A Review of Free Classified Ads Sites

Who doesn't have a garage or basement full of things they never use, are just taking up space, and would love to get rid of? And wouldn't it be nice if you got paid? I think we all fit into that description. I've done a little research on the subject.

I have a set of wooden window blinds I've been trying to sell for a couple of years. I keep putting it in the Dayton Daily News classifieds, and pay about $10.00 for it to run three weeks. I haven't gotten any calls. And then there are th 24 7' high metal fence posts I'll never use and hate to just put out in the trash.

I wanted to listl them on a local site or at least one that allowed sorting ads by zip code so buyers could find me living close to them and come over and buy the stuff. It does me no good for someone in California to find I have fence posts for sale. That's why I tried the newspaper first. But if I pay $10.00 another time to place the ad it is going to make it not worth my while to sell the stuff.

I found a couple of online local sites, http://daytonsuperads.com and http://daytontraderpub.com . The first one is free and the second one charges $10.00 until sold. But you have to remember to go back and renew the ads and I'm not sure they send email reminder notices. I listed my stuff there and got no replies

I found one, named http://mytownads.com which has local sites for every state and county. This sounded great, but I found that there were very few items on sale in my county. How am I supposed to sell it if nobody is using the site

Here are some information I found out about the online sites. I rate them from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent).

Site: www.classifieds.yahoo.com
Features: Basic listing is free, runs for 7 days with a single photo.
You can manage your listing online.

Featured listing is $10.00, with priority placement, runs
for 30 days, bold title, up to 6 photos, thumbnail image on
search result, performance statistics,
Rating: 9

Site: www.inetgiant.com
Features: Free ads. But when you place it you're presented with
a ton of extra money consting options, like even to include
a picture is $2.00. Also I had trouble selecting a category
they were not in alphabetical order.
Rating: 5

Site: www.livedeal.com.
Features: This one is pretty good. It is a national site but can make your
item visible to people in a 50 mile radius. Entry of the ad
went well and didn't seem to be bothered by a lot of
ad extras. It said you could browse by zip code, but I couldn't
figure out how to do it. That is a minus.
Rating: 7

Site: New York Times Marketplace http://listings.nytimes.com/classifiedsmarketplace/
Features: It costs $45 to list for 30 days! I didn't look further.
Rating: 2

Site: www.edirection.com
Features: Nice category selections, easy to find one,
Free with picture, premium options offered
that cost but did not intrude in the process.
Allow search by zipcode.
Minuses: Only 2 items for sale within my local area in home
furnishings.
Rating: 8

Site: www.americanclassifieds.com
Features: Difficult to find a category, could submit without
registering. Cost $28.00 for four weeks.
Rating: 3

Site: http://citylister.com
Features: Easy to use, allows search by distance from the zip
code of the seller. I got to step 1 where you
select the primary category though and the
dialog box would not let me continue.
Rating: 0

Site: www.citynews.com
Features: $2.00 for 30 day listing, nice. Allows posting
to select major cities in any state. Easy
category selection, quick use with easy
registration.
Minuses: It got lost, could not load a page when
I was completing the ad and it looked
like I'd have to start all over.
Rating: 9

What are some of the things to look for in selecting a classifieds ad site? 1) ability to have people search for your ad by distance, or something that says post locally. 2) One that is easy to use, especially selecting the category. 3) One that is free, or less than $10.00 for a month, or $3.00 for a week. 4) Optional - one that allows modifying your ad. 5) One that allows buyer to contact you through the board messaging system so they do not see your email.

Why are there such a price range in what these sites charge? It depends on how they think they can best make money. The free ones are hoping you will read the advertisements and buy something. And if they provide a good ad placement experience, it will keep you coming back, a repeat customer for their ads.

The ones that charge minimal amounts also hope to display advertisements to you but feel they can not make enough without charging, or by charging a little, it will weed out those who are not serious.

The ones that charge a lot are usually newspapers who get a lot to run an ad in the paper so think they should also do that when doing it online. They have no reason to run cheap ad services.

There are hundreds of these ad sites to choose from I hope I have given you some tips for finding a good one. If you find a good one, let me know.

William Yost

Copies of this article may be freely re-printed as long as the entire text remains intact, including the author's bio.

Article Source: http://www.a1-articledirectory.com

The author William Yost is a software engineer who is exploring a second line of income in website marketing. He maintains several websites, including an ad site (Brand new) at www.daytonfreeads.u-seek-it.com. Although the site is directed at Dayton, and Cincinnati OH, one may place national ads there as it allows search by distance from the seller's zip code. Other sites he has are www.freearticles.u-seek-it.com, www.webstore.u-seek-it.com. He may be contacted at sales@u-seek-it.com.

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