CraigsList: Rent, Sell & Job Seek, A step-by-step guide

If you’ve ever bought or sold something locally, you’ve probably heard about CraigsList — the online classified advertising site that allows most people to list items for sale and rent without paying a cent.  The only shortcoming of this wonderful site is that scammers are people too. And they troll this site relentlessly.

What is CraigsList?

CraigsList is a free classified advertising site where you can sell anything; look for a job; and rent out your house or car.

How it works

Listing an item for sale is as easy as plugging in information on what you want to sell and a cell phone number. You’ll get pinged when someone is interested in your items.

If you want to list — or find — a rental or a job, that’s simple too.

Craigs List review:

If you want to buy, sell or rent something locally, CraigsList is the best place to start. Providing classified advertising services for free, in most cases, it has millions of listings and an abundance of customers of all types.

Notably, Craig’sList has operations all over the world. But when you list on the site, you’re listing to a local audience. Most listings are free and reach everyone in your community, which is usually a wide area roughly 50 miles around your home.

The site doesn’t help with payment collection or shipping, however. You do that in person, so it’s best to ask for payments in cash and meet your buyer in a well-lighted public place.

Scams

The one big problem with this site is it’s a magnet for scam artists, who attempt everything from renting other people’s homes to passing fake checks. Founder Craig Newmark is working on ways to spot and stop these scams, but the crooks are faster than the filters.

You must use good judgment when you use this site.

• Don’t take a check for more than the cost of the goods and services you’re selling and agree to “refund” the rest. This is a fake check scam.
• Be wary of rentals listed here too. They’re sometimes cut and pasted from other paid sites, such as VRBO. Usually, you’ll see warning signs, but only if you look carefully. Do that.

Recommendations

We love Craig’sList. Its high rating reflects the fact that it works for sellers, renters and job seekers most of the time. The one missing $ here is mainly related to the scam issue. This site, more than others, has a problem with crooks.

The one other issue that weighed down this company’s (still high) score is that it does everything. If you scour the listings on SideHusl, you’ll see Craig’s List in practically every category — you can find a job; rent a house; sell your stuff. The site is a “jack-of-all-trades.”

But because it doesn’t specialize, this is not the first place to go when you want to rent out your vacation home; or buy expensive jewelry. Buyers (and sellers) tend to be bargain-hunters, not the type to pay a premium price for a premium product.

What their users say (from Apple App store):

I had not used Craigslist for selling anything before and was hesitant as I had no clue how to post, add pictures or even describe what I was selling. Oh WOW, it was so simple that even a grandmother who rarely uses the internet could follow the easy steps!

As many pitfalls as there are craigslist can still be the most effective way to sell your items quickly.

Easy to use

Easy to use and looks good, better than using CL on the browser. There’s easy tabs for navigating and you can easily manage postings and see which are active and renew with one click. Photos upload easily. Switching around photos to change which is the primary is MUCH easier on the app than in browser where you have to do touch screen acrobatics to move photos around.

“I’ve always loved this website! From being able to sell your stuff, searching for jobs, and purchasing things, this site offers it all! Not to mention, being able to make $$$ by posting ads for some companies! There’s definitely some non-legitimate ads out there but there are also legit ones too! This is always a site I refer to whenever I need anything! Highly recommended!!”

Rental scams

“I was told yesterday that someone posted our vacation home that is rented on VRBO via Craigslist. Someone stole the pictures and information off the VRBO site and pasted them onto the Craigslist site. They were trying to rent it on a week that was already rented on VRBO and collect the money in advance. BUYER BEWARE

Gotta watch all the scammers on there, I have listed a item for say $250.00 and immediately I have low-life scammers try to get me to accept their check. I sometimes want to tell them what they can do with their offer.

“Individual by the name of XXX XXX is using Craigslist to find a roommate for $385.00 monthly. However, she describes that due to past experiences and no show she will need a $168.00 deposit which must be done using western union account number she provides. In total, you will pay $171.95 because of the transfer fee. Prior to the transfer being done she stays in touch answering every question that you may have about the room. She does not care if you have to drive for hours to get to the apartment. Once you confirm that you have arrived her telephone number goes straight to voicemail, but if you text she says that she’s on her way the address she provides is extremely beautiful, but XXX is a thief who uses people to get money transferred to Money Network Paycard. .”

Only sell local

I have sold countless bicycles, sporting goods … there are genuine buyers out there. But they are all local. If out of state, Beware !! These are scumbag scammers. But Craig’s List is not at fault here. Just a fact of life that Scumbags are people too, with smartphones

2/7/2023