Don't Expose Your Safety by Using Craigslist

I used to like Craigslist a lot. To me it was a perfect way to post furniture, crafts, and other stuff for sale without having to pay the eBay fee. I loved the free service and not having to mail things.

Everything about the page is inviting to people since it is easy to find good deals in almost anything. They also have job postings, community messages and news, real state and rentals. To summarize, Craigslist is a page that pleases the frugal shopper and saves money to sellers too. Many perks that look free when in fact cost a huge price, your privacy and safety.

The problem that users may have notice lately is that every time they post something they get many emails that look like a buyer but instead are weird emails telling things like "You don't have to sell your stuff to get money, just go to my web page to find out how to make money," or " I've notice you posted many things on craigslist for sale, if you are having a hard time in this economy contact me". Those are new scams that make anyone mad or uneasy because they come freely to their email and are a complete waste of time, and who knows what more could happen if someone is naive enough to reply to them. I feel that they make craigslist as a site look like a complete mockery. What is the point of posting items if we are putting our email address in the access of these low life thieves?

There is also other scams to be aware of, for example: If you see an amazing deal on a car that is too good to be true, go with your gut because "it is too good to be true". You can recognize these adds because they usually have no phone number to contact, the pictures are way professional looking, and they always have a gmail account to contact. In the free section most of the fake adds include fake expensive puppies, laptops, plasma TVs and other pricey stuff that are claimed to be free.

If you are the one posting stuff for sale, never mail anything, stick to sell your stuff locally. Don't post your address, just your email or your phone number. Once they contact you and sound like a normal local person, then give them your address. If you are a woman, housewife or mother with kids try not to let people come to pick up the item you are selling until you know someone else like your husband or a friend can be with you at the time of the pick up.

An even better advice is to try to look for a safer page to sell your stuff. So, yes, craigslist is free, but free to everyone including those that want to rip us off. There has to be a way for craigslist to make the page a little safer or more spam free, and if not they should just get off line. Nobody wants a page that is so filled with spam, thieves, post from murderers (as seen on TV), fake people, fake adds and many other things that makes craigslist so unsafe.