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CB Websites Craigslist 9th Avenue 1381, San Francisco, CA, 94122, US
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Craigslist
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Craigslist

9th Avenue 1381, San Francisco, CA, 94122, US
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J
6:19 am EDT
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Craigslist - craigslist questionable or fraudulent business practicess

Craigslist: is a for profit business that is also partially owned by another for profit business (Ebay). However, Craigslist uses a .org domain.
Although this is legal and admissible under ICANN rules; it appears to
me that it is misleading to the public.

in addition from making money from job ads, Craigslist still makes money off illegal sex and prostitution; craigslist/ebay charges for "therapeutic services" ads that are at times 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?

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.

In addition to my MBA from an Ivy League School, I have a bit of a track record identifying patterns of fraud where others did not see it. There are some patterns here that make me think of fraud.

Craigslist management seems to purposely not wanting to play fair; knowingly designs processes that are shady and anticompetitive and may also try to find ways to "break the law legally". 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.

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.

The government should force Ebay to sell its stake in Craigslist because it stifles competition and damages the consumer. Also I hope that Craigslist pays taxes like its competitors.

Read full review of Craigslist and 1 comment
Update by johnjustice
Aug 19, 2011 6:33 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 14, 2011 8:23 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 14, 2011 4:35 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.

If you add the classifieds market share of craigslist and ebay, you have a company ebay that unequivocally controls the US classifieds market.

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 3:45 pm EDT

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 odle.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 in US and India); 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 7:20 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.

Update by johnjustice
Aug 14, 2011 6:34 am EDT

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 6:27 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

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itssogood
US
Sep 10, 2011 4:32 pm EDT

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

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J
8:03 pm EDT
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Craigslist - monopoly scam

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 own...

Read full review of Craigslist and 15 comments

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