Reed What Matters

In writing, Beware of Work at Home Scams, I discussed some issues with Craigslist having issues with scammers, because they have user generated ads. There isn’t anything wrong with these types of ads, again I love Craigslist! Simply put, some improvements by Craigslist could help us all in trusting their ads more then not!

Top two improvements Craigslist could do for me:

• Verify users

Verified users works well, either verify by credit card like PayPal does, or by mobile phone like Facebook and many others do, you name it… There are many ways to verify users.

• “Review & Reputation” scores

As noted by Slate.com in “How To Fix Craigslist,” you can read the full article by clicking here, eBay uses a review and reputation system. I won’t buy from eBay users below a 95% rating. This is very useful, and helps build trust between buyer and seller.

Craigslist is very aware of scammers, and does list safety procedures verbatim as followed:

“You can sidestep would-be scammers by following these common-sense rules:

• DEAL lOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON – follow this one simple rule and you will avoid 99% of the scam attempts on craigslist
• NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service – anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer.
• FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later.
• CRAIGSLIST IS NOT INVOLVED IN ANY TRANSACTION, and does not handle payments, guarantee transactions, provide escrow services, or offer “buyer protection” or “seller certification”
• NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION(bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal info, etc.)
• AVOID DEALS INVOLVING SHIPPING OR ESCROW SERVICES and know that ONLY A SCAMMER WILL “GUARANTEE” YOUR TRANSACTION.”

So, for now, be careful, and have fun finding deals and steals on our favorite Craigslist.

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