In case you’re underneath 30 and respect the worth of a greenback, chances are high that you simply’ve used Craigslist. Began by a lonely San Franciscan in 1995 as a solution to join individuals, Craigslist has since grow to be the net’s #1 vacation spot for categorised advertisements. The location welcomes a staggering 200 million+ guests per thirty days, connecting school youngsters to smelly couches in 70 international locations.
I’ve been on Craigslist since 2005 after I started shopping for and promoting used airsoft gear for gasoline cash in highschool. And whereas I like Craigslist for supplying me with telephones and furnishings all through school, as an grownup, I’ve damaged up with Craigslist (and it’s best to, too).
11 superior, safer alternate options to Craigslist
There are a selection of superior marketplaces you possibly can store by way of, quite than waste your time (and hard-earned cash) on Craigslist.
1. Fb Market
Fb Market is my #1 total Craigslist substitute. You’ll discover listings for electronics, furnishings, temp gigs, house leases, and extra. Patrons and sellers can talk and pay immediately by way of Fb Messenger and are required to make use of their actual profiles. Because of this, Fb Market has considerably fewer scammers and sketchy listings.
Plus, to encourage capitalism, Fb will sometimes supply to ship your offered gadgets without cost.
I purchased my Kindle, offered my Xbox, and have executed dozens of extra gross sales by way of Fb Market and have solely had constructive experiences. General, it feels safer, kinder, and higher than Craigslist.
2. eBay
Tesla in all probability wouldn’t exist with out eBay, which purchased Musk-led PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion.
Enjoyable details apart, eBay set an instance for on-line classifieds that I want Craigslist had adopted. The traditional public sale web site has gracefully advanced right into a veritable international bazaar the place you should purchase just about something from anybody in any nation.
3D printed automotive components from China? Carpets from Turkey? Uncommon collectibles from Iowa? They’re all on eBay, shortly accessible by way of a slick interface with deep search capabilities. Plus, vendor fame is every little thing on eBay, so most will work with you to make issues proper in case you run into an issue.
3. Realtor.com
Realtor and Craigslist will share a variety of the identical listings for housing and leases, however I favor searching on Realtor as a result of it has a greater UI and is just about void of sketchy listings. Plus, listings themselves are extra thorough, with photographs, ground plans, and visiting hours.
Realtor additionally permits you to join with actual property brokers and consumers and sellers in a better, safer means. So, whether or not you’re in search of an condominium rental otherwise you’re full-on shopping for your first house, stick to respected marketplaces like Realtor.
4. Upwork
In case you’re trying to rent or promote your companies for gig work, particularly for distant alternatives, Upwork is your good friend.
Its #1 benefit over Craigslist is that it retains funds in an escrow, so that you’re much less prone to get ripped off as both the customer or vendor. Plus, its UI is much less clunky and simply feels higher.
5. Nextdoor
Nextdoor is a neighborhood-specific market and message board. You’ll be able to filter to incorporate households inside roughly one, three, and 5 miles, and despite the fact that that community consists of 1000’s of strangers, Nextdoor nonetheless feels extra collaborative than Craigslist and even Fb Market.
Nextdoor’s For Sale & Free part displays this pleasant vibe. Of us incessantly listing gadgets without cost or almost free, merely trying to give them away to somebody of their space. It’s an excellent place to seek out high quality furnishings, train gear, devices, and extra and buy them with out having to journey anyplace unsafe or unfamiliar.
6. Habitat ReStore
Lastly, in case you’re looking for home equipment, furnishings, or house enchancment provides, take a peek in your native Habitat ReStore earlier than heading to Lowe’s or Craigslist. A hybrid of Goodwill and House Depot, the ReStore sells surplus provides and donations from Habitat for Humanity for a tiny fraction of retail. Better of all, the proceeds assist future Habitat homes!
For brand new owners particularly, the Habitat ReStore is a must-visit. Even in case you depart with only a window and a sink, you’ve already saved a whole bunch and supported a 501(c)(3) within the course of.
7. Goodwill Finds and Store Goodwill
Goodwill has wisened to the truth that it receives a excessive quantity of beneficial items, from designer garments to jewellery to uncommon collectibles. So now, to generate additional cash for the trigger, it appraises these items and lists them on-line for costs a lot nearer to their true market worth.
Its two foremost shops are ShopGoodwill.com, which is an public sale web site, and GoodwillFinds.com, which lists gadgets at a flat value like a conventional retailer. Costs are much like what you may see on eBay, with the occasional “treasure” that was misappraised or didn’t obtain sufficient bids.
8. Freecycle
Freecycle is like Craigslist without cost stuff. It’s a grassroots, nonprofit group with chapters for many cities and cities, and because it’s moderated by native volunteers, the standard management tends to be fairly tight — no scams or small enterprise spam.
For the typical younger individual, Freecycle will probably be extra useful for eliminating stuff than for locating stuff. In case you don’t wish to lug your previous mirror or mattress spring to Goodwill, you possibly can put up it there and somebody will doubtless come and seize it inside 24 hours.
9. Mercari
Mercari is sort of a standalone different to Fb Market. Sellers (largely regular people, not companies) listing new or gently-used gadgets on the market and consumers could make presents or just purchase them outright.
Like Fb Market, Mercari has purchaser protections in place to enhance shopper confidence and in addition has a filter for native offers so it can save you on transport. Mercari’s UI is great, making for a breezy procuring expertise, and the choice for all sorts of products tends to be surprisingly robust.
10. Etsy
For the uninitiated, Etsy is the Amazon of customized or home made items. You’ll be able to order customized frames, customized jewellery, and even Renaissance-style watercolors of Shrek.
General, it’s a far superior different to Craigslist and even Amazon for particular items and residential decor — together with for these on a strict funds. For instance, I received my companion Holly a silver necklace with an inside joke laser-etched on it for simply $35, and she or he melted. I additionally received my outdoorsy associates a picket body with their anniversary hand carved, eliciting an identical response.
11. Vehicles & Bids
Lastly, in case you’re trying to purchase or promote a “cool” automotive however don’t wish to get scammed on Craigslist, take into account Vehicles and Bids.
The brainchild of automotive YouTuber Doug Demuro, Vehicles & Bids is like eBay Motors however just for sports activities, luxurious, quirky, and in any other case fascinating vehicles from the fashionable period. The choice could also be restricted, however it’s additionally extraordinarily well-curated, so consumers can store for his or her subsequent cool automotive with confidence.
That mentioned, in case you’re simply trying to promote your “regular” automotive, take a look at my function: The 5 finest (and best!) methods to promote your automotive.
5 causes to cease utilizing Craigslist
Craigslist founder, Craig Newmark, is a pleasant man, however he’s not a lot of a frontrunner (his phrases, not mine). And he’s a powerful believer in Dunbar’s Quantity, a philosophy which states that people can solely preserve significant social relationships with a restricted variety of individuals. So to make sure group cohesion, he capped Craigslist at simply 50 staff.
In contrast, Zillow and eBay make use of over 8,000 and 10,000 individuals, respectively.
50 staff simply isn’t sufficient to handle a web site with over 200 million guests per thirty days, as evidenced by Craigslist’s persistent charges of scams, faux listings, and crime.
So whereas Craiglist maintains a beneficiant Glassdoor rating, its customers endure vastly from the shortage of innovation, curation, security, purchaser safety, and assist that its rivals supply.
Listed below are 5 good causes to cease utilizing Craigslist (amongst many):
1. It’s doubtlessly harmful
Every time a string of robberies (or worse) is linked again to Craigslist, the corporate is fast to defend itself. Craigslist reiterates that statistically talking, for each Craigslist Killer there are hundreds of thousands of regular transactions.
True, however Northeastern College criminologist Jack Levin factors out that Craigslist continues to be a really perfect searching floor for 2 causes:
- , by no means revealing their identify, cellphone quantity, or any traceable info.
- . For instance, a “vendor” as soon as listed a $1,000 cellphone for $800, and easily robbed a potential purchaser of his money upon arrival.
Whereas the chance of you getting robbed throughout a Craigslist deal could also be statistically low, possibilities of foul play nonetheless appear increased than on a competing web site with primary purchaser safety.
2. It’s rife with scams, fraud, and phishing
You’re much more prone to be scammed than robbed courtesy of Craigslist. Craigslist scams are so widespread that there are .gov pages rating them.
The most typical scams are faux housing leases, the place customers usually tend to make a digital down fee and share crucial private info with a “realtor.”
3. It’s choked with small enterprise advertisements
Craigslist needs to be a spot the place you possibly can log on and buy a gently-used cellphone or sofa from a neighbor. As an alternative, it’s grow to be bloated with advertisements for pawn retailers, used automotive sellers, and extra.
As evidenced by the screenshot, there’s nothing stopping these companies from posting a number of instances in a row, neither is there any safeguard vetting their legitimacy.
Positive you possibly can simply ignore them, however rivals deal with sketchy solicitors significantly better. Each eBay and Fb Market have built-in filters for C2C listings versus B2C listings, making a a lot cleaner searching expertise.
Talking of searching expertise…
4. Its UI is older than Publish Malone
50 staff means you could’t actually sustain with the Joneses within the interface division. Craigslist appears to be like like an HTML-based web page from the 90s as a result of it’s; the positioning hasn’t skilled an overhaul since Sophie Turner was born.
You could possibly say that Craigslist exemplifies the “if it ain’t broke” philosophy, and that’s truthful. The location capabilities at a primary stage simply nice.
Nevertheless, if you develop accustomed to options like Fb Market’s transparency and prompt messaging, and eBay’s purchaser safety and vendor evaluations, Craigslist begins to really feel much less quaint and easily outdated.
5. There are significantly better alternate options
Craigslist jogs my memory of Coolest: a Kickstarter that grew so common that it failed.
Craigslist hasn’t failed within the conventional sense, however it’s fallen behind rivals in usability, curation, and most critically, security.
Abstract
Craigslist began with a noble objective however has gotten too huge for its britches. Its skeleton crew of fifty staff merely can’t present much-needed updates to usability, curation, and most notably, security for its hundreds of thousands of customers.
Fortunately, in case you’re trying to purchase and promote on-line, superior alternate options exist.
