It seems like every time I am looking to buy something someone asks, "Have you checked Craigslist?" Well, let’s see, I’ve got my grocery list, my to do list, and don’t forget about the naughty and nice list, but Craigslist?  Who is Craig and what exactly is on his list? 

"Craig" is Craig Newmark and in 1995 he started an on line list of local events that has grown into an on line, community, of classified ads and forums.  He developed this list to offer people the opportunity to find jobs, housing, goods and services, dates, advice, information, and just about anything else all for free.  This is exactly what he’s done.  The only fee charged is for job postings but otherwise you can advertise your home for rent, your toys to sell, and even yourself all at no charge. Craig even has his own blog.

Vincent Lauria just made the move from New York to the Bay area and is taking advantage of the 12 million new classified ads that are posted every month, to "crawl" the Craigslist in his area for local startups. Finding job listings is fairly easy because their classified ads and forums are categorized by city in all of the 50 states and in over 50 countries.

How does Craigslist compare to Ebay? They are similar in the fact that buyers and sellers are coming together to trade goods and services. But whereas Ebay is like an online garage sale with fees for items listed, Craigslist is more of an on line bulletin board in which items are posted for free. Both sites are attracting consumers from all over the world to buy and sell their wares but Craigslist is the powerhouse when it comes to city specific classifieds. 

As with any on line marketplace, however, you do need to be careful; the Hanscom Family knows that and Craigslist does provide some common sense rules for avoiding scams and fraud. It is a user friendly system, that if used correctly, can offer an extreme amount of convenience to any shopper. What a wonderful tool for a homeowner looking to buy, sell, rent and/or furnish a home.

So, Craig is a very busy guy with a very big list, a lot like Santa. But whereas Santa’s list is used only once a year, more than 15 million people are using Craigslist every month, because it provides a trustworthy, efficient, relatively non-commercial place to find all the basics in their local area.