I always use Craigslist, never had a problem -just ignore stuff that you'll find in your spam- it really is spam, not from Craigslist. There will be scammers, but it's so obvious! Just delete.

I often put an add on Craigs List for  a last minute special price. A week that just hasn't rented and I've reduced the price. I put an add on earlier this evening and have already had one call- and I hadn't even reduced the rate.  I have two homes and one time I had a reservation for the first home, before I even finished posting the second home. I have had some reservations.Often (not always) these people are looking for a big discount. And often they are the ones who cause the most problems and have the most complaints.

I have had lots of spammers. Several cheating scammers who wanted to send me thousands of dollars over my rate, just send back the extra- ha ha.  I try to encourage possible renters to contact me through homeaway.com.  I have also had a lot of interest from posting on Kijiji.ca  a Canadian alternative to craigslist.

I agree!  Stay away from Craigslist... I received so many 'scam' emails from there!!!

I use Craigslist as a complement to Homeaway and VRBO. I get some rental from Craigslist but it seems like most of the rentals that I get on Craigslist are last minute one.

But it's free which is great. I would definitely not use Craigslist are your #1 rental source.

As others have pointed out here, listing a rental on Craigslist yields a mixed bag of results.

A couple of things to remember when listing there:

1. ALWAYS have a link to an alternate website, such as your own, or your listing on VRBO/Hidewawy.

2. NEVER accept credit cards or wire transfers for rentals sourced from this site, ESPECIALLY for last-minute rentals (which will represent the majority of rentals you get from the site.

Craigslist users look for bargains.  Be prepared for people who want to offer less than your posted price.  Also prepare for tons of spam, which means that you should probably use their anonymous email rather than entering your own address.  If you must use a unique address, make it a seperate one from your regular email, and ensure that it has a good spam filter on it.

We continue to post on Craigslist, and on average, receive 1 firm rental per season, which isn't saying much, but, it's free at at $2250/wk, we do pick up that $2250, so what can I say?

VRBO has been our best source of rentals since we started using it six years ago.  We get an average of 4500 +/- views per year, roughly 110 inquiries and about 13 rentals (we only rent for 14 weeks/yr), so we get our $380 work each season.  We haven't found a lot of difference in quality of tenant between Craigslst tenants as opposed to VRBO, but we have seen a number of attempted scams, which are easily recognizable, at leat to date.

Bottom line:  from our experience, it hasn't yielded huge results, but enough to put up with the hassle of havin the listing there and renewing it every couple of weeks. 

Good luck with your rental!

Jim

I use Craig's List for "Last Minute Specials"  when I have 3 days not booked and it is 2 weeks before the date.  I offer a 3 for 2 day special and which resulted in many inquiries.  The first person to book calling and using their credit card to secure the date got the special.  the 2.75% is peanuts when you consider the house is rented and not vacant.  The $300.00 reservation deposit converts to their security deposit when the rent is paid in full.

We have many clients that have used Cragislist and had a lot of success.  The key is to advertise on Craigslist in the right way to prevent spam and ensure qualified leads.

I agree that anonymizing your email address is a good best practice. 

Has anyone tried using a formatted Craigslist ad?  This will make your listing stand out more and should hopefully lead to more qualified leads.  The ad includes the most important info about your vacation rental, photos and a link to your personal website, and posts it in html formatting that looks really nice. Here is a sample ad:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=164061180329651&set=pu.115789905156779&type=1&theater

Hope this helps!

Sarah

WebChalet

www.webchalet.com

I have used Craigslist on many occassions.  I advertise in the city where I live, D.C. and in the city where I have properties.  Most properties rent within minutes.  I've never had to wait more then two hours.  I always put my phone number in and I process credit cards through an inexpensive service ($5 a month and between 3 to 4%).  I still e-mail a lease and have them acknowledge it. My properties are in a gated facility so all guests are checked at the gate.

Craigslist for selling, purchasing items? Outstanding. For a property rental? BEWARE!  We did it once, and it was like sharks to chum in terms of scammers.  Without using Craigslist and our VRBO listing that is now 16 months old, we get the odd scam request, which we sniff out immediately.  We are very pleased with VRBO (our listing is 306262) and unless you want the chance for theft or worse, do not put your valuable property on Craigslist.

One disclaimer, when we had a FULL time rental, 6 months to 1 year lease, in Napa, CA? Craigslist was outstanding, but for vacation SHOR TERM rentals, it seems to bring out the con artists.

Dean & Diana Smith

I have given advertising on Craigslist my best effort but the scammers do a relentless job on trying to scam you.  I have noticed since I say to refer to VRBO on my add and also put a VRBO watermark on the pictures the scammers have almost stopped trying to get me.  Yet after all my efforts I am not finding a single legitimate renter.  I will probably just let the add expire and then stop using it. 

Craigslist is free marketing!  Here's how I do it... First, create a junk email account - example JunkEmail992@gmail.com.  Next, use that email account to create your craigslist account.  Now post your listings and CLEARLY STATE:

I manage this property by listing it on VRBO.com (Vacation Rentals By Owner)

Click here for rates, availability, and additional pictures: VRBO.com/399812

Please do not reply using the anonymous craigslist email - it is unmonitored and you will not receive a response.

Problem solved!  You don't have to manage or see the junk and scams, you don't get auto dial phone calls, and anyone who is sincerely looking for a vacation property will take the time to go to VRBO.

You will need to go in every week or 2 and renew, or delete and repost your ad to stay somewhere near the top of craigslist's listings.

If you want to track this - you'll need to say something like "When inquiring, type CL-VIP to receive a VIP upgrade which consists of ??? (wine, continental breakfast, reserved parking, or a discount).  You get the idea.

Forgive me if this method has been posted earlier... there were a lot of posts and I didn't read them all.

What's great about Craiglist is the website ranks well on Google for many keywords. I'm not saying you can't rent a property from it which I'm sure many people do however in my opinion it isn't as user friendly for a vacation rental property owner like a VRBO, Homeaway or http://www.FVRA.com which is what we need as property owners. Since so many people use Craiglist you have to relist your property weekly just to ensure it is seen. Your Craigslist ad doesn't look as organized as a vacation website would. Also it doesn't seem as professional since Craigslist is basically a classified service. The free price is great don't get me wrong but if you aren't renting your property is it worth all the time and hassle to use this service?

The Vacation Rental section of Craig'slist is full of scams.  I have been battling them for over 2 years.

They take my copy and pics and post them as their own properties.

Craigslist is great to work with and take them down as soon as I contact them.  But its an endless additional task to keep watch.  I was alerted a couple of years ago by a potential vacationer about "my listing" on Craigslist and since then have been emailed serveral times by worried vacationers.  I do advice them to stick with VRBO, HomeAway and Vacation Rentals for safety and peace of mind.

I do believe that Craig'slist is not the venue for legitmate vacation rentals, and advertising cost is part of doing business.

As far as long term year round normal rentals, I use them as my main advertisers.

Hope this helps, don't wake the sleeping scam dragon to your properties.

I also post a disclosure on my sites, that I do not advertise on Craiglist Vacation Rental site.

Wanted to share this Craigslist experiment I did in which I pegged two ads side-by-side and tracked their progress. Shows how important your title and description are: http://www.vacationrentalmarketingblog.com/copy-writing/