Craigslist get’s a bad wrap at times because of the propensity for it to be abused and misused. While it’s true that the utmost of care should be taken when doing business on a website that’s free to use, hard to monitor and impossible to screen…we need not run away from it in fear.
Craigslist offers a valuable service! I found my apartment on Craigslist, have gotten business from Craigslist, most recently I’ve had a successful exchange of goods for service (my junk for someone’s service of hauling it away) and have walked way from many win/win situations that involved this lovely site.
If you are willing to exercise some basic rules of safety and carefulness (notice I didn’t say common sense), you too can get great benefit out of Craigslist.
Accept that there are a lot of scammers hanging out on Craigslist!
You know how they say if it seems too good to be true, it probably is? They are right, they’ve always been right and this medium is no different than any other….so stop tricking yourself into thinking otherwise!!!! No one posting on craigslist is going to make you rich overnight if you just wire them $39.99 or let them deposit something into your account. I mean seriously, what legitimate business person would even do that??????? Don’t send people money for items that you can’t see first. If you are really gonna buy an item from someone, contact them and make a plan to meet BEFORE you give them any money at all.
Accept that there are a lot of spammers hanging out on Craigslist!
Do yourself a favor and don’t post personal info. in your listing. Use the anonymous feature that Craigslist offers to shield your email from view. You will still get some spam, but it’ll only be until your post expires. If you post your email, the spammers will have it forever. Of course, if you are posting a business service it makes good sense to post your website but I’d still leave the email out of the listing to avoid those web crawling email grabbers.
If you decide to meet someone to see an apartment or interview for a job, etc. don’t go alone & be sure it’s at a public place & legit company.
I see so many postings on Craigslist for people looking for models, singers and movie extras. I have no idea how legit those ads are, but I know that I’d never go to an unknown or uninvestigated place for such a thing. Call first, get details. Check out the company on the Internet. If you can’t find multiple sources of contact and multiple people at a reputable place of business….you shouldn’t seek to do business with them. When I found my apartment, I called and talked to the property managers/ owners numerous times before visiting any property. I knew the communities already and scoped them out before the date of visiting the apartment. And generally, I felt better when the person I was dealing with was a lady…even if that seems a little sexist. However, if the men were prop. Managers with legit companies and I could see them on the company website I wouldn’t have been leary of visiting the property at all. Of course, there is no single rule that would ensure legitimacy….but employing a number of screening tactics will certainly give you a feel for who you are dealing with. And if ever you get an uneasy feeling….don’t fight it. Pass the deal up and move on to something else.

If we can approach Craigslist with a little skepticism and carefulness, we can use it and get great benefit out of the service. At least I do!!