I've been watching the forum on Craigslist for the past couple of days regarding the upcoming change. As you most likely know, Craig decided to start charging a listing fee to Brokers in an attempt to clean up the listings. When he was first considering it publically, 99% of all tenants and buyers were in favor. He let this forum run for months and months. It was a big RED ALERT to the real estate community to STOP abusing the system. No one headed the warning, and now, Craig is moving forward with charging $10.00 per listing, with lower pricing for bulk listing.

As I said, I've been watching the forums, and most of the people posting now are angry real estate agents.

I couldn't help myself. I responded as follows.

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Everyone complaining here acts like Craig committed a crime against the real estate community.

What did he do? He created an amazing money making machine for the "little guy" that cost NOTHING for over 5 years!

How much money did all of us make for the past 5 years using Craigslist for free?

Did he ask for a penny? Did any of you donate a portion of the money saved in marketing to the Craigslist Foundation?

As for pricing, $10 is far cheaper than the NY Times, or PPC marketing in Google or Yahoo. Craigslist is still offering a very well priced service that is highly effective. For those willing to pay, it will be even more effective because now all the junk listing will be gone.

The point is, we are all capitalist living in a capitalist society. We got a free ride and now it's time to pay. Such is captialism.

Say thanks Craig and consider yourself lucky the price is only $10.00. He could have charged $250 per ad, per month like the NY Times!

M.

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With that said, we adjusted the pricing on TopNYCapts.com to better serve the market of legitmate Agents seeking to expand their horizons.