Welcome to the fourth and final part of my Craigslist 101 series. Last time, we covered flagging posts on Craigslist, and target audience and category listings. So, now that we’ve covered the the important parts of Craigslist, we’re going to look at four easy-to-use online tools to make your Craigslisting experience a little easier.
CRAZED LIST
In the mood to search now, but too impatient to check region after region? Try Crazed List. Pulling together results from whatever regions you select, Crazed List allows you to run a very focused search for anything from autographed baseballs to telecommute jobs.
Why search outside of your region? Telecommute jobs such as data entry and copywriting can often be done at home, giving you a broader search base. Just be aware of nation or citizenship restrictions. If you’re not sure if you can legally do the job, ask when you apply.
When searching for items, particularly specialty items, the inconvenience or slight extra cost of going outside your city can lead to a large saving, or an unexpected find. And, of course, tools such as Crazed List make searching outside of your immediate region even simpler!
Pros:
→ saves time
→ helps you consider your options
Cons:
→ don’t search everywhere at once, otherwise you’ll crash the system. Try searching smaller regions, such as New England, or North East Coast, one at a time.
→ running Crazed List requires some slight reconfiguring of browser settings; don’t try it unless you’re confident in your tech skills.
CRAIGSPAL
An automated search tool, Craigspal is similar to Crazed List, in that it pulls together results for you. Unlike Crazed List, though, it’s a downloadable program (available as both a full and free version) that lets set very specific preferences and searches, and filters accordingly.
Pros:
→ saves time
→ saves searches
→ highlights new results on log in
→ option to get SMS and email notifications
→ allows negative search terms to help cut the number of false positive results
Cons:
→ Windows only
→ Full program is paid-member only
MAD MASHUPS
Into yard sales? Yard Sale Treasure Map maps yard sales listed on Craigslist according to dates and distances entered by you.
Pros:
→ makes it easy to plan a yard sale day trip
→ saves time, eliminates the need to comb through copious listings
Cons:
→ doesn’t indicate expired or deleted listings
→ doesn’t allow for specific searchable items, e.g. furniture yard sale, antique yard sale etc.
Similar to Yard Sale Treasure Map, HousingMaps maps housing listings by city and region. It lets you search by type of listing – for rent, for sale, rooms, and sublets – and price. It also has a filter function, allowing a tighter, more focused search tailored to your needs.
Pros:
→ makes it easy to visualize markets
→ saves time, eliminates the need to comb through copious listings
→ lets you filter and search by keyword, eliminating the need to go through Craigslist directly
→ yellow icons indicate listings with pictures
Cons:
→ doesn’t indicate expired or deleted listings
CL GENIE
Primarily an email alert service, CL Genie allows you to set search terms and have new listings emailed to you.
Pros:
→ tag cloud of common user searches
→ includes a localized eBay search
→ uses standard Craigslist categories etc.
Cons:
→ easy to be overwhelmed with notifications
And that’s it for my series on Craigslist. If you missed parts one, two, or three, just follow the links below.
Craigslist 101, Part One – How to post an ad on Craigslist
Craigslist 101, Part Two – How to reply to an on Craigslist, using Craigslist RSS feeds
Craigslist 101, Part Three – Flagging posts on Craigslist, target audience and category listings
By Peta Andersen
May 5, 2009
© Daype Inc.