I'm not going anywhere...

Like I tell people everyday, I do serious customer service at craigslist, everyday, and by "everyday" I mean every day.

My exit strategy for customer service is death; that is, I'm only be doing customer service as long as I live. After that, probably over.

I keep saying this repeatedly, not sure how the rumor started otherwise.

Comments

[Jeb Archer]

What people dont realise is that green homes and buildings are not only worth more (resale value) but are creating more reveneu as well. Higher occupancy rates paired with higher rental premiums equals more money in VC's pockets.
www.initred.com

[Cameron Barrett]

As someone who's known Craig for many years I can attest that the man has a big heart and his goal is to keep Craigslist the useful resource that it's always been. If the real estate brokers and scammers take advantage of the loose rules of CL, everyone loses.

Scammy real estate brokers are just pissed because now it costs them a little bit of money to prey on the community that Craigslist has built instead of being able to scam people for free, as they had done before the $10 fee.

Craigslist is still a great resource and useful if you have the time to wade through the posts -- but it's not as good as it used to be. A victim of its own success, so to speak. Interestingly, eBay has the same problem: too many users.

[BCC]

bk,

I don't know the details of the NYC situation, but your example is bizarre. Small brokers "[don't] care to" spend ~$10/yr for a domain name and ~$5/mo for hosting a 1-page 'business card' site that would take a novice 30 minutes to build, in order to provide minimum credentials in order to access a huge marketplace? If you can't figure out the cost/benefit of that, I don't want you as my broker!

[bk ex-broker]

You are a very smart man, but one who knows and understands less that nothing about rentin g an apartment in New York, or what someone who legitimately works hard as a real estate agent goes through. For example, your idiotic insistence that people post using an email address that includes the name of their brokerage effectively shut out every mom and pop brokerage who doesn't have a web site or a domain or anything else, and doesn't care to. Again, complete and total lack of understanding.

REBNY is a monopoly, and your ego played right into their hands.

I took a few years off from being a geek and tried real estate to make ends meet. I lost all respect for you with what you did with REBNY. Craig, you're a rich guy who's never lived here! Come on!

[nycre]

UPDATE from Craig:

Over a year ago we started charging way under market, $10 per ad, to help stop predatory apartment brokers. That includes deceptive advertisers and outright scammers.

We made a special effort not to hurt new agents, who are paid little.

However, we're still dealing with a few predatory brokers, working with the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs and others.

Comment by reader starts here:

you are a greedy piece of sh*t who conspired with REBNY to take down small RE firms in the nyc area. f U.

[lalaland]

Hmmm....from what we have experienced in New York, Craig must have passed on a few years back. Must be a proxy or something that sends out these miscommuniques

[lalaland]

Hmmm....from what we have experienced in New York, Craig must have passed on a few years back. Must be a proxy or something that sends out these miscommuniques

[Nathan]

So by everyday you mean...what now?

[alek]

A misquote from the Atlanta paper that Valleywag runs with ... based on those credible sources, I had already assumed you had retired! ;-)
alek

P.S. "After that, probably over" - LOL.

[kristen lanter]

seriously - you guys get it and your pure approach is awsomely refreshing (dont care and know its not a word) I am so impressed with you, thanks for bringing some sanity and help to people needing other people - everyone loves you - blessings