What is Craig's List?

In case you have not heard of Craig's List--well now you have discovered the most sacred website for finding jobs, and used items for purchase and for selling your own goods. It's like eBay and CareerBuilder but it's FREE!!! The website is not graphically fancy. It's about the service and what if offes. In this recession, it's worth more than gold.

First, visit http://www.craigslist.org/
Then select the city where you want to find job, purchase an item or sell an item. To post a job or sell an item, you want to click tab on top left corner. After you follow the instructions, you have to check your designated email to make the ad live. When placing an ad, you can either give your email on the ad, or a phone contact number within the advertisement.

If you're selling an item, I strongly recommend pictures. "Pictures are worth a thousand words" and increase your chances of selling. Many people like myself skip any ads that do not include pictures. As a busy professional, I do not have the luxury to drive around town to see one item. The pictures are a helpful start and timesaver.

Maximize this site for your business or personal shopping and other matters. Beware of Scammers though--they are out there in full force. Read below for more information to protect yourself from insidious scammers.

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Warning: If you're selling an item, be careful of scammers. How to tell you're being contacted by a scammer? Here are the typical signs:

1- They will send a very polite email asking if the item is available. When responding, say yes but that you only accept CASH.

2-Anyone that offers to send their "financial agent" to view the item or even to send you a cashier's check WITHOUT VIEWING THE ITEM is a scam! How does this work? To explain it as simple as possible, if someone sends you a check, any check, and you deposit it and later withdraw those monies from your bank account, the checks result later as phony and therefore you are responsible for paying that money back to the bank. (While the check is "posted" to your account, it does not mean the check is valid. It takes your bank several days to verify the originating bank). I once responded to such an email as I described above "Unfortunately I can not meet with your financial agent, butler, chauffeur, housekeeper or mistress as I only accept cash. But I would be more than happy to send my financial agent to you--what is your address, please?" Speaking of deafening silence...

On another occasion, I received a call from an operator that assists the hearing-impaired (a deaf person). The interested "buyer" offered to mail me a check. I immediately responded that I was aware this was a scam and that he/should would be reported to the authorities as I would ask the company that translated to cooperate. I never received a call again.

3- For a job offer, if you are not called in for an interview, ask for the headquarter address including the city and state. Then check that state's website to ensure they exist. NEXT, check the Better Business Bureau website (http://www.bbb.org/). This will tell you whether the company has received any complaints about its business practice. DO NOT GIVE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT information before verifying this information. Scams often happen with companies claiming to hire mystery shoppers or Work-from-Home type jobs.

The Dr. Phil Show recently aired an episode dedicated to "How Not to Get Scammed". Read about it on my money blog.

Remeber, "it it's too good to be true", then it usually it is.