# What do you think about Craigs List?



## kclandscaper (Mar 29, 2011)

Hello all - I got slammed pretty hard today by just suggesting that you need to be careful with CL advertising. This goes for the client too. To me that place is like the Internet's Wild West, where you can meet the best and worst people, and everything in between. I think you need to be VERY careful on CL - what do you think?


----------



## BACKWOODS (Sep 10, 2007)

I sold a set of wheels of an old truck yesterday on CL. I had about 8 scam emails in the 3 days I had the item listed. As far as getting work from CL, you will get the clients looking for damn near a freebie.


----------



## Framer53 (Feb 23, 2008)

BACKWOODS said:


> I sold a set of wheels of an old truck yesterday on CL. I had about 8 scam emails in the 3 days I had the item listed. As far as getting work from CL, you will get the clients looking for damn near a freebie.


I get all kinds of responses on CL. Some very good some not so good.

For the price everyone should be using it. I have found that I have to qualify people as I won't go to places where price is the over riding factor in discussion.

I have found it works, most of the time. But like every thing else, it is place specific.


----------



## quality ground (Mar 28, 2011)

It is free advertising can not beat that. Can weed out the cheap people pretty easy. Over the years we have picked up a few good clients


----------



## Nail Ace (May 15, 2009)

Seems okay for cities and larger towns of 100,000 or more.


----------



## SAW.co (Jan 2, 2011)

I advertise on C/L about once a month I've gotten a few calls but mostly spam.
But its free so I have nothing to loose. 
Yesterday C/L sends me an email stating that my post was flagged for removal this is a first I'm not sure why I think maybe the competition is trying to off me? I keep my ads simple & to the point. Here is the one they are going to remove do you see any thing wrong with this add?

If your home or property has been damaged from this winters harsh storms we are here to help. 
I can fix anything from your deck to your roof. cal today for a free estimate. 
SAW Co. construction 
owner, Steven Wilson. 
phone# (209) 890-7042


----------



## BigArmindo88 (Mar 9, 2011)

I used CL about twice a week but mostly I use the local newspaper.Compare for CL and my ad in the local newspaper,I get more calls from CL.I try not to over post to much cuz I think it makes you look like you need business real badly.I have gotten few spam calls but I don't answer the phone if its not a local number.


----------



## GrayM (Apr 4, 2010)

I don't know about it being dangerous, but I haven't had much luck with craigslist. I've put out a few ads, and haven't gotten a single call, or email. Just spam. It's free through, so why not?


----------



## Framer53 (Feb 23, 2008)

SAW.co said:


> I advertise on C/L about once a month I've gotten a few calls but mostly spam.
> But its free so I have nothing to loose.
> Yesterday C/L sends me an email stating that my post was flagged for removal this is a first I'm not sure why I think maybe the competition is trying to off me? I keep my ads simple & to the point. Here is the one they are going to remove do you see any thing wrong with this add?
> 
> ...


our competition at work. Has happened to me. I wrote email to CL and it stopped.


----------



## Acres (Feb 12, 2011)

selling and buying Absolutely, work? not so much. If your good at finding deals and sorting out the good stuff from junk, then CL can be one of the best sites..


----------



## Darwin (Apr 7, 2009)

kclandscaper said:


> Hello all - I got slammed pretty hard today by just suggesting that you need to be careful with CL advertising. This goes for the client too. To me that place is like the Internet's Wild West, where you can meet the best and worst people, and everything in between. I think you need to be VERY careful on CL - what do you think?


If you like spam with no cheese, then its a great place to be for a small appetite.


----------



## CarrPainting (Jun 29, 2010)

As a new business, I looked at CL. however after the 3rd person expecting me to bend over backward and work for peanuts in the ghetto, I gave up. 90% of my business now comes from referrals, advertisements on my truck, and flyers. 

Selling on CL is also risky as well. Especially if you have alot of tool in your shop.


----------



## ohiohomedoctor (Dec 26, 2010)

CL is pathetic. Pathetic people searching for pathetic things. I wish Facebook and CL would marry each other and retire.

http://www.ohiohomedoctorremodeling.com


----------



## tedanderson (May 19, 2010)

I have had some pretty good results from using Craigslist but I follow a few rules for success:

1. When I place an ad, I will use the "Hide my Email Address" function and then leave a phone number, a URL to my landing page or a URL to a Youtube video with my info. It's easy to spam an email address. It takes more courage to call a live body so I get serious callers whether they are good, bad, or otherwise useless. 

2. I place no more than one ad every 48 hours. I am also careful to pay attention to the time zones as CL operates on Pacific time.

3. I bought a pre-paid cell phone from Walmart for $15 and it came pre-loaded with $10 of airtime. This is a good barrier just so my number will not end up on someone's telemarketing list. And then when I get legitimate leads, I'll call back on my business line.

I've also had some other successes. I needed to help a friend of mine liquidate his possessions in his second vacation home that he needed to sell. We listed his house as having an evening yard/moving sale. All we did was list the address, the days, and the times that this would take place. In 2 days we sold everything down to the bare walls. :clap: But surprisingly, there was no riff-raff and the people who came through appeared to be decent people looking for some good deals. 

So while I don't argue the fact that you can and will get some real bottom feeders out of CL, I learned that most of the people who come off of that site are just like you and me.


----------



## NYCB (Sep 20, 2010)

I put an add up every few months and it always gets me a job to do. Typically I get about 3 scams, 4 dead ends and 1 positive job lead each time. I hide my email and make sure they give me their number so I can call them. No number no contact.

I like to think of it like fishing, get a snag here and there and finally land one. Even if it isn't anything great it gives me a few days to make some money.


----------



## RhodesHardwood (Jun 28, 2010)

Free advertising is nice. But the clients it will get you seem like they are looking for a deal.


----------



## BRAVI (Jun 3, 2010)

ohiohomedoctor said:


> CL is pathetic. Pathetic people searching for pathetic things. I wish Facebook and CL would marry each other and retire.
> 
> http://www.ohiohomedoctorremodeling.com


:laughing: Epic post


I agree they are people looking for the best price and that only.


----------



## Brickie (Jun 15, 2006)

tedanderson said:


> So while I don't argue the fact that you can and will get some real bottom feeders out of CL, I learned that most of the people who come off of that site are just like you and me.


If you have an ad in the phone book, newspaper, etc., you'll get your share of bottom feeders/freaks as well.  

It's all in how one screens/pre-qualifies potential clients. We've had very good results with CL:thumbsup:


----------



## BigArmindo88 (Mar 9, 2011)

I use C.L all the time,its free and easy.So far I really haven't had any scam calls maybe 1 or 2 since I been posting on C.L and that be going on for months now.I post a ad twice a week and get lot of calls from real customers.You do need to be careful sometimes but I so far didn't have any issues.Only one bad thing about it,if you piss off a customer or a customer didn't like your work,they can post a bad mouth comment about you.It haven't happen to me but I had seen that many times before.


----------



## Acres (Feb 12, 2011)

> CL is pathetic. Pathetic people searching for pathetic things. I wish Facebook and CL would marry each other and retire.


So where would you go to sell say, your plow or tools.. You still use The Newspaper, don't you..:w00t:


----------



## gastek (Mar 29, 2011)

I use several accounts to post to CL and I get good calls and BS calls. Like anything, you take the good with the bad. But like many others here have posted, it's free! Many times also when I do a google search I will see a CL posting come up so that is even more ad time in front of people and they didn't even go to CL to look for what it is they were looking for.

Again, it's free!


----------



## m_shawry (Apr 25, 2011)

Haven't tried Craigs list? Does anyone know if its good for SEO?


----------



## brooklynite (Nov 12, 2009)

BigArmindo88 said:


> I used CL about twice a week but mostly I use the local newspaper.Compare for CL and my ad in the local newspaper,I get more calls from CL.I try not to over post to much cuz I think it makes you look like you need business real badly.I have gotten few spam calls but I don't answer the phone if its not a local number.


I just finished a job for a guy with an out of state number yesterday who called me from Craigslist. He has not changed his New York number in 10 years since he moved back to CA. Also a lot of people use Google Voice to call you so they will have area codes you dont know but they are living 1 mile away sometimes.


----------



## brooklynite (Nov 12, 2009)

m_shawry said:


> Haven't tried Craigs list? Does anyone know if its good for SEO?


Since the ads last only a week its not good for SEO. You need permanent links.


----------



## DSMyrtle (Dec 5, 2010)

I use it often but I allways put wording in my ad that says something along the lines of "I WILL NOT BE THE LOWEST PRICE, I WILL BE HONEST AND FAIR" I have landed a few nice little projects to use as the 2-5 day fillers between larger jobs. I personally have had more good than bad come from it..and like everyone is saying..you cant go too wrong with free advertising you NEVER know who your gunna meet and what its going to lead to.


----------



## AJAX (Sep 12, 2009)

Darwin said:


> If you like spam with no cheese, then its a great place to be for a small appetite.





ohiohomedoctor said:


> CL is pathetic. Pathetic people searching for pathetic things. I wish Facebook and CL would marry each other and retire.


:laughing::laughing::clap:


----------



## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

ive done a roof sided a house now in the middle of building a 30 x 50 pole barn and am waiting for the permit to go through on a small 1400 sqft house that will start in a few weeks because of cl and thats just since the snow melted in the last few weeks. i also have a few more lined up to do in the next week weeks before i build. i think its more then worth the money and the 10 mins i spend on there a day.

well of to work. stay safe guys


----------

