In a world where Free means *Conditions apply, this site looks like one without any. Sounds Good? Let’s see what it’s all about.
Sitelink - http://sfbay.craigslist.org/about/cities.html
Check out the home page. There is hardly any space wasted. A real no –nonsense site.
Company’s mission statement - Provide a trustworthy, efficient, relatively non-commercial place for folks to find all the basics in their local area.
About the Site: Meant initially for friends, it gradually turns out to be the most visited ad site for anything under the sun. More like an online version of Mad ads or Free ads. Right now the company boasts of doing the same for most c
ountries including India. So the next time if you meet someone who has bought or sold through Craigslist, don’t be surprised.
A humane site: I find the missed connections quite touching. Very often we might have come across our dream gal or guy. But then, we fail to express ourselves in front. This site provides a relief for such shy ones. I find it very touching especially in this commercial world. Read a few missed connections. You might actually be reliving your hopes. ;-P
A real no-nonsense site: You can find everything, meaning everything at this site. Posting your ad is free. The site is meant to be broker free, (which brokers have twisted to serve their purpose, check out the real estate ads under any city) so that you can initiate contact with the owners directly. The site allows you to post ads for anything you intend to sell without any charges. Neither do buyers pay any charges. People find jobs, rooms for rent, pets, furniture and clothes, lovers, just anything under the sun from A to Z.
About the site owner: It first started in 95 by Craig Newmark, now has a staff of 21 members. Most visited by people looking for help wanted, automobile and real estate ads. (current CEO is Jim) They charge businesses below-market rates for help wanted ads in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, and for broker apartment listings in NYC. If you are an individual seeking help for your home, no rates are applicable. The same for owned or rented houses if posted by an individual. This was started more due to the fact that brokers were misusing the site.
Relevant Comments from another site” The effect of the network on our society is hard to gauge, but it’s difficult to find anyone in the tech sector or in the nation’s biggest cities that hasn’t unloaded an old couch or found a roommate on this site.“ All thanks due to the CEO who’s also the chief respondent as customer executive for customer complaints/queries.
Newspapers love to hate this site since they once had the huge number of ads hosted at this site. That is verified by the latest statistics for the site. Each month the site generates about 4 billion page views from a little more than 10 million users, making it the seventh most popular site on the Internet in terms of page views. (trailing behind yahoo, aol, microsoft, google, ebay, and news corp. Funny that I had to request for the site to be added to MS’s list!) Awesome? You bet!!!
With all the above, guess why I am highlighting this site today? - A very specific reason. I came across this true story. If you have heard of the story in which two people discuss about a dead rat being a good business proposition. A guy hears the discussion and picks up the dead rat to turn it into his profitable business/livelihood. Except here, the story gets real for Kyle using Craigs list. Of course he would still have made his flat I guess, but it’s easier here (without charges such as ebay’s) than I thought.
The story - (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13804920/wid/11915829/)
Kyle MacDonald, a young Montreal man used the internet to trade up a paper clip for a house. One year ago, the 26-year-old blogger from Montreal set out to barter one red paper clip for something and that thing for something else, over and over again until he had a house!
In between the trades included a pen, a ceramic knob, a camping stove, a generator, a beer keg and Budweiser sign, a snowmobile, a trip to the Canadian Rockies, a supply truck and a recording contract. Next, in April, he got himself really close, obtaining a year’s rent in Phoenix. Seemingly disregarding good economic sense, MacDonald traded the year’s rent for an afternoon with rocker Alice Cooper. (MacDonald’s response: "Alice Cooper is a gold mine of awesomeness and fun.") …
Well, finally he lands with a house (worth 50000 Canadian $). Interesting twist to that childhood story of the dead rat...? The story is true, though unrelated. But it reeks of innovativeness and entrepreneurship, so I thought I’d highlight it too…