A listings site lives or dies on trust and on search. We design both into the product from the first sketch, and you test every screen on a private link before anyone else sees it.
find.co.zw
A marketplace built around trust.
find.co.zw is our own product: a free classifieds marketplace for Zimbabwe, designed so buyers can trust what they see and sellers can post in minutes.
- Product design
- Logo design
- Search engine optimisation
The product and the brief
Why did we build find?
Classified ads are where people in Zimbabwe buy cars, rent houses, hire builders and look for work. They are also where deposits go missing, so trust had to be the product.
find is ours. We designed and built it as a free place to buy, sell and hire anywhere in the country, from Beitbridge to Victoria Falls.
The aim was simple to say and hard to do: make a free site feel safe. Every feature starts from the scams people already know about, from a deposit before a viewing to a price that is too good to be true.
- Categories, from cars and property to farming, jobs and pets
- 8
- Towns, each with its own page of ads
- 18
- To post, with every ad checked by a person first
- Free
What we made
A classifieds website design that puts safety first
Clean white pages, one green and large, clear photos: the design stays out of the way so the ads, and the warnings, get read. The ads shown are the labelled examples the site launched with.
Spot a scam before any money moves: the home page explains the checks, beside a chat that flags a request for a deposit. 
On every ad, a price check shows where the asking price sits against similar ads. 
Results with filters, price checks and labels such as papers ready and video viewing, so the best ads stand out. 
For buyers abroad: video viewings, safety advice and the time in Harare, London and New York side by side.
Why it works
What makes a free site feel safe?
Trust is built from small, visible rules. These are the ones buyers and sellers see.
- A person checks every adNew ads are read before they go live, and ads that break the rules are turned away.
- Reports that actEvery ad has a flag, and an ad that three people report is hidden until it has been checked.
- Price checksWhere there are enough similar ads, the site shows how a price compares, so a bargain stands out for the right reason.
- Details stay privateBuyers message sellers through the site, and a phone number appears only when someone taps to see it.
- Papers readyCar sellers can confirm the registration book and police clearance are ready, and buyers can filter for it.
For platforms and marketplaces
Building a marketplace or a directory?
We bring the same thinking to client platforms: listings, search, trust and the pages that bring visitors in.
Listings
Directories and listings sites
Search by place and category, filters that make sense, and moderation, reporting and private messages planned from the first sketch.
Brand
A name and a mark
find’s lens-and-pin mark was designed alongside the site, and it still reads clearly as a tiny browser icon.
Search
Found by town and by need
A page for every town and category, set up to be found from the first day.
Services for platforms
Where to start
Planning a marketplace of your own?
Start a project like this
Tell us what people will list, who will search and where. We reply with a fixed quote in pounds, dollars or rand, and nothing starts until you agree to it. Email hello@redfoxbranding.com or use the project form to talk about classifieds website design.