Count one for the good guys.

I recently sold my Toyota Solara Convertible (going for a sweet, rockin’ minivan) and posted both on Craigslist and Autotrader.

I’m sure it doesn’t surprise you that Craigslist kicked Autotrader’s butt in generating legitimately interested leads, at least here in the uber-connected Bay Area. 

The tale of the tape (Craigslist vs. Autotrader):

• Cost: Free (duh) vs. $69
• Online pictures: 4 vs. 18
• Magazine ads: 0 vs. 1 (I assume, I never saw it)
• Times I had to post: 4 vs. 1 (CL expires after 7 days, AT doesn’t expire)
• Actual interested leads: 9 vs. 1
• “Spam”: 0 vs. 4 (I got 4 calls from businesses who want to help me sell my car)

Even though the ads on Craigslist are free (and therefore, unqualified), the search functionality minimal, and the ads poorly formatted, CL was far and away better than AT.

But you knew that already.  Count a victory for the power of a trusted, “social” classifieds system over the old school advertising system.