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.
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POSTED IN: How To
27 opinions for Craigslist Tips and Tricks
Jon
Nov 27, 2005 at 9:05 pm
Totally true. They’ve recently added (or I just recently discovered) the Calgary Craig’s List!
duncan
Apr 13, 2006 at 2:44 pm
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
Craig
May 12, 2006 at 7:43 pm
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)
ericz123
Oct 6, 2006 at 4:16 am
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
Jhase Stallon
Nov 15, 2006 at 4:32 pm
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.
Jai
Dec 21, 2006 at 10:52 pm
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
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?
Jason
Mar 8, 2007 at 9:32 am
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.
Dave
Mar 21, 2007 at 3:48 pm
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
Jamie
May 4, 2007 at 5:45 pm
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.
Violet Marsh
Jun 26, 2007 at 11:37 pm
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??
Jonathan
Jun 27, 2007 at 9:59 am
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.
Bob
Jul 11, 2007 at 8:59 pm
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
Jason
Jul 12, 2007 at 6:37 am
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.
Jeff
Aug 3, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Dumb question… how can I search on ALL craigslist content? (ie I want to search in one category… across all cities).
Jason
Aug 3, 2007 at 8:25 pm
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.
Tony
Aug 5, 2007 at 2:57 pm
you can search all of craigslist using crazedlist.org
dc
Sep 12, 2007 at 11:49 am
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
Dave
Sep 12, 2007 at 3:18 pm
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
IE user
Oct 10, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Is there any way to use crazedlist if IE is your only browser?
REggi
Dec 10, 2007 at 6:21 pm
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
Stronghold Crusader Extreme
Mar 24, 2008 at 6:15 am
I see, its quite useful.
mike l
Mar 27, 2008 at 6:38 am
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.
mike l
Mar 27, 2008 at 6:44 am
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?
Iz
Apr 13, 2008 at 9:25 pm
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/
Alec
May 8, 2008 at 10:58 am
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
Kimmy
May 9, 2008 at 12:09 pm
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.
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