Where can you find an apartment, job, girlfriend and a free couch? People across the nation (and around the world) are discovering the answer to this question at Craigslist.com. Popular among bargain-hunters, Craigslist.com is a free online community containing classifieds ads in just about every category. It is becoming more and more popular among college students, especially at WCU.
Craigslist divides its classifieds into groups: community, housing, jobs, personals, for sale, discussion forums, services, gigs and resumes. The categories divide the different ads by the nature of the ad, and the groups list the different topics the ads fall into. There is a different Craigslist listing for every metropolitan area.
The variety on Craigslist makes this all-in-one site very appealing. Also, the simplicity gives it a comfortable feel. Former users of sites such as EBay may find it’s casualness and local feel takes some stress off of sellers (and buyers).
One popular feature of Craigslist is the “free” category under the “for sale” group. Here people post “curb alerts” and stuff they are getting rid of, mostly for the cost of coming and picking them up. Obviously college students with a lot of time and not much money have found this helpful.
“I found a free hot tub” said Ryne Anthony, a second year student at WCU, “But it was gone by the time I emailed him.”
Senior Rob Till said, “It can be addicting because there is new stuff on there everyday.”
It makes used car buying easier too. WCU senior Alex Wagner recently bought a motorcycle listed on Craigslist. “I tried buying a bike off of EBay last summer, but I was constantly getting outbid. I just wanted to find a good used bike.” He talked about his experience on Craigslist as “much friendlier than he expected.” The guy selling the bike told Wagner that after meeting him he wanted to sell him the bike.
Wagner figured going and meeting the seller the day he posted it would give him a better chance than the other 150 people who emailed the seller. The seller even let Wagner talk him down in price since it was Wagner’s first bike.
According to their facts site, Craigslist receives three billion page views per month, with 10 million users. It started in the San Francisco area back in 1995. It was not until 1999 when its manager, Craig Newmark, took it on full-time and made it a for-profit business.
Craigslist does not, and will not contain any banner ads; it makes all its revenue from fees from job postings.
Newmark originally wanted to call the site “sf-events,” but was advised against it. According to the Web site, he found that the name “Craigslist” gives it a “personal and down-to-earth nature.” Craig still finds it awkward that such a visible site is named after him, but he’ll get over it.
To see this Web site for yourself, visit http://craigslist.com.