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Introduction to Craigslist

What is Craigslist? Craigslist is a massive international classifieds website. It’s very much like the classifieds section in a newspaper except it’s free, you can use photos, and it reaches an audience of millions of people in minutes. It also includes discussion forums and a local events calendar. How can you use Craigslist? All you need to start is an email address. You can use Craigslist to buy and sell merchandise, look for a job, look for things happening in your area, find an apartment, open a discussion, etc. History Craigslist was started by a software engineer named Craig Newmark in 1993, as a way to let people know about events happening in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. To his surprise people quickly began using the service for things other than events, like posting jobs and selling things. Through word of mouth the number of subscribers to the site exploded and in 1999 it expanded to Boston. Later that same year Craigslist incorporated, simultaneously expanding into nine major U.S cities. The service continued its amazing growth and in 2003 began to go global. In 2004 Ebay was impressed and concerned enough to buy a 25% stake in the company. Today Craigslist receives over nine billion page views per month and it is the ninth most visited website in the United States. Newmark remains active as an employee and major shareholder; his primary focus today is keeping Craigslist free of spammers and scammers. Getting to Craigslist

1) Open up Internet Explorer by clicking on the 2) Type www.craigslist.com into your internet browser 3) Select your state and city. If your city isn’t listed, please select the city closest to you.

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The Homepage The homepage can seem a bit intimidating at first glance but it’s really pretty self-explanatory and well laid out if you take a few minutes with it. This page is particular to the Ann Arbor area. Items for sale, personals, services, housing, jobs, an events calendar, discussion forums, even a place to post your resume, all of this will be specific to Ann Arbor and surrounding communities. If you live in South Lyon, you will probably want to use this page or the page for the Detroit Metro area.

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Replying to a Craigslist Post To get a feel for how this all works, we are going to shop for a chair. Click on “Furniture” under the “For Sale” heading and we should arrive at a screen that looks like this:

Here is a listing of all the furniture available on Craigslist in Ann Arbor and surrounding areas starting with the most recently posted item. At the top of this screen we can enter parameters like type of furniture and price range to narrow our search down. If we decide we like the looks of the item and we want to contact the seller, our next step is to click on the blue link next to the “Reply to” field. This will automatically open your email program and you’re ready to type a note. Because you’re not on your home machine this won’t work, but because most people use a webmail account for Craigslist anyway, you would simply highlight and copy the address then navigate to your webmail account and paste it into the address field. You could also write down the address and type it into the “to” field of your email. *** Helpful Safety Tip #1: To protect your privacy and for your own safety, you may want to use an email address other than your personal email to communicate with people on Craigslist. You can easily set up a second email account just to use for this purpose.

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Creating an Account You will need to create a Craigslist account in order to post your own classified ad. To create an account, all you need is an email address. Click on the link that says “My Account”

Click on the link that says “Sign up for an account”

Enter your email address and complete the word verification.

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You’ll need to check your email for an email from Craigslist. Click the link provided in the email to finish creating your account.

The link will take you to a page that will ask you to create a password. Create a strong password using any combination of 6 letters and numbers. Be sure to remember this password so you can log in!

Once you create a password and click the “Submit” button, you will be directed to the Craigslist terms of use.

Click the box that says “I ACCEPT” *** You may be asked to complete a phone verification in order to activate your account. If so, enter the phone number in the spaces provided, and select whether you would like to receive an account activation code via voice or text message. Once you receive the code, enter it in the space provided on the next screen.

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If you are not asked to complete the phone verification step, you will automatically be directed to your account which will look like this:

Creating a Classified Ad Now let’s create a post of our own. Return to the main “Ann Arbor” page and in the upper left corner just below the Craigslist title is the “Post to Classifieds” link.

Click this and then click the “For Sale” link and the type of item you want to sell. In this example, we are going to be selling a dresser, so we are going to choose the “Furniture – by owner” link.

This is the page where we can compose our classified. Posting Title First we need to create a title for the post. It should contain as much information as possible to catch the buyer’s eye. Something Like This: Large Blonde Wood Dresser Like NEW! $90 OBO Price Then add our asking price. Location We can add a specific location. It is always good to list the city, that way potential buyers will know how far they will need to travel Helpful Safety Tip #2: Never list your specific street address.

Reply To I always recommend using the “Anonymize” feature. This will protect your privacy by hiding your actual email address because it creates a generic Craigslist email address. This is what the buyer will see. Unfortunately this anonymous address only works for the initial contact, as soon as you reply to someone’s inquiry your real email address is exposed, hence the need for a dummy address.

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Product Description This is one of the great things about Craigslist, you can be as descriptive as you want to be and not have to worry about ad size, charges, or per-letter fees. Helpful Hint #3: You want to be descriptive, but not wordy. Craigslist shoppers want to know the most important things about your item, they don’t want to read a novel. Example: Beautiful Blonde Wood Dresser $90 or best offer - must sell! *34in tall x 64in long x 16in deep *6 drawers 13x16 *1 cabinet with shelf *Silver knobs and handle *Smoke-free household *Clean with minor wear Buyer must pick up. Cash only.

Add/Edit Images Next we will add a photo to our ad, at the bottom of the screen click the “add/edit images” button and we see this

screen. * Click “browse” on the upper left box * Find our image and hit “ok” We can add up to four photos here

Click “continue” and we arrive at a preview of our post and a chance to make any changes we want to make.

Click “continue,” and now we arrive at the point that seems to give people the most trouble, the “SpamGuard” device. This step, while very annoying, is absolutely necessary, without it a site like this would be brought to a grinding halt in no time.

Before our post can be published on Craigslist, you must go to your email account and read the message Craigslist sends you. This message contains some important information advising us that our post will expire in 30 days and that we still have an opportunity to fine tune the ad before it’s published to the site. Once you click on the link, your post will be published!

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Staying Safe One of the major problems confronting Craigslist users is fraudulent activity. It won’t take you long before you run into someone trying to separate you from your money illegally. It’s one of the costs of operating a website with so little regulation. The best way to protect yourself is to read the FAQ on the main page about scams and fraud. Craigslist Safety Basics 1. Use the buddy system: Always have someone with you when you meet with potential buyers and sellers. And don't have your kids with you when you conduct Craigslist business. 2. Keep it public: As often as possible, meet your potential buyer or seller in a busy, public location during the day. 3. Don't give out your address: Unless you're advertising a garage sale or place of business. Don't give out your address unless you absolutely have to. 4. Only deal locally with folks you can meet in person 5. Never wire finds via Western Union or Moneygram 6. Fake Cashiers Checks & money orders are common, and banks will cash them and hold you responsible 4. Craigslist is not involved with any transactions, so it is up to you to stay safe and avoid scams 5. NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION (bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.) 6. Only a scammer will guarantee a transaction 7. Use a cell phone number: If you need to speak with a buyer or seller by phone, give them your cell phone number. 8. Sell furniture, etc. from outside your home: If you're selling a piece of furniture or other item that you cannot take to a public location, move that furniture to the garage, driveway, covered porch to avoid having to let anyone in your house to see the item. 9. Trust your instincts: If you get a bad feeling from a phone call, email, or other communication, end the transaction immediately. Don't worry that you're being paranoid. Trust your instincts. 10. Never put a Craigslist transaction before your safety: Don't take chances. It's simply not worth it. 11. Never tell a buyer/seller your schedule: Don’t give the other person a detailed schedule of when you will be at home or at work. Schedule a specific time and place to meet. 12. Use the buddy system: Yes, this is a repeat of Step 1 because it bears repeating. Never conduct Craigslist business alone! It's an inconvenience at times but always have someone with you! Recognize Scams Most scams involve one or more of the following: • Inquiry from someone far away, often in another country • Western Union, Money Gram, cashier's check, money order, shipping, escrow service, or a "guarantee" • Inability or refusal to meet face-to-face before consummating transaction

Don’t let this discourage you from using Craigslist! 95% of the people using it are honest, and you can find some great deals!

If you follow a few simple safety measures Craigslist is an amazing free resource that can save you time and money on a regular basis. And with local print media heading for extinction, it may end up being the best way to do local classified advertising.