What Craigslist Is and How Its Online Classifieds Work | TechBoomers (2024)

Have you heard of the Craigslist website? Want to learn more about what it is and how the site works? If so, you’re in luck. In this article, we’ll be telling you all about Craigslist to introduce you to the site and kick off our Craigslist course. Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • What Craigslist is
  • How safe it is to use
  • The three best features of Craigslist
  • The history of Craigslist
  • Its pros and cons
  • Alternatives to Craigslist

Let’s start off by talking about what exactly Craigslist is.

What is Craigslist?

Craigslist is a classifieds website – the online version of the classifieds section in a newspaper. It allows people to post ads to sell their goods and/or services, for local companies looking to hire, and to advertise local events. Other Craigslist users can respond to these ads if they’re interested.

When you open up the Craigslist website, you can choose your city so that you’re only viewing ads from your own area. Craigslist sorts ads into various categories, like housing, jobs, pets, and more, which makes it easy to browse classifieds ads around topics and categories that interest you.

What Craigslist Is and How Its Online Classifieds Work | TechBoomers (1)

You might be wondering, is Craigslist safe to use? We’re going to answer that next.

Is Craigslist safe?

Craigslist is safe to use if you’re careful about using it properly. Some people may post listings on Craigslist with the intention of scamming people, so you do need to be cautious. If a post violates Craigslist’s terms of service, it will be flagged. Just make sure you trust someone before making a deal.

If you want to read more about this topic, check out our article on Craigslist safety. Now, we’ll get into how Craigslist works.

How does Craigslist work? 4 best features of Craigslist

1.A focus on the local

As we just mentioned, the unique thing about Craigslist is that it isn't just one website.It's split into over 700 websites that serve advertisem*nts in major cities and urban areas around the world. This makes it easier to find what (or who) you want closer to home.

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2.Simple and free

Besides what its users post, Craigslist doesn't allow any other advertising on its websites. In addition, most advertisem*nts are free to post, even without a Craigslist account. The main exceptions are for companies looking to hire or sell expensive items, such as event tickets or cars and trucks.

Craigslist also doesn't take a cut whenever a purchase or sale is made over the website. However, this also means that buyers and sellers are left to hash out a transaction's details on their own. This is why it's important to include at least some contact details with an advertisem*nt, whether that's an email address, phone number, or something else.

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3.Cheap prices

When buying things on Craigslist, you’re usually going to find lower prices than you would on normal online shopping sites or in stores. Many things being advertised and sold through Craigslist are used, end of season, extra stock, etc., so you’re likely to be able to save yourself some money.

4.What's the word?

If you don't feel like using Craigslist for its advertisem*nts, it also includes discussion forums where you can chat with other Craigslist users on topics ranging from arts and beauty to travel and writing.

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Those are three of Craigslist’s best features. In the next section, we’ll get into the history of the website.

History of Craigslist

Named after founder Craig Newark, Craigslist began in 1995 as an email distribution service, letting people know about upcoming local events in his hometown of San Francisco. Incorporated in 1999, Craigslist has expanded beyond event listings and now features listings for job openings, available housing, goods for sale, services for hire, relationship seeking, and general topics of discussion.

Craigslist now has local websites for over 700 cities or general urban areas in 70 countries around the world, and is available in 13 different languages.

Now that we’ve told you a little about the history of the site, let’s talk about some of Craigslist’s pros and cons.

Pros and cons of Craigslist

Pros

  • You can post ads for free
  • Ads you’ll see on the site are also based on your location, so they should all be available close to home
  • You can also use the site to chat with other users about all kinds of topics!

Cons

  • The site’s interface is almost too simple – it’s not overly professional or attractive to look at.
  • Since Craigslist only acts as a connection between sellers and buyers, it doesn’t give you any of the safety or guarantees that most online shopping sites would.

Does Craigslist not sound like your cup of tea? Don’t worry – there are lots of other alternatives available, and we’ll tell you about a few of our favorites next.

Alternatives to Craigslist

If you aren’t interested in using Craigslist, there are some other similar sites you might want to try instead. One of them is Kijiji, which is set up quite similar to Craigslist, but is only available in Canada. Another is eBay, which is a popular online auction and e-commerce website. A newer Craigslist alternative is LetGo, which is a mobile app for people to buy and sell items. Read about these websites and more in our Craigslist alternatives article.

Craigslist is one of the most popular online classifieds websites in the world – and there’s good reason for it. So, if you think you may have a need to buy or sell something you have lying around at home, or you are seeking a handyman, a new employee, want to meet someone, or just want to talk, Craigslist might be for you. Make sure you move on to the next article in our Craigslist course for our full review of the website, so you can learn about how to use it, and more importantly – how to use it safely.

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What Craigslist Is and How Its Online Classifieds Work | TechBoomers (2024)

FAQs

What Craigslist Is and How Its Online Classifieds Work | TechBoomers? ›

Craigslist is a website for viewing and posting local advertisem*nts. It works a lot like the Classifieds section of a newspaper, and it's completely free to use. You can find a listing for almost anything on Craigslist—jobs, apartments, garage sales, used cars, personal ads, and a whole lot more.

Does anybody use Craigslist anymore? ›

Do People Still Use Craigslist? Absolutely. You can search your local area on Craigslist and find used furniture, cars, rentals, and even jobs.

How does Craigslist make money if its free? ›

Craigslist's business model is based on providing a free classified advertisem*nt platform to users. They generate revenue by charging users a fee to post some types of ads in select cities and by running paid banner ads.

How do I post on Craigslist without an account? ›

Without an account, you must write and post each ad individually, responding to an emailed confirmation message to validate a listing before it appears on Craigslist. Account holders can view all their ads through a unified interface on the Craigslist website.

What site is better than Craigslist? ›

The best alternative to Craigslist, in our opinion, is Offer Up. The app offers a robust array of listings, is easy to use, includes a verified account feature, and includes buyer ratings. Other worthy alternatives to Craigslist include Facebook Marketplace, Locanto, Mercari, and Recycler.

Is creating a Craigslist account free? ›

Posting an ad

Set up a free Craigslist account. ▶ Compose your ad.

How do I sell anonymously on Craigslist? ›

Anonymous email is the default setting for Craigslist ads. The system keeps both the buyer and seller's real email addresses hidden until they mutually agree to reveal them. When you receive an inquiry on a listing, it comes from an anonymous alphanumeric address. If you respond, the buyer sees an anonymous address.

Is Craigslist owned by eBay? ›

On June 19, 2015, eBay Inc. announced that it would divest its stake back to Craigslist for an undisclosed amount, and settle its litigation with the company. The move came shortly before eBay's planned spin-off of PayPal, and an effort to divest other units to focus on its core business.

Do all Craigslist ads cost money? ›

All craigslist postings are free, except for:

Job categories in US and parts of CA —$10-75 (fee varies by area)

Who owns Craigslist? ›

2020 Billionaires Net Worth

Craig Newmark is the founder of online marketplace Craigslist.

Why is Craigslist charging me $5 to post? ›

One reason is that the company wants to make money from its website. Another reason is that it wants to reduce the number of spam posts on the site. By charging for each post, Craigslist can ensure that only legitimate ads are posted.

How long does a $5 Craigslist ad last? ›

A. 30 days. Q. What about reposts and renewing / renewals of existing ads?

How do I protect myself from selling on Craigslist? ›

Omit any personal information about yourself when you create your Craigslist ad. Do not include your phone number, a permanent email address or anything in photos of your product that someone could use to find your house or place of business.

Is Craigslist losing popularity? ›

It's certainly a shadow of its onetime self. Revenue at Craigslist dropped to $379 million last year, a little more than one-third of what it was in 2018, according to AIM Group estimates. At its peak it generated more than $1 billion in revenue. Craigslist's traffic is also falling steadily.

Do people still use Craigslist to buy things? ›

Craigslist is one of the largest online platforms for classified ads. Established in the US in the mid 90s, it now operates in over 70 countries. You can search your local area on Craigslist for ads for all sorts of used items, devices, cars, rentals, and even job offers.

Is Craigslist still successful? ›

Craigslist has at least 60 million monthly users in the United States alone. Craigslist's website drives 50 billion page views each month. There are more than 700 local craigslist sites in 70 countries.

Why is Craigslist so outdated? ›

One of the main reasons why the UI/UX of Craigslist is so poor is that the platform has not undergone a significant redesign in over a decade. The platform's design is outdated and lacks the modern features and functionality that users have come to expect from online marketplaces.

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