Dorm equipment behemoths like Ikea and Target beware: The rise in popularity of the community-based site Craigslist.com has created a new mechanism for young adults to purchase items quickly and cheaply. From furniture sales to job listings and real estate postings to personal advertisements, Craigslist has become the go-to place to find just about anything.
Mixed in with the ease, however, is a lack of oversight that can lead to unsatisfactory purchases and general wariness.
The community-run essence of Craigslist means that its postings are unmonitored — virtually any user can post any item or service. Sophomore David Schockett suffered first hand from this lack of an overarching monitoring system when he found a television set on Craigslist that turned out to be broken.
Schockett said that despite his bad experience, he could still see himself returning to the site, but with some extra caution.
"People are nice, but you can't trust them," he said. "You have to ask really specific questions like, ‘When was the last time you turned it on?' I would use it again, but would ask everything I would want to know about the item. I would approach [the site] with an element of uncertainty."
Because the site is not foolproof, it offers an array of disclaimers and warnings, including a banner at the top of all ads: "Avoid scams and fraud by dealing locally! Beware any deal involving Western Union, Moneygram, wire transfer, cashier check, money order, shipping, escrow, or any promise of transaction protection/certification/guarantee."
This long list of red flags has prompted some students to realize that Craigslist may not be ideal for them.
Members of the Young Entrepreneurs at Tufts (YET), realizing that a Web site that sufficiently combines local selection and safety with variety does not yet exist, have thought about creating an alternative.
"Between Craigslist and TuftsLife, there is no perfect Web site for Tufts students," YET President Greg Hering, a junior, said.
According to Hering, YET had hoped to dream up a new site just for the Tufts community. It would be similar to Craigslist but more relevant to Jumbos.
"The plan was to create a Craigslist for Tufts with e-commerce and trading, [along with] with furniture, houses and anything you can think of for college students," Hering said. "It would have been really college kid friendly and would have been just for the Tufts community, and we would have restricted the e-commerce to add unity."
In addition to the Craigslist features, the YET site would have had some of its own ones, like an interactive map.
Ultimately, YET could not start the site because its request for a grant was turned down.
Consequently, Craigslist remains the main option for Tufts students in need of a virtual secondhand marketplace. Despite his reservations regarding the site, even Schockett's quest yielded pleasing results in the end.
"I e-mailed four to five people, and only one girl got back to me, but it ended up being the best deal. We got a TV, surround sound and a DVD/VHS player," Schockett said.
