I still use CL frequently. I actually have a few search terms I literally search every day. I have got SO MANY amazing deals because of this. Yeah, you have to be patient, but stuff does come up. I have both bought and sold over CL and never once been scammed, but then again I do my due diligence and trust my gut. Anyway, one of the best things about it is that it has stayed the same and you know what to expect. No insane UI overhaul that makes it all "latest trend", no scummy user-exploitation dark patterns (that I've noticed), no animated video ads covering 1/3 of the screen... Yeah, it has some flaws, but for me it's still the optimal "local buy/sell" service.
Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years
101–110 of 335 posts
Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years
#102* I far, far, far prefer Craigslist interface to anything else in that space. It's clear and focused Its search engine too - I get things I search for in the area I search for. For me, Kijiji and Facebook marketplace are awful UI, awful distractions, and give me 10,000 "suggested" or "fuzzy searched" things in random order, suppressing things I'm actually looking for. And I've completely given up on eBay over last de…
you gotta search other locales to find what you want. search nashville craigslist for guitars, search rural areas for agricultural equipment, search lake areas for boats, etc
Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
A local media company runs a "classifieds" on their online site. It dominates locally. Craigslist has been worthless for ages here because of it. However, Facebook Marketplace seems to be slowly gaining traction. Which I hate for all the reasons you mention. I dread the day it takes over :(
Facebook Marketplace has completely taken over in most parts of the US. It sucks.
Yeah, unfortunately the main reason I’m stuck on FB is its Marketplace in my area.
Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years
#104An aged but still relevant article - "Increase your conversion rate by making your site ugly" is a good parallel read particularly with regard to accessibility https://www.conversionvoodoo.com/blog/2010/04/increase-your-...
I feel like Nilay Patel and the designers at The Verge take this article as their mantra...
Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years
#105It's because it prints money. Is just a straight money printing machine. Of all the Golden Goose's, it's best to just leave it alone and let it do it's thing.
Article says it has "10s" of employees. They are just maintaining the money printer.
Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years
#106I hate FB Marketplace.
It's actively hostile to buyers.
Like, try to find a "kinda nice" bicycle. You can't find the bicycle category (though it does exist as a sub-group of Sporting Goods), you can't just say "show me bikes" unless you hack the URL, you can search for the word "bicycle" but for some reason people selling a "Specialized Rockhopper" think you know it's a bicycle so don't use that word.
Oh, and when selling, they just suggest random categories instead of letting you choose from their heirarchy. So you get bicycles in Hobbies. You get them in Sporting Goods. You get them in Bicycles. But... You can't search for them by type.
That's not even complaining about the lack of attributes, like "type=BMX" or "type=Mountain" or "Size=Large" or "Frame Material=Carbon Fiber"... all of which are in Craigslist and eBay.
And! when searching, they actively work to inject ebay-like selling (non-local) into the mix by resetting my distance preferences every time I change the search. "Find bicycles" -> "Find bicycles in 30 miles" -> "Find 'Specialized Rockhopper'" -> Why am I getting "Ships To You" results?! Why am I getting non-bicycle results?! Oh. They reset my distance again.
^-- BTW they do this because they actually make money when the sale happens through FB. If you just buy it in-person with cash they don't get a cut. Misaligned incentives, as they say.
And! even if I do find the bicycle category, if narrow the category by searching with a word in there, like "Rockhopper" it takes me out of the bicycle category to do the search!
G. A. R. B. A. G. E.
Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
Facebook Marketplace seems to have all but killed it, here. You have to check Facebook anyway because schools, HOAs, businesses, even local governments often treat it as their primary outlet for information, as in, stuff gets posted there first, and sometimes only there. Though IG is taking over some of that (but of course that's still Facebook) Luckily my wife does that, so I can get away without having an account,…
I don't know why anyone would want to attach their name and everything to stuff they are selling.
It helps buyers to know who the seller is. FB suffers from bot sellers and scams. I check the person’s profile before proceeding and it gives me a sense of confidence in my purchase/sale.
Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years
#108I rent a couple of properties out in the bay area and up until this year I've always relied on craigslist to get new tenants, but this year we tried out Zillow and we got tons of applicants, and the whole application process including vetting and setting up a lease and everything was done through Zillow. On the other hand someone noticed our Zillow listing and created a fraudulent listing of my property on Craigslist…
Thanks for sharing. I’m about to rent out a house so this helps a lot. One thing I don’t get is why someone else would copy your listing? Do they somehow get a slice of the pie if a respondent rents?
I don't think we ever had break ins, but in our small house near the beach in San Diego, my wife and I regularly had to break it to people that they were not moving in next morning/weekend/week/month, and that they had been scammed. Don't know how much they were paying in.
Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years
#109It's because it prints money. Is just a straight money printing machine. Of all the Golden Goose's, it's best to just leave it alone and let it do it's thing.
Facebook prints money too but that didn’t stop them from turning the clean perfect interface they had in 2010 into the steaming pile of eggs it is now.
It's because Facebook has to constantly "innovate" to raise the share price. I'm sure Craigslist makes some decent income for it's owners and can pay it's bills every month but it's never going to explode in growth. They don't need new investors constantly because they don't do anything new. Their whole site is basically LAMP except for Perl instead of PHP. The latest part of their tech stack is a mail server that's 10 years old.
Re: Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years
#110It's because it prints money. Is just a straight money printing machine. Of all the Golden Goose's, it's best to just leave it alone and let it do it's thing.
Facebook prints money too but that didn’t stop them from turning the clean perfect interface they had in 2010 into the steaming pile of eggs it is now.
I think this is intentional. The more you scroll their ugly interface to find what you are looking for, the more ads you see.