7 ms·

A local media company runs a "classifieds" on their online site. It dominates locally. Craigslist has been worthless for ages here because of it. However, Face

A local media company runs a "classifieds" on their online site. It dominates locally. Craigslist has been worthless for ages here because of it. However, Facebook Marketplace seems to be slowly gaining traction. Which I hate for all the reasons you mention. I dread the day it takes over :(

nerdponx 4y ago
Facebook Marketplace has completely taken over in most parts of the US. It sucks.
- defterGoose 4y ago
  As I noted above, not as much of a problem here in LA, but I totally believe you that it's true elsewhere. And honestly, I'm probably missing some great stuff not perusing FB and OfferUp. But there's one simple, guiding principle that I'm always following. And that's refusing to reactivate my FB account.
  - mikestew 4y ago
    Much like 25 years ago when I said to myself, "there's nothing on the internet that I need to see so badly that I'll install RealNetworks", I'll put stuff on the curb with a "free" sign before I'll reactivate my long-deactivated FB account (or buy new, depending on the direction of the transaction).
    - ghaff 4y ago
      Honestly, especially for bulky stuff, I’ve had great luck leaving things at the end of my driveway with a free sign. I wouldn’t get much money for them and they’re out of my house with almost zero effort.
      - bombcar 4y ago
        And if it doesn’t move with “free” put a $5 sign on it and it’ll be gone in the morning.
    - atlasunshrugged 4y ago
      I was right there too but all the rental apartments are via FB marketplace now to the point I literally could not find a place without getting back on it (DC). Absolutely pain, I miss craigslist
      - njarboe 4y ago
        Same here in the Roaring Fork Valley. Two months of Craigslist, apartments.com, bulletin boards, etc. Finally I posted a "Place Wanted" on some local Facebook groups and I got something pretty quick. Tons of scammers on Craigslist here.
      - JohnFen 4y ago
        DC doesn't have property management places you can contact directly? The ones around here are happy to help you find units for rent.
        atlasunshrugged 4y ago
        Probably but I can't say I love more intermediaries in transactions. I went direct to many apartment complexes but if you want to find a furnished place that's not outrageous you have to go to people leaving and looking for someone to take over a lease and apartment complexes don't seem to care to facilitate that.
- neilv 4y ago
  Any idea about Boston? Boston Craigslist has seemed a bit stale, but I'm not on Facebook to see how that compares.
  - don-code 4y ago
    I've found it pretty rare to _not_ find something I'm looking for on Boston Craigslist. As something of an "out there" example, I found ten old tube TVs for my Halloween decorations just a few weeks ago. Also: I got an absolutely great deal on a car through Craigslist about five years ago. That said, I've definitely had less success on the sales side than I did in years prior, but I can't tell if that's what I'm selling being worth less used these days (desktop computers?), or if Facebook Marketplace is the de-facto place to check.
    - meragrin_ 4y ago
      Are the TVs going to be a functional part of the display or just decorative?
      - don-code 4y ago
        Functional - I'm leaning into the "analog horror" genre with some fake newsreels of things like the COVID-23 pandemic, $6 per gallon gasoline, and (of course - I live in Boston) the Red Sox losing the World Series to the Yankees.
  - nerdponx 4y ago
    Boston CL is indeed very stale, FB is way more active. Young people (< 35) seem to have mostly forgotten about CL or don't care about it. Boston has a lot of good stuff in some areas. Need random leftover shelves? A pile of screened loam? Secondhand office furniture? An unused China set from the 1960s? No problem. But good luck trying to buy and sell normal home goods with any efficiency there; it will clear much much faster on FB marketplace. Maybe even for a better price.
  - colanderman 4y ago
    Photography and Musical Instruments, it still seems pretty active. Though FB Marketplace is unfortunately making inroads the past couple years.
- behnamoh 4y ago
  Yeah, unfortunately the main reason I’m stuck on FB is its Marketplace in my area.
hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
I'm curious where you live. After all, craigslist famously decimated classified advertising in the US, primarily because classified ads in newspapers are hella expensive, and craigslist is usually free.
- mrkstu 4y ago
  Probably KSL Classifieds in the Utah market: https://classifieds.ksl.com/ https://classifieds.ksl.com/
  - xahrepap 4y ago
    Yup. :)
- martyvis 4y ago
  Interesting. In the late 1960s in Australia a classifieds-only paper called the Trading Post grew and absolutely dominated this space by the 1990s. My Dad would buy it every week to look for bargain junk, cars, etc. I'm sure the main newspapers took a hit because of it. They had local versions for each region. It was eventually bought in 2004 by Sensis (they were part of the main telco Telstra) for $636M which also owned the Yellow Pages with the intent of going online. It totally bombed and is surplanted here by Gumtree (now owned by eBay) and FB marketplace. https://www.theage.com.au/business/sensis-confident-of-online-advertising-success-20041220-gdz85a.html https://www.theage.com.au/business/sensis-confident-of-onlin...
  - technion 4y ago
    I will never be able to look marketplace or even Craig's list without wondering whether the great Australian joke about buying jousting sticks from the trading post would work in their place.
    - cookie_monsta 4y ago
      In case anybody out there missed the most faithful reproduction of Australian culture to be captured on film: https://youtu.be/dik_wnOE4dk https://youtu.be/dik_wnOE4dk
hedora 4y ago
In fairness, the only valid complaint I've heard about Craigslist is that it diverted classified ad revenue away from reporters, destroying local newspapers, and then local elections. With Craigslist, this always felt like an unintended consequence. With facebook, it seems like one of their top ten strategies for getting us to devolve into mineshaft dwelling mole people that live in the metaverse.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  Blaming technology for obviating business models is not a valid complaint. In this case, I would say the participants of the local society are responsible for paying for journalism and working to support local elections. But even then, you could come up with arguments such as so and so population was too poor and had to work two jobs and did not have time to attend city/county/state meetings, or were not sufficiently educated or literate to understand them, etc.
  - lkrubner 4y ago
    You write “Blaming technology” in response to a comment that does not mention any technologies. You might want to examine what your preconceptions are, that you would see “technology” in a comment that does not refer to technology. You were responding to a comment that describes two business strategies, perhaps you should respond to that.
    - throwaway743 4y ago
      They're either assuming printed local classifieds were overtaken by a website, or that CL is a site that performed better than the local classifieds website. Not hard to extract, nor worth getting heated about.
    - lotsofpulp 4y ago
      I wrote technology on purpose, to cut through useless information. It is not relevant that “Craigslist” obviated classified ads. The root problem newspapers were solving was a seller being able to provide information to a wide audience of buyers. Technology brought about a better way of solving this problem, so the root problem newspapers were getting paid to solve with classifieds no longer exists. Not having local newspapers/journalism causing problems with the local civic process is a separate problem, that has nothing to do with technology enabling sellers and buyers to reach each other more easily.
graupel 4y ago
Found the Utahn in the room! :)

nerdponx 4y ago

Facebook Marketplace has completely taken over in most parts of the US. It sucks.

defterGoose 4y ago
As I noted above, not as much of a problem here in LA, but I totally believe you that it's true elsewhere. And honestly, I'm probably missing some great stuff not perusing FB and OfferUp. But there's one simple, guiding principle that I'm always following. And that's refusing to reactivate my FB account.
- mikestew 4y ago
  Much like 25 years ago when I said to myself, "there's nothing on the internet that I need to see so badly that I'll install RealNetworks", I'll put stuff on the curb with a "free" sign before I'll reactivate my long-deactivated FB account (or buy new, depending on the direction of the transaction).
  - ghaff 4y ago
    Honestly, especially for bulky stuff, I’ve had great luck leaving things at the end of my driveway with a free sign. I wouldn’t get much money for them and they’re out of my house with almost zero effort.
    - bombcar 4y ago
      And if it doesn’t move with “free” put a $5 sign on it and it’ll be gone in the morning.
  - atlasunshrugged 4y ago
    I was right there too but all the rental apartments are via FB marketplace now to the point I literally could not find a place without getting back on it (DC). Absolutely pain, I miss craigslist
    - njarboe 4y ago
      Same here in the Roaring Fork Valley. Two months of Craigslist, apartments.com, bulletin boards, etc. Finally I posted a "Place Wanted" on some local Facebook groups and I got something pretty quick. Tons of scammers on Craigslist here.
    - JohnFen 4y ago
      DC doesn't have property management places you can contact directly? The ones around here are happy to help you find units for rent.
      - atlasunshrugged 4y ago
        Probably but I can't say I love more intermediaries in transactions. I went direct to many apartment complexes but if you want to find a furnished place that's not outrageous you have to go to people leaving and looking for someone to take over a lease and apartment complexes don't seem to care to facilitate that.
neilv 4y ago
Any idea about Boston? Boston Craigslist has seemed a bit stale, but I'm not on Facebook to see how that compares.
- don-code 4y ago
  I've found it pretty rare to _not_ find something I'm looking for on Boston Craigslist. As something of an "out there" example, I found ten old tube TVs for my Halloween decorations just a few weeks ago. Also: I got an absolutely great deal on a car through Craigslist about five years ago. That said, I've definitely had less success on the sales side than I did in years prior, but I can't tell if that's what I'm selling being worth less used these days (desktop computers?), or if Facebook Marketplace is the de-facto place to check.
  - meragrin_ 4y ago
    Are the TVs going to be a functional part of the display or just decorative?
    - don-code 4y ago
      Functional - I'm leaning into the "analog horror" genre with some fake newsreels of things like the COVID-23 pandemic, $6 per gallon gasoline, and (of course - I live in Boston) the Red Sox losing the World Series to the Yankees.
- nerdponx 4y ago
  Boston CL is indeed very stale, FB is way more active. Young people (< 35) seem to have mostly forgotten about CL or don't care about it. Boston has a lot of good stuff in some areas. Need random leftover shelves? A pile of screened loam? Secondhand office furniture? An unused China set from the 1960s? No problem. But good luck trying to buy and sell normal home goods with any efficiency there; it will clear much much faster on FB marketplace. Maybe even for a better price.
- colanderman 4y ago
  Photography and Musical Instruments, it still seems pretty active. Though FB Marketplace is unfortunately making inroads the past couple years.
behnamoh 4y ago
Yeah, unfortunately the main reason I’m stuck on FB is its Marketplace in my area.

hn_throwaway_99 4y ago

I'm curious where you live. After all, craigslist famously decimated classified advertising in the US, primarily because classified ads in newspapers are hella expensive, and craigslist is usually free.

mrkstu 4y ago
Probably KSL Classifieds in the Utah market: https://classifieds.ksl.com/ https://classifieds.ksl.com/
- xahrepap 4y ago
  Yup. :)
martyvis 4y ago
Interesting. In the late 1960s in Australia a classifieds-only paper called the Trading Post grew and absolutely dominated this space by the 1990s. My Dad would buy it every week to look for bargain junk, cars, etc. I'm sure the main newspapers took a hit because of it. They had local versions for each region. It was eventually bought in 2004 by Sensis (they were part of the main telco Telstra) for $636M which also owned the Yellow Pages with the intent of going online. It totally bombed and is surplanted here by Gumtree (now owned by eBay) and FB marketplace. https://www.theage.com.au/business/sensis-confident-of-online-advertising-success-20041220-gdz85a.html https://www.theage.com.au/business/sensis-confident-of-onlin...
- technion 4y ago
  I will never be able to look marketplace or even Craig's list without wondering whether the great Australian joke about buying jousting sticks from the trading post would work in their place.
  - cookie_monsta 4y ago
    In case anybody out there missed the most faithful reproduction of Australian culture to be captured on film: https://youtu.be/dik_wnOE4dk https://youtu.be/dik_wnOE4dk

hedora 4y ago

In fairness, the only valid complaint I've heard about Craigslist is that it diverted classified ad revenue away from reporters, destroying local newspapers, and then local elections. With Craigslist, this always felt like an unintended consequence. With facebook, it seems like one of their top ten strategies for getting us to devolve into mineshaft dwelling mole people that live in the metaverse.

lotsofpulp 4y ago
Blaming technology for obviating business models is not a valid complaint. In this case, I would say the participants of the local society are responsible for paying for journalism and working to support local elections. But even then, you could come up with arguments such as so and so population was too poor and had to work two jobs and did not have time to attend city/county/state meetings, or were not sufficiently educated or literate to understand them, etc.
- lkrubner 4y ago
  You write “Blaming technology” in response to a comment that does not mention any technologies. You might want to examine what your preconceptions are, that you would see “technology” in a comment that does not refer to technology. You were responding to a comment that describes two business strategies, perhaps you should respond to that.
  - throwaway743 4y ago
    They're either assuming printed local classifieds were overtaken by a website, or that CL is a site that performed better than the local classifieds website. Not hard to extract, nor worth getting heated about.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    I wrote technology on purpose, to cut through useless information. It is not relevant that “Craigslist” obviated classified ads. The root problem newspapers were solving was a seller being able to provide information to a wide audience of buyers. Technology brought about a better way of solving this problem, so the root problem newspapers were getting paid to solve with classifieds no longer exists. Not having local newspapers/journalism causing problems with the local civic process is a separate problem, that has nothing to do with technology enabling sellers and buyers to reach each other more easily.

graupel 4y ago

Found the Utahn in the room! :)