I too wish I had a shitty product like that. However:

> And I even use it regularly to find stuff I want, locally, and cheap.

Are you really successful at that, though? 9 times out of 10 when I use craigslist the transaction is a horrible experience--for example:

    - the buyer of an item claims it, then flakes out
    - the seller of an item jacks up the price at the last
      minute, when I'm there in person, saying, "oh well
      there are 5 other people that want it"
    - potential rideshare flakes out, or changes plans at
      the last minute
    - potential landlord turns out to be unreliable

The one area where I have had great success with craigslist is hiring, which I suspect is due to craigslist charging for job listings (which keeps the bar high).

Like I said, I'm successful at finding things I'm looking for.

In the last month, for instance, I've purchased:

-- a pressure washer (had it in my garage within 90 mins of searching) -- an industrial grade hedge trimmer -- 4 dock floats -- a folding swimming ladder

The first three I found looking, the fourth I found by placing a "looking for" add myself.

Sure, I've had shitty experiences with Craigslist, by far the worst was when I was selling a truck. I had a lot of moronic callers and a couple of no-shows, but I also ended up selling it for good cash to a respectful guy.

The best bet in handling the bad parts was basically saying "sorry, not interested in selling it to you" when I get the sense that the other end of the call was a flake or not worth wasting time on. Sure, pissed off some of them, but I like to think I have a reasonable ability to read people, and wasn't desperate enough to sell the truck that I felt obligated to follow through with every potential buyer.

In the end, I'd rather deal with that crap than a dealership any day.