Craigslist San Antonio (Howe: sales, find a job, to buy)

[wCat]

Just an FYI to anyone who isn't familiar with Craigslist/San Antonio.

The ads you place are FREE, and the results are great.

I had a garage sale last weekend and only put up three "Garage Sale" notices on Craigslist SA....NO expensive classifieds in the EN...and a few signs out near the corners. I opened on Friday and was completely sold out on Saturday by noon! (Don't forget to put signs near the elementary schools for when school gets out!) Lots of mom's and their kids cleaned me out by 4:30 on Friday.

I also didn't price anything since I didn't have storage space for all these items and wanted them to MOVE! If people are interested, they'll ask the price and you can negotiate.

What a relief to have it over.....but better yet, a huge and inexpensive success!

Craigslist is POWERFUL and FREE!!!

Just thought you'd want to know!!

[wCat]

Thank you for moving this AT....not sure where my head was last night!

[passitup]

I'm sure some of the ads on Craigslist are legitimate. However, I refuse to recommend such a trashy site to anyone. Did anybody else see the recent news stories on Craigslist? I was naive and thought it was a place to find a job or sell an item until I saw two stories about exactly what is offered on there.

[els565]

I think Craigslist is awesome. I have bought and sold many things on Craigslist and have had a really good experience. Sure, there will be the bad stuff but all you have to do is not click on it.

BTW, when you post something to sell, you can upload 4 pics for free. It makes it nice for people to see your stuff.

[SnappyBob]

Craigslist has many catagories to choose from. I have found it very useful in selling items and finding items that I'm looking to buy. They DO have a personals section just like any newpaper classified section only more adult oriented with pictures sometimes. If you are looking for garage sales don't go to the section entitled WMFTQTX seeking MQRTCFW. I use Craigs List often as have millions of people. I have never noticed a Boogie Man lurking in the corner waiting to grab you and make you look at things that disturb you.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by passitup

I'm sure some of the ads on Craigslist are legitimate. However, I refuse to recommend such a trashy site to anyone. Did anybody else see the recent news stories on Craigslist? I was naive and thought it was a place to find a job or sell an item until I saw two stories about exactly what is offered on there.

Passitup....unfortunately almost every 'good site' will have it's negatives....but I'm not one to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I respectfully disagree that the site itself is "trashy". It may have a category that is "adult oriented"...I honestly have never checked! Look at all the negative stories about EBay, Paypal and Freecycle! EBay now has a restricted "adult" section. Hopefully the publicity on Craigslist will lead to creating a "restricted" area as well. It's too bad that a few bad apples can turn a good thing into something ugly. The majority of recommendations I have heard from personal experience in SAN ANTONIO have been good. That's why I specifically wanted to point out a good experience locally.

I agree with you in general to err on the side of saftey....but I can't say that putting an ad in the E-N would be a safer way to advertise for a garage sale.

[passitup]

Sorry to respectfully disagree... thank God this is America so we can. I just pulled up the "homepage" and I will not use anything that has "personals" even listed as a category. The newspaper doesn't give you photographs and the particular story I was watching mentioned that not only does Craigslist give you the opportunity to put photos of furniture on there, but just about anything else. Snappybob, I never said a boogie man was going to make me look at it and frankly, I find that really rude. I just want people to know what I learned about it... there are many other ways to sell items and find a job. What if kids are on there looking for toys or video games to buy? Everything is listed right there together. Forgive me for trying to protect children.

[JNA]

I agree with Wcat that craigslist can be very beneficial. My wife and I have had good success with a garage sale and selling old stuff here in CA that we don't plan on taking with us next year to San Antonio.

I do think passitup's concerns are legitimate, though, and do not plan to allow my kids (hopefully I will have some soon) onto craigslist unless they do a better job of restricting access to other parts of the website.

[joe123456]

Originally Posted by passitup

I'm sure some of the ads on Craigslist are legitimate. However, I refuse to recommend such a trashy site to anyone. Did anybody else see the recent news stories on Craigslist? I was naive and thought it was a place to find a job or sell an item until I saw two stories about exactly what is offered on there.

With this logic you might as well disconnect your internet service. Trash is everywhere...what one person might consider trash another useful.

Everthing on the web has hyperlinks, you the user choose to click it or not.

[wCat]

Passitup....your concern is not without merit. But as Joel said, it's really everywhere on the internet. When my son was in the 5th grade, I took him with me to the downtown library so he could study and I could work on research in the Texana dept. He was sitting 6 tables away from the computer bank and could see a very visible computer image of not just porn, but of beastiality that a homeless man was accessing! And all this with out taxpayers money! You think you've seen an outraged parent??? OMG....I was all over the librarian who sheepishly told me they had just installed privacy screens to prevent such a thing. Too bad no one bothered to check them out after installation...and worse that my son was their guinea pig! He was very upset at what he saw, and he lost some innocence back then. The librarian did ask the man to leave, but so much for the "right to free speech" and the internet! I was hopping mad....and stayed that way and made a complete nuisance of myself!
Since then, things have improved, but I'm not sure if that kind of incident still happens....but the bottom line, they heard from me in a BIG WAY! The computers are in a more "public" location, have sign in sheets and limits to useage now. Not sure that is the best solution, but it's better than before.
Personally, I prefer an area restricted to adults, but still with limited use for "adult" access IF we have to allow it at all. Last time I checked, blatantly pornographic material is NOT available for check out at the library. Adult novels etc are....but not smutty and very visual scum rags.

If Craigslist has a similar problem, the best thing you can do is wage a campaign for them to follow EBay's precidence. Make a good thing better and safer.....and we'll all win!