Recommendations on Free Classifieds

[Staci van Wyk]

Looking for recommendations on the best free classifieds out there that deliver results besides Facebook Marketplace??

 

[Alexander Lau]

Free that deliver results...? That's an oxymoron based upon how both organic and paid work these days. Organic social especially has been long dead.

https://www.carsdigital.com/most-popular-cars-websites.html (bunch listed here, you'd have to pay @John Colascione with his TurboListings to go after the checked options)

Having worked in attribution, gazing at plenty of automotive traffic sources, I don't think any of these convert very well, but you could try them.

• https://instamotor.com/sell-car (free, but only available in California, Dallas, and Houston right now)
  
• https://www.autoblog.com/classifieds/ (free)
• https://www.classifiedads.com/cars_trucks (free)
• https://cars.oodle.com (free)
  
• https://geebo.com/vehicles/list/type/2-cars-/ (free)
  
• https://www.ebay.com/b/Cars-Trucks/6001/bn_1865117 (paid)
• http://backpage.com (dead)

If you're looking for a list of those that are "affordable," such as Craigslist there are plenty subjects here on who can help you do it.
https://forum.dealerrefresh.com/search/14184674/?q=craigslist&o=date
https://forum.dealerrefresh.com/threads/hammer-corp-better-craigslist-seo.4822/

Groups that will push to CL using your feed.

• Dice Services @ https://dice.services (excellent, very bright young Russian-American entrepreneurs in Portland, OR)
• LotVantage @ http://motors.lotvantage.com (located in Tampa and also do an excellent job)
• AutoFusion http://www.autofusion.com/car-dealer-craigslist.html (in SD, CA)

I've used these for nearly a hundred dealer locations / feeds for many thousands of used vehicles ads.

 

[Dave Lemmon]

So, here's the current players in the space:

FB Marketplace is becoming extremely active. Free, but most leads are delivered via Messenger and if you don't have someone dedicated to answering them you'll miss out. They also generate a lot of single response leads that go nowhere. We are approved inventory partners and include it in our used vehicle marketing platform.

letgo PRO: Currently offering a 30 day free trial. They have moved to a pay to post model, with an entry point of 99.00 per month. They deliver a lot more phone leads, with a click to call number. This is the 2nd most downloaded app in the US and the lead counts are really high. Same issue with a lot of the chat leads, but the SMS and phone leads are strong.

Craigslist: 5.00 a post...and thank goodness it is. When it was free it was the wild west, now its a legit marketplace that franchise and independents alike have a ton of success on. I've got Top 5 Dealer Groups using it...and small lots with a dozen cars using it. You can drive measurable website traffic, brand, phone and SMS leads, and more. The key to finding a vendor here is that a 5.00 post costs 5.00. We include this in our used vehicle marketing platform (and don't mark up your ad budget).

OfferUp: We are working with them now, hoping to finalize a partnership so we can include this in our platform. They have a cool site/app and have some nice automotive features built in. They claim they are responsible for 10% of the car sales in the US...a number I'm extremely skeptical of, but the platform is still pretty sharp.

One thing that we do that makes a big difference, we have a unified messaging platform. That way, your Craigslist text leads, letgo chat leads, FB Marketplace Messenger leads, etc. all go into one app...you don't have to keep 3 or 4 different chat apps open all the time.

 

[Alexander Lau]

So, here's the current players in the space:

FB Marketplace is becoming extremely active. Free, but most leads are delivered via Messenger and if you don't have someone dedicated to answering them you'll miss out. They also generate a lot of single response leads that go nowhere. We are approved inventory partners and include it in our used vehicle marketing platform.

letgo PRO: Currently free. We are Premier Partners and include it in our used vehicle marketing platform. They are likely adding a pay to play pricing model in the very near future, but likely with an entry point of 99.00 per month. They deliver a lot more phone leads, with a click to call number. This is the 2nd most downloaded app in the US and the lead counts are really high. Same issue with a lot of the chat leads, but the SMS and phone leads are strong.

Craigslist: 5.00 a post...and thank goodness it is. When it was free it was the wild west, now its a legit marketplace that franchise and independents alike have a ton of success on. I've got Top 5 Dealer Groups using it...and small lots with a dozen cars using it. You can drive measurable website traffic, brand, phone and SMS leads, and more. The key to finding a vendor here is that a 5.00 post costs 5.00. We include this in our used vehicle marketing platform (and don't mark up your ad budget).

OfferUp: We are working with them now, hoping to finalize a partnership so we can include this in our platform. They have a cool site/app and have some nice automotive features built in. They claim they are responsible for 10% of the car sales in the US...a number I'm extremely skeptical of, but the platform is still pretty sharp.

One thing that we do that makes a big difference, we have a unified messaging platform. That way, your Craigslist text leads, letgo chat leads, FB Marketplace Messenger leads, etc. all go into one app...you don't have to keep 3 or 4 different chat apps open all the time.

Interesting that LetGo and OfferUp are gaining ground in auto. They used to be pretty bad. Good points! Software that enables modular control of those systems via one mechanism is always smart. I'm sure your application is well worth the money. To your point, when things are free, they end up becoming unbearable, like CL did. CL and used cars are a win-win now. How long before LetGo and OfferUp are bombarded with spam?