has been sent to the email address they provided. This must be accessed to complete account set up.

Quirkly is available to anyone willing to make an account for free. There are no subscription fees or other charges for using the site. This is definitely a good thing because Quirkly is in severe need of users. The site does not offer much for sale as of yet. Of course users could make purchases through Quirkly, but this is not a requirement to maintain an account.

For the time being, Quirkly could be interesting for users who wish to shop Washington, D.C.’s Eastern Market. The site doesn’t offer much else in terms of items and seems to have a limited number of users who pop up repeatedly on the site. This may change as Quirkly grows in popularity, but for now Quirkly seems to be focused in one geographical area.

• Search for items by keyword
• Browse items by category listing
• Read and leave comments on item pages
• View other items sold by the same seller from the item or user profile pages
• List items the user is looking for as well as gigs

Quirkly video