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by jrmg 8 days ago
Is Craigslist still the go-to classifieds site in some places?

Around here it’s (very sadly IMO) been almost completely replaced by Facebook Marketplace, to the extent that people make Facebook accounts just to use Marketplace.

7 comments

I sell on CL and FB Marketplace. Some items that I listed for months on CL sold in days on FB, but I prefer CL. FB search results are inferior often because FB posters created misleading ads and don't delete ads for events that have already occurred. Never tried Nextdoor because they required I give them my cell phone number. My landline number was not enough.
> FB search results are inferior

That’s quite the understatement. FB marketplace search results are pretty close to useless. Search for something, it will show you maybe a couple of that something and then ads that look like listings, and things that are supposedly related (they aren’t), hours away from your search area. No way to filter or anything. I go out of my way to not use FB marketplace, that’s how bad it is to me.

I use ND first, then CL. I've used FB a few times, but mostly it's been scammers (though I have friends who swear by it).
ND?
NextDoor
That was not apparent.
Nor was your pun, at first!

But it's more likely to be apparent to someone who is a parent (the alternate meaning of my handle).

Nextdoor
I only sell on Facebook marketplace because being able to see someone’s profile means a lot less time spent selling the item.
Yes and you can see feedbacks. Makes things so much easier.
I use both in the Bay Area and have never succeeded in selling anything on FB. Craigslist usually connects me with some buyer and if not I go to eBay.
In Wisconsin and Illinois, I had far better luck both buying and selling on CL. I moved to CA fairly recently but the story seems to be the same here.

As a seller, FB marketplace is just a neverending stream of "Is this still available?" "Yes" and then radio silence.

I also found it far less common for CL sellers to share a different price in DMs than they list in the ad. CL users are also better about taking their ad down when the item is sold.

Going to a separate website and (gasp!) sending an actual email or calling someone, those are strong filters for intent that FB Marketplace lacks.

> Going to a separate website and (gasp!) sending an actual email or calling someone, those are strong filters for intent that FB Marketplace lacks.

Thanks -- that explains why anonymized email as an ad reply option has (silently) disappeared.

I found Karrot to be a better experience than FB Marketplace.
Karrot the food-sharing/organization-organizing app that just got an NLnet grant? Or something else?
I've been told that it is a regional thing.