What’s Craigslist?

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Craigslist is the brainchild of Craig Newmark and has become one of the most popular sites on the Internet. Started in San Francisco in 1995, it is perhaps the definitive site for classified ads. It offers job ads, personal ads, car ads, pets, household items, and a host of other choices. The website is built around communities, and Craigslist now offers sites in hundreds of cities and many countries around the world. Financial information about the non-profit company is not disclosed, but business experts believe the site is worth over $10 million US dollars (USD).

For the most part, posting and reading ads on Craigslist is free. Revenue is generated by people posting jobs at a rate significantly below the market. Posting an ad in the “concerts” section of the desired ads is free. Craigslist does not run banner ads, preferring to earn money through job posting revenue alone.

The low rate for showing wanted ads has made the site a proverbial thorn in the side of more traditional classified ad companies. Newspapers, in particular, have attacked Craigslist on numerous occasions for running advertisements that could be interpreted as endorsements of illegal activity. Sections that sell puppies, for example, were part of a lawsuit suggesting Craigslist illegally endorsed puppy mills or the sale of outlawed breeds. The San Francisco Chronicle sued the site for this reason, but the suit was dismissed.

It’s true that Craigslist seriously belittles competitor papers through its classified ads. This is especially true for ads other than jobs. A person who wants to sell a sofa, a car or rent a property saves a lot of money by placing it on the site instead of in a newspaper. In fact, they pay no money to do it, whereas they would pay a lot for a large city newspaper.

Those who use Craigslist, which reports over 30 billion page views a month, have learned to be wary of the ads posted there. While most job postings are legitimate, personal ads, home rentals, and for-sales ads can be fake, intended to harvest people’s personal information or lure them into danger. Jobs in the gig section are often “free job” opportunities or scams that advertise great jobs if you take a course or pay a job posting fee. It makes sense to use Craigslist with caution, and some areas of the sites are for adults only. People using restricted areas must register first, and inappropriate posts can be reported by other viewers.

The lack of moderation in posts is perhaps the main reason this internet giant is criticized. There are currently only about 30 employees at Craigslist, and moderating the more than 50 million ads posted each month would be a very significant undertaking. That wouldn’t even include moderating all user-generated posts. Many users take it upon themselves to report posts or write comments on other posts that appear to be abusing the free exchange offered by the site.

You need to be careful when using Craigslist because there is no moderation on the site. You should be careful about giving out personal information such as telephone numbers or addresses. If you’re responding to a personal ad and setting up a meeting, do it in a public place. If you’re going to respond to a “for sale” ad, go with multiple people to pick up or view the items for sale. If a job posting requires a resume, do not include personal information until you verify the existence of the company. Avoid “too good to be true” ads, as they usually are.

With caution, Craigslist can be an excellent site to look for work or to find just about anything. It has numerous forums for people looking for information on new cities they may be visiting or moving to. Some users take the time to “check” blogs so that other users can verify the claims of the ads before responding.

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