How craigslist works
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Craigslist is a classified advertisements website that allows users to post listings for jobs, housing, items for sale, and services for free. It began in 1995 serving only San Francisco but has since expanded to serve over 450 cities worldwide. While simple in design, Craigslist is effective in allowing users to easily find what they are searching for. Some controversy exists around scams targeting users. Financially, Craigslist does not use advertising but has become powerful through its expansion and protecting its domain name.
How craigslist works
- 2. Contents 1,Introduction to How Craigslist Works 2,Network 3,Controversy 4,Financials
- 3. Introduction to How Craigslist Works ● The site's main function is to host classified ads that cover practically every category you can think of, including housing, job postings, items for sale, services and personals. There's also a forums section that allows users to discuss topics on everything from gardening to the Linux operating system. ● Posting for most classifieds categories on craigslist is free, and it's also free to browse and respond to ads. The Web site doesn't have any flashy animation or graphics -- its value comes from its utilitarian design and the contributions of
- 4. Introduction to How Craigslist Works ● The site has a range of broad categories, and each category has several subcategories, making it easy to navigate to the appropriate section quickly. For example, the "for sale" category features subcategories like computer, books, electronics, sporting, motorcycles and collectibles, among others. ● Most ads include the member's e-mail address. Craigslist offers a function that masks e-mail so that members don't have to worry about their address being openly available.
- 5. Network A couple of months later, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, San Diego, Seattle and Washington, D.C. followed suit. Today, more than 450 cities have a craigslist community site. Craigslist members range from teenagers to senior citizens. They post on the forums, shop online, trade tips and make new friends. While the site itself may not be the most visually interesting Internet destination, there's no denying its effectiveness. Users often report that it's easy to find what they are searching for within a few minutes of logging on to the site.
- 6. Controversy An interested buyer contacts the seller and says he'll send a check for the item, but when the check arrives, it's written for a much larger amount. When the seller contacts the buyer to inform him of the difference, the buyer apologizes and explains that he wrote the wrong amount after confusing it with another purchase. He tells the seller to deposit the check and wire him the difference.Users posting to craigslist must first click on a button that says they understand and accept the terms of use.
- 7. Financials The company also purchased the domain craigslist.com to prevent anyone from buying it and misleading craigslist members. Each year since then, craigslist has expanded to cover more cities and communities, becoming a powerful financial force in the process. It doesn't sell advertising space for banner ads, pop-up ads or any other kind of web advertising. Newmark says he doesn't intend to use any kind of web advertising on craigslist in the future.