Craigslist Tips and Tricks
I’ve been addicted to Craigslist for a loooong time now – it’s one of the first places I check for anything that I want to buy or sell, and I’ve created quite a few other Craigslist Addicts within my circle of friends and family.
So what exactly is Craigslist? Basically, it’s an online marketplace/community/bargain basement/jack of all Web sites. I’ve found a myriad of different things using Craigslist, including over 100 brand new Mason jars (and lids) for $10, a brand new Dania couch, an overstuffed chair…I’ve sold a truck, and right now, I’m looking for a puppy.
Simply go to the main Craigslist site and pick your nearest big city. Craigslist is international – and you’re sure to find a Craigslist city near you. Here are some practical Craigslist tips and shortcuts:
Use Google site search on Craigslist. Craigslist has a pretty excellent site search (that’s unusual – most site searches are worthless), but if you can’t what you’re looking for, try Google. Simply type this into Google:
site:http://portland.craigslist.org/ golden retriever
Obviously you’ll want to put your own city in there, and your own search phrase, but this trick works pretty well.
In addition, you can subscribe to any Craigslist category via RSS (see my previous post on Bloglines to get a quick primer on RSS). Be mindful however that certain categories, such as furniture, move exceptionally fast – so you’re going to get a lot of stuff in whatever feed reader you use (Bloglines tops out at 200, just as an aside).
What are your experiences with Craigslist? Do you have any tips or tricks you’d like to share? Write your Craigslist shortcuts in the comments section below.
Totally true. They’ve recently added (or I just recently discovered) the Calgary Craig’s List!
I put together a page that only displays the images that are contained in your respective craigslist search, its supposed to be an example of a custom search engine but it works great with craigslist. http://www.byebyelist.com
I love craigslist and anything to make using it easier is great. I wrote a tool that does will notify you by email when something you are searching for is posted on craigslist. Take a look at: http://www.craig2mail.com/craigs.html
Craig (another Craig)
Hey guys ! i am an avid craigslist user too and these last 2 tools are OUTSTANDING ! check out this link if you want to be very healthy and wealthy.. seriously.. http://www.mymonavie.com/snap/story.asp
I have a cool satellite guide to South Beach that I would like to also have a custom craigslist search on. Those last two tools look encouraging.
Your tools are really useful – keep them coming!
BTW, just found a really neat tool for sellers.
Craigsnumber (not affiliated to Craigslist as I found out from their website) is an *excellent tool for sellers to give out disposable anonymous phone numbers .. these guys even made it to Digg’s front page on their launch.
The tool was really easy to use, and it is free.
- Jai
i’ve been trying for the life of me to figure out how to list on craigslist multiple times. i see other people’s listing appear multiple times but can’t seem to get a response on how it works. could you help me?
I’m sorry Chuck, I’m actually somewhat of a Craigslist virgin. I’ve been to the site a number of times to look around, but haven’t ever listed anything myself. Hopefully some other people surfing the site will see your comment and give you a hand.
Loved the two tools mentioned in comments. I recently started a forum to not only just discuss CL, but also other good posting sites such as backpage and get issues resolved on flags (by the way, this is most complained feature of CL until now)..
http://www.allaboutposting.com
Hi. Great site. I wanted to share a few things I have available to help Craigslist users better understand who they are marketing to on the various CL websites.
First, I have a site at http://www.aMillionPlaces.com that has a demographic data report I did using GIS analysis of all the 289 U.S. urban areas most likely served by a Craigslist website. This includes over 40 Census variables, plus zip codes, etc.
I also have a free map on my site I created on Google, which gives you a good idea of where each of these sites is located.
All this is useful for someone starting or planning a viral or guerrilla marketing plan, or posting to cities across the country.
hey guys u seem to know a lot about craigslist. can u help me out?? every time i submit my add it says it has been flagged for removal.. what am i doin wrong??
Craigslist is an amazing site, I have sold everything that i have had on sale faster than i have ever expected, i have tried other sites such as Backpage, but i do not get the same response. There is one problem i have with craigslist, i would like to post an item in more than one city or area, but it wont allow me, does anyone have any tips on doing so. thank you for the help.
Hi,
I am new to Craigslist and I see the HUGE potential. Is there anywhere that I can learn about the finer points. Such as to they automatically filter for certain words, why my posts sometimes don’t show up, but yet it shows green as if all is well, not flagged etc…
Thanks
Bob
I know I’ve seen a number of books at the bookstore about Craigslist. I’m sure you can also find lots of details on their site and probably Wikipedia.
Dumb question… how can I search on ALL craigslist content? (ie I want to search in one category… across all cities).
It is odd that you can’t search across all locations. I just tried to figure it out with no success here. Maybe one of our other readers has an answer. I’m wondering if maybe you could use Google’s “Search This Site” function and get what you wanted.
you can search all of craigslist using crazedlist.org
one trick i found is using “-”. for example when i look for accord and dont want the camries to show up in my search i would put “accord -camry” in the search string
I see some questions about why posts get flagged or staff deleted. I started to share my knowledge about posting on craigslist and couple of other sites like kijiji.com, backpage.com etc.
Disclaimer: I dont work for craigslist folks. Rest assured that my knowledge is hardearned and not some insider scoop
Dave
http://www.allaboutposting.com
Is there any way to use crazedlist if IE is your only browser?
I would like to know how to post in craigslist.earlier i have posted several ads on craigslist.But now it is not possible as earlier.They will send the confirmation email but the ads will not be there on craigslist.But some one using some tricks to post them successfully.Any one there to help me to post several ads every day with out any problems on craigslist.
Thank you
Reggi
I see, its quite useful.
if you use firefox you can an image preview
no problem.
you’ll need the greasemonkey addon:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748
and with these; you’ll get the image preview
and better font.
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/4214
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/6155
all links have a simple ‘install’ button type
thing so once you have them installed, you
don’t have to do anything else. just go to
craigslist as usual, and your search-results
will be displayed with an image of the items.
i would say it takes about 10 seconds to install
all 3 of those scripts.
you’ll love it. i know i do.
how do you remove (recreational vehicles) from the results?
whenever i search for anything in a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, or livingroom;
i’m always getting the
‘recreational vehicles’ listings as well.
i hate those campers now!!
any ideas on that?
I understand what you mean. You post an ad and publish the it from your email then wait 15 minutes and it never appears right? This is known as Green-Ghosting. This occurs when your posting has been flagged multiple times or when you publish multiple posts. What initially happens is
the craigslist staff
has blocked the email address you use. If you use another one it will work. In fact, I learned this from: http://www.allaboutposting.com/2007/09/12/craigslist-ads-posted-but-do-not-appear-on-main-pages/
If everyone else is posting links I will too…my blog just talks about my craigslist finds and sales and has some tips and rules for posting for sale ads – no ads and not selling anything, just a fun site.
http://craigslisting.wordpress.com
If you were wondering why ad’s get flagged on CL I can include a couple of links that pertains to CL Pet section.
They have a group of people who have gang flagging forums that search all of CL ad’s despite location and post them for gang flagging.(They have deemed themselves the CL Pet Police.)
here are two links to show what occurs.
http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/forums/?forumID=2626
http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/forums/?forumID=4915
(There are many other links also.)
FYI this happens in Pets but there are other groups that flag other types of items. Some helpful advice to know is that the same people that gang flag also Help out in both CL Feedback & in CL Flag Help.
Oh they also have a google site the Hi jack ad’s to be gang flagged off of.
Just heads up on CL and what is happening with the Flags.
I usually can search multiple cities by googling (craigslist+search item).
I really hate craigslist and gave up even trying to post anything there. Other users flag anyones post just for fun and when i had 4 of my personal stuff ads taken down within in two weeks they blocked my email address and inserted a cookie in my browser so i could not post anything even with a new email address.
Its not worth the effort fighting all that plus dealing with all the kooks who respond but are not even intrested in buying anything.
I only have great things to say about craigslist, I use it for my business and I have gotten some great business and employees.
The SPAM in the Employment section is getting bloody insane! Let’s chat about this lads! I am getting spam up to me knickers!
chuck
Mar 8, 2007 at 7:22 am
i’ve been trying for the life of me to figure out how to list on craigslist multiple times. i see other people’s listing appear multiple times but can’t seem to get a response on how it works. could you help me?
Hey chuck, just sign up with a different email account.
http://DeadBrokeTim.synthasite.com
I’m trying to sell my car and want to post it in 4 different cities and repost evry day. I’m past the part of the 4 cities by using 4 different emails. Anybody know how to get past the part of reposting every day?
Thanks!
http://www.JuninDesign.com is the best Custom Craigslist Ad Design Service. They charge from $9.99 per ad design. You can also get one Free. Everybody should try their service. Highly recommended.
How about a headsup with craigslist publishing?
How do some ads publish LOADS of pictures with colored text and cool fonts (NOT Times New Roman)like a little Publisher ad?
I’ve tried saving text/pics as a picture: loads too SMALL on Craigslist.
I’ve tried saving text/pics in a MSWORD text box and cut/paste into the Craigslist text box. Won’t work.
Is there simple html codes to know? i.e., publish then edit using the html code?
Thanks for the secrets.
I think pics are super important for 100% of items you are selling. Services maybe not so much. But one huge way to stand out is to use a more eye-catching ad. There are a bunch of sites out there that can help you make ads for craigslist. I found http://www.slipdex.com. This one is FREE, I saw someone post a pay service earlier. It allows up to 5 pics, has tons of themes specific for different categories and gives you different template options. Even has a thing that lets you track your ad views for craigslist. I have sold several things using it and you do get more responses!
how do you resize the photo so it will post on craigs list?