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eastsideTim
eastsideTim UberDork
4/15/19 2:27 p.m.

As of a few minutes ago, 46 car ads dated today on Cincinnati CL.  Usually there are multiple pages by now.

The0retical
The0retical UberDork
4/16/19 10:38 p.m.

Well... all the CL E36 M3 posts have migrated over to Facebook.

The marketplace is currently full of "$2500 cars" which are nothing but money downs, $1 to $13 dollar listings and all the other stuff you generally found on CL prior to the change.

The worst part is that Facebooks interface is so slow it's actually more difficult to report them. It's just going to get worse from here.

But this is Facebook. So in between taking a break from whatever their scandal of the month is, they can build a self actualized blockchain powered microservice AI that runs on raw water to fix their problem. For synergy reasons. HODL.

On the other side the dealer spam and at-a-glance scam ads have disappeared from CL, at least in my area.

volvoclearinghouse
volvoclearinghouse PowerDork
4/17/19 7:06 a.m.

Just saw this on the Newly Charging List of Craig's today....

'77, 403 engine, white interior.  *drool*

RealMiniNoMore
RealMiniNoMore PowerDork
4/17/19 7:26 a.m.

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Link to build thread? 

volvoclearinghouse
volvoclearinghouse PowerDork
4/17/19 7:32 a.m.

In reply to RealMiniNoMore :

I wouldn't build that....I'd just tune it up and cruuuuuuiiiisssee.

RealMiniNoMore
RealMiniNoMore PowerDork
4/17/19 7:38 a.m.

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Aww yeah

ValourUnbound
ValourUnbound New Reader
4/22/19 9:13 p.m.

One data point:

I look at C4 Corvettes on my local CL (Portland) every week. I log the results in a spreadsheet to monitor prices (I swear, one day they'll go up).

Last Monday, the first day of the fee, there were 25 C4s posted. Presumably many of these were from before the fee.

Today, 7 days after the fee: There are four C4s posted. If you're not aware, CL posts expire after a week. I'm assuming that those who originally posted before the fee were asked to pay it in order to renew and they chose not to. 

Indy-Guy
Indy-Guy UberDork
4/22/19 9:29 p.m.

In reply to ValourUnbound :

This data point makes me very sad.

dj06482
dj06482 UltraDork
4/22/19 10:55 p.m.

Based on the local listings, CL will be dead soon. Numbers dropped from 2,000 listings to under 200 for cars and trucks by owner on our local site!

Javelin
Javelin MegaDork
4/22/19 11:27 p.m.
dj06482 said:

Based on the local listings, CL will be dead soon. Numbers dropped from 2,000 listings to under 200 for cars and trucks by owner on our local site!

Yup, they've done it now. There is literally zero reasons to look at cl at all anymore. Tis a shame, too.

Antihero
Antihero Dork
4/22/19 11:34 p.m.

Same thing on my local craigslist, almost nothing posted and what is posted is crap

volvoclearinghouse
volvoclearinghouse PowerDork
4/23/19 7:35 a.m.

Ads used to run for a month.  I posted a bunch 2 weeks ago and they're all down now.  :-(

But yeah...normally my search for all makes, all prices, pre-1979 yields a few hundred results in my local CL.  Today it yielded....26.  

:-(

Hey, Craig!  No one's gonna look at your ads if there aren't any search results.  And no one's gonna pay for an ad if no one's gonna look.

 

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim MegaDork
4/23/19 8:11 a.m.

Local CL wasn’t exactly flooded with vehicles in the first place, but now it seems to be really dire right now. 

stuart in mn
stuart in mn MegaDork
4/23/19 9:11 a.m.
dj06482 said:

Based on the local listings, CL will be dead soon. Numbers dropped from 2,000 listings to under 200 for cars and trucks by owner on our local site!

I just checked the Minneapolis Craigslist - 2,034 cars listed in the for sale by owner section.

maschinenbau
maschinenbau Dork
4/23/19 9:48 a.m.

Atlanta reporting in, the land of cheap and plentiful rust-free old cars.

Pre-1980, any price, including nearby areas

204 ads. Not even two full pages. Used to have to divide that search by decade and price, and still browse throughout breakfast without scratching the surface. This saddens me.

John Welsh
John Welsh Mod Squad
4/23/19 9:51 a.m.

Just out of curiosity, I think I'll track my CL markets here.  I am in a tiny market that actually surprises me I have my own CL market (Sandusky, OH.)  One hour west is the Toledo Market.  One hour west is the Cleveland market

4-23-19

Sandusky:  30 owner, 22 dealer listings.  Of those 22 then 8 seem to actually be from the market.  The others are Toledo & Cleveland dealers dropping additional ads)  

Toledo: 185 owner, 1957 dealer

Cleveland: 524 owner, 3000 dealer

RacetruckRon
RacetruckRon HalfDork
4/23/19 9:58 a.m.

This is the route I take when I'm doing specific searches.  Everything in the reach of these markets is within a 2 hour drive of my house.

Milwaukee: 658 owner, 3000 dealer

Madison: 417 owner, 2617 dealer

Janesville: 45 owner, 144 dealer

Appleton: 219 owner, 1832 dealer

Kenosha/Racine: 101 owner, 544 dealer

The0retical
The0retical UberDork
4/23/19 10:11 a.m.

There's 259 owner and 925 dealer listings on the Allentown Craigslist right now.

3 by owner do not have a picture and only 1 is listed for $1.

Sorry to everyone that hates this, but I'm perfectly willing to accept the changes for an overall better user experience. There's still cool cheap cars on there and they're easier to find now.

On the seller side it is still much cheaper than Autotrader ($25 for 30 days) and Carguru's (free listing but $100 at time of sale) also without the hassle, and expense, of eBay ($125 for >$2000 / $60 for <$2000).

dculberson
dculberson UltimaDork
4/23/19 10:41 a.m.
dj06482 said:

Based on the local listings, CL will be dead soon. Numbers dropped from 2,000 listings to under 200 for cars and trucks by owner on our local site!

Another way to look at it: Craigslist went from making $0 to making under $1000 a week from those ads.

Then again, they're not hurting for income at all, they have 50 employees and annual revenue of about $700 million. Their costs other than payroll are almost nothing. I assume they did this $5 charge thing entirely due to the scammers and curbstoners.

Side note, I would love to have a business with $14 million in revenue per employee. Anybody have any ideas?!?!

californiamilleghia
californiamilleghia HalfDork
4/23/19 10:56 a.m.

Who knows where this leads to...,

Kill the $5 fee , give you a couple a year free like eBay  , or add a $5 fee to other sections ......

Hoondavan
Hoondavan Reader
4/23/19 11:31 a.m.

My list of Craig's is still looking pretty healthy. Unfortunately, the same POS dealership that adds E30 as a tagline in every single one of their ads still has +20 cars posted.  Posted three days ago.  I'm tempted to stop by the dealership and ask to see an E30.

STM317
STM317 UltraDork
4/23/19 11:39 a.m.

A quick perusal of my local CL shows less stuff in general, but the stuff that remains seems to be less junky and the ads are mostly written by people that can compose a thought and type a complete sentence.

Based on the prices of what's listed, and the ads themselves I'd say there are fewer flakes now. But fewer deals too.

Cooter
Cooter SuperDork
4/23/19 11:42 a.m.
californiamilleghia said:

Who knows where this leads to...,

Kill the $5 fee , give you a couple a year free like eBay  , or add a $5 fee to other sections ......

I don't think it is coming back.  It was dying before this, and this is a near Photobucket level mistake.  People have decided to go elsewhere.

TBH, I personally have no issue with the fee itself, but this was the worst tme to implement it.  It should have been done years ago.

The0retical
The0retical UberDork
4/23/19 12:43 p.m.
Cooter said:
californiamilleghia said:

Who knows where this leads to...,

Kill the $5 fee , give you a couple a year free like eBay  , or add a $5 fee to other sections ......

I don't think it is coming back.  It was dying before this, and this is a near Photobucket level mistake.  People have decided to go elsewhere.

TBH, I personally have no issue with the fee itself, but this was the worst tme to implement it.  It should have been done years ago.

I'm going to politely disagree. I'm normally not one to defend Craigslist but here it is anyway.

Photobucket way over estimated they leverage they had. If PB had done something like throttling/denying access over X number of views per month then charged a $5/mo fee for unlimited views and removal of the branding I think they'd have gotten away with it. Yes, there would have been complaining and attrition, but it would have been nothing like the backlash they received when they basically tried extorting $400 a year to view anything hosted with them.

Craigslist was already facing mounting pressure for the numerous copycats, then Facebook jumped in with Marketplace. To differentiate themselves Craigslist needed a way to remove itself from the cesspool that was it's previous listings while still remaining a very cheap and way to offload cars. $5 a month, quite frankly, is a pittance compared to competitors. It's also still free to list other items on the site which arguably didn't suffer from the same issues as its auto listings. CL has already been charging for housing and job posts for quite some time.

I'd argue this, to a great degree, fixed many of the issues I had with the service, while foisting the bullE36 M3 onto the Facebook marketplace. There's always going to be those who believe because a service is on the internet it should be free. Those aren't the people CL is trying to capture.

I'd bet if you had tried to buy a car from CL in the last week, I'd bet the experience would have been much better.

RevRico
RevRico PowerDork
4/23/19 12:43 p.m.
dculberson said:
dj06482 said:

Based on the local listings, CL will be dead soon. Numbers dropped from 2,000 listings to under 200 for cars and trucks by owner on our local site!

Another way to look at it: Craigslist went from making $0 to making under $1000 a week from those ads.

Then again, they're not hurting for income at all, they have 50 employees and annual revenue of about $700 million. Their costs other than payroll are almost nothing. I assume they did this $5 charge thing entirely due to the scammers and curbstoners.

Side note, I would love to have a business with $14 million in revenue per employee. Anybody have any ideas?!?!

$700 million in annual revenue? How? From what? Until this, weren't there only charges for real estate? 

I get that they're owned by eBay now, but I never understood how a free classifieds board could be profitable, especially without covering the site in click ads and pop-up garbage.

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