Why I Won’t Use Craigslist Again To Sell Online

Posted by admin in Classifieds, Commentary, ecommerce on 03 23rd, 2009 | one response

It Seemed So Easy

While many internet marketers are searching for viable venues to expand their presence some are moving to Craigslist for help. It seems easy and smart. Cragislist is an online classified marketplace, and is free to use. What could be more simple?

I decided to give it a try. There must be something to the popularity of using the site. So I placed an ad for one of the advertising spots I offer for the ebay & Beyond: Basics To Business radio program. Again, very simple and easy. Very generic, no glitz or glamour. OK, I can deal with this.

The Flood Gates Open

My listing had been up for no more than 24 hours when the flood of emails began.

I saw your listing on Craigslist. I hope you do well with it, but if you want more exposure we can help.

Some were simple, some very elaborate like this one.

craigslist-ad

The flood continued for months! Hundreds of emails, no matter what I did to my Spam filters.

I wrote a blog entitled Stop The Insanity on my Ecommerce-Marketing-Radio-Network site regarding the huge number of get rich quick scams. This is just an extension of that thought process.

Why Is It Allowed To Happen

In full disclosure, I have attempted to contact Craigslist over the past 5 months for comment or an interview without success. My requests have gone unanswered.

I want to know how my email address is obtained, and why! Why does Craigslist not work harder to prevent this! Based on the number of scam emails I received from this one listing, I will not use the site again for attempting to sell something. A very good friend of mine John ”ColderIce” Lawson recently noted Free is not always a good thing. I tend to agree in this situation.

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1 Comment »

katydidscards Says:
March 23rd, 2009 at 12:05 pm

Yikes! I will admit to only once listing something for sale on Craigslist, and didn’t get a single reply. So I didn’t use it again.

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