craigslist

We all remember the story of the giveaway house in Tacoma. Somebody posted an ad on the Seattle area Craigslist inviting folks to take away whatever they could find inside an otherwise unremarkable home. The response was eager and effective. Woodwork and fixtures vanished out the door. What was left was trashed. The incident aroused much online interest.

There was some police interest as well. Tacoma police told CNET News.com there would be criminal charges filed. And now the accused hoaxer, the person who invited the world to trash, has been charged.

Police have accused Nichole M. Blackwell, 28, … Read more

Facebook's new "Marketplace" classifieds feature launched quietly this weekend, giving the social networking site's members the ability to post Craigslist-like ads and make them visible to their friends and "networks" (which, if you aren't familiar with Facebook, are based around regions, high schools and colleges, and companies). I gave it a quick run-through to test it out; here's what I found.

When you click on Marketplace, which is accessible by a link in the left sidebar (along with other Facebook staples like photos, groups, and notes) you are directed to the Marketplace homepage for your primary network, with tabs where you can navigate to the corresponding pages for your other networks if you're in more than one. In the image below, you can see the CNET network is the one displayed; I also have access to listings from my former university's network and to the NYC network. The interface is more or less just like the rest of Facebook--blue and white, without much clutter.

Read on after the jump...… Read more

Very recently, Facebook launched its new "Marketplace" classifieds ads feature, a potential rival to services like Craigslist. The service, according to a New York Times article, was supposed to go live on Friday. At least in the networks that I have access to, it wasn't actually available until Sunday night. (Facebook occasionally will roll out features to select school, workplace, or regional "networks" within the service before they become widely available. But it looks like now the Marketplace is available to everyone.)

Look for our review of Facebook Marketplace very soon.

Thrillist, a NYC-based e-mail list that features everything from bar picks to gadgets, has tipped us off to some pretty cool webware recently. (The site currently operates "everywhere," NYC, and LA versions with San Francisco coming soon.) They do, however, tend to be targeted toward Thrillist's key demographic of party-ready slackers. Like this one, for example: Do My Stuff. It's a way for you to find people to, well, do your stuff: lawn mowing, house painting, moving, posing for photographs (ahem), you name it.

The thinking behind it is sort of an eBay-Craigslist hybrid, with … Read more

Wipbox is a relatively new service that helps people sell things on Craigslist and eBay. Wipbox charges a small fee to help you put together a really slick-looking listing and figure out some of the subtle aspects of getting an item to sell quickly based on what category and service it's listed in. If you've ever wanted to sell something on either of the two classifieds services but have been unsure about a good starting price or the best way to convey the product information, Wipbox does the heavy lifting for you.

To get started quickly, you can do a search for your item. It's not free at $0.25 a pop, but it gives you the starting and closing costs for your item in various categories (for eBay) or locales (for Craigslist). For example, if you're here in San Francisco, your item might fetch more money in surrounding neighborhoods. Likewise, on eBay, putting it in a different category can dramatically improve the closing price. You're paying Wipbox to do the legwork.

In testing, we came across some skewed numbers for certain search items. For eBay, it was likely due to auctioneers incorrectly labeling their items or adding extra words to their titles to boost search engine presence. For Craigslist, we ran into problems with the search grouping together multiple SKUs. For example, a search for an Xbox 360 pulled in results with a difference of about a hundred dollars due to the system having two versions, each at a different price. For popular items such as iPods though, drilling down to the specific model number helped with these issues.

Wipbox bases its statistics on 30 days of eBay listings, and a full week of Craigslist sales, so whatever information you're getting is fairly current for market value. To find general price ranges for online auctions, there's also Mpire, a service that tracks auction prices on eBay to show you whether or not it's in demand--a little bit like Farecast does for airplane tickets.

The real catch to using Wipbox is its listing creator. Wipbox will pull in a description, user reviews, and specifics from Amazon.com. You can either pay $0.15 to have this information posted straight to your listing, or copy and paste the code field by field into eBay or Craigslist's listing creation box for free. … Read more

Moving can be a strange experience. Even stranger are the people you meet along the way. TenantMarket is a new service that plays matchmaker for both landlords and potential tenants in an attempt to avoid potentially bad living situations. You simply give TenantMarket details like length of employment, credit status, and reasons for moving, and it will match you up accordingly.

Landlords pay to have their listings matched up, and the system provides them with a fresh set of "leads" to contact. Likewise, potential renters are e-mailed personalized offers about new places that match their criteria. It's … Read more

Iqzone is a new service announced at Demo 07 that allows you to post classified ads to the Internet using the camera on your cell phone. Users can create text-only postings or add pictures. The entire process is done by sending your photo and item description in a mixed media text message.

Iqzone is free, and all listings end up on the Iqzone's classifieds Web site. I'd like to see Iqzone build in some sort of integration to post to Craigslist and eBay. The service is being promoted as a quick way to sell things, but I can'… Read more

I recently got my car stolen from a public parking lot. When I got it back several days later, all the electronics were stolen, along with everything else even remotely valuable. The same day I got it back, a friend of mine told me to check out Craigslist to see if any of my stuff had been listed. I took his advice, and to my surprise I found a local posting with what was undoubtedly some of my car's electronics, along with a post date the same day of the theft.

I immediately contacted the police with the posting … Read more

Everyone's lost something. In most cases, retracing your steps results in either a quick find or the impromptu reorganization of your linen closet. TheFoundBin is a new service that helps both losers and finders come together through the Internet. Craigslist and LostAndFound have been doing this for a few years now, but TheFoundBin has some helpful features and a visual appeal that the others don't.

TheFoundBin combines Google Maps with some basic form tools to tell people what you've lost or found along with where it happened. You can include any helpful photos of the item, as … Read more