Does Craigslist Make Money?

Does Craigslist make money? Is the pope catholic? People usually think Craigslist is a classified site that is FREE. Originally the site was free and mainly for classifieds and forums.  That is still their main purpose, but since 1999 they have incorporated for profit.  In 1995, founder Craig Newmark began an email distribution list to his friends.   Most postings were submitted by Newmark and were notices of social events of interest to software and Internet developers living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area.  But soon it blossomed, people started spreading the word.  It is one of the easiest websites to use and one of the most top ranking websites used by over 50 million people in the United States alone.  Craigslist revenues are approximately $287,000 weekly, which equals about $15 million dollars annually.

How does Craigslist make support its operations? 

One of the ways Craigslist makes money is through posting fees for jobs in 18 areas.  The revenue for the company comes from people who post jobs at the website. The rates range according to the places but on average the listings can range from $25 to $75.

Another way they make money is from apartment brokers.  In certain cities there is a $10-75 fee (depending on which city) to advertise for apartment listings.  Direct owner listings still remain free.  Even though there is a fee for the broker to list on Craigslist the broker can extract huge fees from the actual tenant by charging them to find a suitable apartment.

This last explanation on how Craigslist makes their money is the “Oh My” reaction.  They also make money from listing “Therapeutic Services”.   In 2008, Craigslist discontinued a couple of features for erotic services listings after it received a lot of press and legal threats.  They now classify a lot of these services under massage therapists, acupuncturists and chiropractor advertisements and charge $10 per ad.

Of course they do but Craigslist is an excellent site for those services, as most of the ads posted on Craigslist are free of cost.  Community, For Sale, Housing, Personals, Discussion Forums, Jobs, Services, Gigs, and Resumes are categories on Craigslist that offer many free listings.   They are much cheaper than listing in the newspapers, magazines, websites, and other printed advertising papers. With fees ranging as low as $10, to $75 per ad, it’s a steal.  And Even though they do profit from some of their listings, they offer free classifieds to more than 80 million new classified listing posts each month.  Because they are free, people prefer posting their ads in Craigslist rather companies who charge people for the ads.  It’s cheap and most of the time FREE, a word millions of people LOVE to hear!