Craigslist

Interesting video with insight into the founder's moral compass and goals for the site. As an added bonus, they define the term: enshitification.

This is all about the business. So, keep the comments apolitical, please.

CL:
1. Easy categories to find
2. Search engine works
3. Mostly free to post
4. Offers secure CL email relay so people can't find where you are if you don't want them to
5. Few if any scams, staff is super responsive to reports
6. Won't steal your data or try to do anything related

FB Market:
1. Depending on which device you are on, categories are a weird sidebar and only loosely followed by users and the app itself
2. Search engine is completely manipulated because paying a premium allows the search engine to put your ad on top no matter what. Often times items next door won;t even show up on a search, because so many paid ads push it down it ends up showing up below ads from multiple states away.
3. Free to post, unless you want your ad on the first 3 pages, then you pay a premium
4. Uses FB messenger, which means anyone that wants to talk to you about your ad has to be allowed on your "friends" list. meanwhile the entire system collects data on you and your conversations with these strangers
5. LOL scams off the charts. AI generated scams even now.
6. Not only steals your data, actively forces you to provide it or not use the app, and then sells your data.

So, of course, which one do you think everyone uses?


I have never understood this phenomenon. CL is almost dead in multiple categories when you get away from the bigger cities. Old timers like me still use it. It is easier to use than FB market when it comes to posting an ad, and replies to the ad get filtered in my email, and I can ignore scammers, all the while not providing the entire planet my FB information about who I am, where I live, etc etc. The amount of scams on FB is staggering.


Regarding the video, their process can be refined even more:
Something is good
It becomes popular because it is good
Some giant corp/outside money will offer the maker of the good thing enough money to buy it, whatever it is
The good thing is now utterly destroyed to remove it as competition from the existing, corrupt AF rotten hot garbage the mega corp owns.
Now the good thing is gone.

The fact the CL guy decided "I'm good" when presented stupid money to give up his good thing shows he understands the above. His reward from the public is to ignore his creation and willingly opt to use an inferior product that actively harms their life.

I use CL only FB is like DectiveD states is trash.

The problem is the average person today (90 percent of the market) is too stupid/lazy to use a computer. They want to do everything on their smartphone , on 1 app, so facebook it is.

The beginning of the end of CL was when they started charging for car ads. I was able to search the entire country for stuff, it was great. Never knew if you would get a replay or not but same sort of thing with FB too. FB is just as stated, useless. Not really having an app probably didn’t help CL either, like @padam said.

The other thing that has hurt Craigslist in the past few years is that the sites owners/moderators seem to have abandoned it.

The site is now flooded with businesses passing themselves off as private sellers, and even private sellers that cover the site with multiple ads. Keyword spamming is so common that search results become useless.

The community reporting concept generates no response. The sites rules aren’t enforced, so the site has become the territory of people who don’t follow rules. Not the people you want to interact with.

I use CL infrequently. I purchased a bicycle for myself last fall. I easily found several candidates in my area and had no problems making a purchase. CK works as it should.

I used to use ebay years ago before CL arrived. Ebay got crappier to work with and resolve problems. Add shipping costs had me absorbing more of that and offering free shipping for a while. That was a losing model, so more stuff gets donated or taken to the recycler. I no longer use ebay.
CL, I used it selling two vehicles and a few other items. Worked out nice, though haven’t used it in a few years now. It was always a meet in a public place thing, not at my house.
FB. I never joined despite temptation a couple of times though the stories that I’d hear, some posted above, nixed the urge. I have friends and relatives afar who are addicted to it and ask me to join to keep in contact. I say you can call, text, or email. Lol, I guess not their preference so we seldom stay in touch.

Now that I'm not working, I have finally have time to sort my mopar parts, and find spare stuff to post for sale here.
I love how simple and easy it is to post on Craiglist. When you have a ford or chevy part, where else to post it?
I had a remanufactured cadillac HT4100 engine, (a total dinasaur) on C.L. and got calls from around the country. So people did see it. Shipping killed most deals untill someone a mere 500 miles away was coming this way and paid extra to have me meet him. He even pre paid the meetup portion.
So I still call craiglist, flakelist. But I won't use flake book, or offer down.
Ebay has its problems. Don't the masses know they can shop the forum?

I still use EBay quite a bit, but noticed a disturbing trend recently.

I needed a throttle position sensor for my ford rv. I wanted a Mototcraft part.
There’s a bunch on eBay.

The problem is, you can filter your search results to only include items in the USA.
Then when you dig a little deeper into the seller, their location is actually China! I don’t want crap China counterfeited parts.

It’s a cesspool online.

I still look on Craigslist from time to time. Not much listed these days and what is listed are the same individuals that wanted way too much for it 3 years ago and still haven't sold the items.

I bought a couple of nice, 18" concrete urns for cheap on CL.

I've sold auto parts in CL. Most my sales go fairly quickly because they're under priced because I just want them gone. Especially, heavy or large items.

I use FB Marketplace but not the other parts. I've met a few cool car guys on there who bought stuff from me. I even listed about a cubic yard of topsoil for free I had piled up on the driveway when I tore out the Bermuda grass. About half a dozen people contacted me the first day wanting that stuff. The soil was gone the same day.

Here in Canada, our reasonable facsimile of CL is Kijiji. It has most of the same features but a few downsides. It has the same email relay system for security, but lacks a proper feedback system. You can only make a feedback on a completed transaction. This lets tire-kickers, time-wasters, deadbeats and no-shows proliferate with no penalty. The site is full of flakes. Other than that, it's pretty useful and mostly free.

Coelacanth said:

Here in Canada, our reasonable facsimile of CL is Kijiji. It has most of the same features but a few downsides. It has the same email relay system for security, but lacks a proper feedback system. You can only make a feedback on a completed transaction. This lets tire-kickers, time-wasters, deadbeats and no-shows proliferate with no penalty. The site is full of flakes. Other than that, it's pretty useful and mostly free.

Click to expand...

The video mentioned Kijiji is a poor offshoot of eBay.

themechanic said:

The video mentioned Kijiji is a poor offshoot of eBay.

Click to expand...

I don't consider them the same thing, eBay is an auction. Kijiji is a classifieds site.

Coelacanth said:

I don't consider them the same thing, eBay is an auction. Kijiji is a classifieds site.

Click to expand...

Kijiji is EBay’s version of Craigslist

I do fine on craigslist for the most part.

After a few transactions and communications, you get to know the types that are on there.

Real people
People that think it's all about them and not at all about you
Scammers

Reasonably easy to spot the difference.

The shame is when a type 2 person either has something you want, or is the only one interested in something you are trying to sell.

Navigating that takes tact and care...and even then sometimes both parties end up with nothing.

I've never found anything I like on Kijiji. Craigslist in the Vancouver area is far more popular, but facebook marketplace is catching up. My last couple of purchases of car parts were on marketplace.

I use Craigslist as well.

padam said:

The other thing that has hurt Craigslist in the past few years is that the sites owners/moderators seem to have abandoned it.

The site is now flooded with businesses passing themselves off as private sellers, and even private sellers that cover the site with multiple ads. Keyword spamming is so common that search results become useless.

The community reporting concept generates no response. The sites rules aren’t enforced, so the site has become the territory of people who don’t follow rules. Not the people you want to interact with.

Click to expand...

I use the local Sacramento Craigslist to try and sell the rebuilt brake calipers, and lower control arms that i rebuild.
And every time i get an inquiry, nothing ever seems to go forward from there.
They flake out on me.
At the end of the monthly listing period, i just renew the listing, thinking someone just might be serious in purchacing some parts from me.

And there has been a wrecking yard business that has been bombarding the "owners" section in the parts for sale pages of Craigslist instead of the business section where those ads belong.
Ya, the rules just don't get enforced, and so many know that, and get away with everything.