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What is Craigslist? A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Started

Good ole' Craigslist, one of the fastest growing and most-visited sites on the web, (and a personal favorite of this DeGeeked staffer, Neil). Craigslist was started by Craig Newmark in the San Francisco metro area in 1995 as a small, local classifieds site. Now with over 12 billion (with a "b") visits monthly in over 500 cities worldwide, Craigslist is the world's largest classifieds destination, with listings on everything from job openings to cars to houses. Need more history? Check out Craigslist's factsheet.

Using Craigslist is easy, and navigating the site is fairly straight-forward. Start by finding your local Craigslist page. Each major city has its own page (e.g., dallas.craigslist.com) on which listings are specific to that respective metro area. You can choose from the list of major cities on the Craigslist homepage, or click into your state and your local market from there. Once you have located you city you can buy or sell, barter or trade, or just do some virtual yard sale browsing.

Craigslist is a great place to find a bargain, but it is also a great place sell your things as well. Posting an item or service for sale on Craigslist is free, and can often return some great responses. A few Craigslist's do's and don'ts:

Do:

• Use Craigslist to look for used items, a new job, or to get rid of that stuff that's been sitting in your basement for years.
  
• Use your bargaining skills to get a deal on any item you are considering purchaings. This is what amounts to a digital yard sale, so paying full price is for suckers.
  
• Bring your patience; there are a lot of sincere buyers and sellers on Craigslist, but there are an equal amount of tire kickers, low-ballers, and general cheapskates.
• Buy in person, cash only.
• Sell in person, cash only.
• Act quickly. Chances are that if there is a good deal out there, it won't last long. Contact the poster and make an offer along with leaving your phone number. Sometimes email communication is just too slow.

Don't:

• Give away any personal information to potential buyers or sellers. Craigslist is a breeding ground for scam artists disguised as real buyers.
• USE ALL CAPS FOR YOUR POSTS. IT DOES NOT MAKE YOUR POST MORE APPEALING!!!!!!!!!! JUSTHARDERTOREAD.
  
• Forget your common sense. Chances are if it sounds too good to be true it is. A good rule thumb: treat Craigslist (and any site on the web) just like you would the real world. You wouldn't give your SSN or bank info out to a stranger at a yard sale, so don't do it online either.
  

Take a look around before you jump in head first. In no time you will be a natural at skimming and skipping right over the blatent junk, scams, and spam. There are some incredible deals to be found, and plenty of money to be made selling your used items. If you still need more info, check out Amazon's selection of Craigslist guides.

Bored with all the shopping? Check out the Best of Craigslist as nominated by users; it'll keep you entertained for hours.