If you’re under 30 and appreciate the value of a dollar, chances are that you’ve used Craigslist. Started by a lonely San Franciscan in 1995 as a way to connect people, Craigslist has since become the web’s #1 destination for classified ads. The site welcomes a staggering 200 million+ visitors per month, connecting college kids to smelly couches in 70 countries.
I’ve been on Craigslist since 2005 when I began buying and selling used airsoft equipment for gas money in high school. And while I love Craigslist for supplying me with phones and furniture throughout college, as an adult, I’ve broken up with Craigslist (and you should, too).
What’s Ahead:
11 superior, safer alternatives to Craigslist
There are a number of superior marketplaces you can shop through, rather than waste your time (and hard-earned money) on Craigslist.
1. Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace is my #1 overall Craigslist replacement. You’ll find listings for electronics, furniture, temp gigs, home rentals, and more. Buyers and sellers can communicate and pay instantly through Facebook Messenger and are required to use their real profiles. As a result, Facebook Marketplace has significantly fewer scammers and sketchy listings.
Plus, to encourage capitalism, Facebook will occasionally offer to ship your sold items for free.
I bought my Kindle, sold my Xbox, and have done dozens of more sales through Facebook Marketplace and have only had positive experiences. Overall, it feels safer, kinder, and better than Craigslist.
2. eBay
Tesla probably wouldn’t exist without eBay, which bought Musk-led PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion.
Fun facts aside, eBay set an example for online classifieds that I wish Craigslist had followed. The classic auction site has gracefully evolved into a veritable global bazaar where you can purchase pretty much anything from anyone in any country.
3D printed car parts from China? Carpets from Turkey? Rare collectibles from Iowa? They’re all on eBay, quickly accessible through a slick interface with deep search functions. Plus, seller reputation is everything on eBay, so most will work with you to make things right if you run into a problem.
3. Realtor.com
Realtor and Craigslist will share a lot of the same listings for housing and rentals, but I prefer browsing on Realtor because it has a better UI and is pretty much void of sketchy listings. Plus, listings themselves are more thorough, with photos, floor plans, and visiting hours.
Realtor also allows you to connect with real estate agents and buyers and sellers in an easier, safer way. So, whether you’re looking for an apartment rental or you’re full-on buying your first home, stick with reputable marketplaces like Realtor.
4. Upwork
If you’re looking to hire or sell your services for gig work, especially for remote opportunities, Upwork is your friend.
Its #1 advantage over Craigslist is that it keeps funds in an escrow, so you’re less likely to get ripped off as either the buyer or seller. Plus, its UI is less clunky and just feels better.
5. Nextdoor
Nextdoor is a neighborhood-specific marketplace and message board. You can filter to include households within roughly one, three, and five miles, and even though that network consists of thousands of strangers, Nextdoor still feels more collaborative than Craigslist or even Facebook Marketplace.
Nextdoor’s For Sale & Free section reflects this friendly vibe. Folks frequently list items for free or nearly free, simply looking to give them away to someone in their area. It’s a great place to find quality furniture, exercise equipment, instruments, and more and purchase them without having to travel anywhere unsafe or unfamiliar.
6. Habitat ReStore
Finally, if you’re shopping for appliances, furniture, or home improvement supplies, take a peek in your local Habitat ReStore before heading to Lowe’s or Craigslist. A hybrid of Goodwill and Home Depot, the ReStore sells surplus supplies and donations from Habitat for Humanity for a tiny fraction of retail. Best of all, the proceeds support future Habitat houses!
For new homeowners especially, the Habitat ReStore is a must-visit. Even if you leave with just a window and a sink, you’ve already saved hundreds and supported a 501(c)(3) in the process.
7. Goodwill Finds and Shop Goodwill
Goodwill has wisened to the fact that it receives a high volume of valuable goods, from designer clothes to jewelry to rare collectibles. So now, to generate more cash for the cause, it appraises these goods and lists them online for prices much closer to their true market value.
Its two main outlets are ShopGoodwill.com, which is an auction site, and GoodwillFinds.com, which lists items at a flat price like a traditional store. Prices are similar to what you might see on eBay, with the occasional “treasure” that was misappraised or didn’t receive enough bids.
8. Freecycle
Freecycle is like Craigslist for free stuff. It’s a grassroots, nonprofit organization with chapters for most towns and cities, and since it’s moderated by local volunteers, the quality control tends to be pretty tight — no scams or small business spam.
For the average young person, Freecycle will be more helpful for getting rid of stuff than for finding stuff. If you don’t want to lug your old mirror or mattress spring to Goodwill, you can post it there and someone will likely come and grab it within 24 hours.
9. Mercari
Mercari is like a standalone alternative to Facebook Marketplace. Sellers (mostly normal folks, not businesses) list new or gently-used items for sale and buyers can make offers or simply buy them outright.
Like Facebook Marketplace, Mercari has buyer protections in place to improve shopper confidence and also has a filter for local deals so you can save on shipping. Mercari’s UI is excellent, making for a breezy shopping experience, and the selection for all types of goods tends to be surprisingly strong.
10. Etsy
For the uninitiated, Etsy is the Amazon of custom or homemade goods. You can order personalized frames, custom jewelry, and even Renaissance-style watercolors of Shrek.
Overall, it’s a far superior alternative to Craigslist and even Amazon for special gifts and home decor — including for those on a strict budget. For example, I got my partner Holly a silver necklace with an inside joke laser-etched on it for just $35, and she melted. I also got my outdoorsy friends a wooden frame with their anniversary hand carved, eliciting a similar response.
11. Cars & Bids
Finally, if you’re looking to buy or sell a “cool” car but don’t want to get scammed on Craigslist, consider Cars and Bids.
The brainchild of automotive YouTuber Doug Demuro, Cars & Bids is like eBay Motors but only for sports, luxury, quirky, and otherwise desirable cars from the modern era. The selection may be limited, but it’s also extremely well-curated, so buyers can shop for their next cool car with confidence.
That said, if you’re just looking to sell your “normal” car, check out my feature: The 5 best (and easiest!) ways to sell your car.
5 reasons to stop using Craigslist
Craigslist founder, Craig Newmark, is a nice guy, but he’s not much of a leader (his words, not mine). And he’s a strong believer in Dunbar’s Number, a philosophy which states that humans can only maintain meaningful social relationships with a limited number of people. So to ensure team cohesion, he capped Craigslist at just 50 employees.
By contrast, Zillow and eBay employ over 8,000 and 10,000 people, respectively.
50 employees just isn’t enough to manage a site with over 200 million visitors per month, as evidenced by Craigslist’s persistent rates of scams, fake listings, and crime.
So while Craiglist maintains a generous Glassdoor score, its users suffer greatly from the lack of innovation, curation, safety, buyer protection, and support that its competitors offer.
Here are five good reasons to stop using Craigslist (among many):
1. It’s potentially dangerous
Each time a string of robberies (or worse) is linked back to Craigslist, the company is quick to defend itself. Craigslist reiterates that statistically speaking, for every Craigslist Killer there are millions of normal transactions.
True, but Northeastern University criminologist Jack Levin points out that Craigslist is still an ideal hunting ground for two reasons:
- Users can operate in complete anonymity, never revealing their name, phone number, or any traceable information.
- Craigslist offers an ideal platform for premeditated crimes. For example, a “seller” once listed a $1,000 phone for $800, and simply robbed a prospective buyer of his cash upon arrival.
While the likelihood of you getting robbed during a Craigslist deal may be statistically low, chances of foul play still seem higher than on a competing site with basic buyer protection.
2. It’s rife with scams, fraud, and phishing
You’re far more likely to be scammed than robbed courtesy of Craigslist. Craigslist scams are so common that there are .gov pages ranking them.
The most common scams are fake housing rentals, where users are more likely to make a virtual down payment and share critical personal information with a “realtor.”
3. It’s choked with small business ads
Craigslist should be a place where you can go online and purchase a gently-used phone or couch from a neighbor. Instead, it’s become bloated with ads for pawn shops, used car dealers, and more.
As evidenced by the screenshot, there’s nothing preventing these businesses from posting multiple times in a row, nor is there any safeguard vetting their legitimacy.
Sure you can just ignore them, but competitors handle sketchy solicitors much better. Both eBay and Facebook Marketplace have built-in filters for C2C listings versus B2C listings, creating a much cleaner browsing experience.
Speaking of browsing experience…
4. Its UI is older than Post Malone
50 employees means that you can’t really keep up with the Joneses in the interface department. Craigslist looks like an HTML-based page from the 90s because it is; the site hasn’t experienced an overhaul since Sophie Turner was born.
You could say that Craigslist exemplifies the “if it ain’t broke” philosophy, and that’s fair. The site functions at a basic level just fine.
However, when you grow accustomed to features like Facebook Marketplace’s transparency and instant messaging, and eBay’s buyer protection and seller reviews, Craigslist begins to feel less quaint and simply outdated.
5. There are much better alternatives
Craigslist reminds me of Coolest: a Kickstarter that grew so popular that it failed.
Craigslist hasn’t failed in the traditional sense, but it’s fallen behind competitors in usability, curation, and most critically, safety.
Summary
Craigslist started with a noble purpose but has gotten too big for its britches. Its skeleton crew of 50 employees simply can’t provide much-needed updates to usability, curation, and most notably, safety for its millions of users.
Thankfully, if you’re looking to buy and sell online, superior alternatives exist.
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