How does Craigslist make money?

[I.B. Washincars]

I've bought and sold a few things there. It doesn't cost a penny on either end. They don't have ads on the site, so how do they make money?

 

[Whale of a Wash]

I wondered that also because i use it weekly to give away furniture, appliances, to recycle things from apts i own or stuff from the carwash. It's actually easy to google it. It said they charge less for effective ads than people were paying for ineffective ads. They charge for brokered apt ads in 3-4 cities --like $10 an ad and make a fortune. I don't pay for my apt ads because of my city, but the ads are so effective,that i don't use the newspaper anymore. That save me $500 a year. Alot of scammers out there when you are selling a car, but great for other ads.

 

[Waxman]

CL is so/so for me and the used cars I sell. Lots of flakes on there it seems. I have bought cars there, though, with some limited success.

 

[mac]

I still don't see how you make money by giving free services, but in a perverse way I'm kinda glad to see how ithas hurt the print media. I used to run ads in the papers and it always irked me that they charged different rates based on who you were and where you were located. It is a little scary to see all the whackos out there.

 

[seattleguy]

Here in Seattle CL charges for help wanted ads as well as real estate ads.