How to Use Craigslist

Before discussing how to use Craigslist, and avoid potential Craigslist scams, let's first discuss what it is.

Craigslist was developed by Craig Newmark in San Francisco in 1995, and is now one the internet's most visited sites. It is basically a classified advertising site offering advertising on an almost unlimited number of items.

It is a community-based system, with sites in almost 500 countries and cities world-wide. Each site offers its own list of items, and advertisers are not restricted in the number of sites they advertise on. You can post ads free, and it is also free to view them. You might then wonder how it raises revenue: that comes from job ads offered at well below the normal market price for such ads.

Craigslist is a popular source of jobs of all kinds throughout the world, although many who known how to use Craigslit are aware of potential Craigslist scams that some of these jobs represent. You occasionally come across a job that requires payment in order to secure it, and then no position transpires.

This is one of its downsides, and when using Craiglist it is important that you are aware of these scams. Apart from the jobs, many of the adverts are placed simply to gain the personal details of potential buyers, and you must be cautious while using Craigslist. However, in saying that that the vast majority of ads are genuine and if you really know how to use Craigslist then it can be both fun and very profitable.

Here are the basics:

1. Visit Craigslist.org – you will find a list of countries and states. Choose which you want and then you will be shown listings of discussion forums, items for sale, services, etc. Simply click on what interests you. Beside each country or state name you might also see abbreviations for areas of the country or state that have separate Craigslist sites.


2. To the left you will see a menu offering advice on such things as how to avoid scams and personal safety tips if you intend to meet somebody you have spoken to on one of the discussion forums.
3. If you are looking for bargains, check out any categories under the “for sale” category. You can often get some great bargains there.
4. If you know exactly what you want you can enter it in the search box, and even state your minimum and maximum price.
5. If you are looking for an item that is not listed you can place a “Wanted” ad for the item.
6. You can use Craigslist to advertise your websites and get backlinks for them. The multitude of sites on Craigslist means that you can get an awful lot of backlinks if you do the work. Each advertisment has to be separately placed. However, it is well worth the work, and a lot of money can be made using this advertising medium.

Basically, that is all there is to knowning how to use Craigslist. It is a simple website to use, and the listings for each country and state are based on the same template so there is really not much to learn. The best way is to play around on the site and find out what you can and cannot do. Many people become addicted to it, and can spend hours literally surfing around the sites of the various countries.

It should be said, however, that once you have learned how to use Craigslist, that the adverts are not moderated and depend very much upon the honesty of those placing them. The following advice is worth taking:

• Be cautious about providing your address and telephone number.
• Make sure that any personal meetings are made in public places.
• Take somebody with you on your first meeting
• Always read the Craigslist advice before meeting anybody personally.

Take that advice, beware of the potential Craigslist scams and ytricks, and then once you have learned how to use Craigslist properly you will be able to do so safely and securely.

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