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I used to sell all kinds of items that I had around the house or that I obtained elsewhere on my local Craigslist. Well, about a month ago I went on there too and one listing and repost it again and I could not access my account. I tried the password numerous times and it would not let me in. After a while I sent an e-mail to Craigslist asking why my account wouldn’t function or if there was something wrong with it. They would not and never did respond to the e-mail.
So I took a friend of mine device and tried to start another account. It said that I couldn’t because that e-mail and the phone number were registered to another account. I went online and searched around and found a couple of forums that deal solely with Craigslist and I found a section on banned accounts and blacklisted phone numbers. According to the people in this forum and several others there were similar I had received the typical ban from Craigslist and that meant that that account would not be usable ever again and that my phone number would be blacklisted.
I don’t know why they do this as I didn’t do anything wrong. I wasn’t selling fake items like some people do – especially the ones peddling bootleg copies of DVDs and stuff. All I was doing was selling items that I had found at flea markets or other areas and reselling them or items that I hadn’t find in my attic in other places that I no longer needed or had any use for. Craigslist was a great place to get rid of these things and make some extra cash at the same time.
Maybe Craigslist has become like Amazon.com and too big for its own good. I see they are trying to police the ads that people post for free there and apparently they’re not doing a very good job of it. As I can go to any major city to the services section and find tons of spam and scams. Now I was not a spammer nor a scammer. I was selling items locally to people and all the people I sold these items to were thankful and appreciative.
They were getting items that they wanted pedigree discount because they were used and so I was fulfilling a need and a service. I was providing a good benefit. When I was also told at this forum was to not get too worried about it and just go and switch my phone number, get a new e-mail and start up a new account. According to them it was just that easy. Some of these characters so they had hundreds of accounts so they could basically spam or advertise their websites and products all over Craigslist to millions of people.
I'd like to add www.iBuyWeSell.com to the listed alternatives above. Additionally, I think its best that we all exercise caution with dealing with strangers online. That's why despite the online reach, I still prefer creating ad posts then sharing them to my personal contacts on Facebook or Twitter.
Yes, Craig's List is indeed a scam. I complained to Consumer Affairs of how they handle harassment complaints from the personals section. I filled out Craig's List's complaint form for a woman who did just that. I live in Phoenix, and this fifty-plus year old woman left ugly messages on my emails and text messages. She has broken their terms of use so many times. From a question she asked me, I believe she is a drug addict as well as a wacko. Fortunately, I found some other brave souls on here that seem to be genuine. Miracle! Also, someone posted an ad for a house cleaner in the help wanted section. He specifically asked for one's age. That is illegal. However, if he asks for one's birth date, that's apparently legal.. Craig's List failed to notify him of that law.
Since craigslist fails to remove posts that put the community in danger and does not contact you; submit a complaint to the FTC
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/Consumer_Home.htm
and your State Attorney General or State Consumer Protection Agency
Do not use the BBB because the BBB is a scam
Johnjustice recommended craigslist "alternatives":
a) ebay classifieds (yes it is the same ebay that owns 25 perc. of craigslist)
b) backpage.com
c) pennysaverusa.com (very good)
d) www.olx.com
I eliminated google checkout because it requires credit card registration. I also eliminated oodle because of their discrimination of non facebook users and recycler because they charge for online only ads.
All four alternatives above make it easy and fast to post an ad online. I will wait and see if I get any responses to see about their effectiveness.
www.oodle.com seems like a competitor to craigslist that has a big enough size to compete. I am looking into any viable competitors to craigslist. I am not affiliated with oodle.com and I would rather find an alternative to both craigslist and oodle given the fact that oodle is affiliated with facebook.
Other craigslist alternatives are pennysaverusa.com (small reach but loyal followers); backpage.com; and google checkout. None of the alternatives to craigslist come even close to craigslist reach but by posting an ad at the same time on
a) oodle.com or http://walmart.oodle.com/
b) backpage.com
c) pennysaverusa.com (very good)
d) google checkout
you have a good chance to sell your product. Lots of more work but it may be worth it.
Pennysaverusa.com seems to have a very strong brand like craigslist. Google should probably buy pennysaverusa.com or Walmart should.
Similar things with my ads; i posted two perfectly fine ads. 1 to sell a camera and 2 to sell a scanner and craigslist ghosted them. What it means is that the ads show as active on my account but no one else can see them or find them in search results. I find other users who have similar ads to mine that can be viewed right now and searched. "Ghosting" is just one of craigslist discriminatory policies. Also another discriminatory policy is "phone blacklisting"; the reason why it is discriminatory is because craigslist will not notify the person whose phone was blacklisted via email because they know that they would be hit by a million lawsuits. Craigslist is run like a scam operation; when will the government or some attorney intervene?
Another disgusting practice that Craigslist / Ebay use is to use unpaid volunteers to provide support for questions and complaints that craigslist users have. Of course they probably mix some paid employees with unpaid volunteers but the outcome is the same; anytime that the user complaints he or she usually gets two types of response from the craigslist "staff"
a) "go to hell" b) "tough luck, deal with it". Why are they allowed to get away with it? Because supposedly craigslist is a free service from a non profit company; however craigslist is not a free service as it has revenues from job ads and sex ads masked as "therapeutic services". The problem is that there is no real alternatives to craigslist and that is why the government needs to force this company to be broken down in separate pieces and tax them if they are not already taxed. Also .org should disappear and replaced by .com or split the .org for the free services and the .com for the "therapeutic services" and job ads.
Craigslist is a monopoly and a scam throughout the United States. The government needs to force this company to be broken up.
They make money off sex; they call them "therapeutic services" ads and discriminate against people who post legitimate ads and abuse people with no recourse.
Monopolies in the United States hurt consumers.
The fact that Ebay owns a stake in Craigslist makes it even worst and more of a monopoly.
Craigslist is a for profit business so they do not qualify as a .org but they are a .com.
In short craigslist is a scam pure and simple but they get away with it.