Whether they use it or not, everyone has bound to have heard the term "Craigslist" at some point in their lives. When having a conversations with some friends, one of them might have mentioned something about selling items on Craigslist, or you might of overheard others talking about jobs on Craigslist. Well, what exactly is Craigslist anyways? And why is it so popular?

Craigslist is an online network that allows people from all around the world to post their own classified advertisements. Ads are divided amongst several categories, including but not limited to community, housing, jobs, and services. Individuals looking for something, such as an item or a job, can browse through Craigslist until they come across an ad that they are willing to accept, and then seller and customer can proceed to make their own arrangements to fulfill both ends of the deal. Craigslist has expanded to over 570 cities in 50 different countries, and accumulates more than 50 million new classified ads and 30 billion page view each month.

Many people use Craigslist mainly because it is essentially free to post their ads on the site. Other similar online markets, such as eBay and Amazon, charges sellers with insertion and final value fees for products that are posted on their site. Craigslist is different because it is relatively non-corporate and works to serve the public, so they do not try to profit from those who use the site.

Despite the benefits, there are still drawbacks to Craigslist. On Craigslist, it is pretty much impossible to tell the type of person you are dealing with. There are honest people on Craigslist, but at the same time, there are also many frauds. Craigslist offers tips to help people recognize these scams, but that doesn't prevent them from happening. Because Craigslist does not have its own payment system or dispute resolution service, many customers are often cheated and end up losing all their money to deceptive sellers. In those situations, there is nothing Craigslist can really do to help them.

One of the most amazing aspects of Craigslist, though, is not just its market, but also the tremendous online community that has been created in conjunction to the market. Because so many people cluster at this site, many people have started using it to arrange dates and find relationships. Craigslist created later the "Personal" classified ad category for this very purpose. For some time, there was even an "Adult Services" subcategory that was removed due to controversy over the content of the ads that were being posted in that section.

Overall, Craigslist is a tremendous network. Like all companies, Craigslist has some weak points, but the free online resources it provides attracts many users each day and contributes to a massive, growing online community. Craigslist has truly been honest to itself in its goal to serve the public, and has been tremendously successful in allowing people from all around the world connect with each other. Craigslist is truly a one-of-a-kind company.

You can find a craigslist for your city, as craigslist in San Diego