Social Question

robdamel's avatar

What`s your opinion on Craigslist`s business model? Would you maximize profits?

Asked by robdamel (791points) March 11th, 2011

Craigslist makes money by charging up to 75$ per ad, but only in 7 major cities of the USA, also limited to a few categories.

Craigslist has over 20 billion page views a month.

They refuse to maximize profits. What would you do? Can you think of a business model that would be convenient for both viewers and the site?

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4 Answers

coffeenut's avatar

I don’t think you can compare EBay or Amazon to Craigslist….Isn’t Craigslist purpose selling cheap used local items? How many people would pay to sell a $5 DVD…or $10 Stereo? not me Here it’s free to use (as well as other similar sites) with options to “promote” your add for a fee…. Changing that would be a bad idea a lot of people would stop using it if they had to pay

Mamradpivo's avatar

I don’t think Craigslist is interested in maximizing profits, per se. It began as a community bulletin board in San Francisco and has grown from there. But they’ve never cared to cover more than their operating costs. It’s not run as a standard corporate enterprise. They have a small staff and don’t do a lot of re-designs.

Also, like @coffeenut said, any small change at this point would cause people to start shifting to alternatives.

robdamel's avatar

Well, i dont think i compared craigslist to Ebay or Amazon. I simply meant, what would you do if you were CEO of Craigslist? Would you not try and find any way to make a few extra bucks for you?

Zaku's avatar

I think businesses which maximize profits are dangerous and destructive and don’t serve any greater good.

Go Craigslist.

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