97 of Top 100 Classified Sites Are Craigslist

According to a recent report, 97 of the top 100 classified sites are just localized versions of Craigslist, up from 88 just last year. Combine that with a massive rise in traffic to classified sites in general and you have a recipe for one raging behemoth. "Craigslist isn't just crushing the newspaper industry and crowding out other classified sites. It's also taking an increasing slice of total U.S Internet traffic: the site's market share in February was up 90% year over year, accounting for about 2.5% of total US Web site visits."

Comments

Re:Classifieds Traffic Up Since Recession

[Red Flayer]

I'm not sold on their evidence. I don't see a huge jump since February of '08 in search popularity

What? Did you even look at the graph you linked to? Sure, it's fairly steady growth, but even just a quick eyeing of the graph shows at least a 50% growth (and that's a VERY conservative estimate -- looks more like 75% to me, but I didn't want to push it).

I don't know about you, but that's pretty damn significant to me.

Re:Newspapers would like the ads back, please

[Anonymous Coward]

newspapers aren't phased by this

Fazed.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fazed

Craigslist has a HUGE amount of scams.

[Samschnooks]

Top scams I've had to deal with on Craigslist:

1. Bogus job postings to get personal info for identity theft (This is also happening on Monster, CareerBulder, etc...)
2. The overpaying for items and asking for balance to be sent back via Western Union
3. Bogus checks
4. Folks overseas saying they have homes for rent.

The old Western Union trick:

You're selling an item for $1,000. Someone wanting to buy it sends you $2,000. They say "Oops!" could you send me the balance back to me via Western Union and I'll pick up the item later. You do so. Their original $2,000 check bounces and they have your $1,000. You're out $3,000 and YOU OWE IT, baby!

The scam works many ways but it usually involves you sending a Western Union money gram or some other method where, once you send the money, it's gone. The renting overseas homes works similar to this.

Jobs. Do not give personal information, DOB or SSN, until you've met them and you have verified they are actually an employer.

Some employers, such as governments, insist on a SSN so they run you through Choicepoint, the credit bureaus and other Big Brother corporate entities before they will consider you for employment. I only get those forms when I'm on the interview. I wouldn't give the information to them unless you get an interview.

You need to be very careful on Craigslist.

Re:Craigslist has a HUGE amount of scams.

[sexconker]

NEVER use Western Union.
NEVER accept cashier's checks as payment.
ALWAYS wait a week after the payment has "cleared" before processing any refunds or "oops I paid too much!".

The trick you describe is more commonly done with cashier's checks. The bank you take it to will say it's valid and give you the money. But all they're really doing is checking to see if it points to a real bank. Once that bank receives it for processing, they look at it and say "what the fuck is this shit you're trying to pull" and demand the money back from your bank.

Your bank then thinks you're a counterfeiter. You face not only the debt of the original check, the loss of the sent back "over paid" money, the loss of the item (if you've sent it), but you also face criminal charges if you can't cough up the original amount in a couple weeks.

Yes the bank knows about the scam.
No, they don't believe you - they think you're in on it.

Re:Craigslist has a HUGE amount of scams.

[Anonymous Coward]

Dunno about most of you, but unless the money is in my bank account (a.k.a. the check has cleared), I haven't received it.

Then you are an ideal candidate for some of these scams.
Despite the terminology, checks do not clear. They just fail to bounce.

By law, US banks are required to make funds available within 5 business days from deposit of a check. When people say "the check cleared" they really mean that the 5 days passed and the check did not bounce. But under various circumstances, the check may bounce after 6 days or 10 days or in some cases involving forged cashiers checks, a month later.

So a sufficiently tricky scam artist will set up the right circumstances such that their bogus check won't bounce in the first 5 business days and it will appear to have "cleared" to their unknowing mark. The mark will feel confident that the check was valid and will proceed to get scammed. Then a few days later the check does finally bounce and the bank takes their money back and the mark is screwed.

the oddly relevant captcha for this post was "outlast"

Re:Craigslist has a HUGE amount of scams.

[Locke2005]

You're selling an item for $1,000. Someone wanting to buy it sends you $2,000. They say "Oops!" could you send me the balance back to me via Western Union and I'll pick up the item later. You do so. Their original $2,000 check bounces and they have your $1,000. You're out $3,000 and YOU OWE IT, baby! I hate to question your math, but it seems to me like you're out $1000 if you haven't shipped the item yet, or $2000 if you have shipped it.

Re:Craigslist has a HUGE amount of scams.

[maxume]

They are. That doesn't help you much if I give you a forgery.

Re:Good Game, "old media", it was mediocre...

[dltaylor]

Change your /. prefs. Other than the sometimes lame colors they use, I don't see any of that silliness, once I'm logged in.

Not exactly true

[Percy_Blakeney]

I think this report is misleading. It should be titled "97 of top 100 pure-play classifieds sites are craigslist".

Hitwise assigns every web site to a single category, like "classifieds" or "news". If your site spans multiple categories, then you have to choose the one that defines you best. Since many traditional classifieds providers are also large news sites, you'll find that there are a lot of major sites that are missing from this list of "classifieds" sites.

I'm not saying that craigslist isn't the powerhouse of online classifieds, but to simply ignore a wide range of classifieds providers because they also provide news is kind of silly.

Re:Good Game, "old media", it was mediocre...

[MillionthMonkey]

Craigslist's UI is very underrated. It isn't pretty to look at- so people don't realize what an effective UI it is. It doesn't constantly foist the trendiest UI gimmick of the week on everybody. It's ugly. But it doesn't needlessly confuse you or piss you off. And the ugliness sort of goes along with the message- if you wanted pretty style sheets you'd be getting less good deals elsewhere- that's what those drab colors are telling you. Ebay is butt ugly for the same reason. You really feel like you're suffering for every last cent.

Restaurant owners as a general rule don't seem to understand this at all. They think their web sites need to be strikingly beautiful virtual reality showcases of the interiors of their restaurants, accompanied with annoyingly loud soundtracks of "atmospheric" music to wake people in neighboring cubicles, or we won't want to eat there. I just want to see where you're located, or if you're open, or if you deliver, or if something is on a menu, and all of a sudden I've got this huge Flash file blasting off in my browser like a Saturn V which makes me close the tab immediately. I'm more likely to show up if you just open your menu in your word processor and export to HTML.