Craigslist Facts that will leave you speechless

Craigslist is, without question, the most popular online classified site in North America. In fact, Craigslist has over 60 million users worldwide (90% being in North America), and craigslist displays over 50 Billion ads per month! Check out these Craigslist facts that will show the true size and popularity of this classifieds site.

critique of Craigslist

Over 60 million people search Craigslist every day in the US alone! But the first thing you notice on that site is how old, outdated, and, well let’s admit it, UGLY the site looks when you enter. Clearly, with the advances in technology and competition out there Craigslist must have thought about updating the look, but no. The site has remained unchanged since it started in 1996. The motto, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, surely applies to Craigslist! People come to Craigslist for two reasons, to search craigslist for something or someone, or to sell something (but not someone…that’s illegal). And, despite what we may think about the way the site looks, Craigslist ultimately fulfills the goal we came to the site with – to sell or to buy.

Satisfaction Rate:

Do people like craigslist? you bet! Despite the horrible news stories you hear and people complaining about spam and functionality issues, people by the masses love craigslist! A review of the Better Business Bureau Craigslist file shows that of the Billions of transactions per year completed on Craigslist, a total of only 164 complaints have been filed in the last 3 years. Of those, 30 were due to advertising, 9 were due to billing, 3 were due to delivery issues, and 122 were due to service issues. 156 issues have not been resolved to render an F rating with the BBB.

Why is The Site So Simple?:

Many users constantly ask why Craigslist is so simplistic and not user-friendly; funny, because Craigslist has made a point of being simplistic TO BE more user-friendly. The tactic of simple design works for Craigslist. Anybody can search their Craigslist city with ease, whether it is a college student, professional, or even your 80-year-old grandmother! The simple design is ugly but easy to use, quick to load, and that creates a positive experience for the user. The problem occurs when you want to search craigslist beyond one specific city or town, you can’t! Sites like eBay, Oodle, and others allow users to search a broad area for an item; however craigslist still makes its users search town by town, city by city. This is why we created our Craigslist Search Engine.

Why can you not search all cities in a state?:

As stated above, the simple designs that work well for some craigslist users, don’t allow for a powerful search engine function to search all Craigslist USA. Some experts say that Craigslist has done this on purpose as well. Surely the Craigslist Head Office has heard your complaint by now that users can not search beyond one location. Would it not be useful to be able to search an entire state or “x” miles from a zip code?

Many experts agree that the foundation behind craigslist is to be local and to enrich a local community. By allowing users to only search within their city, local residents, businesses, artists etc. benefit first. Maybe you can find an item within walking distance, versus driving 3hrs across the state to pick up an item you like a little bit more. Unfortunately, many locations on Craigslist are too small of a population to find what you are looking for and larger metropolis areas elsewhere in the state have more selection. The opposite is also true when prices are inflated in big cities, but amazing deals can be found in smaller towns only an hour away. This is where our craigslist search engine comes in, allowing you to search all craigslist cities in a state and nationwide!

How many ads are posted to craigslist each month?

There are approximately 80 million ads posted to Craigslist USA each month. Approximately 1 million of those are job ads. Approximately 13% of daily users post a new craigslist ad resulting in 80+ million new posts every month! Of those 80 million ads, a large number are re-listings and another large percent are spam, unfortunately, so the real number of actual new ads each month is somewhat unknown. Either way the sheer number of ads is simply astounding! There is no good way to search through all those ads without a craigslist search engine. On top of that, there are 200+ million user postings in 100 topical forums available on CL.

How long do people spend on the site?

The average user will spend approximately 15 minutes per visit on craigslist looking at an average of 16 pages. In the USA, approximately 50 Million people use craigslist.

How many Craigslist sites are there to search?

There are over 700 craigslist sites in 13 different languages in 70 countries. Now you start to see the importance of using a craigslist search engine.

How many used cars are posted?

There are approximately 9.2 million used car ads on craigslist at any one time.

Is it Craigslist.com, Craigslist.org, or Craigs List

Craigslist was started as Craigslist.org as the founder wanted it to be a community site and .org showed that the site was more of an organization than a company.   Today Craigslist com and craigslist org are interchangeable and lead to the same place – Craigslist.org.

An item was stolen from me, how can I find it on Craigslist?

Unfortunately, some people use craigslist to sell items that do not belong to them. Stolen items make up a very very very small percentage of items on Craigslist, so shop with confidence. For tips on identifying stolen or counterfeit items on craigslist, click here to see the official instructions.

You can use Search All Craigslist to broaden your search to areas around where the item was stolen from. Some criminals are smart and post the item for sale in an adjacent town thinking you might see it on CL in your city. Use the search entire state function to find your item. Remember, if you find your item, alert the authorities and DO NOT try to get the item back yourself.

What are the most common searches on the site?:

The list below shows some of the most common searches made on SearchallCraigslist. From the list, it is clear to see that buying automobiles is the most common search outpacing personal ads, jobs, and community services.

What was the Craigslist Foundation?

The Craigslist Foundation was a nonprofit organization founded by Craig Newmark and others.  

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