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Craigslist review: monopoly scam 15

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8:03 pm EDT
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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.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 11, 2011 10:33 pm EDT

Also, if Craigslist is exempt from any state or federal taxes, then they should pay taxes as every other for profit business.

http://www.craigslist.org/about/help/posting_fees

Update by johnjustice
Aug 11, 2011 11:46 pm EDT

Craigslist is a for profit business with a .org site which is inaccurate and false.

Ebay is a for profit business.

The ebay / craigslist combination is a scam; they have de-facto control of classifieds.

The service is useful but the people running craigslist have too much power and they seem to abuse it; so some changes should take place to protect consumers.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 11, 2011 11:59 pm EDT

By the way I am an Economist with an MBA from an Ivy League School and I am not a crook like some of those MBAers

Update by johnjustice
Aug 12, 2011 5:16 am EDT

its a de-facto monopoly; what matters is the market share and market clout that ebay and craigslist have of the classified market. There is no other big player who has a global presence like they do. All the other players are small and local or narrow in scope. Let's pretend we are in a world where walmart is the only big retailer in town and there are 10 small mom and pop shop; this is what craigslist and ebay are to the classified world today and their clout keeps increasing.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 12, 2011 6:40 am EDT

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 company needs to be broken down in separate pieces.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 12, 2011 6:42 am EDT

Also craigslist.org should disappear and replaced by craigslist.com or split the .org for the free services and the .com for the "therapeutic services" (sex ads mixed with other ads) and job ads.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 12, 2011 3:34 pm EDT
Update by johnjustice
Aug 12, 2011 3:39 pm EDT

Regarding the shady customer support from craigslist. Many of the Craigslist customer support reps use the same abusive tone in their responses as user supadcy and others do in these comments. No wonder that Attorney Generals from many states went after Craigslist. Craigslist seems to knowingly help people break the law. Just go through some of the "therapeutic services" ads in many cities; really a decoy many times for prostitution.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 12, 2011 3:40 pm EDT

And on top of it, Craigslist and Ebay profit from "therapeutic services" ads...

Update by johnjustice
Aug 13, 2011 4:30 pm EDT

IronGrudge89 proof of what.
What is relevant is what I wrote in the complaint: craigslist and ebay scam consumers. help people break the law and profit from it.
They also have a more than dominant market power in the internet classified world; that is a de-facto monopoly.

As far as my MBA, I do not need to prove anything to you. you can choose to believe me or not. I am clearly not going to post personal information about me on the internet. Would you post your social security and date of birth if I asked to prove who you are.
Also if I started replying to everyone who tries to attack me it would be endless and useless and I have no time for that.

If you disagree with what I write, you can state the specific reasons why you disagree simple as that.

Your post avoids the issue: craigslist is a scam; they are not a non-profit; they are a .com not a .org; they should pay taxes; they make money still from sex-ads disguised as "therapeutic services"; and there is a reason why many State Attorney Generals have gone after craigslist / ebay; because craigslist disregards the law and tries to find ways around it. They scam consumers and competitors. Craigslist also abuses people and discriminates users based on the whim of their employees. There are others complaining about Craigslist "Inc." on this site and many more complaints will take place. If craigslist does not pay state or federal taxes they should pay like any other for profit business and no more .org; that is misleading.

If you disagree with any of the above paragraph you are free to express your opinion and share it with others.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 13, 2011 5:17 pm EDT

Craigslist and Ebay scam competitors too...

Update by johnjustice
Aug 13, 2011 5:21 pm EDT

if craigslist wants a .org they should only accept donations; not sell sex / therapeutic ads and job ads.
Monster.com pays taxes and craigslist / ebay is in the same for profit business as monster.com but they take advantage of a .org site; that is not right.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 13, 2011 6:09 pm EDT

Disclaimer: I am a Craigslist user because I have no other choice. No one else has the same reach that they do.
Also I was never and I am not a Craigslist employee or competitor. I have complained to craigslist staff before through their website and followed their complaint "process"

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 1:13 am EDT

.org is not for profit businesses; the sale of sex / therapeutic ads or the sale of job ads is a for profit business or any other for profit business. craigslist needs to be donation only if they want to use .org. Even if craigslist were to sell salami for profit instead of job ads; they should still have a .com site not .org. Which other .org websites are for profit companies like Craigslist/Ebay?
Whether it is sex ads, or salami ads, or jobs ads; if craigslist makes money off of it; then its a for profit .com or whatever else but not .org. And yes I do eat salami.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 1:16 am EDT

Also some feedback for complaintsboard.com; I already emailed it to them but no action. Posts that harass other people or use derogatory terms should be removed as they add nothing to the discussion. Also if a post receive the most votes that does not make it the "best advice". As an analogy, if a group of ignorant people votes yes on candidate A; does not mean that that person is the best candidate, just the most popular.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 3:37 am EDT

what is funny that there are about 20 responses to my complaint and none of these craigslist "fans" has argued with any of the points that I made; all they did was use a lot of words to call me names.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 4:06 am EDT

This user is complaining that Craigslist blacklisted his phone number. Craigslist — blacklisted my phone number for no reason I do not think that they blacklisted mine but something similar happened 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. I emailed craigslist through their online form but of course no reply and no action. "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?

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 4:12 am EDT

Update: according to wikipedia and ICANN; although org was recommended for non-commercial entities, there are no restrictions to registration. http://www.icann.org/en/tlds/
"There are many instances of org being used by commercial sites." So Craigslist takes advantage of ICANN's poorly devised system

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 4:34 am EDT

Here is a quick recap of the issues described above:

Craigslist: is a for profit business but they use a .org domain.
Although this is legal and admissible under ICANN rules; it appears to
me that it is misleading to the public.

still makes money off illegal sex and prostitution; craigslist/ebay charges for "therapeutic services" ads that are often a decoy for prostitution ads.

discriminates against people who post legitimate ads and abuse people with no recourse and shady practices

is a de-facto monopoly. No competitor seems to come even close in terms of geographical reach and number of ads and users. Monopolies in the United States hurt consumers. The government needs to force this company to be broken up. The fact that Ebay owns a stake in Craigslist as it is possible that there is some type of coordination between Ebay and Craigslist. Craigslist / Ebay stifles innovation and competition by contributing to create an environment where competitors cannot compete fairly.

Since Ebay bought Craigslist, Craigslist has changed. I have been a Craigslist user for many years and now Craigslist engages in many shady practices such as

a) phone blacklisting with no notification to the user
b) ad "ghosting" with no notification to the user
c) customer service that does not respond and does not act when alerted of abuse or errors or does not reply to inquiries
d) online help desk that is full of craigslist employees mixed with craigslist volunteers who at times harass those who ask questions

I do not think that craigslist blacklisted my phone number as some users complain on the internet but something similar happened 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.

I emailed craigslist through their online form but of course no reply and no action. "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; they discriminate against some people and hurt fair competition and innovation; when will the government or some attorney intervene?

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 4:40 am EDT

The bottom line is that craigslist with the approval of ebay will engage in many practices that are shady and although technically legal or borderline legal seem to be designed to take advantage of the law or some users or competitors. Craigslist does this for its own benefit at the expense of their competitors or critics and the community at large.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 4:52 am EDT

Craigslist management seems to show a systematic pattern of deceipt; with processes that are purposely designed to take advantage of others for their own gain.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 4:54 am EDT

truthisnowtold you are correct; it would have been more efficient for the readers to post all details since the beginning; however this is how it happened. Thanks for your patience with it :-)

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 5:17 am EDT

I hope that craigslist pays taxes like its competitors; under the law of the State of California and the law of the United States of America

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 5:26 am EDT

Hello Sammy McG2011 much of what you say would be correct if Craigslist management were playing fair.
But my point is that Craigslist management purposely does not play fair; knowingly designs processes that are shady and anticompetitive and may also try to find ways to "break the law legally".

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 5:49 am EDT

I just realized something and I guess earlier I was just trusting my instincts. Both of my ads ghosted by craigslist are for items that are sealed in the box brand new from manufacturer. So if I cannot sell on craigslist which alternative is left for me? Wow; the first that comes to mind is ... Ebay. So there you have it; craigslist may very well have an incentive to make ads like mine "unworkable" so that I am forced to advertise on Ebay. I may be wrong but given the fact that Ebay owns part of Craigslist it would be hard for craigslist or ebay to prove that I am wrong. Basically there are only two huge games/players in town; Craigslist and Ebay. The problem is that in fact they are the same player so they control or are trying to control all of the classifieds market from the mom and pop chair to the high end auction piece

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 5:53 am EDT

Ebay should leave Craigslist alone and sell its Craigslist stake.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 5:54 am EDT

Thanks truthisnowtold :-)

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 5:57 am EDT

Sammy McG2011 in addition to my MBA; I am also a bit of a fraud expert in the sense that I have shown in the past to have a knack for identifying patterns of fraud; and Craigslist / Ebay management behavior, processes and practices remind me of fraudulent patterns. I also forgot to mention that once I went on the craigslist "help board" and made a complaint; eventually craigslist ended up removing the whole exchange from the site; I think I may have saved the screen shots somewhere...craigslist / ebay trying to hide something...

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 5:58 am EDT

Thanks truthisnowtold I just posted two comments on here and for some reason they were not posted...

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 6:40 am EDT

Craigslist customer service is ranked #402 out of the 442 companies that have a "CustomerServiceScoreboard.com" rating with an overall score of 20.04 out of a possible 200. This score rates Craigslist customer service and customer support as Terrible.
http://www.customerservicescoreboard.com/Craigslist

I once posted in the Craigslist "help desk". I received an avalanche of responses from "Craigslist volunteers" and apparently some Craigslist employee disguised as volunteer. They were all for the most part abusive.
In the end Craigslist removed the whole exchange from their website. I think I saved the screen shots somewhere; or at least I hope so. I wonder why does Craigslist tries to hide stuff and engage in cover ups.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 7:36 am EDT

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.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 3:39 pm EDT

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.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 4:31 pm EDT

Oodle.com wants to force you (or strongly encourage you) to sign up for Facebook. That is not cool.
Because if you are not a Facebook customer then you are "not verified" lol.

Other "alternatives"; are

e) recycler.com and...
f) "ebay classifieds";

yes the same ebay that owns 25 percent of Craigslist.

Also I found a connection between ICANN, the group that sets internet domain policy (.org, .com etc) and Craigslist. Esther Dyson, ICANN's founding chairman, and Craig Newmark, Craigslist founder, sit on the board of a foundation, the "Sunlight Foundation".

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 4:42 pm EDT

The guy behind the "Sunlight Foundation" is Pierre Morad Omidyar, a French-born Iranian-American

http://sunlightfoundation.com/about/funding/

who is also the founder of ... Ebay.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Omidyar

So Craigslist, the largest for profit .org in the world, is connected with Ebay once again and ICANN. Shady...

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 5:13 pm EDT

another craigslist "alternative" that is worth exploring is

g) www.olx.com

So to recap if you want an alternative to craigslist you have to do a lot of work and the results will not be as effective or efficient:

a) ebay classifieds (not really an alternative since it is still ebay like craigslist)
b) oodle.com or http://walmart.oodle.com/ but oodle.com tries to force you to join facebook
c) backpage.com
d) pennysaverusa.com (very good)
e) google checkout (designed for shipping items rather than local face to face sales but I think can also be used for local sales)
f) recycler.com
g) www.olx.com

All of these craigslist / ebay "competitors" are significantly (and that is an understatement) smaller than craigslist. The classifieds market is a dream for craigslist / ebay because you have one very large player (craigslist / ebay) and tens of very small competitors with no market power.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 7:23 pm EDT

So if you are like me and can't stand facebook then remove oodle from your list of craigslist alternatives; but if you already have facebook then feel free to use oodle.

If you are not a facebook member I would not sign up for oodle; not worth it.

Facebook is known for finding shady ways to grab people's personal information and store them forever; you can use ebay classifieds or pennysaverusa or others above.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 7:59 pm EDT

Update: I am testing all of the services above; so far:

Oodle.com does not work for me because they discriminate my ads because I dont want to sign up for facebook

Recycler does not work for me because they require you to pay to post an ad online only.
So I eliminated oodle and recycler from my list and I am left with

a) ebay classifieds - ad placement works fine
b) backpage.com (still testing)
d) pennysaverusa.com (very good) - ad placement works fine
e) google checkout (still testing)
f) www.olx.com (still testing)

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 8:22 pm EDT

Final list of johnjustice recommended craigslist "alternatives":

a) ebay classifieds
b) backpage.com
c) pennysaverusa.com (very good)
d) www.olx.com

I eliminated google checkout because it requires 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.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 19, 2011 6:27 pm EDT

Update:

After posting ads on

Final list of johnjustice recommended craigslist "alternatives":

a) ebay classifieds
b) backpage.com
c) pennysaverusa.com (very good)
d) www.olx.com

it seems that none of them works. So craigslist is the only game in town but is run by abusive people who abuse their market power: the result is that the American consumer loses as there is no real alternative.

Clarification: Google Checkout requires credit card registration and that is why I eliminated it from my list of possible craiglist alternatives.

Also I do not feel comfortable giving my phone number to craigslist and ebay because they are for profit companies that seem to have no problem abusing and discriminating people.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 19, 2011 6:51 pm EDT

Wow my complaint is number 3 on the top ten list of worst rated complaints of complaintsboard.com; all the craigslist "fans" must be voting pretty hard

Update by johnjustice
Sep 01, 2011 12:48 pm EDT

For clarification; the core issue here is not if craigslist is a for profit or not. That is just an example of a shady Craiglist practice and it is not accurate to compare Craigslist to Goodwill or a credit union in my opinion. Let's not forget that a major global corporation owns a piece of Craigslist that is not the case for Goodwill or credit union so the comparison does not apply and it is misleading.

The real issue is that craigslist and ebay dominate classifieds and abuses its market power with shady and discriminatory practices. Craigslist uses shady practices and discriminates people; for example they ghost ads from some people without notifying those people that their ads were ghosted. That means if you post an ad on Craigslist and you have complained in the past with them; you risk your ads being ghosted; they appear on your end as published but they are actually not published. There is no standard and Craigslist can pick and choose who to abuse. That is just one example. Even craigslist terms of use clearly state that they can do whatever they want including discriminating people.
Also they collect your phone number and email address in their database. If there were any real alternative to Craigslist all of the above would not be a problem but there is no alternatives that work.
For example, the DOJ just blocked the ATT and TMobile merger on grounds that it hurts consumers.
Well Ebay and Craigslist by far dominate the classified market together and the combined Ebay/Craigslist is by far more powerful in the classified industry than the combined ATT/Tmobile; yet nobody seems to care about Ebay and Craigslist. Although Ebay and Craigslist have not merged; Craigslist has a dominant position in the classifieds market and abuses its market power.

Update by johnjustice
Sep 01, 2011 1:02 pm EDT

Correction of the post above:

For clarification; the core issue here is not if craigslist is a for profit or not. That is just an example of a shady Craiglist practice and it is not accurate to compare Craigslist to Goodwill or a credit union in my opinion. Let's not forget that a major global corporation, Ebay, owns a piece of Craigslist; that is not the case for Goodwill or a credit union so the comparison does not apply and it is misleading.

The real issue is that craigslist and ebay dominate classifieds and craigslist abuses its market power with shady and discriminatory practices.

Craigslist uses shady practices and discriminates people; for example they ghost ads from some people without notifying those people that their ads were ghosted. That means if you post an ad on Craigslist and you have complained in the past with them; you risk your ads being ghosted; they appear on your end as published but they are actually not published.

There is no standard and Craigslist can pick and choose who to abuse. That is just one example. Even craigslist terms of use clearly state that they can do whatever they want including discriminating people.
And there is no recourse. Craigslist' customer service has been consistently rated one of the worst in the nation. This is by design not by accident. If Craigslist had a functioning customer service; then they would not be allowed to discriminate their customers as easily.

Also Craigslist collects your phone number and email address in their database.

If there were any real alternative to Craigslist all of the above would not be a problem but there is no alternatives that work.

The DOJ just blocked the ATT and TMobile merger on grounds that the merger would hurt consumers.
Well Ebay and Craigslist by far dominate the classified market together and the combined Ebay/Craigslist is by far more powerful in the classified industry than the combined ATT/Tmobile in the telephony/data industry; yet nobody seems to care about Ebay and Craigslist.

Although Ebay and Craigslist have not merged; Craigslist has a dominant position in the classifieds market and abuses its market power. In fact Craigslist alone is far more powerful in the classifieds industry, and especially in the free classifieds industry, than the combined ATT/TMobile are in the telephony/data industry. The US free classified industry is fragmented with a myriad of small and weak players and one big player, Craigslist.

The large number of players in the classifieds industry does not make the classifieds industry more competitive than the telephony/data industry. What matters is the combined relative market power of the smaller companies as opposed to the dominant company. Craigslist dominates and abuses its dominant position; all the other classifieds companies combined pose no threat to Craigslist today.

Update by johnjustice
Sep 01, 2011 1:13 pm EDT

Josh FREEDOM I read your post above; read mine just above so you can see that your comparisons, although possibly well intentioned; are inaccurate and possibly misleading. Thanks.

Update by johnjustice
Sep 01, 2011 1:14 pm EDT

Oh by the way. if anyone is interested in trying to get a hold of someone at Craigslist try their automated customer service number Phone: [protected] and good luck getting through.

15 comments
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taranctula
Phoenix, US
Jul 06, 2018 4:08 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

As of July 2018, a state of corporate sponsored terrorism has firmly in placed itself on the website Craigslist and its 550 editions across the planet and the inter-net. Unknown terrorists using auto bot and auto flagging software, now readily available on google to control the content of the website. We speculate these terrorists to be comic book freaks and black hatters-as has been suggested by the members of our Craigslist Advertisers Association. They criminally stalk the site daily to illegally remove ads of advertisers and make them victims of terrorism. Business suffers and the economy of the United States suffers an anonymous attack completely under the radar of law enforcement and federal regulators. This is a threat to personal, community, and national security. In Phoenix more people read Craigslist than any other classified site, with backpage.com having been shuttered because of promotion of prostitution. Yet Craigslist which is a sponsor of cooperate sponsored terrorism is collecting over a 100, 000 dollars in ad revenue from advertisers. who are besieged by criminals and scam artists from around the globe, there are more criminals on Craigslist than legitimate buyers.
We have issued press releases to all the newspapers in the bay area of san Francisco and they are ignored. The same for publications in Arizona-ignored. Craigslist is the biggest sponsor of corporate terrorism in the United States and they have a free meal ticket to all major markets in the United States. Each site is stalked by terrorists even the biggest city of New York has silent terrorists lurking undetected in the background. It is a silent invasion of the United States out scoping Isis, Russian hacking, and any kind of spying imaginable. Advertisers become the victims.
If your ads have been illegally removed you are a victim. You are welcome to join a class action lawsuit against Craigslist for criminal negligence and sponsoring of terrorism, as well as willful interference in inter- and intra state commerce.
Write in your particular incident to craigslistadvertisers2012@ymail. com to be forward to our legal team, and more details of the information I have shared with you here. thank you for your help The Craigslist Advertisers Association-we are the resistance.

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Jayson Brown
, US
Jun 05, 2017 10:07 pm EDT

When the website is working properly, it can be a real asset to communities and everyone loves it. Unfortunately, they have been a cyber terrorist organization that is sponsoring a special brand of corporate terrorism that has resulted in many deaths, crimes, and abuses across the world. This all originates from their terms of service which are basically illegal and out to protect their own interests not the advertisers, visitors or communities they service. Criminals are using the website to find victims and if your an advertiser you can easily and quickly become a crime victim. The site is racking in millions of dollars (50$K) a month is dealer ads in Arizona alone and not one staff member on the ground here. The staff and management remain in a continuing state of criminal negligence ever since the first crime was committed through the site, and they did nothing significant to stop this activity. They are the biggest recruiter of terrorists in the world, who quickly devolve into cyber demons who with the ad of illegal malware, which is readily available on the black inter net market.
Than they criminally stalk and illegally remove ads of the advertisers as this malware allows them to hack into accounts and basically hijack them
This is not an online community, it is an alien nation that has invaded and settled in on the civilized world. The ability of the terrorists they recruit, their ability to disrupt the flow of information across the country is a threat to the security of the United States. All done from this little house on 8th Street in San Francisco-very similar to the WWII movie "The House on 92nd Street" where the foreign agents attempted to flood the United States with counter-fet currency
only this time the currency is classified ads. Craigslist dominates the market, terrorists control the content of Craigslist and the advertisers suffer.
Wonderful equation to balance.

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taranc
, US
Apr 11, 2016 9:34 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

What everyone here does not get is that Craigslist has become the home of Murder Incorporated on the 21st Century.
This is a organization who is recruiting readers to become flaggers and gives them one vote to do so. However, these people have become rogue bringing into their arsenal malware readily available that allows them to instantly flag and remove any ad on the system with their view. By doing this they become instant criminals and start criminal stalking the advertisers who are commercial. This added to the criminals who are given complete anonymity to find victims on the list and committee crimes against them. This is not only an immediate threat to public safety but a threat to national security being CL is read by 1 out of every six Americans. Advertisers become victims of daily crimes and lost of economic income. Most of their websites have rogue terrorist flagger stalking it and removing ads. It is all out attack on the flow of information across the United States.
Government agencies have to go in and shut them down, until they can provide the proper screening to stop this national crime scene. Security Team at the Craigslist Advertisers Association

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taranctula
Phoenix, US
Jul 21, 2012 9:56 pm EDT
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The latest story in the Craigslist saga is that they have made some upgrades to their website to be user friendlier. However at the same time, they are terrorizing the advertisers with mass deletion of one's ads from the previous 24 hours, and really racking up the recruitment of flaggers=cyberterrorists who are constantly on there removing ads at their discretion. In other words, annoymous people who drop in from the internet control the content on Craigslist and specifically target advertisers using the site to find customers.
The more one says in the ad, the more of a target the ad becomes. This week, I woke up to find over 40 ads that I posted on three of my accounts totally deleted, so either there is some super flagger out there with an unknown program that gets into accounts and erases them or Craigslist is actively harashing their advertisers. Also, before your ad goes on the site, they force the advertisers to give up all copywrites to their submitted material, with no republishingrights and subject to lawsuit if they do. During the past four months hundreds of ads have been placed for a variety of businesses in multiple cities all with 48 hour breaks and within Craigslist terms of service, and practically no legitimate response, except a nice fellow from Nigeria who was in town and purchased a car from one of my clients for 2300 dollars and the previous month a foreign exchange student who had me write him a resume. This tells me that people are avoiding Craigslist en mass and afraid to use the site, because it seems to be a platform for the launch of criminals and overseas scammers. Craigslist refuses to clean up its act and make a user account system mandatory for people not only advertising on; however also visiting the site. We have formed a Craigslist Advertisers Association and have retained a prominent attorney to handle a myrad of complaints against this site, as individuals do not have the resources to do legal battle with them. Details on the association are to follow. Thanks for reading this update.

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Dale E
pahrump, US
Mar 02, 2012 4:35 pm EST
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I run a small call center. Adds in newspapers do not work, the only response I receive are from craigslist. Now Craigslist has blocked my IP, Emails, and Phones from placing ads, Due to a manager putting in "too" many ads. Oh, you can pay Craigslist for the ads and they will still block you.

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taranctula
Phoenix, US
Jan 09, 2012 2:02 am EST
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Regarding the current comments, reconsider this Craiglist is published in 550 worldwide locations from their headquarters in San Francisco. By their terms of service, an advertiser is only allowed to place one ad in one location at a time--preferably near their publishing point. Any more than that is considered a violation of Craigslist terms of service. Craiglist however has exclusive rights to publish in over 550 locations which is denied to individual advertisers. On 18 of these locations they charge for certain ad categories and rack in ten million a year in revenue. If they increased that to 10% of the sites what would their revenue be than? Individual advertisers are subject to flagging, blocking, and ghosting of their ads on one permited site and there is no one making any real money on Craigslist except Craig and the boys in the house in San Francisco.
Is this a ponzi scheme, a violation of freedom of press and speech, and an attempt to block inter-intra state commerce? They make millions and advertisers starve.
Sure you can buy a horse, a sink, and broken down old car on Craigslist and be satisfied however as a place to conduct ecommerce, Craigslist is totally worthless.

IronGrudge89
IronGrudge89
Mountain Top, US
Jan 08, 2012 7:01 pm EST
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Geez, you guys are still whining? Craigslist are "cyber-terrorists" now lol? This is prime example of why certain folks shouldn't be allowed behind a keyboard. Grow up. You're not serving any greater good by associating your name with "justice" and ### about something you can't comprehend.

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taranctula
Phoenix, US
Nov 23, 2011 9:59 am EST
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The problem over at Craigslist is that they have become modern information Nazi's with a stranglehold on the flow of information across the United States and the planet. They have granted themselves the right to operate in 550 markets and have told and are telling their advertisers that they can only operate in the one closest to their origin of ad point. Therefore the only people making any real money on Craigslist is the owner and his cronies. Everyone else is starving or wasting their time. One cannot generate enough volume on any one site to sustain any long or short term viability to their ads and business. Your rights of freedom of speech, press, and assembly are completely denied or curtailed on Craigslist. To institute these repressive terms they are constantly recruiting a army of flaggers that I have labeled
cyberterrorists and given them complete control of the content of the site. If they don'tget you than their built in computer censor machine reads each ad and makes sure you do not post in more than one location, and most recently they are notifying account holders that their ads are accepted and they never show up on the site. They need to be held accountable for all the crimes and murders associated with the use of their site, and bring in a user account system, and let advertisers place their ads on any site, without being harrasshed and inflicted with emotional distress by their staff. And that is just the beginning of what they need to do.
Until that is done, anyone using their site is in danger of losing their physical and mental health at any time. Doug Rand Phoenix, Arizona

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ANobleMan
Phoenix, US
Oct 19, 2011 6:42 pm EDT

CL is a law unto itself:

Do not complain unless it makes you feel better.

CL uses arm's length tactics for the faceless 'staff' to remain anonymous and uncontactable.

And don't use it unless you wish to receive an ever expandingamount of junk e-mail. Most of it personalised. Yes just like big brother Google and SpaceBook.

Josh FREEDOM
Josh FREEDOM
Plainfield, US
Aug 21, 2011 11:48 am EDT

Im not going to read all of these posts but clearly you have very little clue what youre actually talking about. I have read through the first page and I have not seen anyone address this issue so Im sorry for beating this to death as I am sure someone pointed this out. -Non profit does not mean you dont take in a revenue stream like for instance GoodWill or how about a credit union. They have staff to pay whether some are volunteers or not some most definitely get paid. Goodwill does the same with the money they make they provide jobs and use money for other services. This doesnt make them a scam. Now if you want to take issue because the top suits issue themselves a 6 figure salary then fine, but this is a false claim.

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countrygirl33
, US
Aug 21, 2011 2:29 am EDT

This is a public forum and posts can be read by anyone. You should delete all your personal information asap and yes this is a common scam. Do not send them any money, you will never see a dime from them and lose the money you sent as well.

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Aggravated shopper
albert city, US
Aug 14, 2011 4:28 am EDT

Much of this complaint confuses me, I have bought and sold items using craigslist without paying craigslist a cent. Now if it is true they are for profit company then yes they should pay taxes, no argument from me but to complain about their .com/.org status seems absurd. I just typed in craigslist . COM and guess what? Craigslist came up but secondly and more importantly WHO CARES what their dot whatever status is does anybody really look at that before using any website?

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hum-d
, US
Aug 13, 2011 4:35 pm EDT

Sex sells. You seem to be harping indirectly on the sex thing. Is the source of your owie that they aren't paying taxes on sex? Not only screwing the customer but Uncle Sam too, is that your problem?

IronGrudge89
IronGrudge89
Mountain Top, US
Aug 12, 2011 7:36 pm EDT
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I asked for proof and you have provided none. You are completely ignoring fair questions as well. And judging from how you upvote everything that you post and downvote everything that respectfully disagrees with your opinion, it is clear that you are individual who had a bad experience and is patching his emotional wound with some good 'ol slander. It's almost laughable that you claim to have an education.

IronGrudge89
IronGrudge89
Mountain Top, US
Aug 12, 2011 12:12 am EDT
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I'll bite. Prove it. Don't cut and paste from your original post. Just prove it.