If you like buying and selling locally as a way to make extra cash, you’re probably familiar with Craigslist. Craigslist is the OG of online local marketplaces. It’s simple, easy to use, and effective. It’s also ugly, with a design that hasn’t changed much since they launched in 1995.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s good, but if you’re serious about local selling, you should know that there are several other online selling sites like Craigslist out there that are also solid options.
If you’re looking for new places to sell your stuff, here are 9 Craigslist alternatives for you to consider next time you want to sell your stuff.
Facebook Marketplace blasted onto the scene in 2016 and has quickly become one of the best ways to sell things online. Aside from the fact that it doesn’t look like a site that some kid designed in their basement in 1995, it has a few distinct advantages over the Craigslist.
With Facebook Marketplace, you can actually see who you’re doing business with. Of course some profiles are fake but generally speaking, people selling on Facebook are easy to deal with. Why? Because their reputation is at stake. You can see their name when they contact you through their profile so they are going to be less likely to try and screw you around.
There are a few fiddly annoyances with FBM. For example it’s way too easy to mistakenly send a pre-written message to a seller with the accidental click of a button on mobile. I’ve asked several sellers “Is this still available?” by accident, not even realizing I’d done it.
That said, it’s generally a good platform and if you’re serious about selling your stuff, you should be using Facebook Marketplace.
Letgo is another solid alternative to Craigslist for selling things around your house. It has a great, easy to use app which is primarily how most people use the service. You can also access the marketplace from a desktop computer if you want to.
Letgo tries to show items based on a location to increase the likelihood of a local sale.
Offerup is a mobile app that’s a great alternative to Craigslist for selling your stuff locally. Their app has a few cool features including the ability to ‘bump’ your add to the top of the list for a small fee and the ability to complete payment either using cash in-person or via their in-app payment platform.
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Varagesale is kind of like a virtual garage sale. It allows you to post your stuff for sale by category. Users must apply and be accepted in a particular region to be allowed to post. There are a wide range of things listed on Varagesale from baby clothes to cell phones and RVs. Definitely worth trying out.
With sites for most major US cities, Locanto is a solid Craigslist alternative. Placing a local ad on Locanto is free, but they offer paid upgrades for things like listing in other cities and removing, removing ads from your listing and bumping your listings to the top of the category.
Classifiedads.com is a clean, well laid out platform for local buying and selling. They have local sites in cities all over USA, Canada and globally. I performed a simple search for cars on this site and found that I was seeing listings for vehicles that were more than 200 miles from me. I’d give them a try, you may have luck with this site if you live in a larger metropolitan area.
Most people don’t think of Reddit when they’re looking for alternatives to Craigslist. The reality is that Reddit can be a great place to sell your stuff if you can find a suitable subreddit. There are buy/sell subreddits based on location as well as many based on interest. If you sell a lot of cycling gear, it might be worth checking out this subreddit that exists for that purpose.
Poshmark is a solid platform if you’re looking to sell clothing, shoes or accessories. Their app for either IOS or Android allows you to list items with just a few clicks and get selling within minutes.
Used.ca is another great option for selling in Canada and the UK. In some cities, it is more popular than Craigslist. Each city has it’s own url (usedvictoria.com as an example) and only lists items from that geographical area.
I really like the used.ca interface and am glad to see they’re continuing to expand with sites now for Seattle and Hawaii!
Kijiji is a great classified site to use if you want to sell your stuff in Canada. It’s been around since 2005 and is owned by Ebay. At one point, it was made available in the USA but was subsequently renamed Ebay Marketplace in the US.
I’ve had limited success on Kijiji, but it’s a solid platform and in some cities, it’s more popular than Craigslist. If you live in the Great White North like me, you should check it out.
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Of course I haven’t forgotten about you folks in the UK and Australia! Gumtree is a local selling platform similar to Craigslist in many ways. I’ve actually used Gumtree several years ago when I was traveling in Australia and it’s a good platform. The only thing I find annoying about Gumtree is that it’s absolutely littered with ads, it seems like there are more than on other sites.
Best sites like Craigslist if you’re willing to ship your stuff
Ebay is the O.G. of online selling platforms. Proven and easy to use, Ebay is a great alternative to Craigslist when you’re looking to sell your stuff for cash. Certain things tend to sell better than others on Craigslist. Items that tend to do well there are clothing, car parts, vintage items, shoes, tools and more.
Mercari is a little bit like Ebay in that you ship items to buyers rather than meeting locally. If you’re wary of meeting people in person. Like Ebay, they take a cut of the profit as commission for facilitating the sale. Mercari’s fee is 10%.
Craigslist has been the leader in local online classified for more than 20 years. Their site is simple and easy to use. While their vintage design leaves a lot to the imagination, I kind of appreciate how it just works, so they’ve left it alone. Many other sites are constantly redesigning just for the sake of change.
Over the years, I’ve bought and sold hundreds of items on Craigslist from vehicles, dozens of appliances and smaller stuff. I’ve made lots of money using Craigslist.
For whatever reason, selling on Craigslist might not be your cup of tea. Maybe your local Craigslist site just isn’t that popular, or maybe you’ve found that your item just isn’t selling well there.
Maybe you just want to sell something faster. The more places it’s listed, the more eyeballs you’re going to get on your ad and the better chance you have of selling your item fast.
The point is, there are many other sites like Craigslist for you to consider when selling online. It’s definitely the biggest, but it’s by no means the only option.
Craigslist might not be the most popular site where you live. In some places Kijiji, Letgo, FB Marketplace or others might be much more popular and thus, the best alternative to Craigslist. In my city, Craigslist is definitely widely used, but isn’t actually the most popular platform so I use it as a secondary option for selling my stuff when I want more exposure.
Have you ever used one of these alternatives to Craigslist to sell your stuff? What about another site not mentioned here? We’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Thanks for reading.
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