Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Prostitution and Spam Killed Craigslist

ashlan.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 68 posts

Re: Prostitution and Spam Killed Craigslist

#51

Post by Kiro »

datpuz wrote: post #35
mikece wrote: post #21

If any one thing killed Craigslist it was Facebook Marketplace. I used Craigslist to buy and sell things for years; I didn't even know about FB Marketplace until a friend recommended it. I swallowed my hatred of FB to give it a try and it was easily a far better experience than CL at the time. Of late I've noticed that it's become a haven for scammers which is a pretty reliable indicator of success (the scammers go w…

I've been trying to sell a gaming laptop on FB Marketplace for local pickup (to avoid seller fees and shipping), and I've gotten about 20 scam attempts. Of the two legit interested buyers, one was a lowballer, and the other wanted me to trade it for a pair of headphones, an iPhone 8, and some shoes (wtf?).

Those shoes are worth tens of thousands now. Sneaker flipping is the easiest way to make money in 2022. You missed out.

Re: Prostitution and Spam Killed Craigslist

#53

Post by johncessna »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #47
johncessna wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I created a burner Facebook account just to use Marketplace. On day 0 I'm told that I can't use Marketplace 'yet.' Every day for a few weeks I login and check and get the same message. Sometime at the 3-4 week mark I'm told I need to add a phone number or my account will be disabled. Back to craigslist/nextdoor/etc Edit: My fault for using a loaded term like 'burner'. I don't have a facebook account. I created a 'rea…

Hmm, tricky. On one hand, I enjoy potential for anonymity on the web, and even in a social network I want there to be an option to contribute thoughts/opinions/content anonymously. FB & Twitter's veiled (not even upfront and honest!) insistence on phones is awful. On the other hand, when it comes to marketplace , I very much don't want to have a no-name random person with burner phone and fake account showing up to m…

> On the other hand, when it comes to marketplace, I very much don't want to have a no-name random person with burner phone and fake account showing up to my door to pick up synths or cameras or baby stuff :-/

That's an interesting perspective. Is it the 'burner' aspect that you don't want, or the lack of being able to look at someone's social media to determine if this is someone you want to do business with?

Re: Prostitution and Spam Killed Craigslist

#54

Post by 1123581321 »

cjbgkagh wrote: post #19

I used to offload my used stuff on Craigslist. I was swamped with people intentionally trying to waste my time only to be lowballed at the last minute. Out of principal I would always tell them to F* off. I used to take adds down after the first person who agreed to buy it, these days the ads stays up until the money is in my hand, and I insta block anyone who tries to negotiate. Often it’s still too much of a hassle…

Might want to look at how you're wording your ads. At least in my city, it's normal to ask "will you take $x" if the wording isn't clear that it's a firm price, and those offers usually result in a completed sale.

Re: Prostitution and Spam Killed Craigslist

#55

Post by enragedcacti »

mikece wrote: post #21

If any one thing killed Craigslist it was Facebook Marketplace. I used Craigslist to buy and sell things for years; I didn't even know about FB Marketplace until a friend recommended it. I swallowed my hatred of FB to give it a try and it was easily a far better experience than CL at the time. Of late I've noticed that it's become a haven for scammers which is a pretty reliable indicator of success (the scammers go w…

Yup, if anything is killing CL, its Facebook Marketplace which is sad because Facebook Marketplace is an awful user experience even before you consider the scamming and spamming.

- The search doesn't support basic boolean modifiers such as AND, OR, NOT, or quotation (try to find a "day bed" without getting flooded with "bed" results)

- their filter complications (e.g. vehicle year) are completely hardcoded (try searching for a motorcycle instead of a vehicle and you completely lose vehicle specific filtering)

- they untoggle "local pickup only" whenever possible to force you into seeing "ships to you" results

- They will deliver you an infinite number of results even when the number of relevant results is few, including in violation of the filters you set like distance or vehicle make.

- More relevant results will end up interspersed with very irrelevant ones, forcing you to keep scrolling to find what you are looking for.

All of these things coincidentally have the result of keeping you on the site longer and seeing more ads in opposition to the implied goal of connecting buyers and sellers effectively. This is particularly bad in my opinion because every failure of FB to connect a buyer and seller is both a potential purchase of a new piece of junk and a potential trashing of the old, still functional piece of junk.

FB Marketplace is an amazing example of social network effects and the power of social networks to use them to demolish competition with a (intentionally? imo, yes) worse version of the service.

Re: Prostitution and Spam Killed Craigslist

#56

Post by orev »

datpuz wrote: post #35
mikece wrote: post #21

If any one thing killed Craigslist it was Facebook Marketplace. I used Craigslist to buy and sell things for years; I didn't even know about FB Marketplace until a friend recommended it. I swallowed my hatred of FB to give it a try and it was easily a far better experience than CL at the time. Of late I've noticed that it's become a haven for scammers which is a pretty reliable indicator of success (the scammers go w…

I've been trying to sell a gaming laptop on FB Marketplace for local pickup (to avoid seller fees and shipping), and I've gotten about 20 scam attempts. Of the two legit interested buyers, one was a lowballer, and the other wanted me to trade it for a pair of headphones, an iPhone 8, and some shoes (wtf?).

When someone asks for a trade, my typical response is that I will trade them for cash, then they can use that cash to trade for the other thing they want. It usually makes the point of why money was invented.

Re: Prostitution and Spam Killed Craigslist

#57

Post by cjbgkagh »

1123581321 wrote: post #54
cjbgkagh wrote: post #19

I used to offload my used stuff on Craigslist. I was swamped with people intentionally trying to waste my time only to be lowballed at the last minute. Out of principal I would always tell them to F* off. I used to take adds down after the first person who agreed to buy it, these days the ads stays up until the money is in my hand, and I insta block anyone who tries to negotiate. Often it’s still too much of a hassle…

Might want to look at how you're wording your ads. At least in my city, it's normal to ask "will you take $x" if the wording isn't clear that it's a firm price, and those offers usually result in a completed sale.

I repeat that it’s final price and no-negotiation etc. This is stated in all communication. I have a good hourly rate so inconveniences quickly stop being worth my time. Lowballers don’t read. They’re professionally annoying for a living and there’s very little you can do about it if the marketplace allows it. Also Lowballers ask ridiculous prices, like 90% off an already 50% discount, they know what they’re doing and it must work for them often enough for them to do this seemingly full time.

Re: Prostitution and Spam Killed Craigslist

#58

Post by Bubble_Pop_22 »

Craigslist is one of those silent tech companies which are making bank (1+ bn in revenues) by flying under the radar and having very few employees.

Does anybody know of other websites like this, perhaps in other countries?

VK.com essentially gets by just by copying American social media companies functionality and offering them to people living in the former USSR.

Re: Prostitution and Spam Killed Craigslist

#59

Post by freemint »

datpuz wrote: post #35
mikece wrote: post #21

If any one thing killed Craigslist it was Facebook Marketplace. I used Craigslist to buy and sell things for years; I didn't even know about FB Marketplace until a friend recommended it. I swallowed my hatred of FB to give it a try and it was easily a far better experience than CL at the time. Of late I've noticed that it's become a haven for scammers which is a pretty reliable indicator of success (the scammers go w…

I've been trying to sell a gaming laptop on FB Marketplace for local pickup (to avoid seller fees and shipping), and I've gotten about 20 scam attempts. Of the two legit interested buyers, one was a lowballer, and the other wanted me to trade it for a pair of headphones, an iPhone 8, and some shoes (wtf?).

Trading might be a way to flip stolen goods.

Re: Prostitution and Spam Killed Craigslist

#60

Post by mywittyname »

ssharp wrote: post #26
mywittyname wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FB market place fucking suuucks. The few times I've posted stuff, I was inundated with phishing attacks. I was talking to a friend about it, and he actually fell for one of the attacks and had to spend a shit load of time getting his phone number back after they stole it. I actually found guidance from, I think, the FCC on what to do if you're the victim of this. Suggesting that this is a serious problem that FB isn'…

Since FB profiles are used in Marketplace, I've actually found it relatively easy to spot scammers or at least have a set of heuristics to judge whether or not a profile is legit.

Yeah, I quickly figured it out too, as the demographic of scam profiles doesn't match the demo I would expect to be purchasing the items I'm listing.

That being said, I don't like the idea of making posts in a place that I know paint me as a target for scammers. There's always the possibility of them using a unpatched exploit against me.

Post reply on HN