How does craigslist make money?

November 21, 2008 · Filed Under Internet 

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I always wonder how craigslist made money. Don’t really ever see any ads ever being shown. Craigslist is by far the leader on free online classified ads and has built a solid online presence with more than twelve billion views per month, not to shabby eh? Craigslist was started back in 1995 by Craig Newmark. Craigs list has about twenty five employees. Ok but how does craigslist make money? Well according to their website in their frequently asked questions.

Q: Why doesn’t craigslist focus more on generating revenue?
A: We rely on local communities to suggest ways to make money without compromising craigslist.

Ok craigslist relies on local communities to suggest ways to make money whatever the heck that means. I know they also make money from donations and also from the job ads. That’s it I wouldn’t think by just charging the job ads would make craigslist such a profitable company but it apparently does. Not to many online websites are built like the craigslist model, they have certainly formed a model that works for them and although have the ability to generate massive amounts of revenue from advertising they elect not to at the moment and keep their website advertisement free.

My opinion is craigslist is a lottery ticket just waiting to be cashed, question is whether when or if ever it will be. What do you think, would you still utilize craigslist if it began running advertisement on their site?

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Comments

8 Responses to “How does craigslist make money?”

  1. no imageJohn from Japanese Weekend Maternity (Who am I?) (1 comments.) on November 21st, 2008 10:12 pm

    That really is a weird way to dodge the question about how they make money. I wonder if there is something they are not telling us.

    Johns last blog post..How does craigslist make money?

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  2. no imageMik (Who am I?) (3 comments.) on November 21st, 2008 10:27 pm

    As long as they weren’t super annoying pop-up, pop-under type ads I think people will continue to use the site. It is useful, although I’ve yet to use it for anything myself.

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  3. no imageDan_N (Who am I?) on November 21st, 2008 10:44 pm

    Hey Mik I agree I hate sites that have pop up ads.

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  4. no imageTaylor from Renegade SEO (Who am I?) (1 comments.) on November 24th, 2008 10:29 pm

    Well at $25 per job listing in 3 or 4 cities, that’s going to add up pretty quickly. Another thing to keep in mind is that the Craigslist community is mostly self policing so they don’t have to employ as many people as other large websites would. Saving that money means more profits!

    Taylor´s last blog post..Don’t Vote

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  5. no imagelvs (Who am I?) (9 comments.) on November 25th, 2008 7:40 pm

    I think the volumes are already adding up as @Taylor says

    lvs´s last blog post..India’s Moon Mission: Lets Not Feel Proud About the Low Price Tag

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  6. no imageKim (Who am I?) (1 comments.) on November 30th, 2008 10:13 am

    Twitter is the same way - they are on record as having no business plan or method of earning money planned for the near future. The wonders of investment money…

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  7. no imageDan_N (Who am I?) on December 3rd, 2008 9:07 pm

    @ Taylor @ Ivs Yes I guess that would add up, sure is a lot more money thank I am making…lol

    @ Kim Twitter should jump now with their popularity I am sure there is plenty of money to be made for them.

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  8. no imagelatif from debt management (Who am I?) (1 comments.) on December 24th, 2008 10:05 pm

    Quite probably, as youtube sold out. twitter may be waiting something like this, may be from huge news agency.

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